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As the world's population rises, food prices slowly follow the trend. It's a fairly simple equation: more people require more food, but also take up more space and this limits the land available for farming. Some of the worlds largest food producing companies have therefore been looking into new ways to boost their production whilst keeping prices competitive. This has taken two forms; improve production from current land, and move into new markets where space is more free (and labor usually cheaper). Two of the main exponents of this are Pepsi Co (who oversee such brands as Tropicana, Scotts Porridge Oats and Doritos) and Nestle (who own hundreds of cereal, ice cream, yoghurt and chocolate brands), as they require vast amounts of naturally produced products to run their businesses. Both of them have started interesting projects aimed at combating these problems:

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Republicans in the House of Delegates caved on Thursday to the President's, congressional Left wingers ', and fellow Republicans ' demands for a renewing of payroll tax cuts for employees. This is to a short term call till they can settle on a more formal budget plan. This may spare employees from having a standard $20 per week tax increase beginning Jan first.

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Welcome to the December 13, 2011 edition of Stock Carnival Ecstasy. In this edition we have some really good stories including one from Super Saver on a decline in the markets titled ‘Waiting for the Fat Lady to Sing’. Bill Smith takes a look at Four Extra Financial Accounts you should establish. And finally we have Investing Lingo, learning the language of traders, from Dr. Dean. Hope you enjoy the articles, bookmark, share, tweet, like on Facebook and come back soon.

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The stock market is getting a lot of attention today with the recent backlash and protests on Wall Street. The negative sentiments further fuel assumptions of brokers scamming and engaging in unethical practices.

While the stock market has undoubtedly had its share of horror stories, the investment opportunities it presents are still legitimate. The only question is, which ones? To prevent losing out on your hard earned money, it pays to do your own research and take the time to understand the basics of how you can avoid getting hoodwinked by unscrupulous investment scams. To do this you also need to look at a few of the stock market’s most successful swindlers to help you weed out the bad ones from the good.

Investing can seem like a scary thing to many young people. After all, the global markets are very volatile right now, paving the way for massive sell offs in the market. Global pressures of debt and political unrest in many parts of the world are also adding fuel to the fire - making it seem like a horrible time to start investing.

Well, here’s some news for you: it’s almost never a bad time to start investing. In fact, to quote the ever wise Warren Buffet, “Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.” Markets will always be volatile, and with anything in life there will always be some bad that comes with the good, but even with the rocky nature of the stock market you may still earn a higher return for your investment than you would in a regular savings account. Furthermore, the younger you start, the more time you'll have, allowing you to wait out rough patches in the market and recover from short-term dips.

Unfortunately, young investors have shown to be the first to bail during rough economic times. However, for those of you who are young and want to take advantage of the potential gains there are some great books you can read to get you started.

Forex is a $4.2trillion daily business. No financial trading hub can boast of the kind of money that circulates in the Forex market. Given that a few years ago, the daily Forex turnover was just about 30% of today’s values, it is safe to say that in the next five years, we may see the daily turnover reach almost $10 trillion. With so much money floating around in one financial hub, it is not surprising that the Forex market will naturally draw out the human element of greed in some of its participants.

Of all the participants in the Forex market, the brokers are in a better position to profit financially. They make money from spreads and commissions generated by traders, irrespective of the market conditions. In a situation where there is a quest and accompanying pressure by humanity to live well and have the best that life can offer, it is not surprising that some brokers engage in practices that short-change clients and scam money off them.

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There are many people these days who would like to consider starting their own business. Whilst some people may think that now is the worst time to consider starting a business due to the economic fragility and turbulent financial climate, others believe that now is the perfect time to consider this due to the uncertainty over employment, job losses and pay cuts.

However, no matter how keen and eager you are to start your own business, one of the things that is likely to pose a challenge for many people is finding the money to start up your own business. Of course, the amount of money that you need to start your own business will vary depending on the type of business that you plan to start, what you already have versus what you need, and what is involved in setting up e.g. renting premises or buying equipment.

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Social media giant Facebook is slated to IPO in the spring or early summer of 2012, and this change will carry the requirement of public financial records. According to some experts, the company could possibly see a $10 billion gain at a valuation of up to $100 billion. The company has not yet chosen a specific bank for this endeavor, and some financial experts wonder how the IPO will affect the way Facebook does business in the long run.

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If you’re a Sin City enthusiast like myself, a tiny glimpse into the scandals that ensue behind closed doors on the city strip offer a world of intrigue and entertainment. I came across an article recently that offers a glimpse into the major bankruptcies that have occurred for Las Vegas Casinos. Naturally, what came to mind was the scene in Ocean’s 11, a Sin City original, where Rusty and Danny, AKA the dreamy Brad Pitt and George Clooney, are explained the top 3 casino robberies ever attempted. Fabricated or not, while reading the article I had a difficult time not envisioning the top bankruptcies, and ultimate scandal, in my head as if playing before me like a well scripted movie scene, just as Ocean’s 11 so masterfully painted a picture of the attempted robberies of LV casinos. Unfortunately, as I read further, the bankruptcies of Las Vegas casinos are a lot less glitzy: Donald Trump is no Brad Pitt.

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Allstate Corp., the second largest home and auto insurance company in the United States, announced a significant fall in net income during its third quarter earnings call. The year-over-year loss of net income was significant; the company had posted $367 million in the previous third quarter, compared to $165 million this year. Despite losing 55 percent in net income, Allstate's third quarter earnings beat overall expectations, resulting in shares rising as much as 6% in after hours trading on Monday.