There was an interesting article about the U.S. recovery in today’s WSJ. Included with the article was a section that showed several graphs comparing this recovery with recoveries of the past. Bottom line: this recovery stinks. I’ll sumarize the graphs for you:
According to the article, the recovery began in June 2009, when the recession ended. The
This card sure looks like government issue. It lists the sender as Obama Administration Stimulus Package Refinance Department, refers to congressional action, and urges recipients to call “a certified representative” to “refinance now.” The tiny type we’ve highlighted in yellow? That’s where it says, “The program is not being offered by an agency of the government.”
Submissions: SellingIt@cro.consumer.org or Selling It, Consumer Reports, 101 Truman Ave., Yonkers, NY 10703
I saw this article on MSN: Why You Should Love $5 Gas.
Some of the author’s (questionable) reasons:
• Fewer people will die. Fewer people on the road meand fewer people will die.
• Higher prices will lead to lower prices. Theoretically the government will open up the floodgates and more oil will be produced. Hasn’t happened yet (as far as I know).
• End of wars because they’ll be too expensive to fight. Interesting…
• We’ll starve despots out of existence. Wow. Gas prices are high because oil prices are high. Worldwide demand for oil is high. If the U.S. doesn’t buy oil from despots, they’ll simply sell it to China or India. We aren’t going to st
Though any form of credit, from mortgages to payday loans, carries some risks and responsibilities, those risks do not include putting up with illegal activity. Unscrupulous people are trying all sorts of methods, including payday loan collection scams, to try to bilk people out of money.
A Kansas-based debt collection firm is being sued by Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel for attempting to illegally collect debts the company claims are owed to payday loan lenders by citizens in the state of Arkansas, according to ArkansasNews. McDaniel has sent National Credit Adjusters two requests for information concerning its attempts to collect payday loan debts in Arkansas, but the Hutchinson, Kan., firm has not responded to either.
Zynga has opened the barn door to Wall Street.
The company that lets you grow virtual tomatoes and breed fantasy sheep in “FarmVille” is going public, becoming the latest in a string of hot stock debuts by social media companies.
Zynga, based in San Francisco, hopes to raise up to $1 billion in an initial public offering. It follows LinkedIn’s successful stock market debut last month.
The amount of money Zynga seeks could change, though, when its bankers determine how many shares should be sold and at what price. That process typically takes three to four months.
There’s pent-up demand for stock in large social media companies because so few of them have gone public as their reach and popularity grew.
LinkedIn, an online career site, doubled its IPO price on its first day of trading last month to nearly $9 billion. Gro Read more…
This is our last week of school. Lots of stuff going on this week with awards ceremonies, picnics, and 8th Grade Day. Hard to believe we’ll have two in high school next year. I’m starting to feel old.
I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day Weekend. We
I have been busy this week with kid-related stuff. Things should slow down next week.
That said…
Last night I was reading the WSJ while my daughter took swimming lessons. I want to share with you this snippet from an article I read about how banks were facing foreclosure hurdles. I thought this was ridiculous (emphasis mine):
Last month, the Maine Supreme Court reversed the foreclosure of Dana and Robin Murphy of Auburn, Me., after concluding that the mortgage company, a unit of HSBC Holdings PLC, filed “inherently untrustworthy” documents. An HSBC spokesman declined to comment.
The case began in 2008 when HSBC filed to foreclose on the Murphys, who hadn’t made a mortgage payment in two years. A trial