FACEBOOK TO CHARGE USERS!

BREAKING - Facebook has announced a host of new changes to its design and new plan – charging users! 

Mark Zuckerberg announced a host of new changes to Facebook. He did not, however, comment on the fact that he was closing Facebook down next year.

 WWN’s J.B. Smitts broke the story that Facebook was shutting down on March 15th, 2012. Maybe this helped Zuckerberg come up with his new plan?

 Pressure from angry users has been too much and Facebook is looking at an alternative, something that will persuade Mark Zuckerberg to keep the site alive: his social media platform is going to start charging users! 

According to sources outside the company, Facebook is planning a subscription-based service with monthly fees starting at $0.99 for a basic “friendship” which allows for the posting of text and just one profile picture. This fee will increase, depending on the number of friends you have, the messages posted and sent, and the pictures/videos/ games put on a user’s page. The monthly fee will be capped at $50.00 per month at the high-end.

 Bottom line: the more you will pay.

 Reports are that all existing content has been “grandfathered” and will not be disrupted – though Facebook has decided to share this data with government agencies, including the FBI , the CIA and Michael Moore. 

Goldman Sachs, which had been planning to raise $1.5 billion in financing before they learned that Mark Zuckerberg wanted to shutter the site, is thrilled at the prospect of Facebook converting to a pay service. 

“The addition of this substantial revenue windfall makes Facebook all that more attractive as an investment,” said Tom Wotozowski, Senior Vice President of Goldman Sachs. “This will make it the largest corporation on the planet, in the history of the planet.

” Industry watchers estimate that the new fee-based program will generate well in excess of $20 billion in new revenue for the company – based on the most conservative assumptions of usage and the proposed tiered fee structure.

 These estimates, of course, account for the fact that millions of users may quit Facebook in response to the imposition of fees. “I’m not going to pay for Facebook! It’s like paying for air. It’s not right,” said longtime Facebook junkie, Jessica Samsille. “Screw them, I’m going back to MySpace,” said Bo Chan.

 No matter. Facebook executives are excited at the prospect of charging users. “We’re going to make money hand over fist,” said Facebook CEO Cindy Shooman. “I think converting to a pay service is something that will make Mark want to keep the site going. And I’ll finally get to buy an island in the Mediterranean.”

 March 15th, 2012 is Facebook Day. The site will either shut down, or start charging users for its service.

Beware the ides of March…

 [Reporting by Floyd Collins on WWN's Financial News desk] use Facebook, the more you will pay.

Health Care Reform

After decades of failed attempts by a string of Democratic presidents and a year of bitter partisan combat, President Obama signed legislation on March 23, 2010 to overhaul the nation’s health care system and guarantee access to medical insurance for tens of millions of Americans.

 The health care law seeks to extend insurance to more than 30 million people, primarily by expanding Medicaid and providing federal subsidies to help lower- and middle-income Americans buy private coverage. It will create insurance exchanges for those buying individual policies and prohibit insurers from denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing conditions. To reduce the soaring cost of Medicare, it creates a panel of experts to limit government reimbursement to only those treatments shown to be effective, and creates incentives for providers to “bundle’' services rather than charge by individual procedure

. The law will cost the government about $938 billion over 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which has also estimated that it will reduce the federal deficit by $138 billion over a decade.

 It was the largest single legislative achievement of Mr. Obama’s first two years in office, and the most controversial. Not a single Republican voted for the final version, and Republicans across the country campaigned on a promise to repeal the bill. In January 2011, shortly after they took control of the House, Republicans voted 245 to 189 in favor of repeal, in what both sides agreed was largely a symbolic act, given Democratic control of the Senate and White House.