Foreclosure
activity reverses course, rising again - (www.cnbc.com) After
falling for four years straight, the number of U.S. properties scheduled for
foreclosure auction in August was higher than it was a year ago, according to a
new report from RealtyTrac, a foreclosure sales and analytics company. The rise
was very small, just one percent, but it was, nonetheless, a warning that the
foreclosure crisis is not entirely over. "The messy business of cleaning
up the distress lingering from the housing bust continues in many
markets," said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. "The
annual increase in foreclosure auctions — the first since the robo-signing
controversy rocked the foreclosure industry back in late 2010 — indicates
mortgage servicers are finally adjusting to the new paradigms for proper
foreclosure that have been implemented in many states, whether by legislation
or litigation or both."
Dem
congressmen's hypocrisy on minimum wage – (what-is-is.blogspot.com) Seldom
do I quote the far-right Daily Caller, much less agree with it, but never say
never. (HT: AL). I tells it like it is, and lets the chips fall where
they may. Check it [emphasis mine]: According to a new study by the Employment Policies Institute (EPI),
only four percent of the 210 lawmakers who pledged their allegiance to a bill
raising the minimum wage pay their interns. The Fair Minimum Wage Act would
increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour. EPI
found that 96 percent of its House and Senate supporters give their
interns a minimum wage of zero. For shame, my liberal comrades! Seriously
though, I've written before about the institutional elitism of unpaid
professional internships.
There ought to be a law against them, except in very special circumstances.
If something is worth doing, it's worth paying for; if it's worth paying
for, then unpaid interns shouldn't be allowed to do it. They displace people
who are looking for jobs but can't afford to work for free.
Santander
weighs as European shares fall for fourth session - (www.reuters.com) Shares
in Santander fell 1.7 percent after Emilio Botin, who transformed the firm from
a small domestic lender into the euro zone's biggest bank, died of a heart
attack on Tuesday night. The stock knocked nearly 3 points off the Euro STOXX
50 index of euro zone blue
chips, which was down 13.01 points, or 0.4 percent, at 3,232.42 points at 0751
GMT. "He was perceived as the man who built Santander into a global
bank," Javier Bernat Valenzuela, an analyst at Beka Finance in Madrid, said. "He has been the
person who has looked after the bank for the last 30 years but you have to
realise there will not be significant changes because the bank is pretty well
structured."
Struggling
Homeowners Are Shouldering The Responsibility Of U.S. Deficit - (www.mfi-miami.com) No
Fannie/Freddie Mortgage Write-Downs Means More Cash For Uncle Sam. Since the
housing crisis began in 2007, the major banks and the major servicers have paid
nearly $130 Billion in fines and court settlements to settle mortgage fraud
issues with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These settlements have brought Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac out of insolvency and on the path to profitability
with a projected profit of $180 billion for 2014 with a projected profit of $190 Billion to $250 Billion in 2015.
Unfortunately, the likelihood of underwater
homeowners receiving any type of a “thanks for bailing us out” gift from Fannie
Mae or Freddie Mac in the form of a principal write downs have yet to
materialize. Advocacy groups had hoped that principal write-downs would come
after former Democratic Congressman, Mel Watt took the helm of the Federal
Housing Finance Authority, the government agency that oversees Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac,
Exclusive:
Japan, U.S. discussing offensive military capability for Tokyo - Japan
officials - (www.reuters.com) Japan and
the United States are exploring the possibility of Tokyo acquiring offensive
weapons that would allow Japan to project power far beyond its borders,
Japanese officials said, a move that would likely infuriate China.
While Japan's intensifying rivalry with China dominates
the headlines, Tokyo's focus would be the ability to take out North Korean
missile bases, said three Japanese officials involved in the process. They said
Tokyo was holding the informal, previously undisclosed talks with Washington
about capabilities that would mark an enhancement of military might for a
country that has not fired a shot in anger since its defeat in World War Two. The
talks on what Japan regards
as a "strike capability" are preliminary and do not cover specific
hardware at this stage, the Japanese officials told Reuters.
China
May Soon Go the Way of Japan, Says Merrill Lynch - (www.bloomberg.com)
Putin orders combat readiness checks for troops in Russia's east - (www.reuters.com)
Putin orders combat readiness checks for troops in Russia's east - (www.reuters.com)
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