links

Saturday Reads Around The Internets - WaMu Executives, Courts, Judges & Debtor's Prison

Submitted by on

shocknews
Welcome to the weekly roundup of great articles, facts and figures. These are the weekly finds that made our eyes pop.

This week a flurry of events happened that were obscured by the tragedy in Japan.

Debtor's Prison is Back!

Supposedly abolished 1833, Debtor's Prison is back with a vengeance. Did you know you can go to jail over some unscrupulous creditor trying to collect from you? O'Reilly? How come we can't lock up unscrupulous creditors trying to collect on services not rendered or 80% interest rates? The Wall Street Journal:

Some lawmakers, judges and regulators are trying to rein in the U.S. debt-collection industry's use of arrest warrants to recoup money owed by borrowers who are behind on credit-card payments, auto loans and other bills.

More than a third of all U.S. states allow borrowers who can't or won't pay to be jailed. Judges have signed off on more than 5,000 such warrants since the start of 2010 in nine counties with a total population of 13.6 million people, according to a tally by The Wall Street Journal of filings in those counties. Nationwide figures aren't known because many courts don't keep track of warrants by alleged offense. In interviews, 20 judges across the nation said the number of borrowers threatened with arrest in their courtrooms has surged since the financial crisis began.

Saturday Reads Around The Internets - Banksters & Bad Trade

Submitted by on

shocknews
Welcome to the weekly roundup of great articles, facts and figures. These are the weekly finds that made our eyes pop.

No Charges....Again for the Banksters

AIG, Goldman Sachs, Countrywide...the list goes on and on. To date there have been no real consequences or criminal charges for the people who committed the biggest fraud in history which brought the globe's economy to it's knees. The latest is Lehman Brothers:

The U.S. government's investigation into the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. has hit daunting hurdles that could result in no civil or criminal charges ever being filed against the company's former executives, people familiar with the situation said.

In recent months, Securities and Exchange Commission officials have grown increasingly doubtful they can prove that Lehman violated U.S. laws by using an accounting maneuver to move as much as $50 billion in assets off its balance sheet, which made it appear that the securities firm had reduced its debt levels.

SEC officials also aren't confident they could win any lawsuit accusing former Lehman employees, including former Lehman Chief Executive Richard Fuld Jr., of failing to adequately mark down the value of the large real-estate portfolio acquired in Lehman's takeover of apartment developer Archstone-Smith Trust or to disclose the resulting losses to investors, according to people familiar with the matter.

WTO Rules in China's Favor

Saturday Reads Around The Internets - Public Unions & Homeless Beauty Queens

Submitted by on

shocknews
Welcome to the weekly roundup of great articles, facts and figures. These are the weekly finds that made our eyes pop.

Miss Colorado is Homeless

A sign of the times, our beauty queen is homeless.

Just months after receiving her crown, Miss Colorado USA Blair Griffith lost her home.

The 23-year-old, who will compete in the Miss USA pageant in June, was evicted, along with her mother, from their home last November. They have been living with a family friend ever since. Griffith is also scheduled to lose her job at Saks Fifth Avenue when the branch she works at closes its doors for good next month.

Jobs Being Created are Low Pay Ones

The NELP ran some numbers and discovered the new jobs are low paying ones.

Lower-wage industries constituted 23 percent of job loss, but fully 49 percent of recent growth. Mid-wage industries constituted 36 percent of job loss, and 37 percent of recent growth. Higher-wage industries constituted 40 percent of job loss, but only 14 percent of recent growth.

We're hearing a lot of spin on tech jobs and innovation lately. Realize those jobs have shrunk by 4.4% over the last decade. In other words, the sector is not even employing the U.S. workers who need a job and have the skills.

Economic Nonsense Reported As Fact

Saturday Reads Around The Internets - Inflation, China, Exchange Rates, and Outrage

Submitted by on

shocknews
Welcome to the weekly roundup of great articles, facts and figures. These are the weekly finds that made our eyes pop.

Food Inflation

The World bank reported food inflation put 44 million more people into extreme poverty as wheat prices have increased 75% in some countries.

Saturday Economic Reads Around The Internets for February 12, 2011

Submitted by on

shocknews
Welcome to the weekly roundup of great articles, facts and figures. These are the weekly finds that made our eyes pop.

Overnight Food Inflation in the United States

We have a massive crop failure in Mexico, from last week's deep freeze. 80-100% crop loss. Zerohedge has a good overview on the latest. From The Packer:

“On Feb. 8, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported prices of $22.95-24.95 for two-layer cartons of 4x4, 5x5 and 5x6 vine-ripe field-grown tomatoes from Mexico, up from $6.95-9.95 the week before and $5.95-7.95 the year before.”

Amazing this story isn't front page news. From a local news station in Oregon:

Get ready to pay double or even triple the price for fresh produce in the coming weeks after the worst freeze in 60 years damaged and wiped out entire crops in northern Mexico and the southwestern U.S.

The problem started less than a week ago, when our nation was focusing on the Superbowl and sheets of ice falling from Texas Stadium.

Farmers throughout northern Mexico and the Southwest experienced unprecedented crop losses. Now devastation that seemed so far away, is hitting us in the pocketbooks.

Saturday Reads Around The Internets for January 29, 2011

Submitted by on

shocknews
Welcome to the weekly roundup of great articles, facts and figures. These are the weekly finds that made our eyes pop.

FCIC Report Is Lacking

New York Times financial writer Joe Nocera incorrectly compares the financial crisis to the 1700's Dutch Tulip Bulb Bubble. Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism shows Nocera is subtly blaming the victims for the financial crisis. Smith, cuts to the chase on the real FCIC report shortcoming:

Pages