As the year of the Golden Rabbit, or 2562 in the Chinese calendar, comes to a close, lanterns and many other colorful ornaments begin to gaily decorate several parts of Indonesia, with celebrations prepared in major cities to welcome the coming of the Year of the Water Dragon 2563, which falls on January 23, 2012.

In the sprawling capital city of Jakarta, many major shopping malls have already brought the “imlek” (Chinese New Year celebration) atmosphere to buildings, dominated by the color of red, with all required accessories, Bazaars, art performances, and other activities also highlight this year’s Chinese New Year celebrations. At Ma

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Kingstonians will ring in the New Year with the clink of glass milk bottles being delivered to their doors when the Limestone Organic Creamery opens in early 2012. The sound will be music to the ears of Kathie and Francis Groenewegen and their children, Patrick and Olivia, who will be processing and selling the organic milk from their own herd of cows just north of Kingston at 3113 Sydenham Road. The farm will be able to process and market its own milk thanks to a new pilot program introduced by the Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) earlier this year. The Groenewegen farm has been certified organic since 2002 and already has a loyal customer base for its organic beef, chicken, turkey, pork and eggs. Until Project Origin was launched, the Groenewegens had been selling all of their milk to Organic Meadow, a co-operative of over 100 family farms across Canada.

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Getting a new credit card, car loan or small business loan got a bit easier over the past year, according to a new study by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. That’s good news for people who got the loans, and may be an encouraging sign that bankers believe the overall economy is still headed for a rebound.

But the trend may actually be worrisome, the comptroller found, since risky lending, especially in real estate, is what caused the recent recession.

“We need to remember that overly liberal underwriting standards contributed to extremely high credit losses,” Dave Wilson, the comptroller’s chief national bank examiner, said in a press release. “The pace of easing standards in products like leveraged lending is disconcerting and warrants close attention.”

Still, banks are not going on a hog-wild lending spree. Most banks

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Over the past year or so, we’ve seen a lot of debate over the definition of wealthy. Much of this discussion has centered on whether or not individuals (or families) earning $250k or more per year are “rich” and should see their tax rates rise.

Without getting into the underlying politics, I think that one thing that most of us can agree on is that people with that kind of earning power are definitely not poor. Or are they? I recently ran across a story over on MSN Money that questioned whether or not $250k is enough to make ends meet.

For starters, I’ll just say this: Yes, $250k/year is clearly enough to make ends meet. As evidence, I offer the fact that less than 3% of American households earn that much, but most of use are getting by. I’d go

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Every UK citizen over 16 years old can now deposit a maximum of 5,340 into a cash Isa during the current financial year, an increase from last year’s 5,100 allowance (see the Top Cash Isas Guide).

But last year’s pot is closed so if you missed yesterday’s deadline it’s gone forever.

Consumers should consider cash Isas as their first port of call when saving, as they are normal accounts where the interest is always tax free, unlike a conventional savings vehicle.

The top easy access Isa rate from the AA pays 3.35% compared to the top standard easy access deal from Santander that pays 3%. After tax, that’s 2.4% for a basic rate taxpayer (see the Top Savings Accounts guide).

On a 5,340 balance you’d earn 179 over a year in the Isa compared to 128 in the standard account 51 more.

Even if you’ve opened a cash Isa in previous tax years, you can now do it again.

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Though some consumers may be trying to avoid using their credit cards, a recent report indicates they may have also been more likely to get an offer for an account at the end of last year.

According to Synovate, a market research firm, providers of credit cards increased mailings by 46 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009. In all, mailings amounted to 398.5 million offers, an increase from the 272.5 million seen the quarter prior.

Though the numbers of mailings were up in the last quarter of 2009, they are still lower when compared to the year before. During the fourth quarter of 2008, lenders sent out 668.1 million offers for credit cards.

One of the reasons that lenders have cut back on making card offers is because of the tightened credit market during the most recent recession. Read all post…