| Analysis: US Mortgage Crisis Looms
On March 1, a Wall Street analyst at Bear Stearns wrote an upbeat report on a company that specializes in making mortgages to cash-poor homebuyers. The company, New Century Financial,had already disclosed that a growing number of borrowers were defaulting, and its stock, at around $15, had lost half its value in three weeks. What happened next seems all too familiar to investors who bought technology stocks in 2000 at the breathless urging of Wall Street analysts. Last week, New Century said it would stop making loans and needed emergency financing to survive. The stock collapsed to $3.21. The analyst's untimely call, coupled with a failure among other Wall Street institutions to identify problems in the home mortgage market, isn't the only familiar ring to investors who watched the technology stock bubble burst precisely seven years ago.
'Follow the money' to local searches
Written on a white board behind Reporters' Row in the Oakland Business Review cube farm is a mantra scrawled by my editor that is as true in business as it is in business reporting: "Follow the money." So, let's begin a journey from that white board, letting the "money" lead us wherever it may go. Along the way, we'll find some landmarks indicating that we're on at least one road taking us toward economic revival. As it happens, I am currently in the market for some of that "money," along with most people in my profession and the companies that own them. Newspapers need money. They're losing it. They're losing a lot of it. And they're shedding people like me. So, where is the money going? Well, newspapers depend largely on advertising to survive. Advertisers, in general, are decreasing their print ad budgets and pumping more money online because new search-engine marketing tools are allowing them to drill down more precisely to the potential customers who are looking to buy their goods or services.
Charges in Archives theft
Denning McTague tried to turn his unpaid intern job in the National Archives here into a moneymaker last summer by stealing some documents and selling them on eBay, the Justice Department said yesterday. He took 165 Civil War documents and sold them on the online auction, but then someone tipped off the federal government and McTague's activities were uncovered. U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan announced yesterday that McTague has been charged with the thefts. He hasn't been incarcerated and isn't considered a flight risk, said a Justice Department spokesman. The key items were an order from the War Department announcing the death of President Abraham Lincoln to the troops and a letter from Confederate Gen. James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart, the most famous cavalry man in the Civil War, prosecutors said.
Huckabee initiatives take hits during recent session
LITTLE ROCK - Legislators who gave new Gov. Mike Beebe just about everything he wanted during the recent regular session also chipped away at initiatives pushed by his predecessor.Some of former Gov. Mike Huckabee's pet projects that took hits in his absence include his Healthy Arkansas initiative and the two-year-old merger of two of Arkansas largest state agencies.The term-limited Huckabee, a Republican, left office in January after 10 years as governor. He was succeeded by Beebe, a Democrat who served 20 years in the state Senate and four years as attorney general before defeating Republican Asa Hutchinson in the 2006 governor's race. Beebe's string of successes in this year's regular session was highlighted by cutting the state's 6 percent sales tax on groceries by half. The new governor endorsed some of the changes to Huckabee's initiative, saying it was common for the Legislature to review current policies and make changes."I think it's normal.
Calculate your Act 1 choice
Relax. There's an easy way to tell whether the change will save you money this year. The answer lies in a simple equation, with variations for renters and homeowners.If you rent, multiply your annual earned income by your school district's proposed earned income tax percentage increase. (For the equation, a 0.6 increase translates into a multiplier of 0.006.) The resulting figure represents the extra money you'll be paying in taxes this year if the referendum passes.If you own your home, divide your district's 2007 estimated property tax exemption by the proposed earned income tax percentage increase. If your yearly earned income is greater than the resulting figure, the change will cost you more. If it's smaller, the change will cost you less.But don't stop reading yet: The law has some wrinkles that complicate matters.
Are America’s Doctors Accepting “Drug” Money? AMA Report Details ...
There is nothing illegal about doctors' accepting money for marketing talks, and professional organizations have largely ignored the issue. But research shows that doctors who have close relationships with drug makers tend to prescribe more, newer and pricier drugs — whether or not they are in the best interests of patients. “When honest human beings have a vested stake in seeing the world in a particular way, they're incapable of objectivity and independence," said Max H. Bazerman, a professor at Harvard Business School. “A doctor who represents a pharmaceutical company will tend to see the data in a slightly more positive light and as a result will over prescribe that company's drugs." In an e-mail message, Collins said he personally received in 2004 less than $10,000 from Amgen for educational presentations.
Consolidation backers are not an angry bunch
After reading the Perspective piece, "It won't be easy" (March 10), about the possible East Allen Communities Consolidation, I thought I would comment. I was a committeeperson when the town of Leo-Cedarville was formed. As I recall, The Journal Gazette wrote articles that told the community of Leo-Cedarville how difficult it would be for us to form a town. The Journal Gazette painted a dark picture of how we would struggle to be a town. As I went door to door and took petitions around to gather signatures, you would not believe how receptive the people were to think that we could form our own community. And, guess what? I was neither angry nor did I hold the town of Fort Wayne in contempt. We just wanted to form a town and try to preserve the community that we enjoy.
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