Jersey Offshore Bank Account

Q: My sister and I are listed as joint owners on our mother's savings account. After our mother passes away, can we legally close the account to use the money to pay for funeral expenses?A: It's pretty common for children to be added to bank accounts so that they can get to the funds in the event the parent dies. The short answer to your question is, yes, you should be able to access the funds in the account after your mother's death. The long answer, however, is you will have to jump through a few hoops to get to the funds.Before the bank will release funds to you, as surviving joint owner, you will likely have to provide a consent to transfer signed by the county assessor's office.A consent to transfer essentially is a release that the state gives, allowing the release of an asset to a surviving joint owner, beneficiary or other person entitled to the asset.However, before the assessor's office is willing to sign a consent, it will ask for certain things, including, but not limited to, a death certificate.

The Discipline Of the Dollar

See if you can identify the following country: Its currency is falling sharply in global markets; its speculative real estate bubble has burst; its financial sector is weakened by bad loans and lack of transparency. This economy is teetering on the edge of recession, and, thanks to borrowing so heavily abroad, its economic future is at the mercy of international creditors.

I'm talking about Thailand, of course, as it stood 10 years ago -- on the edge of the devastating Asian financial crisis. But if that description bears more than a little resemblance to the United States today, then I have made my point: We have reached a junction in international financial markets -- and whether this produces a smooth transition or a convulsive crisis will be shaped by decisions made in coming months.

Ugandan president hits out at West as US-Africa business summit ends

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP): A U.S.-Africa business summit has ended with a rebuke from Uganda's president, who said the West was more interested in exploiting than nurturing the resources of the world's poorest continent.

President Yoweri Museveni said industrialized countries were wrong to place a higher value on Africa's raw materials than on its 900 million people, who should no longer be considered aid recipients but potential consumers.

"The greatest enemy of business in the world is under-consumption,'' Museveni told a gathering of hundreds of senior executives from companies like Coca-Cola and Chevron on Friday. "If they were consuming enough you would be much richer than you are now,'' he said.

Africa was long synonymous with famine, war and corruption; dependent on aid rather than investment.