“Potential for financial system crisis is still feared”
“Greece has continuing economic problems”
“The Federal government is considering Value-Added-Tax”
“California fighting off bankruptcy”
“Federal government bureaucracy growing fast”
“Unemployment is persistent difficulty for economy” (…and so on)
These seem to be all disjointed headlines. A patch of problems here…a crisis over there…and some difficulty over here. Worry and concern seem to be everywhere and for good reason. Prosperity seems as unreachable as the stars. What will hopefully dawn on people is that there is a common thread throughout all this upheaval. It is really the epic economic battle of “Freedom vs. Statism”.
Let no Incumbent Survive (the next Three Elections) by Mike Endres - FinancialSense.com Fact: There is no difference between the Republican and Democratic political parties. Both are concerned only with maintaining power in the Presidency and Congress and over the American citizen and will do whatever it takes to buy, bribe or force within and outside the law to accomplish this goal. Fact: The appointed and supposedly independent "regulators" appointed by President Obama (and those before him) are a farce on the very face of it. They do not regulate or act as watchdogs for the public but instead act in every way to enable the Military/Industrial complex, banks and power brokers to cheat, lie, misuse taxpayer funds for personal gain and generally rip us all off with complete impunity (Goldman Sachs not withstanding). They do not enforce laws that are on the books now, much less provide inputs to a currently useless and corrupt Congress on how to to protect the taxpayer or figure more ways to eliminate waste and fraud in order to release more funds to the private sector to truly create jobs and new industries and technology.
George Soros and the next financial crisis by Clif Droke - FinancialSense.com Speculation has been rife in the financial press lately about the possibility of another financial market meltdown. It seems that investors are waiting for the proverbial “other shoe” to drop as worries continue to mount over the sustainability of the financial market recovery that began over one year ago. Even the president of the United States has jumped on the fear bandwagon. On Thursday, President Obama was stumping in New York as he attempts to win favor for his proposed financial overhaul legislation. Playing the fear card, Obama said it was “essential that we learn the lessons of this crisis, so we don’t doom ourselves to repeat it. And make no mistake; that is exactly what will happen if we allow this moment to pass.”
Ron Paul: They're Warmongering Like It's 2002!
Gold could hit $1,600/oz but silver, pgms will likely outperform Author: Dorothy Kosich - Mineweb.co.za RENO, NV - Under the right circumstances, BMO Capital Markets' Bart Melek says gold could rally as high as $1,600 per ounce by 2011. In analysis published Thursday, Melek said, "Silver, platinum and palladium are expected to outperform gold, benefiting from their quasi-money properties and high use in industrial applications." "Gold is projected to strengthen modestly, buoyed by long-term inflation concerns, sovereign debt, the U.S. dollar, fiat currencies generally and the expectation that the Fed will not raise rates aggressively," he said.
Gold survives Goldman Sachs By Peter Brimelow, MarketWatch Radical gold bugs jubilant, if jaundiced NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold rebounds, and the gold bugs are gathering. When I last wrote about gold, it was after what I called "freaky Friday" -- the steep, chart-disrupting price slump in gold triggered by heavy selling following the Goldman Sachs litigation announcement. About the only element in the gold-watching crowd not aghast was the hard-bitten group I call the "radical gold bugs," mustered around Bill Murphy's LeMetropolecafe Web site. They were comforted (as so often) by their confidence in Indian buying. And they were even morbidly cheered (they're funny that way) by what they regarded as further proof of their defining belief: that the gold market is often manipulated by public and private interests.
Gold futures inch up after seesaw session By Claudia Assis & Kate Gibson, MarketWatch Rising dollar takes toll on metal; platinum sets 20-month high -- SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures edged higher Monday as concerns about Greece's aid package and euro-zone countries provided a floor for prices, but a stronger dollar capped bigger gains. Gold futures for June delivery, the most active contract, gained 30 cents, or 0.03%, to settle at $1,154 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. It earlier hit an intraday low of $1,151.10 an ounce and an intraday high of $1,160.70 an ounce. Other metals tracked gold's moderate gains, with platinum setting a 20-month high for a most-active contract.
Venezuela's Hugo Chavez threatens to nationalize gold mining Author: Dorothy Kosich - Mineweb.co.za -- "We cannot allow national and transnational mafias to continue destroying our homeland," the Venezuelan President said during his regular Sunday broadcast RENO, NV - After seizing the Las Brisas gold project from Gold Reserve and denying appeals for final approval of Crystallex's Las Cristinas gold mine, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has now threatened to nationalize gold mining concessions. During his regular Sunday broadcast, Chavez said, "If we are going to exploit our gold reserves we will have to nationalize the lost, recover and put an end to the degenerative (system of) concessions...they have only served to deplete the rainforests, the mines, water supplies and the environment."
Climbing The Wall of Worry by Warren Bevan - FinancialSense.com While things are incredibly bullish everywhere you look, including the precious metals, options expiry is Tuesday April 27, so be aware gold and silver could see some consolidation until that passes. The general markets continue to power higher in the classic “wall of worry” fashion. I worry every day about holding positions overnight, but they almost always seem to continue higher the following day. We are nearing a top, but until then I am surfing that wave higher, nervously.
The Fall of the Euro By Howard S. Katz - GoldSeek.com Many a weekend since the beginning of the year has been occupied by a “crisis” in the euro. But this weekend’s “crisis” seems to be the mother of them all. As such, it will probably put an end to them, and the gold market will pull out of its funk and resume its bull trend. The euro is based on the West German deutschmark. In 1957, Konrad Adenauer instituted the Bundesbank and started Germany on a path of very limited issues of money. Like all other countries of the time the Bundesbank issued paper money. However, it issued it far more conservatively than any other central bank. As a result, Germany’s progress was so rapid that it became known as the “German Economic Miracle.”
On the Brink of an Asset Explosion, II by Toby Connor - FinancialSense.com Let me start off by saying the market should be correcting. Sentiment has reached ridiculous bullish extremes, the kind of extremes that led to the January /February correction. That correction separated the second leg of the bull from the third. But let’s face it, sentiment has been in this condition for several weeks now and the best we could muster was a minor correction of 30 points on the news the SEC was filing charges against Goldman Sachs for fraud.
Bureaucracy Backfire By: CAPTAINHOOK - GoldSeek.com As with Rome, that became the globally unchallenged center of power and finance in its time, so to is the American Empire visibly rotting from inside now as well, which will be its undoing. The elitists steer the bureaucracy to do their bidding in an effort to increase the power of the machine, and this can go on for some time, which it has. However again, as with all such fascist like episodes in history, the bureaucracy grow past sustainable mass and eventually must feed on itself, playing the blame game in an attempt to maintain a semblance of credibility with the public they intend to keep raping. That’s what the financial crisis hearings are suppose to do. They are suppose to make an increasingly besieged and weary public feel better about continued gang rape by the bureaucracy via increasing taxes, loss of liberties, and confiscation of wealth.
U.S. Finally Starts Dumping Citigroup -- Smart Move, Tim Geithner! by Henry Blodget - Tech ticker After years of bailouts, outrage, and disappointment at the hands of Wall Street behemoth Citigroup (C), the US taxpayer is finally catching a break. The Treasury is unloading the first batch of the 7.7 billion Citigroup shares that taxpayers acquired in the course of bailing the firm out at least three times during the financial crisis--and, on these shares, anyway, taxpayers are actually making a profit.
Republicans block bank-reform bill By Ronald D. Orol, MarketWatch Democrats fail to overcome filibuster, may try again on Wednesday WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The Democrats' efforts to change how the nation's banks are regulated received a major setback Monday after Republicans voted unanimously to block the bill from coming up for debate by the full Senate. "We're not going to be rushed based on assurances from the other side," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., shortly before the vote.
4 tough questions for Goldman Sachs By David Ellis NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Goldman Sachs' moment of public flogging is here. On Tuesday, top representatives from Wall Street's most powerful firm will appear on Capitol Hill, where they are expected to endure a harsh line of questioning from lawmakers about their role in helping bring about the financial crisis. Much of the focus however will likely center on the complicated mortgage investment Goldman (GS, Fortune 500) sold that is now the subject of a civil fraud suit brought against the firm earlier this month by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Goldman's "Fabulous" Fab's Conflicted Love Letters By Steve Eder and Karey Wutkowski - ABCNews.com NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fabrice Tourre and his girlfriend talked like a couple very much in love. They emailed back and forth about how they wanted to curl up in each other's arms and how they looked forward to tender moments together. Tourre, a Goldman Sachs bond trader, also wrote in the emails of the impending collapse of the subprime mortgage market and how he was masterminding ways at Goldman to make money from it. Little did they know that three years later these very personal emails written through Tourre's Goldman Sachs e-mail account would become part of one of the biggest investigations into the subsequent financial crisis. In the email exchanges between Tourre and his girlfriend, Marine Serres, Tourre comes off as a young, hotshot trader who foresaw the subprime meltdown while still selling shoddy subprime-backed products so prolifically he could peddle them to "widows and orphans."
Tourre emails show agony, ecstasy of being a banker By Alistair Barr, MarketWatch Goldman executive director wrestled with 'ethical questions' SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Fabrice Tourre comes across as an arrogant investment banker in the Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit against him and his employer Goldman Sachs Group Inc. But personal emails released by Goldman this weekend show Tourre struggling with "ethical questions" as he sold complex mortgage-related securities that he worried were suspect. The SEC charged Goldman with securities fraud on April 16, alleging the investment bank didn't tell investors in a collateralized debt obligation that hedge fund firm Paulson & Co. helped structure the deal and was betting against it. Goldman and Paulson have denied wrongdoing.
Inner workings at Goldman revealed By Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington and Francesco Guerrera in New York - FT -- In their 16-month probe into Goldman Sachs, Senate investigators described on Monday how they frequently found the letters “LDL” in company e-mail correspondence. The letters were short for “Let’s Discuss Live”, and at that point, investigators said, the trail went cold. But even though Goldman had a habit of keeping sensitive discussions out of e-mails, some documents shed light on its inner workings. Among them are self-written career appraisals by former executives who will testify on Tuesday before a US Senate panel about its trading activities in the financial crisis.
"Completely Wicked": Martin Wolf and Simon Johnson on Goldman Fraud Case by Aaron Task - Tech Ticker -- John Paulson and top associate Paolo Pellegrini have broken their silence on the hedge fund's role in the Goldman fraud case. In a letter to investors, Paulson told clients the firm's role in the Abacus deal was "appropriate and conducted in good faith," The FT reports. Meanwhile, CNBC reports Pellegrini told the government he informed ACA Management that Paulson intended to short the Abacus portfolio at the heart of the SEC's fraud charge. If true, the testimony would undercut the SEC's claim that ACA was kept in the dark about Paulson's intentions.
Senate Panel Says Goldman Sachs 'Misled the Country,' Helped Create Housing Bubble By MATTHEW JAFFE - ABCNews.com Sen. Carl Levin: Goldman Sachs Helped Inject 'Toxins' Into Financial System Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs helped create a housing bubble by selling securities backed by risky subprime mortgage loans and then profited off that bubble's bursting by secretly betting against the market, a Senate investigation has found. A day before a high-profile hearing featuring numerous Goldman Sachs officials, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a flurry of excerpts from internal bank documents that the panel says show that the embattled firm misled the American public about its role in the build-up to the financial crisis in September 2008.
Goldman Emails Show Need for Transparency: Summers WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Emails sent by Goldman Sachs Group Inc's executives on money the firm made by betting against risky mortgage securities highlight the need for transparency in financial markets, senior White House adviser Lawrence Summers said on Sunday. Summers, on CBS's "Face the Nation," said he would not comment on specifics of a fraud suit against Goldman brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Euro Falls on Concern Greece Aid Package Won’t Contain Crisis By Yasuhiko Seki and Ben Levisohn April 27 (Bloomberg) -- The euro dropped against the yen on concern the European Union-led 45 billion euro ($60 billion) aid package for Greece won’t stop the deficit crisis from spreading. Europe’s common currency traded near its lowest level since January versus the pound as German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she won’t release funds for Greece until the nation has a “sustainable” plan to reduce its shortfall. The dollar traded near its strongest level in almost three weeks versus the yen on speculation the Federal Reserve is moving closer to withdrawing stimulus as the U.S. economic recovery gathers momentum.
Greece in limbo will keep markets volatile DANIEL BASES AND VIVIANNE RODRIGUES - Mail & Guardian Until investors have a clear idea of exactly how much money Greece will receive from the European Union and the IMF -- and when -- uncertainty stemming from the Hellenic Republic's growing fiscal despair will weigh on global markets. For Greece, the situation is critical as the cost of insuring its debt against default jumps from record to record, and the cost of raising capital to pay off old debts and run the country has spiraled out of control.
Rogoff Says Greece May Not Be Europe’s Last Bailout By Simon Kennedy April 26 (Bloomberg) -- Greece is unlikely to be the last euro nation to need an International Monetary Fund bailout, with Ireland, Spain and Portugal “conspicuously vulnerable,” said Harvard Professor Kenneth Rogoff. “It’s more likely than not that we’ll need an IMF program in at least one more country in the euro area over the next two to three years,” Rogoff, a former IMF chief economist who has co-authored studies of financial and sovereign debt crises, said in a telephone interview. “The budget cuts needed in Europe in many countries are profound.”
Greek bonds plunge again By David Oakley in London, Quentin Peel in Berlin and Kerin Hope in Athens - FT.com -- Greek bond markets plunged on Monday amid growing worries among investors that the country will need to restructure its debts in spite of a proposed €45bn ($60bn) assistance package from the international community. The yield on two-year Greek government bonds, which has an inverse relationship with price, jumped 3 percentage points – the biggest one-day rise since the country joined the euro nine years ago – to close at 13.522 per cent.
G20 wary of overconfidence as Greece cast long shadow LOUISE EGAN AND FRANCESCA LANDINI - Mail & Guardian G20 finance leaders said on Friday they had secured a better-than-expected global economic recovery but were wary of overconfidence as Greece's debt crisis put the focus on worsening public finances. The Group of 20 rich and emerging countries failed to forge consensus on how best to recoup the cost of bailing out financial firms, whose risky bets sent the global economy into its worst tailspin since World War II.
Celente: Obama = Wall Street? Celente on corruption and gambling in finance
Top 10 mortgage fraud states By Les Christie - CNNNews.com NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Mortgage fraud is still on the rise, according to a report released Monday, despite efforts by law enforcement and policy makers to rein it in. Incidents of mortgage fraud perpetrated by industry professionals increased 7% in 2009, after jumping 26% the year before, said the Mortgage Asset Research Institute (MARI), a division of LexisNexis. The worst-hit states include Florida, California, Arizona, New York, New Jersey and Maryland. (See table at right).
Mortgage Fraud Incidents Rise 7 Pct Last Year By ADRIAN SAINZ AP - ABCNews.com Report finds fraud still a problem for mortgage industry; incidents rise 7 percent in 2009 Incidents of residential mortgage fraud increased last year, a sign that scammers are still targeting the industry despite more diligent efforts to find and report such activity. The number of mortgage fraud reports among loans made in 2009 grew 7 percent, a smaller increase than the 26 percent jump seen the previous year, according to a study released Monday by the LexisNexis Mortgage Asset Research Institute.
Buyers have no moral duty to lenders by Brent T. White Brent T. White Associate professor of law, UA - The Arizona Republic As a result of the housing collapse, many Arizonans have seen their homes lose half of their value. Many owe several hundred thousand dollars more than their homes are worth and are unlikely to dig out of their negative equity hole for decades. For these homeowners, the American dream has become a nightmare - and their financial future is dim. To compound the stress and anxiety, when they've called their lender to work out a solution, they've discovered that their lender won't even talk to them about a loan modification or a short sale as long as they are current on their mortgage.
Why it Would Take 9 Years to Clear the Current Housing Backlog By Rocky Vega - The DailyReckoning.com 04/26/10 Stockholm, Sweden – At this point there are so many bank-owned foreclosed homes that it would take almost nine years to clear out the housing inventory. That time frame doesn’t even begin to take into consideration the additional homes that are likely to also enter the backlog while the current inventory of foreclosed homes gets cleared out. According to The Wall Street Journal: “How much should we worry about a new leg down in the housing market? If the number of foreclosed homes piling up at banks is any indication, there’s ample reason for concern.
Sales-tax hike could weigh heavily on Cave Creek retailers by Beth Duckett - The Arizona Republic Faith Weinberg has conflicting views on a state sales-tax increase that, if passed, would bolster education but deliver a blow to local businesses. A Cave Creek business owner and parent,Weinberg said local businesses are balking at the 1-cent-per-dollar hike that would propel Cave Creek's sales tax to 10.3 cents per dollar, the highest in Maricopa County. But she will likely vote for it anyway. "It's intended to help the schools," said Weinberg, owner of Big Bronco store. "It's not just because I have a son in middle school, but it's the future of our children."
Fed May Keep Rates Low as Tight Credit Impedes Small Businesses By Steve Matthews and Vivien Lou Chen -- April 26 (Bloomberg) -- Michael Chapman, the owner of a building company with 20 employees in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has had trouble getting a bank loan and this month he let Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Hoenig know it. Tight credit in commercial real estate “has really made it impossible for banks to lend to people like me,” the president of Chapman Homes said during a question period after an April 7 speech by Hoenig. Chapman said his company, unable to get a loan to hire 15 workers while big Wall Street firms get record bailouts, is “too small to succeed.”
REIT American Mortgage files for bankruptcy NEW YORK, April 26 (Reuters) - Real estate investment trust American Mortgage Acceptance Co filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday, blaming a sharp drop in property values. The company, which invests in multifamily and commercial property mortgage loans, said in court documents it had assets of about $6.4 million and liabilities of about $120 million, according to court documents. In 2007, the company had owned assets worth $666.4 million.
California to Refinance $2 Billion Power-Crisis Bonds Next Week By William Selway -- April 26 (Bloomberg) -- California is planning to sell $2 billion of bonds next week to refinance debt that raised money to purchase electricity for cash-strapped utilities during the state’s power crisis in 2001 and 2002. The California Department of Water Resources is scheduled to sell the securities on May 5, according to California Treasurer Bill Lockyer’s office. Tom Dresslar, a spokesman for Lockyer, said the securities will be offered first to small investors, with shorter maturities intended to capture the interest of that market.
Generation Y faces steep financial hurdles by Christine Dugas - USA Today They're called "Generation Y" — teens and twenty-somethings known stereotypically for their coddled upbringing, confidence, opinionated dialogue, free-spending habits and openness to change. Ultimately, however, the more than 50 million members may be best remembered for whether they can overcome the dire financial straits that plague many of them. Even before the recession, those in Generation Y — the latest products of a get-it-now, pay-for-it-later mind-set that has permeated the nation's economy — faced a range of financial pitfalls as they embraced expensive high-tech gadgets and added credit card debt onto student loans.
Sign of the times: Going swapping, not shopping By Olivia Barker, USA TODAY PHILADELPHIA — In a funky corner of this sprawling city, a sisterhood of a traveling black dress is forming. First, Dara Patrusky picked up the Ted Baker halter dress from a Buffalo Exchange thrift store (it still had the tags). Then she passed it on to her friend, Naomi Brownstein. Now, Brownstein has brought it here to the Bohema boutique, where Patrusky, in a twin nod to spring-cleaning season and Earth Day, is hosting her latest clothes swap and where Brownstein hopes the frock finds a new and grateful owner.
Younger adults to pay more for health insurance by Ken Alltucker - The Arizona Republic Health insurers: Rates likely to spike in 2014 Young adults likely will face sticker shock when mandatory health insurance becomes law. Health insurers say that health-insurance rates for young adults in Arizona likely will spike when mandatory coverage starts in four years. Under reform legislation passed last month by Congress, older adults cannot be charged more than three times as much as younger adults just based on age. Such restriction on "age-rating" likely means that younger, healthier adults will subsidize health insurance for older adults when mandatory coverage begins in 2014, health insurers say.
Insurers: Brace for fast and furious costs By Parija Kavilanz - CNNMoney.com NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- As the insurance industry prepares to adjust to reform, two big players say mandated changes that kick in soon could push up premiums faster and greater than before. "The headline for everyone is that costs will be more. Cost will definitely go up," said Mark Bertolini, president of Aetna (AET, Fortune 500), which covers more than 19 million individuals under its plans. However, Bertolini declined to say specifically how much premiums would increase other than to say the biggest impact on them would happen in 2014 when the health law is fully implemented.
Here's the Beef: U.S. Cattle Prices Are Rising With the Economy By BRUCE KENNEDY - DailyFinance.com -- It's been quite a spring for Bill Gray. The former president of the Colorado Cattlemen's Association has been watching the price of beef rise throughout the winter, monitoring the changing prices, sometimes by the hour, on his computer in Ordway, near Pueblo. In August he sold 600-pound steer calves for November delivery at $1 a pound. But last week, comparable-size winter steers in his part of southern Colorado sold at $1.28 a pound. You'd think he'd be pleased to see such a sharp price increase for his product. "I would be very happy if it just stayed where it is," says Gray of the price of beef. "We've had such an upswing in the market since the first of the year. It's going to have to stop and take a breath."
Appeals Court Rules Walmart Sex Discrimination Case Can Go to Trial By EMILY FRIEDMAN - ABCNews.com -- Walmart Fears Suit Could Cost The Chain Billions A class action lawsuit representing more than 1 million women got the green light to proceed today against Walmart Stores Inc. Walmart claims the suit, which alleges the giant chain store discriminates against female employees, could cost it billions of dollars if it is upheld. The reputation of an iconic company is also on the line.
Both sides of immigration debate blame congressional inaction for Arizona law By Peter Slevin - Washington Post -- PHOENIX -- On the grounds of the capitol, in a state that only days earlier had adopted the nation's strictest anti-immigration law, the two sides of an angry debate are united on one thing: They blame Washington. Years of congressional inaction and paralysis on immigration created a vacuum that either forced the Arizona legislature to step in or allowed overzealous legislators to trump federal authority, depending on whom you ask.
Mexican officials condemn Arizona's tough new immigration law By William Booth - Washington Post -- MEXICO CITY -- President Felipe Calderón on Monday vigorously condemned a tough new immigration law in Arizona that requires police to question anyone who appears to be in the country illegally -- a measure Calderón said "opens the door to intolerance and hatred." Under the new law, signed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) on Friday, legal immigrants will be required to carry documents proving their status. Police will question anyone they "reasonably suspect" of being undocumented, and illegal immigrants could be detained and handed over to federal authorities. The law takes effect in 90 days. Brewer said the costs of uncontrolled illegal immigration and the lack of enforcement by the federal government forced her state to act on its own.
New Arizona law forcing hard choices on migrants by Tim Gaynor (Reuters) - With Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigrants looming, Guatemalan Samuel Roldan is swapping the family's battered Chevy Suburban, which he feels marks them out as low-income migrants, for a smarter, more corporate-looking Nissan. "When you have an old car with stickers for a Spanish-language radio station ... it's only logical that they will think you are Hispanic and you don't have papers," Roldan said. Roldan is among an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants in the Mexico border state carefully weighing their options on Monday, three days after Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed the United States' toughest immigration measure into law.
Boycotts of Arizona immigration law add up By Roger Yu, USA TODAY Many officials in Arizona's tourism and hospitality industry fear that the state's new immigration law is anything but hospitable. Hotel owners, tour operators and convention executives say the law could discourage visitors and companies from meeting there at a time when one of the state's vital industries already is suffering. The law, signed by Gov. Jan Brewer last week, makes it a misdemeanor to not prove lawful U.S. residence when asked to provide such documentation. Already there are ramifications and threats:
Home Tax Credit Called Successful, but Costly By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI - NYTimes.com Realtors, home buyers and sellers are rushing to complete sales agreements before the tax credit for home purchases expires this week. Home buyers must have a deal by April 30 and close by June 30 to qualify for the federal tax break, up to $8,000 for first-timers and $6,500 for those merely moving to a different residence. Though the Treasury Department and the real estate industry have termed the program a success, helping 1.8 million people buy homes, many tax policy experts say it has been singularly cost-ineffective: most of the $12.6 billion in credits through end of February was collected by people who would have bought homes anyway or who in some cases were not even eligible.
Cape Cod Project Is Crucial Step for U.S. Wind Industry By TOM ZELLER Jr. - NYTimes.com More than 800 giant wind turbines spin off the coasts of Denmark, Britain and seven other European countries, generating enough electricity from strong ocean breezes to power hundreds of thousands of homes. China’s first offshore wind farm, a 102-megawatt venture near Shanghai, goes online this month, with more in the pipeline. But despite a decade of efforts, not a single offshore turbine has been built in the United States. Experts say progress has been slowed by a variety of factors, including poor economics, an uncertain regulatory framework and local opposition.
Oil still leaking from sunken Gulf rig By Steve Hargreaves - CNNMoney.com NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The well beneath the oil rig that erupted in a deadly blast last week in the Gulf of Mexico is leaking oil at a rate of about 42,000 gallons a day, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The spill has the potential to become significant if left unchecked, although it would take the better part of a year to rival the Exxon Valdez grounding, which discharged some 11 million gallons into Alaska's Price William Sound. The Coast Guard said it is preparing for the worst.
JORDAN: Israeli threat to expel Palestinians stokes old fears For many Jordanians, an Israeli ruling this month expanding the state's authority to arrest and deport people in the West Bank is more than an injustice foisted on the Palestinians of the West Bank -- it is also seen as a threat to Jordanian identity. Earlier this month, an Israeli military court amended an existing law to allow Israeli authorities to arrest, imprison or deport anyone in the West Bank lacking a recognized permit, leading rights groups to warn of the possibility of mass deportations of Palestinians.
U.N. pulls foreign workers out of Afghan city of Kandahar By Laura King LATimes.com Local staffers were also told to stay home. The decisions reflect the perilous state of security in Afghanistan’s second-largest city, where two civilians were killed in explosions Monday. Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan Reflecting the sharply deteriorating security situation in Kandahar, Afghanistan's second-largest metropolis, the United Nations on Monday pulled foreign staff out of the city and instructed hundreds of local employees not to come to work. The move came on the same day as a series of explosions in the city killed two civilians.
Pakistanis Living on Brink, and Too Often in the Dark By SABRINA TAVERNISE - NYTimes.com LAHORE, Pakistan — The Taliban may be plotting bombings, and the economy is on the brink. But these days, the single biggest woe tormenting Pakistanis is as basic as an electric light bulb. Pakistan is in the throes of an energy crisis, with Pakistanis now enduring about 12 hours of power cuts a day, a grueling schedule that is melting ice, stopping fans and enraging an already exhausted populace just as the blast furnace of summer gets started
Military's Hypersonic Falcon Missile Test a Dud? FOXNews.com On the heels of last week's top-secret X37-B launch, the U.S. Air Force launched -- and ultimately crashed -- an experimental hypersonic glider theoretically capable of hitting Mach 20. It was a watershed week for conspiracy theorists, with President Barack Obama throwing his support behind several major upgrades to the country's rapid-response strike capability. On the heels of the top-secret X37-B launch, the U.S. Air Force launched an even more secret experimental hypersonic glider able to travel more than 4,000 miles in 30 minutes from launch. The craft -- dubbed the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 -- was launched via a Minotaur 4-Lite rocket Thursday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, the Air Force announced.
Launch X-37B on Atlas V 501
X-37B Orbital Vehicle
USAF X-37 Orbital Test Vehicle Launch With Background
Pentagon planning for space bomber Documents show how X-plane could be used by military By Robert Windrem - NBC News producer Aug. 14, 2001 - An experimental NASA spacecraft could well be the harbinger for a small armada of billion-dollar space bombers - "space operations vehicles" that could be launched from a U.S. base and fire weapons at almost any target on Earth, all within 90 minutes of a presidential order. Last May 19, well out of the glare of the media spotlight, the stubby 22-foot-long unmanned spacecraft rolled to a stop at 6:17 a.m. on the hot, dry lakebed of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
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