Posts from — December 2007

Home prices are falling at an alarming rate and the rate is accelerating. Full Story.

The shear number of homes on the market that have been dumped by speculators is just now being assessed. Many investors purchased multiple units with no money down and no documentation as to their ability to pay. As these empty homes are jettisoned, the prices of neighboring dwellings are depressed.

It’s going to take a year or two for this glut of abandoned homes to be assimilated into the normal mix of real estate investments. In the meantime, prices will continue to decline until the cost of the monthly mortgage is more in line with the cost to rent.

President Bush said Thursday that he first learned of the tapes’ destruction in a briefing this month from Gen. Michael Hayden, the CIA director. Full Story

Why is the top guy always the last to know what’s going on? Of course, what about the other tapes? There can’t be that just two were made.

The president also said he would reserve judgment on the controversy until investigations into the matter are resolved.

“Until these inquiries are complete, until this oversight is finished,” the president said, “I will be rendering no opinion from the podium.”

Bush said he was confident that the inquiries, “coupled with the oversight provided by the Congress, will end up enabling us all to find out what exactly happened.”

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission will not try to block Google’s acquisition of online ad-serving vendor DoubleClick, the agency said Thursday. Full Story.

Congressional Republicans and President Bush refused to offset the cost of the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) fix by imposing new taxes, particularly on wealthy hedge fund managers some of whom make in excess of 1 billion per year and who have been sheltered by a tax code quirk which allows them to receive a 20% tax break not available to other citizens.

By not offsetting the cost of the AMT fix, the national debt will increase by $50 billion. Full Story.

EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson denied California’s request to increase fuel economy standards to over 40 miles per gallon saying that the new federal fuel economy standards of 35 miles per gallon by 2020 in the energy bill signed today would save more greenhouse gases than California would acting alone (get that: acting alone). Full Story.

But California and the other 16 states waiting EPA approval to increase fuel economy standards would exceed the very limited federal effort. If the feds want to let the other states skate so be it. The EPA Administrator is under the influence of some bad gas in justifying his actions with tortured reasoning.

“The national standard of 35 miles per gallon will deliver significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, which is more effective than a state-by-state approach,” EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson said. Global warming “is a global problem that requires a national solution.”

Au contraire: a global problem needs a global solution which the Bush team is also trying hard to scuttle.

Toxic vapors are emanating but not from the tail pipe of an automobile. They billow from the White House - or rather the Out House. It appears that we will have to vote the Luddites out of office before any meaningful action can be taken on this urgent and critical issue.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced a new e-mail service that alerts for a wide variety of FDA’s Web pages, including food safety protection, medical product approvals and consumer health information. Full Story.

“Being able to directly communicate with consumers, health care professionals and the regulated industry about the safety of our food supply and medical products is critical to FDA’s ongoing commitment to protecting the public health,” said Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D., Commissioner of Food and Drugs.

“E-mail is the leading use of the Internet, and this service strengthens FDA’s ability to keep its audiences informed quickly and effectively.”

Take a look at this new innovation. Sign up and be alerted!

Prescription drugs can be a costly medical expense, especially for older people and those who are chronically ill.

However, each state has a law that lets pharmacists substitute less expensive generic drugs for many brand-name products.

Depending on your prescription needs, your savings could be significant. Before you talk with your doctor or pharmacist about switching, there are things you need to know about generic drugs and the law. Full Story.

Facebook, a social networking Internet site, has agreed in San Jose federal court to limit the ability of its 58 million members to send text messages to recycled cell phone numbers. A plaintiff sued alleging that explicit comments and other upsetting content were being sent to her cell phone. She further alleged that she was charged 10 cents each time and that Facebook received a share of the fee. Full Story.

The two-month-old case highlighted the problems that can arise as Web sites extend their services to mobile handsets with phone numbers that have been reassigned after another customer’s service ended.

The F.B.I.’s office in Indianapolis, Indiana, is warning the public about an ongoing scam involving jury service.

Individuals identifying themselves as U.S. court employees have been telephonically contacting citizens and advising them that they failed to report for jury duty. These individuals then ask to verify personal information to include names, addresses and Social Security numbers. If the request is refused, citizens are then told that they will be fined and/or arrested.

The judicial system does not contact people telephonically and ask for personal information such as your Social Security number or date of birth. If you receive one of these phone calls, do not provide any personal or confidential information to these individuals. This is an attempt to steal or to use your identity by obtaining your name or Social Security number. It is an attempt to defraud you. Full Story.

Not yet news is the mushrooming investigation into mortgage fraud arising out of the sub-prime housing fiasco.

Fraud perpetrated in obtaining a mortgages may be committed in one or more of the following ways: Property Flipping; Silent Seconds; Nominee Loans/Straw Buyers; Fictitious/Stolen Identity; Inflated Appraisals; Foreclosure Schemes; Equity Skimming; and Air Loans.

Many of the sub-prime mortgage defaults will expose one or more of these elements. Full Story. The data on the web site has not been updated since 2005. However, it demonstrates that the authorities anticipated the avalanche of fraudulent transactions in early 2006.

I wonder whether the federal government has the resources and/or the political will to pursue these cases because much of this fraud was instituted by the very contributors to the political machine that allowed this situation to ripen. Just to go after the little guy would miss the point because none of this mortgage meltdown would have occurred if Wall Street had not been in position to make a financial killing on the sub-prime action.