The Golden Token – An Illegal Immigration Gift
Posted on | February 28, 2011 | No Comments
With the economy still moping about, it seems any recover will remain anemic at best for the next two to three years. Stimulus money sent to states and institutions will come out of the pockets of the working class until they expire and then it will get passed onto the next generation and the one after it.
Out of work Americans struggle to stay afloat; the housing market stagnant, and the cost of fuel has bolstered the price of everything shipping world-wide, as well as the fuel needed to get from point “A” to “B”.
To make matter worse the influx of illegal immigrants continues to rise. Why?
Our government gives “golden tokens” to every illegal immigrant that enters the United States. They enter and for the most part are immediately assigned a number so they can receive welfare, health care, and everything else under the sun – free of charge.
Meanwhile, hard-working Americans dig deeper just to get by with what they have or worse yet, they sadly miss what they once had.
Here are some illegal immigrant facts. Check them out.
As a result of their high rate of poverty, immigrant households are more likely to participate in practically every one of the major means-tested programs. In 2007, immigrant use of welfare programs (32.7 percent) was 69 percent higher than non-immigrants’ use (19.4 percent).
Each year, state governments spend an estimated $11 billion to $22 billion to provide welfare to immigrants.3 Those programs include Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, Child Care and Development Fund, reduced meal programs in school and public housing. https://www.fairus.org
Households headed by illegal aliens imposed more than $26.3 billion in costs on the federal government in 2002 and paid only $16 billion in taxes, creating a net fiscal deficit of almost $10.4 billion, or $2,700 per illegal household.
Among the largest costs are Medicaid ($2.5 billion); treatment for the uninsured ($2.2 billion); food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches ($1.9 billion); the federal prison and court systems ($1.6 billion); and federal aid to schools ($1.4 billion). http://www.cis.org
Among the largest costs are Medicaid ($2.5 billion); treatment for the uninsured ($2.2 billion); food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches ($1.9 billion); the federal prison and court systems ($1.6 billion); and federal aid to schools ($1.4 billion).
It time to stop illegal immigration in its tracks. Here is a directory of Congressional emails. Demand the doors close on illegal immigration and help the United States SAVE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS A DAY.
http://www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html
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Strategic Thinking for Network Marketers
Posted on | February 22, 2011 | No Comments
Strategic thinking is one of the strengths for various industries and corporate cultures. Why not use it in for your network marketing plan? There are four basic levels of strategic thinking that you can use to build your business; all of them develop circumstances that enable you to shift to a higher strategic level.
First you need to take ownership of your marketing plan. You must be aware of what fuels your business. Are you in a niche market? How do you connect with your customers? Affiliates? It is imperative that you thrust yourself into a strategic challenge and make yourself the face of your organization, put yourself out to other organizations, governments, clients/customers and suppliers. This can be achieved with social networking. Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace are but a few of the most popular venues for achieving this task.
With your strategic thinking you must continually evaluate your business strengths and weaknesses versus those of key competitors. Look for the right time and best means to attack stronger competitors. Tilt the odds in your favor by taking a critical look at where you might improve your products and services. Take a strong look at your service levels and the message you are sending to the marketplace.
You must understand that growth in your market means higher profitability and greater returns. It also gives you a leg up on succeeding in the constant competitive struggle. Strategic thinking forces you to recognize that you cannot afford to let your business take control of its own processes and procedures. You must continually fine tune them to stay competitive. Be innovative in all aspects of your operation, for if you get complacent and do things the same way year after year you’ll end up losing market share – your customers will go to the competition.
Optimize your ability to shape and leverage change to your business to your advantage. Plan, develop, propose and execute strategic thinking initiatives to sell your products and services. Remain flexible. If a goal plan isn’t working alter it, fine tune it, but keep the big picture in mind. Test the viability of your marketing plan by asking peers how they relate to your designs.
Execute, execute, execute your plan. If you let it stagnate, the opportunity to meet with success will pass you by. Deliver your plan. Keep within your overall vision; stay with your mission statement – your plan on how you went about realizing the picture of your future. These critical factors are your road-map to success. Lay out your plan, complete with details, milestones, and your means of achieving success.
Once these steps are laid out and followed, you’ll soon learn the secrets to success.
Make Plans for Success, Build Your Own Road
Posted on | February 12, 2011 | No Comments
You can’t be successful without a map to get there, it’s a fact. Goals are necessary, required, and provide a means of assessing where you are and where you are headed. Think of goals as your Yellow Brick Road, because without them, you’ll never find the metaphor of Oz.
Setting your personal goals also means you are planning for success. And your set of goals can be directly related to each other, though they may have different specifics. How do you begin personal goal setting? What are the areas to start setting goals?
A great place to start would be to figure out where you currently stand. Is what you’ve accomplished to date worked well? Or have your plans fallen short of your expectations? Next, it’s time to set pen to paper. Goals that aren’t written down are not followed. Failures, a.k.a. lessons learned, will replicate themselves if you can’t put your aspirations to paper.
Not getting and setting goal commitments, not measuring your personal, self-set goals, and not conveying the required tasks to gain the knowledge will get you lost and headed to in the wrong direction – away from Oz.
So setting performance goals is tantamount to building a road, whether is green, blue, red, or yellow, it’s your path to success. Factually, goal-setting theory dictates difficult goals have been shown to increase performance for a variety of different tasks in laboratory, simulation, and field settings. Goal variables have included quantity, quality, time spent, costs, job behavior measures, and more. And the effects of goal setting are applicable not only to the individual but to groups as well.
Use your feelings and intuition, assess your situation, obtain and analyze any available data, and ask for input from others, then based on where you are, decide where you want to go. Set out a written list of tasks and things to do. Re-assess monthly or more frequently if required. Why? Because goals are guidelines, they’re tools used to establish your path. They help you see the big picture.
Goals should be used for both defining long-term and short term plans. Revise them accordingly so that you are more likely to succeed. Once you realize the important aspects of goal setting and learn to assess where you stand on the path to success, you’ll get better are using these important tools.
So, sit down, get out the paper and pen, and make plans to start building your path, your Yellow Brick Road. See you in Oz.
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Social Networking Made Easy
Posted on | February 2, 2011 | No Comments
There is an old school of thought that says Facebook is for kids. WAIT. STOP. This isn’t true, at least not now. Facebook’s fastest growing demographic is the 35-and-older age group, and more than 50% of Facebook’s users are outside of college. Heck, the even made a movie based on the social networking site.
To say that almost everyone is using it wouldn’t be an exaggeration. You can sign up on Facebook (facebook.com), and then you will be able to create a your profile. Facebook has many bells and whistles, photos, thing-a-ma-bobs, and widgets that will enhance your business – gut you need to use them to be effective. However, if you plan on using Facebook for professional networking and building your brand, you may want to keep it as simple as possible.
Keep in mind that the lines between personal and professional networking exist in a neutral/gray area. Why? Facebook has progressed as its original users have grown up and entered the workplace, effectively making the transition into network marketing.
After all, the internet is a consumers dream come true. You can buy nearly anything on the internet, without leaving the comfort of your home. For many of those consumers, there aren’t as many boundaries between work and play as there are for those of us who are a bit older. One more perk, your Facebook Friends can connect you with jobs and vice-versa, as well as providing opportunities for socializing and buying next to everything.
It seems like everyone is talking about Twitter (twitter.com). Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service. Individuals use Twitter to stay in touch and to make new connections. Companies and job boards post job openings on Twitter, and job seekers network through Twitter to help facilitate their job search.
Users post updates (tweets) on Twitter that are displayed on their profile page and deliver them to other users who have signed up to receive them. Be careful here. If you don’t have an auto-responder who makes people agree to receiving emails form you, your information will be considered spam. That’s not a good thing.
The catch is with posts on Twitter is that they can’t be any longer than 140 characters, so you need to be concise. Each user has a name that you can use to send messages, and a dedicated URL.
So go ahead, sign up for both and market your home-based business. Just be sure your users agree to receive continual offers. You wouldn’t want your internet provide shutting you down for spamming.
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Know the Risks of Network Marketing Schemes
Posted on | January 21, 2011 | No Comments
Network Marketing scam artists lure would-be entrepreneurs with false promises of big earnings for little effort. They pitch their fraudulent offerings on the web by the hundreds, overwhelming family and friends with pressured tactics to get you into the game. They have fancy, high-tech infomercials, classified ads and newspaper and magazine advertisements – all meant to lure you. Beware.
Their hitch comes in different forms. The promoter promises that you can earn thousands of dollars a month by recruiting people to sell his product, but you have to join his/her team. The problem with this scenario is their program claims to pay participants based on how many people they recruit into the program, not on their product sales. That makes the program a pyramid scheme – not a legitimate multi-level marketing plan. Pyramid schemes are illegal. Mathematically, nearly everyone who participates in them loses their money. When there are no new recruits, the pyramid collapses.
Another example includes those “entrepreneurs” who offer seminars on how to make money on the Internet via network marketing. Advertisements include promises that they will show you how it MIGHT be possible to make $150,000 or more a month as an Internet Marketer or “Internet consultant.” They tout free seminars to teach other consumers how to make money on the Internet.
Such seminars really feature high-pressure sales pitches for the promoter’s products or offer of sales training to buyers – for a fee. Buy in and spend several hundreds to thousands of dollars for training that is nearly worthless.
Evaluate these promotions (schemes) carefully. If it claims members of the team can earn a certain income, then they should be able to give you the number and percentage of previous purchasers who achieved such earnings. If an earnings claim is there – but the additional information isn’t – the business opportunity seller is most likely violating the law.
Beat them: get earnings claims in writing. If the business opportunity costs $500 or more, then the promoter must back up the earnings claim in a written document. It should include the earnings claim, as well as the number and percentage of recent clients who have earned at least as much as the promoter suggested. If it’s a work-at-home or other business opportunity that involves an investment of under $500, ask the promoter to put the earnings information in writing.
Interview each previous purchaser in person if you are able to get names and numbers of team members. Where you aware that the FTC requires most business opportunity promoters to give potential purchasers the names, addresses and phone numbers of at least 10 previous purchasers who live the closest to the potential purchaser? Interviewing these people helps reduce the risk of being misled by phony references.
You can also contact the attorney general’s office, state or county consumer protection agency and the Better Business Bureau both where the business opportunity promoter is based and where you live to find out whether there is any record of unresolved complaints. While a complaint record may indicate questionable business practices, a lack of complaints doesn’t necessarily mean that the promoter and the business opportunity don’t have problems. Unscrupulous dealers often change names and locations to hide a history of complaints.
If the business opportunity involves selling products from well-known companies, call the legal department of the company whose merchandise would be promoted. Find out whether the business opportunity and its promoter are affiliated with the company. Ask whether the company has ever threatened trademark action against the business opportunity promoter.
Enter your internet marketing business opportunity carefully. Make sure you do your due diligence and good luck.
The Reality Show of Network Marketing’s Grand Scheme
Posted on | January 10, 2011 | No Comments
A major problem for those who venture into internet network marketing is lack of cash flow. There are several other problems that network marketers face, but you could agree that not making enough money fast enough would be a good reason to stop would you not? Creating more income by duplicating the same process is not only smart, but it can really separate those who are serious about building a business and those who are not.
Network marketing, a.k.a. social networking, starts with getting in front of people, putting on your best pitch, and making plans to go to the bank with piles of cash – right? WRONG. This is what the so-called network marketing geniuses, a.k.a., scams tout when you boil down all the hype, B.S., and endless pleas and screens with extra special offers (within the next six minutes, mind you) for cash out of your pocket.
Success in network marketing means you have to work long hours, have a product or service that doesn’t sit in the closet or basement of your siblings, friends and neighbors, all of whom have begun to hate to hear from you after months of you touting your piece of someone else’s money making, network marketing plan.
This is as true today as it was in the infancy of social and network marketing. The real key to making money in network marketing, which won’t happen overnight, is to provide a product or service that people can actually use and there seems to be fewer such products in NM these days while the number of “getting rich” network marketers seems to be growing at fantastic rates.
All network marketers (even successful ones) make quite a commotion over leads. Why? Because the leads provide them the cash infusion that keeps them afloat. Most network marketers give in and call it quits (some 98% fail) when the realize the cash flow has never started or dried up after a short spurt, but not until they’ve spent cash and time trying to understand what it takes to become successful. After all more cash flow, and more distributors, equate to more money. Correct? So why not do most fail? They fail because they don’t have a product or service worth a hoot, plain and simple.
Success means offering them a service (not a system to gouge cash out of unsuspecting NM robotic down-liners) or product that won’t become a land fill occupant in a few months. So what is really required?
First, time doing research into the network/social marketing arena, second, developing a team of affiliates who know the reason failures litter the NM landscape like gulls at the dump, third, developing your prospects. Then, you must provide them a product or service that is worth the often touted “on-sale now for $79,” not something that’s a lot of rhetorical crap simply meant to fill space while actually containing little content worth much more than a dollar, or a product that is cheaply made or doesn’t live up to its advertising.
Yes, it has been proven time and time again that people who have previously purchased a product or service from the internet are much more likely to buy again or join your team. Therefore, you want these folks on your team, as they are much more likely to join your network marketing group than any other prospect. This is the case, because they actually used the product or service and believe in it. This isn’t such a novel idea – is it? It’s the trust you build in you and what you market that will help you make your venture worthwhile.
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Starting Anew with Aspiration and a Vision
Posted on | January 4, 2011 | No Comments
The holidays are behind us, as well as all the hustle and bustle of the season. We’ve taken a look at the past, our goals and missions and now it’s time to get to the business of business. It’s a time to look at what worked in the past and what you’ve done to get you where you are today. It can be both bad and good news, depending upon your circumstances.
Regardless of where you find yourself today it’s time to make those dreaded plans for tomorrow. Introspection, a mental inventory, is the best way to start. It’s been mentioned before and is worth mentioning again – change is a constant as time passes, yet it also provides us the opportunity to plan ahead and use its components to our advantage.
If you are still unemployed and looking at social networking, internet marketing, or working and seeking a new position working for someone you have to set priorities and goals. This is the only way to measure your success or failure.
Take a hard look at your failures. They aren’t as bad as they are portrayed. In fact, they serve a useful purpose. They are nothing more than lessons in what didn’t work well. Learn from them. For instance, if you got into network marketing and were duped into believing you are going to make piles of cash, only to find you paid for gimmicks and schemes it’s time to stop where you’re at and change course. The best network marketing plan, we believe, involves selling a service or product that doesn’t end up in someone’s closet after heckling neighbors, friends, and family. Research is the key to change in this scenario. If you failed at the plan – change it.
Hate your job. Change again is your path to a new and exciting life. Take a few courses at the local community college. Take a certificate course. Learn more than your boss and put in an extra effort, which can lead to several things: a) you’ll get noticed and might find deeper security, b) you’ll teak s/he off because you’ll be better at something than they are (in which case expect rockier road depending upon their management style), c) you’ll learn skills to get you a different job, d) you are in control of your future.
Be resilient. You’ve heard this before, too. If you are trying something new and it doesn’t proceed as planned – change the plan to make it work. You’re in control. It’s your future. Remember, more people fail than succeed and your gut feeling and experience aren’t good indicators that your plans will succeed if you don’t learn to adapt them to meet the needs of today and in the very near future, a time span of about three months. Hence learn to change, ask questions, and adapt.
And finally, some words of encouragement for the wise. Get a web presence. Go to WordPress.com (it’s free). Visit Legalzoom.com, e-junkie.com, domainsinseconds.com, godaddy.com, and lastly overcome your own excuses and meet your visions of success.
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Reflections and a Look Ahead for 2011
Posted on | December 12, 2010 | No Comments
It’s that time of year when we take a look at the year from a historic perspective and make plans to forge ahead. Yes, this year has been one of change; but, then again, which year hasn’t been one with significant change. Change therefore is a constant as time passes, yet it also gives us the opportunity to plan ahead and use its components to our advantage.
Least we not forget, Haiti suffered significant damage from an earthquake that killed many, and left even more homeless. The country has been wracked by economic disaster for years and the earthquake only deepened the mental devastation for the people who call Haiti home. Need change? Brighten your life by helping those who have suffered from this calamity.
Recalls also stole the headlines on several occasions. Toyota recalled millions of vehicles in an effort to stem fears that the vehicles were unsafe and hoped to stanch lawsuits against it as they endeavored to save face with their consumer base. Eggs also topped the recall list as millions of them were found to contain salmonella. Tylenol, Similac, Motrin, Rolaids and other popular products were also on the recall agenda. What needs to change here is corporate responsibility. Note this wasn’t a call for more government intervention, testing, and regulation.
It was a grand year for politics. Alaska was on the forefront with two top stories. One being the ever popular, or unpopular, depending upon your view, saga of Sarah Palin, as she’s been on the unofficial campaign trail with another book, a program touting Alaska, and a dancing daughter who drew the attention of millions of viewers. Regardless of what you think about Mrs. Palin as a valid presidential candidate, she remains steadfast in her believe for less government, less taxes, and stands for a government by the people. Also in the news was Mrs. Murkowski (this spelling might be contested), the write- in candidate for a Senate seat, the first in write in candidate to win an election in many years. Change here happens in the voting booth.
Healthcare, a.k.a. Obamacare, is on the minds of everyone – at least it should be. With American obesity a rampant foundation of our society, smokers who raise our insurance costs to unacceptable levels due to the extreme costs associated with their healthcare needs, and the price of urgently needed prescriptions what we really need is a complete overhaul of American healthcare from its current form. The ever-increasing cost of healthcare, treatment, and medications in this country help pay for research around the globe. It’s a sad affair when American people can leave the good old USA and receive medications and treatments for a third of the cost in countries like Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, and other countries, but with the changes in healthcare brought to us by the current administration don’t expect leaner medical bills at home. We’ll be paying more and receiving less overall.
Unemployment hasn’t changed much over the year, which is bad news for our economy. Stimulus money was ill spent. This country’s economy was built on the premise that enterprising companies would survive if they managed a philosophy of value, the science of economics, and understood the social factor on top of the laws of supply and demand. The banks that teetered on the brink of failure should have fallen, pugnacious vehicle manufacturers should have gone the way of the horse, and any entity that received money on the backs of the American public should have been left to weather the storm’s consequences by either succeeding or failing. Despite the losses that would have occurred we would have come out of this downturn stronger and better enabled to move ahead with a lot less ambiguity.
Despite the trials and tribulations of 2010, we must look to a brighter future in the coming year. We need to remain focused first on family, the building block of America. Education or re-education remains a must, if we are to move forward as a nation. American is powered by the ingenuity of its citizens, for we are a resilient lot. So, make plans to improve, vote, and become leaner and brighter in the coming year, as 2011 promises to be one filled with changes.
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A Poignant Point of View on Holiday Turkeys and Heroes
Posted on | November 22, 2010 | No Comments
Almost nothing has as short a lifespan as an opinion. Pundits make critical remarks that get supported and lambasted simultaneously. Opinions also come from those around us and include friends, family, mentors, bosses, preachers, teachers, and – well you get the idea.
We all have our take on just about any subject. Some are taboo in public settings; others are personally off-limits, based on our stance or abilities to accept or refuse others’ views.
This holiday season, like those in the past, all elicit thoughts about where we’ve been, what we’ve seen, heard, read, watched, and how they all may have affected our lives in the bygone year. The holiday season has a way of bringing all those events to mind.
This year isn’t any different, regardless if you’re reading this post in 2011 or 2015, as you are affected in some way of the year’s bygone events and have an opinion of it all. So, with this holiday season steadily bearing down on us here’s The Anxiolytic’s poignant point of view of the year past and this upcoming holiday season.
Box stores, mom and pop establishments, and even state governments are hoping for a robust retail year. It won’t happen because the global financial situation has not improved to the point where consumers feel confident. Let’s label this holiday season retail experience a turkey on the run.
Obamacare, an expensive meal all laid out for America, one to be paid for years and years to come. Who would buy a turkey this big and pay for it over the next fifteen years? This turkey is being stuffed down the American public’s throats.
Arms dealer Viktor Bout, a.k.a. the “Merchant of Death,” and one of the most dangerous men on earth was hauled in by the DEA. This Russian perpetrated death, nurtured terrorists, militants, and foreign governments with a slew of arms, delivered by his air fleet around the globe and is responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people. He is a “foul” turkey that should be taken care of with swift justice.
TSA, the government agency responsible for air travel safety. They employ those frisky airport agents whose hands on application (groping?) supposedly keeps us safe while we are whisked about the world in high octane driven, aluminum tubes at high altitudes. They say the new scanner helps keeps us properly“dressed,” though some view the process as an intrusion. This turkey is still scratching around its new grounds.
Sarah Palin, Alaska’s ex-governor, has taken being rogue to new heights. Sarah believes we all could use less government (yeah), less taxes (another yeah), more local voice (need it be printed again?), and is an advocate for family life (go Sarah). Mrs. Bush thinks she should stay in Alaska. The Anxiolytic thinks Sarah should run, turkey, run.
J. Craig Ventor, scientist, entrepreneur, business man, and visionary. Mr. Ventor and his associates mapped the entire human DNA sequence in nine months, a feat our government had worked on for fifteen years without success. It’s been said he plays God. That’s impossible. His work and the work of his associates may soon make scientific discoveries that cure many diseases. This turkey can live on and skip the holiday season from now until his work is complete.
America’s military. Ninety-nine percent of them are birds of freedom; after all didn’t Ben Franklin want the turkey to be our national bird? These men and women deserve the best dressing possible this holiday season and many more to come.
There’s the short list from The Anxiolytic’s POV. It’s an opinion like all others. As you enter this holiday season why not reflect on your year, form your opinion, but above all, get involved in your life, vote, educate yourself, read, and enjoy life. Happy Holidays.
The Rape of Democracy
Posted on | November 15, 2010 | No Comments
Americans have endured yet another election, one filled with promise, hope, desperation, pragmatism, and an emotional list almost too long to fathom. Public attitude raised its ugly head, as polls remained disgustingly light, despite record unemployment, foreclosure lists long enough to reach the Whitehouse from Billingham, WA, and CEOs waddling in untold fortunes.
Market competition, a keystone of democracy, has taken a tough left hook, as stimulus packages were given and now must be paid for by increases in the new tax structure that is to take effect in the New Year. Everything that once worked for America, its democratic past, its technological advances, and its political addenda once meant to represent the American public are in jeopardy.
Mother Nature cringes as interference in the natural cycle of life, where the strong survive and the weak perish, has been politically abandoned. Weak banks were given cash, as were two of the three automotive giants, insurance and finance companies, and Fannie Mae and Fannie Mac, when they should have been left alone to strengthen independently or perish.
Yet scientific inquiry, market competition, innovation, and technological invention were given a respite from the Socialist political approach when the space program was vetted and its future assigned to private enterprise. The move signifies a step forward against one hundred backward both politically and socially.
Americans in a democratic society can support each other and support government to achieve changes they approve. However, we need to define both unflinching and essential ground rules to save us from a government that has become burdensome, one with a clearly defined philosophy and approach that is a combination of an intentional and determined drive toward more government. We don’t need it.
Our vision as Americans is to invent, not profligate, meaningful laws on a local level, ones where federal intervention does not dictate what is lawful and what is not. Americans should aim to strengthen the position of free enterprise, one where political ambition isn’t articulated by governmental venues spawned from the residue of Capital Hill lawmaker’s interests.
We must stop the rape of our democratic way of life. Infectious diseases have been transmitted to every legal citizen in the form of government intercession. Socialism and its extremely illogical stance that giving from the rich to spread the wealth is merely a lesson in teamwork, collaboration, and collectivism, one that adopts policies of more government intervention to make its administration appear successful.
Democracy must be freed from the ravages of political mediation. The post rape cure includes pressure applied directly to both incoming and incumbent politicians. To stem the rise of a socialist platform, we must opt for cleaner government, one that is less structured, one that allows more power at state and local levels, one that frees us from the monetary obligation to pay for laws that stymie growth and foster a homeostatic form of diluted enterprise.
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