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Alumnus Joe Crafton, president of CROSSMARK, a leading provider of services to the consumer goods Elsa Peretti Starfish earrings, has provided a gift to the College of Business Administration at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in recognition of the impact UT has had on his family.

His gift supports technology in the college's new James A. Haslam II Business Building and shopper marketing efforts in the college's Department of Marketing and Logistics. To commemorate his generosity, the college has named the Crafton Family Terrace in the Haslam Business Building in his family's honor.

"It is especially meaningful to have the terrace named after my family," said Crafton, a 1984 graduate of the College of Business Administration. "From the Crafton Family Terrace, there is a clear view of the alma mater colleges of my wife, Wendy, who graduated in 1984 with a Tiffany Signature ring degree; father Joe Sr., who graduated in 1950 as an engineer and lived in the stadium dorm; mother, Patti, who was a Torchbearer, graduating in 1955 in education; my brother Nick, a graduate in engineering, and another brother Hugh, a business graduate. Not to mention the numerous extended family members who graduated from UT. The Crafton Family Terrace also provides an ideal view of where my wife and I first met - Neyland Stadium - and her beloved Smoky Mountains in the distance."

By giving to the college, Crafton hopes to perpetuate its tradition of excellence in consumer goods sales and marketing education and encourage future students to pursue careers in the industry. His gift is part of UT's Campaign for Tennessee $1 billion fundraising effort.

This gift was very personal for Crafton on several other levels.

"Before Haslam was built, business classes were held in the Glocker Business Administration Building. It was in Glocker where I developed my passion for marketing and supply chain management that led to my career in consumer goods marketing. Glocker, however, was technologically challenged to provide students with a state-of-the-art learning environment. I wanted to ensure that future generations kept pace with global advancements," he said.

Crafton also sees shopper marketing as a way to differentiate college graduates in the workplace.

"The consumer goods industry is investing incremental time and dollars in reaching the consumer when he or she is in a shopping mode. As a founding member of UT's Shopper Marketing Forum, my planned gift will go toward advancing superior student education in areas having greatest demand," he said.

Richard "Dick" Reizenstein, emeritus associate marketing Tiffany Circle clasp necklace, was instrumental in reconnecting Crafton with the college.

"Dick was an associate dean of the college when I was a student. He re-involved me in the college through his Executive-in-Residence (EIR) program. On one of my EIR visits to meet with students, I saw the plans for Haslam and realized the exceptional leverage the building provided the college. I'm glad to be associated with it," Crafton said.

The Campaign for Tennessee - the most ambitious effort in the university's 214-year history - places UT among the ranks of the nation's largest public and private institutions that have sought this level of private support.

Scheduled for completion by May 2010, The Jenny and John Paulson Emergency Tiffany Cushion Hoop earrings will provide a centralized trauma nurses' station and triage area, expanded diagnostic and treatment areas, a "fast track" area for less acute illnesses or injuries, and additional patient and trauma rooms, all of which will substantially strengthen the department's ability to serve patients and their families. The design includes separate weather-protected entrances for walk-in patients and ambulance arrivals, improving traffic flow and enhanced security. The construction will not impede on the current delivery of emergency care.

"As Southampton residents, we have all benefited from the services of the hospital. We are lucky to have such a talented and dedicated team of doctors and caregivers to attend to our emergency needs," comments John Paulson. "Southampton Hospital is essential to all of us living in the East End and we are honored to be part of its quest for excellence." Paulson is founder and chairman of investment firm Paulson & Co., Inc.

"This wonderful display of kindness will touch the lives of so many families," explains Peter Larsen, Southampton Hospital Board Chairman. "This is a key milestone in the Hospital's long tradition of healthcare excellence and we are deeply appreciative of the Paulsons' generous support."

According to Howard Lorber, Board Chair of the Southampton Hospital Foundation, "The Paulsons' support is a testament to the Elsa Peretti Open Heart charm within this community and a model for us all to follow. We are very grateful to the Paulsons for their extraordinary generosity."

"Southampton Hospital's Board of Directors and staff are thrilled that the Paulsons have chosen our Emergency Department to receive such a substantial, generous donation," said Robert S. Chaloner, Southampton Hospital President and CEO. "This donation will have an extraordinary impact on our diagnostic and treatment capabilities. As the sole provider of emergency care on the South Fork, we must substantially expand and enhance our services to meet the growing need of our communities. The Paulsons' generosity firmly establishes our ability to provide the best possible care to the East End."

Southampton Hospital's Emergency Elsa Peretti Starfish necklace serves approximately 25,000 patient visits annually with board-certified emergency physicians and specially-trained nursing staff. A NYS-designated Stroke Center, Southampton provides state-of-the-art medical surgical care. A 2008 winner of the HealthGrades Patient Safety Award(TM), Southampton Hospital is an affiliate of Stony Brook University Medical Center, a member of the East End Health Alliance, and is accredited by the Joint Commission.

A husband could not claim that a sports car given to him by his wife was his separate property Tiffany Notes cuff the parties divorced, the California Court of Appeal has ruled in reversing judgment.

During the parties' marriage, the husband purchased a 2001 Porsche 996 using $60,000 that the wife received from her pre-marital home. The parties' friends considered the Porsche to be a gift from the wife because it was bought shortly before the husband's birthday.

In the parties' divorce case, the husband argued that the Porsche was his separate property.

But the court rejected the notion that vehicle became the Paloma Picasso Loving Heart earrings separate property by virtue of the gift.

In reaching this conclusion, the court decided that the Porsche was not a "tangible article of a personal nature" excepted from a state community property requirement that interspousal gifts be documented in writing.

"It is ... undisputed that [the wife] did not sign a document waiving her right to reimbursement for her separate property contribution to the purchase of the Porsche. Here, because the purchase of the Porsche can be traced entirely to [the wife's] separate property funds, [she] has a substantive right to reimbursement of those separate property Tiffany Metropolis Cuff links," the court said.

"Disasters can happen anytime, anywhere and the holiday season provides a great Tiffany Notes Pendant to ensure that you and your loved ones are taking simple steps to be prepared," said FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate. "As families gather this holiday season, I encourage everyone to take a few minutes and discuss what you would do in case of an emergency or disaster. The public is the most important member of our nation's emergency response team and the more the public does to be prepared, the more successful this team will be."

The most important thing any individual can do is take a few minutes to discuss with their family, friends and loved ones what they will do in the case of an emergency or disaster. This includes developing a simple family communications plan and identifying how you would get in touch with loved ones and where you might meet if you are separated when an emergency or disaster takes place.

Additionally, there are simple supplies that can go a long way in the case of an emergency or disaster that would make great gifts this holiday season.

A list of possible gifts that may Tiffany 1837 Ring in disasters includes:

* Disaster kits for homes, offices and autos (first aid kits; food, water and prescription medications for 72 hours; i.e., extra clothing, blankets, and flashlights).

* NOAA weather radios with extra batteries.

* Enrollment in a CPR or first-aid class.

* Smoke detectors.

* Fire extinguishers (for kitchen, garage, car, etc.)

* Foldable ladders for second-story escape in a fire.

* Car kits (emergency flares, Return to Tiffany Heart tag pendant, ice scrapers, flashlights and fluorescent distress flags).

The problem as Waldfogel sees it is that, in most circumstances, the dollar you spend Tiffany Key Oval key pendant somebody a gift won't offer them as much satisfaction as they'd get from spending that dollar themselves. If you buy yourself a $50 sweater, you buy it only if it has a value to you of at least $50. The difference between your valuation of the sweater and the price you pay creates a consumer surplus. But say you buy Aunt Jane that same sweater for Christmas. You think it'll look great on her, but it has a turtleneck, and she finds crewneck sweaters more comfortable. Though you spent $50 on the sweater, to Aunt Jane it may have a value of just $25 -which means you've effectively destroyed $25 worth of value. (Let's not even bother with the math on junk like the dancing Santa.) Thus does Waldfogel view Christmas as nothing but "a large and organized institution of value destruction."

And what a lot of value gets destroyed. A 2007 study by DeIoitte & Touche suggested that Americans planned to buy an average of 23 Christmas gifts each, and Waldfogel's conservative estimate of retail Christmas spending in the United States in 2007 was $66 billion. Despite having only 8% of the year's shopping days, December sales accounted for almost one-quarter of jewelry stores' annual receipts, a sixth of annual receipts at department stores, and a seventh at clothing, electronics, sporting goods, hobby, and bookstores.

But, extrapolating from years of studies, Waldfogel pegs the recipients' valuation of those Christmas gifts at somewhere nearer $54 billion-Return to Tiffany Oval tag ring a whopping $12 billion in societal value destruction through one Christmas alone, even before considering factors like opportunity cost, and the roughly 2.8 billion hours Americans spent Christmas shopping. Worldwide, the same December spike appears in most countries for which the OECD collects retail sales data, save Israel, China, and South Korea. Russia, which banned Christmas until the fall of communism, now spends with gusto for the holiday. Even Japan, with effectively no Judeo-Christian heritage, now sees a 21% bump in December retail spending thanks to the creation of a secular Christmas tradition. The result is a worldwide retail Christmas gift bill of more than $145 billion, and a deadweight loss of $25 billion. "Santa is a beloved figure," Waldfogel fumes, "but this is ridiculous."

What to do? Waldfogel makes the case that this kind of spending isn't good from a narrow economic perspective, much less when it's credit-based, as it has come frequently to be. Christmas gift giving isn't going away, however, and though cash makes the most Return to Tiffany Heart tag choker efficient gift, there are some social stigmas around gifting it. As a good alternative, Waldfogel applauds the growing acceptance of the gift card, but sees ways that even it can be made more efficient. Since "about 10% of gift card value is never redeemed by recipients," there's a significant amount of value destroyed through their purchase, as well. His proposal is for stores to start offering gift cards that expire after a period of 12 or 18 months, with the remaining balance given to a charity of the recipient's choice.

Some years ago, a young woman visiting my family over the holidays presented my parents with a Return to Tiffany Double Heart Pendant wrapped package. Inside was a plastic Santa Claus figurine. The press of a button made the mechanized St. Nick wiggle and jiggle while a jaunty Christmas carol played, and as the song ended, the animatronic Santa dropped his pants with a flourish. My parents were politely enthusiastic about it for the duration of the young woman's visit. But when the holidays ended, her gift was packed up and sent to the attic. It has never again been unboxed; and yet our Christmases since have been no less festive for its absence.

The bawdy Santa isn't even the most useless gift ever to grace my family Christmas tree, and no doubt you, too, have received-and given-your share of inexplicable holiday twaddle. For weeks, now, shelves have bulged with the stuff, offering desperate shoppers a solution for Cupcake charm and chain last difficult names on their Christmas lists: Aunt Jane. The neighbour. The secretary. Cousin Declan, whom they see just once a year, but whom they know is a golfer. (Perhaps this golf ball candle?)

But if Joel Waldfogel had his way, Cousin Declan would never again have to force a smile on Christmas morning. "A spectre has been haunting the rich economies of the West," Waldfogel claims, "and that spectre is wasteful gift giving. Gift givers of the world unite."

A Wharton economics professor and former Slate columnist, Waldfogel has made a hobby of yuletide economics for almost 20 years. He caused a minor media stir in December of 1993 when the American Economic Review published his paper 'The Deadweight Loss of Christmas," and his subsequent work in the field has resulted in his new book Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents for the Holidays (Princeton University Press). While Waldfogel is as irked as many of the rest of us by dancing Santas and golf ball candles, he's not an anti-consumerist. What bothers him is the economic inefficiency of Christmas. "Gift giving matches resources poorly with users, producing a meagre amount of material satisfaction for the amount of money spent," he writes. "As an Elsa Peretti Open Heart earrings for 'allocating resources' (getting stuff to the right people), holiday giving is a complete loser."

The percentage of people planning to buy network-branded gift cards rose to 30% this Tiffany 1837 Hoop earrings from 27% in 2007 and from 21% in 2005, according to the Auriemma report. "Store-specific gift cards still have the lion's share of the market, but some consumers are not purchasing them because they are afraid of stores going bankrupt," said Nancy Stahl, the senior editor of Auriemma's "Cardbeat" reports.

A larger survey, by the National Retail Federation, contradicts those findings, concluding that the struggling economy will prompt consumers to load less funds on to gift card accounts - an average of $39.80, compared with $40.54 in 2008. For its survey, the federation polled 8,692 U.S. adults in November.

TowerGroup Inc. also expects consumer spending on merchant private-label gift cards to decrease 7% this year, but the research firm said spending on network-branded cards should increase 3%.

Despite these reports, Daniel Horne, an associate professor of marketing at Providence College in Tiffany 1837 Hoop Earrings Island, agrees with Contardi that overall gift card sales this holiday season could increase, including network-branded cards.

"The driving force"for increased gift card sales"will be the lean inventories consumers will face at stores," Horne said. Retailers were "burned last year because of the economy and had to dump inventory" by dramatically dropping prices, he said.

The economy also is a factor, said Horne, who said he also expects sales of network-branded, open-loop cards to grow this year. "People are using the open-loop gift card and viewing it as a thoughtful gift because it's allowing [recipients] to live better," he said. "If you're about Paloma Picasso Loving Heart bracelet get your lights shut off, receiving cash"or an open-loop card"is as thoughtful as it gets."

Will Hernandez is the associate editor of ATM&Debit News.

Most industry reports say sales of gift cards will decline during the holiday season,Tiffany Notes ring some observers expect gift card sales to increase, largely because retailers are stocking less merchandise than last year.

With fewer options on the shelves, thesemore optimistic observers say, shoppers may be forced to buy cards instead.

Moreover, gift card sales were slow last year because retailers marked down merchandise prices. Many stores overstocked, underestimating the impact the ailing economy would have on sales, said Jim Contardi, the senior vice president of prepaid solutions at First Data Corp.

Consumers, Contardi said, "went to the store or mall and ... asked themselves, 'Where do I get the most bang for the buck?'"

"They saw the heavily discounted merchandise they could buy for whatever their budget was" and decided not to buy gift cards, he said. "Consumers believed the gift card recipient would appreciate the merchandise more than that same value in a gift card."

Contardi said his conversations with First Data's retail partners have him expecting the Elsa Peretti Open Heart ring to be different this holiday season.

Merchants have "purposely ordered much less merchandise going into this holiday period so that they will not have to do the markdowns," he said. When consumers do their holiday shopping this year, "we can have a lot more people landing on the side of the gift card as opposed to the merchandise."

First Data reported last week that Black Friday helped boost gift card sales at its partner retailers by 9.8% for the week that ended Nov. 29 compared with the same period last year, while the dollar value of gift cards sold increased 17.8%.

First Data, an Atlanta unit of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., would not provide more details.

Despite predictions of bleak holiday sales by the Paloma Picasso Loving Heart ring Retail Federation, gift cards will sell well at the point of sale, according to a report by Auriemma Consulting Group LLC.

More than half (54%) of consumers expect to purchase at least one gift card this holiday season. While the percentage is down from 59% in a similar survey Auriemma conducted in 2007, the average anticipated card-load amount was up 18.6%, to $51 from $43, according to Auriemma.

When it comes to buying presents this holiday season, more people than ever will be paying Tiffany 1837 concave ring debit cards. That's according to a survey from the National Retail Federation.

And as NPR's Tamara Keith reports, these days, you can use plastic just about anywhere.

TAMARA KEITH: The Salvation Army bell ringers, with their red kettles for gathering donations, are a holiday fixture. But there's something different about this setup outside of this Bedford, Texas Super Wal-Mart. The kettle accepts plastic.

Mr. JACOB JACOBUS (Salvation Army): Every kind of Visa or MasterCard and American Express.

KEITH: Jacob Jacobus is the bell ringer on duty. He says the Tiffany 1837 Money clip scanner, known as the cashless kettle, is easy to use.

Mr. JACOBUS: They just swipe the machine just like any regular credit card machine. You can just swipe it and if it's credit or debit, you put in your PIN or you sign a paper.

KEITH: The Salvation Army is taking plastic at about 300 locations this year. Most people still just drop a few coins in the kettle. But those who donate with a card tend to give more, and many of them are paying with debit, meaning the money comes straight from their checking accounts.

Visa, the largest payment network, says that spending on debit Bead bracelet exceeded credit card spending for the first time during the last quarter of 2008. The trend has continued this year.

The action is expected to include work stoppages, as well as bans on checking for Elsa Peretti Open Heart ring-stamped cards or letters, effectively meaning postage-free mail.

Australia Post employees are seeking a new agreement which protects penalty shifts, rosters, and take-home pay and want a commitment from their employer to improve workplace safety.

They also want an end to the use of company paid doctors which the union that represents Australia Post workers accuses of forcing employees back to work when they are still sick or injured.

Communications Electrical Plumbing Union national president Ed Husic said negotiations on a new enterprise agreement, which have been underway since April, had failed to deliver any improvement in conditions for workers.

"Since April we've gotten nowhere in Return to Tiffany Heart tag bracelet to get a new enterprise agreement with Australia Post," he said.

"In the end, our members got sick of being told by a senior management team that took home $8 million in salaries last year that Australia Post can't afford to consult better on workplace change."

More than 9,000 of the 11,500 workers who took part in a ballot launched on November 25 voted in support of industrial action.

"Since April, Australia Post has had ample opportunity to sort out the differences at the negotiating table," Mr Husic said.

"Instead they refused to move or used a hardline legal strategy to delay a ballot Tiffany 1837 ring could have been held in September, but through Australia Post's actions, has been carried out right before Christmas."

The union will announce details of the planned industrial action in the next 24 hours, but said it would looking to reduce the impact on the public as much as possible.