Hope, real or an apparition, is central to ?Henry Poole? - USA Today
Anchored by Luke Wilson?s engaging performance, Poole is often affecting, occasionally vacuous. But it does tackle material that Hollywood has shied away from: the nature of faith and the existence of miracles. Henry is a disheartened man who tries

Britain’s biggest private companies: A life of leisure that spans the - Daily Telegraph
Even though it is headquartered in London, it is Liverpool and Asia that have shaped the development of John Swire & Sons — a company best known for its minority stake in Cathay Pacific. Today’s group – spanning shipping, aviation, Coca-Cola

TimberWest Releases 2008 Second Quarter Results and Announces a Review - MSN MoneyCentral
VANCOUVER , Aug. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - “Market conditions continue to be extremely difficult and TimberWest is therefore staying the course with its harvest deferral strategy,” said Paul McElligott , President and CEO of TimberWest Forest Corp

New BlackBerry expected within month in N. America - New York Daily News
TORONTO - The new BlackBerry model should be coming to North America within a month now that Research In Motion Ltd. has started selling it in Germany and Chile . The first major new BlackBerry model in more than a year, the Bold is a high-end

Scarlett and Penélope do Barcelona - Salon
The Weinstein Co. Penélope Cruz, left, Javier Bardem and Scarlett Johansson in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” If you’re the right age to remember Woody Allen as a lightning-rod cultural figure — as a much-lionized great man of American cinema and then

Team Andrews ‘angel’ saves life of accident victim - Capital Flyer
It was just a typical afternoon for one Team Andrews member headed home after a day’s work on July 16. However, an ordinary day turned out to be an incredible opportunity — an chance to save someone’s life. ‘‘Around 5:30 p.m., I was

CORRECTING and REPLACING SilkRoad technology Announces Q2 Results for - MSN MoneyCentral
Q2 Successes Include Strong Sales Growth, Award Recognition and $54 Million in Venture Capital SilkRoad technology, inc., the leading provider of talent management solutions , announced today that the second quarter of 2008 marked the 20th

Say of the Nation: Indians get money mantras right - IBN LIve
MONEY IS IMPORTANT: The panel took the findings head-on and analysed the money sense of Indians. This bit of news won’t be surprising for free-market India: 45 per cent Indians state money is the most important thing in life. But that doesn’t mean

Motorcyclists to raise money for MDA - Woonsocket Call
NORTH SMITHFIELD — For North Smithfield Fire Captain Norm Malboeuf there’s nothing better than a summertime motorcycle ride down a winding country road, the wind at your back and the open road ahead. It’s even superior, he says, if you’re doing it to

Verizon Invests $1.2 Million in Literacy, Education, Health and Safety - Forbes
BOSTON, Aug. 14 /PRNewswire/ — Verizon continues to focus on the quality of life for Massachusetts residents by investing in a wide range of programs that strengthen literacy and education, raise awareness of domestic violence, and improve health

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Filed under: Rumors, Products and services, Employees, Gannett Co (GCI)

Back in the good ‘ol days of say 2004, Gannett Co. (NYSE: GCI) was one of the few newspaper publishers Wall Street liked. Part of the reason was that many of the papers were in smaller cities such as Wilmington, Delaware, and Poughkeepsie, NY, where competition was not as great for advertisers. These days the publisher of USA Today is up the creek with the rest of the industry.

With its shares down more than 50% this year, it should come as no surprise that Gannett is joining the ranks of publishers that are laying off staff. According to a memo leaked to the unofficial Gannett blog, about 1,000 positions will be eliminated across Gannett’s Community Publishing Division. Six hundred of those employees will lose their jobs, the memo states.

“Several GCI papers have already made recent job cuts, but at a higher rate: 5%,” the blog states. “The division’s dailies don’t include USA This day, suggesting that any further reductions at Gannett’s flagship could be on top of the 1,000 jobs eliminated.”

Gannett investors — who must be the few, the proud like The Marines — must have been anticipating the move. Shares of the publisher have soared 10% in the past month. About the only relief they’re going to get is through a takeover by private equity companies. The publicly traded media companies have no interest in buying into an industry whose ideal days are behind it.

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Filed under: Toll Brothers (TOL), Housing

I’ve been told that companies that are poised for long-term success operate based on a respect for the intelligence of their customers. In an interview on CNBC, Robert Toll, the CEO of leading homebuilder Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) demonstrated his lack of respect for consumers: “When we hold specials, which are not really specials, but just some reconfigured incentives to make it look as though something special is being given away . . .”

That’s right, the CEO of a leading homebuilder went on CNBC and announced that the company’s heavily-marketed sales promotions are essentially total bull crap — just “reconfigured incentives designed to make it look as though something special is being given away . . .” Why would he say that? With that one statement, Mr. Toll has told anyone who might have dealings with his company — either as home buyers or as investors — that the company’s tactics aren’t exactly straightforward and honest.

Just as a point of reference, this is the same guy who, back in November, essentially blamed the housing downturn on the pessimistic media. Oh, and by the way, this is the company that couldn’t even get the chairman’s daughter to shut on a deal she’d concurred to.

So, if you’re intrigued by an ad for a good deal on Toll Brothers homes, remember: it’s just reconfigured incentives designed to make it look as though something special is being given away. The pounding that the market has given the stock over the past few years may be something similar.

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Filed under: Federal Natl Mtge (FNM), Economic data, Housing, Federal Reserve

The real estate market is collapsing fast. Why? People borrowed more money than they could repay so they could “buy” houses they could otherwise not afford. And the banks that pushed those loans now find themselves the miserable owners of those death support systems for debt. The banks don’t want these economic death traps — so they’ll dump them at a fraction of the price at which they were sold. (The Wall Street Journal reports that in June 2008, Credit Suisse sold a 1,230-square-foot home in Corona, CA for $198,000 that went for $450,000 in December 2006).

Bloomberg News reports some stunning statistics about how quickly banks are taking possession of those houses. U.S. foreclosure filings spiked 55% while bank seizures — when a bank takes ownership of a house also known as real estate-owned (REO) — skyrocketed 184%. Bloomberg says that “more than 272,000 properties, or one in 464 U.S. households, got a default notice, was warned of a pending auction or were foreclosed on.”

This transfer of titles to banks is contributing to a huge loss of wealth. Bloomberg reports that home prices fell “15.8% in May, the most since at least 2001, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index.” And Bloomberg indicates that 33% of home sellers in the second quarter lost money. Moreover, according to SeekingAlpha, 33% of houses purchased in the last five years are worth less than the amount of their mortgages.

Is the concept of “free markets” — which led us into this $8 trillion disaster — a good idea? That’s the notion that markets, rather than government intervention, is the best way to solve economic problems. The source of the current disaster is a special form of free markets — one that offers government assistance to the banks that sell mortgages but blames consumers for moral turpitude when they can’t pay back the mortgages.

Let’s look at how the government helps banks. It gives out tax breaks for home purchasing — such as making mortgage interest tax deductible and exempting up to $500,000 worth of real estate profits from taxes. When banks get into trouble due to poor management, it bails them out. For example, it put $29 billion of taxpayer money on the line to rescue Bear Stearns, which was a massive player in mortgage securities. And it stands ready to spend as much as $800 billion to bail out Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE).

Why does government do this? Banks help pay for political campaigns. For example, President Bush got $7.8 million from Ameriquest — one of the biggest subprime lenders. “Homeowners” don’t have enough money to be such significant campaign contributors. And when government goes to bail out the banks, those taxpayers have no say.

So the question is whether we should keep the current special form of free markets — private profit and public losses — or instead go for real free markets — private profit and losses. If we had real free markets, it would not be profitable to make loans that people can’t repay to purchase houses they can’t afford.

And that would free us from real estate bubbles — like the one whose current collapse is causing so much economic pain in the U.S.. Here are some thoughts on what such as post-bubble economy might look like.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also instructs management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

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Filed under: Toll Brothers (TOL), Housing

I’ve been told that companies that are poised for long-term success operate based on a respect for the intelligence of their customers. In an interview on CNBC, Robert Toll, the CEO of leading homebuilder Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) demonstrated his lack of respect for consumers: “When we hold specials, which are not really specials, but just some reconfigured incentives to make it look as though something special is being given away . . .”

That’s right, the CEO of a leading homebuilder went on CNBC and announced that the company’s heavily-marketed sales promotions are essentially total bull crap — just “reconfigured incentives designed to make it look as though something special is being given away . . .” Why would he say that? With that one statement, Mr. Toll has told anyone who might have dealings with his company — either as home buyers or as investors — that the company’s tactics aren’t exactly straightforward and honest.

Just as a point of reference, this is the same guy who, back in November, essentially blamed the housing downturn on the pessimistic media. Oh, and by the way, this is the company that couldn’t even get the chairman’s daughter to shut on a deal she’d concurred to.

So, if you’re intrigued by an ad for a good deal on Toll Brothers homes, remember: it’s just reconfigured incentives designed to make it look as though something special is being given away. The pounding that the market has given the stock over the past few years might be something similar.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

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Filed under: Federal Natl Mtge (FNM), Economic data, Housing, Federal Reserve

The real estate market is collapsing fast. Why? People borrowed more money than they could repay so they could “buy” houses they could otherwise not afford. And the banks that pushed those loans now find themselves the miserable owners of those death support systems for debt. The banks don’t want these economic death traps — so they’ll dump them at a fraction of the price at which they were sold. (The Wall Street Journal reports that in June 2008, Credit Suisse sold a 1,230-square-foot home in Corona, CA for $198,000 that went for $450,000 in December 2006).

Bloomberg News reports some stunning statistics about how quickly banks are taking possession of those houses. U.S. foreclosure filings spiked 55% while bank seizures — when a bank takes ownership of a home also known as real estate-owned (REO) — skyrocketed 184%. Bloomberg states that “more than 272,000 properties, or one in 464 U.S. households, got a default notice, was warned of a pending auction or were foreclosed on.”

This transfer of titles to banks is contributing to a huge loss of wealth. Bloomberg reports that home prices fell “15.8% in Might, the most since at least 2001, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index.” And Bloomberg indicates that 33% of home sellers in the second quarter lost money. Moreover, according to SeekingAlpha, 33% of houses bought in the last five years are worth less than the amount of their mortgages.

Is the concept of “free markets” — which led us into this $8 trillion disaster — a good idea? That’s the notion that markets, rather than government intervention, is the ideal way to solve economic problems. The source of the current disaster is a special form of free markets — one that offers government assistance to the banks that sell mortgages but blames consumers for moral turpitude when they can’t pay back the mortgages.

Let’s look at how the government helps banks. It gives out tax breaks for home purchasing — such as making mortgage interest tax deductible and exempting up to $500,000 worth of real estate profits from taxes. When banks get into trouble due to poor management, it bails them out. For example, it put $29 billion of taxpayer money on the line to rescue Bear Stearns, which was a big player in mortgage securities. And it stands ready to spend as much as $800 billion to bail out Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE).

Why does government do this? Banks help pay for political campaigns. For example, President Bush got $7.8 million from Ameriquest — one of the biggest subprime lenders. “Homeowners” don’t have enough money to be such significant campaign contributors. And when government goes to bail out the banks, those taxpayers have no say.

So the question is whether we should keep the current special form of free markets — private profit and public losses — or instead go for real free markets — private profit and losses. If we’d real free markets, it would not be profitable to make loans that people can’t repay to purchase houses they can’t afford.

And that would free us from real estate bubbles — like the one whose current collapse is causing so much economic pain in the U.S.. Here are some thoughts on what such as post-bubble economy might look like.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also instructs management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

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Filed under: Forecasts, Economic data, Housing, Recession

Alan Greenspan adores speaking to the press, perhaps more than he liked being the Federal Reserve chief. He recently did a long essay for the FT, and made similar comments about the financial system and housing to The Wall Street Journal. In his chat with the Journal, the old man said “Home prices in the U.S. are prone to begin to stabilize or touch bottom sometime in the first half of 2009.”

Greenspan’s comments might help sell books, but there’s tiny evidence that he’s right.

Foreclosures are accelerating now, and with mortgage resets, it appears that prime mortgages are joining sub-prime mortgages as a source of defaults. Banks, which have taken hundreds of billions of dollars from the Fed, are not using that money to make new loans.; they’re using it to improve their own reserves against more mortgage-backed securities losses. Lending money for home loans comes with the danger that the value of those homes will keep dropping. Because of this more people find the price they have the ability to get for their houses is less than the balance of their mortgages.

In most recessions, unemployment trails the economic slowdown. Meaning that if this recession looks like the one in the early 1980s, unemployment could hit 8% or 9% of the work-force by the end of the year.

Under all of these circumstances, it would be nearly impossible for the drop in home prices to be arrested within the next nine months.

Talking to the press might help Greenspan sell books whether what he states makes sense or not.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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An anonymous reader writes “Democratic politicians receive a 40% increase in contributions in the 30 days after appearing on the comedy cable show The Colbert Report. In contrast, their Republican counterparts essentially gain nothing. Moreover, even a cursory analysis demonstrates that despite being a comedy program The Colbert Report appears to exercise ‘disproportionate real world influence’ — likely due to the ‘elite demographic’ of its audience.” In my home we refer to Stephen as “Loud Daddy” because my child would scream bloody murder when we paused him (and only him) on screen. Even at 8 months old the kid has strange taste.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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JPawlak writes “Researchers believe that it might be possible to increase the speed of the World wide web by slowing down certain parts of it by using metamaterials. Metamaterials could be used to replace the bulky and slow electronics that route World wide web information, allowing for faster World wide web speeds. As data nears its destination, the frequencies must be separated. The light must then be converted into electrical signals, which are stored, routed, and converted back into optical signals. The conversion not only adds significant cost and complexity to the process, but slows down the transmission as well. However, if the light signals could be slowed during the switching process, they wouldn’t need to be converted into an electrical signal. ‘The ability to slow the light could be a tremendous force for telecoms that’s sure to enhance speed and efficiency,’ says University of California professor Xiang Zhang.”

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Stephan Schulz writes “Today, the CADE ATP System Competition will pit about 20 of the worlds most powerful mechanical mathematicians against each other — and for the first time they can win not only honour, but a monetary prize. The systems will reason against the clock on tasks ranging from undergraduate math problems and Cluedo-like puzzles to figuring out the possible responsibility for terrorist attacks from giant knowledge bases. If you think that’s not impressive enough, they are doing it at a rate of 12 problems per hour, all day long. The competition starts at 10 a.m. in Sydney, Australia, which is midnight UTC. Live results will be available at the competition page. For added geek appeal, most of the contenders are available under open source licenses, so if you’re weak in logic you can hack up your own brain extension and run it on an iPhone.”

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