Business/Economic/Housing/Layoff News for July 15,2010

Droid X Available to Purchase Today, Verizon Offers Discount on 32GB microSD

Apple Worker Said to Tell Jobs IPhone Might Cut Calls

Jobless claims sink to near 2-year low

Brooklynites have something to crow about: Their housing market is improving faster than Queens

Fannie and Freddie Are Sued in California

U.S. properties targeted for foreclosure rose 8% in first half

BP Says Cap Is Repaired and Oil Cutoff Test Can Proceed

Along the Gulf: Galveston fears bad news hurts tourism

Mary Landrieu: Drilling Moratorium Could Cost More Jobs than Oil Spill

GOP Argues Tax Cuts Increase Government Revenue

Feds Indict Miami Beach Businessman in $880 Million Ponzi Scheme

Lost decade: The new threat to the U.S. economy

How Goldman Sachs gambled on starvation

Business/Economic/Housing/Layoff News for July 14, 2010

How the “too-big-to-fail” banks got that way, and why the current banking reform won’t solve the problem

Hotels, promoter, real estate agents say LeBron James giving South Florida boost

Mish:FICO Credit Scores Collapse - 25% of Americans Sink Below 600 vs. 15% Historically

Sell Bonds, Buy Precious Metals, Rice as ‘Refuge,’ Rogers Says

Peter Schiff unravels on Alex Jones show, advocating preemptive strike on 'nuclear' Iran

Gold climbs most in three weeks on rekindled Europe debt concern

Crude Oil Falls From Two-Week High After U.S. Stockpiles Gain

BP Gives Up Control of Cushing Oil Storage With Sale to Magellan, LP (NYSE: MMP)

Rail traffic softens further in June
Jewellery store closures mount

Boston Fed’s Rosengren: Growth Slowing, Deflation Is Emerging Risk

Mish: Did Retail Sales Rise, Or Did Tax Rates Go Up

Tech stocks help European shares to seventh day of gains

Despite Stocks' Gains, Skeptics Wait and See

Caterpillar Paces Dow; Apple's Pain Grows

The twin Financial Frankensteins of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to wreak havoc on US Taxpayers

Obama administration backs private twist to public housing

NYC's Comptroller threatens to remove pension funds from Big Banks which are dragging their feet on loan modifications for homeowners

San Diego: Home Sales Up Due To Expiring Tax Credits, Soon To Change To Strong Head Wind

Get Ready for a Cataclysmic Market Crash! (Or Maybe Not)

Meet the Man Who Made a Fortune Exploiting the Poor With Payday Loans

WSJ: "Too Rich To Live?"


First Data cuts 78 employees from its staff in Ventura, CA

Mosaic Warns 221 of Layoffs at South Fort Meade Mine

Long Beach School Board fires 357 teachers

St. Francis Hospital in Kansas to cut 105 workers

Netflix to lay off 125 in Orange County

50 Lee County, FL workers for Department of Transportation to be cut as county tax base plummets from $96.5 Billion to $55 Billion

Salinas hospital offers buyout to 138 employees but really wanted to cut 200 employees from every department

59 year old laid off lawyer has applied for over 1000 jobs in 18 months and has never been called back for an interview

80 Oakland Police Officers laid off

Business/Economic News for July 13, 2010

Homeowners vs. Home-Loan Buyers

Treat reckless corporate behavior like DUI

The New Economy: Death By Savings

Dynasty Trusts Game No Taxed Pass Downs For The Rich: America Builds An Aristocracy

The Disappearing Intellectual in the Age of Economic Darwinism

James Howard Kunstler: "Where Have We Been? Where Are We Going?"

Charles Hugh Smith - "Con Of The Decade, Part 2"

U.K. Stocks Extend Drop After U.S. Housing Data Trails Forecast



Copper falls to lowest price in a week as US Housing starts lowest in a year

San Diego developers of giant condo project have yet to sell one of their 679 units, so they are renting them out, adding to San Diego's huge "Shadow Inventory"

Bush's Treasury Secretary, Henry "Golden Slacks" Paulson, Pays $24.5 Million For Aspen Mansion

The rich do it too – Los Angeles County and million dollar distressed properties. 1,947 homes in L.A. County valued at $1 million or more are three payments behind or in foreclosure. Beverly Hills prices down 31 percent from one year ago. 14 out 100 homes on the MLS are priced at $1 million and up

Disappearing Middle Class: 60 year old Florida Keys couple lose jobs and Islamorada home

Moody's expects debt levels for housing to stay at high levels for another 12 to 18 months, says foreclosures will not slow down any time soon

Revolving Door Sweetheart Deal: Ex-Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) Named New Head Of Chase Bank's Florida Market

Hugh Hefner Wants To Buy Back Playboy And Take It Private

FDIC sues former Executives at Indymac's homebuilding loan division

Municipal broadband haters in NC dealt a blow

Take Two: US Issues Revised Offshore Drilling Band

Florida Keys Wake Up Call: Cuba Allows Spanish Company To Drill For Oil In Area Only 60 Miles Off Key West's Doorstep

Fareek Zakaria's Interview Of Harvard's Niall Ferguson:

You are about to enjoy a great interview of Harvard Professor Niall Ferguson who is currently having Op-Ed wars with Paul Krugman in the NY Times. Ferguson, interviewd by a prepared Zakaria, makes a great case that we must have a "regime change" in fiscal policy.

Here are some Ferguson quotes:

" . . . At some point, the nasty fiscal arithmetic will get any country, even the United States . . . which is seen as the most attractive, the most safe haven country to invest it. I've been saying for a while US Treasuries are a safe haven the way Pearl Harbor was a safe haven in early 1941. It's safe until it's not safe. It's safe until the bond market says 'Wait a second, this isn't sustainable . . . we'd like a risk premium."

"Once you find your interest payments suddenly rising, it's very quickly a shift into a death spiral . . . a kind of tailspin in which things compound. The Greeks have been there, Spain is there now. Japan could be next, the UK teetering on the brink and somewhat within the next couple of years, the reality will be the Paul Krugman recipe will end up having costs exceed the benefits."

Ferguson goes on to give his ideas and other's options which are much different than Krugman's and Keynesian Economist's answers to the Crisis up to now.

A very engaging interview:

Part 1





Part 2

Business/Economic News for July 12, 2010

Oil falls to near $75 ahead of US company earnings

Bill Fleckenstein's latest podcast interview worth hearing in which he makes a case for a flat tax

The Chinese Coal Monster

Robert Reich: "We're In A Recession Because The Rich Are Raking In An Absurd Portion Of The Wealth"

Pfizer: The Drug Giant That Makes Bank from Drugs That Can Kill You

Small investors flee stocks, changing market dynamics

Gold ticks lower but holds above $1,200

More Americans' credit scores sink to new lows

Global Housing Bubble - Based on Ratio of Price to Rent, Which Countries are the Bubbliest?

Paul Krugman: "Trending Toward Deflation"

Charles Hugh Smith: The Con of the Decade Part I

The Daily Bail: "On the camapagin trail, TARP support means big trouble for incumbents - - especially John McCain



Chinese company Datang to build 500 MW of wind energy in Pakistan

Tide turning against dirty coal for energy production

Japan, Russia to build LPG plant in Vladivostok

Japan’s Stocks Advance as Commodity Prices Gain, Yen Weakens

Housing Gets Sick on Keynesian Roller Coaster: Kevin Hassett

Hawaiian homeowners in Loan Modification Program are foreclosing more and more

As Census ends, many census workers lose jobs

Iraq oil exports hit 2 million barrels per day

Louisiana Pushes BP for Fisherman Aid

BP reportedly in talks to sell Alaska oil stake

Atlantic City to lay off additional 93 city workers, possibly many more

Avid’s Brain Dye Can Spot Alzheimer’s, Study Says