Obama just finished paying off his student loans 8 years ago

source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-only-paid-off-student-loans-eight-years-193125256.html

Quote of Mr Obama : "Check this out, all right. I'm the president of the United States. We only finished paying off our student loans off about eight years ago. That wasn't that long ago."

President Barack Obama, courting young voters crucial to his reelection, told a rowdy college-age crowd at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Tuesday that he knows first-hand about the burden of student loans because he only managed to pay his back a scant eight years ago.

"Michelle and I, we've been in your shoes," Obama, who turns 51 in August, told a cheering, capacity crowd of 8,000 at Carmichael Arena.

"Check this out, all right. I'm the president of the United States. We only finished paying off our student loans off about eight years ago. That wasn't that long ago. And that wasn't easy--especially because when we had Malia and Sasha, we're supposed to be saving up for their college educations, and we're still paying off our college educations," he said.

The president's emphasis on his modest upbringing seemed designed to invite comparisons to presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney. The White House has denied specifically targeting the multi-millionaire financier with such attacks even as the Obama campaign has pointedly attacked Romney's personal finances.

Obama's stop in North Carolina was the first on a two-day, campaign-style swing through battleground states to reengage young voters who powered his historic 2008 campaign but seem less enthused about the 2012 election. His chief policy message was an appeal for Congress to pass legislation to stop interest rates on a popular student loan from doubling July 1 from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent."I didn't just read about this. I didn't just get some talking points about this. I didn't just get a policy briefing on this," the president said to laughter from the crowd.

"We didn't come from wealthy families. When we graduated from college and law school we had a mountain of debt. When we married, we got poor together. We added up our assets and there were no assets. And we added up our liabilities and there were lot of liabilities—basically in the form of student loans," Obama said of himself and Michelle Obama.

The president said he and his wife paid more on their student loans than they did on the mortgage on their condo during their first eight years of marriage.

The Republican National Committee and the Romney campaign had struck preemptively at Obama's message even before he had left the Beltway, holding conference calls to underscore young workers' struggles in the three years since he took office.

"He forgot to mention that he failed to address student loans the past three and a half years and skipped a vote in the Senate on the very same issue. In his speech he said, 'it requires not just words but deeds.' We tend to agree," RNC spokeswoman Kristen Kukowski said after the president's speech.

We can't all choose the way we die or how to say goodbye | Rachel Cooke

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Cum and ex date

source : http://economy.okezone.com/read/2011/05/15/226/457374/cum-dan-ex-date

Aksi korporasi (corporate action) merupakan informasi mahal bagi investor. Maklum, aksi korporasi seringkali berpengaruh signifikan terhadap perubahan harga saham di bursa. Pada umumnya  aksi korporasi memberikan dampak positif terhadap harga saham di bursa.

Artinya, harga saham akan meningkat jika ada kabar aksi korporasi yang akan dilakukan emiten. Karena itu, hanya sekedar untuk mendapatkan informasi tentang ada aksi korporasi, tidak jarang investor harus mengeluarkan biaya ekstra.

Beberapa jenis aksi korporasi yang digemari pelaku pasar misalnya, rencana menjalin aliansi strategis, masuknya investor baru, ekspansi, pergantian manajemen (direksi dan atau komisaris), penambahan modal, utang, penambahan jumlah saham baik melalui penawaran umum terbatas (right issue) maupun pemecahan saham (stock split), pembagian dividen baik tunai maupun saham, dan sebagainya.

Pada umumnya berbagai jenis aksi korporasi itu disambut antusias investor sehingga hal itulah yang menjadi pemicu kenaikan harga saham di bursa. Meski begitu, sebelum mengambil keputusan investasi yang berkaitan dengan adanya aksi korporasi itu sebaiknya investor memperhatikan jadwal dari pelaksanaan aksi korporasi itu sendiri.

Perhatikan jadwalnya dengan benar, terutama menyangkut soal cum date dan ex date. Cum date dan ex date adalah istilah yang menunjukkan keterangan waktu yang ditujukan untuk emiten yang melakukan aksi korporasi.

Bagi investor yang aktif berdagang saham di Bursa Efek Indonesia (BEI), dua istilah itu tidak bisa dianggap sepele karena bisa mempengaruhi harga saham di pasar. Cum date dan ex date hanya selisih satu hari bursa. Misalnya, cum date jatuh pada Selasa, 2 Mei 2011, maka ex date akan jatuh pada Rabu, 3 Mei 2011. Jika cum date jatuh hari Jum'at maka ex date-nya Senin. Begitu seterusnya.

Cum date adalah batas waktu transaksi beli untuk bisa memiliki hak (right) dari aksi korporasi yang dilakukan emiten. Sedangkan ex date adalah batas waktu transaksi beli yang tidak lagi melekat hak atas aksi korporasi emiten. Masih berkaitan erat dengan dua istilah tadi adalah recording date yakni tanggal terakhir pencatatan sebagai pemilik saham. Semua jadwal itu penting diperhatikan oleh investor.

Ilustrasinya begini, dalam Rapat Umum Tahunan Pemegang Saham (RUPS) diputuskan bahwa PT ABCD akan membagi dividen tunai sebesar Rp300 per saham. Jadwal cum date ditetapkan 10 Juni 2011 yang bertepatan hari Jum'at. Ex date jatuh pada Senin, 13 Juni 2011. Recording date ditetapkan 17 Juni 2011.

Dengan informasi jadwal aksi korporasi tersebut berarti siapapun investor yang membeli saham PT ABCD pada saat cum date yakni tanggal 10 Juni 2011 maka ia berhak atas dividen yang akan dibagi PT ABCD. Sedangkan investor yang membeli saham PT ABCD pada saat ex date yakni 13 Juni 2011 maka ia tidak berhak atas dividen yang akan dibagikan.

Lantas, apa kaitannya dengan recording date 17 Juni 2011. Di sini jika investor yang sudah membeli saham PT ABCD saat cum date tadi tidak mendaftarkan diri (registrasi) sebagai pemegang saham PT ABCD sampai 17 Juni 2011 maka investor tersebut tidak akan mendapatkan dividen. Dividen akan diberikan kepada pemegang saham sebelumnya karena dialah yang masih tercatat sebagai pemegang saham hingga 17 Juni 2011.

Ilustrasi singkat di atas menggambarkan betapa jadwal cum date dan ex date dan juga recording date sangat penting bagi investor. Soal recording date, kini sudah tidak menjadi masalah karena proses balik nama sudah dilakukan secara otomatis saat settlement.

Ilustrasi di atas tidak hanya berlaku terhadap aksi korporasi pembagian dividen, tetapi juga berlaku pada aksi korporasi lain seperti right issue, stock split, dividen saham, saham bonus dan sebagainya. Pertanyaannya, bagaimana membuktikan bahwa jadwal cum date dan ex date berpengaruh pada perubahan harga saham di bursa?

Bukti verbal mungkin agak sulit diajukan. Tapi, data di pasar menunjukkan bahwa saat ex date dari aksi korporasi, harga saham selalu menunjukkan koreksi secara proporsional. Jika nilai dividen Rp300 per saham, maka di atas kertas saat ex date, harga saham PT ABCD mestinya ikut terkoreksi sebesar Rp300. Inilah yang disebut dengan dividen effect. (Tim BEI) (//ade)

[Be enthusiastic. Remember the placeboeffect. 30% of medicine is showbiz. -Ronald Spark]

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Bo Xilai and Neil Heywood

http://m.yahoo.com/w/news_america/exclusive-briton-killed-threat-expose-chinese-leaders-wife-074035506.html?back=%2Fworld%2F&.ts=1334574912&.intl=us&.lang=en

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