Dayhoff Westminster Soundtrack: Bus Econ 2011

Showing posts with label Bus Econ 2011. Show all posts

Saturday, January 07, 2012

It's Bank Failure Friday!!!!

http://40yrs.blogspot.com/2012/01/its-bank-failure-friday.html

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Consumer confidence rises to near post-recession peak

The Consumer Confidence index was 64.5 in December, a gain of nearly 10 points from November, according to the monthly survey from the Conference Board.

By Tiffany Hsu, Los Angeles Times

December 27, 2011, 4:12 p.m.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-consumer-confidence-retail-20111228,0,624437.story

Consumers are feeling better about the economy, according to the monthly survey from the Conference Board that shows confidence levels near the post-recession peak.

The Consumer Confidence index stood at 64.5 in December, up nearly 10 points from a revised 55.2 in November. That month was itself a 15-point gain from October's 40.9, the lowest level since the recession.

Although the index is still below the 90 level that economists consider the threshold for a stable economy, December's rating that was released Tuesday was the highest since 66 in April.

The highest the index has been since the recession ended was 72 in February.

More shoppers believe that business conditions are good — 16.6% compared with 13.9% in November, according to the Conference Board. And fewer people — 41.8% compared with 43% in November — say that jobs are hard to find.

A higher percentage also said that the outlook for business and jobs will continue to improve during the next six months.

A similar, weekly index from pollster Gallup also saw consumer confidence improve in December. That measure, which was also released Tuesday, combined Americans' ratings of current economic conditions and their perceptions of whether the economy is deteriorating or improving.

Gallup said December is shaping up as the most optimistic month since June.

But consumers are still more dour than they were in the summer... http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-consumer-confidence-retail-20111228,0,624437.story

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Thursday, December 22, 2011

Lawsuit alleges fraud in real estate transactions

By Jamie Smith Hopkins, The Baltimore Sun

9:04 p.m. EST, December 19, 2011

Several Baltimore-area homeowners are suing the largest residential real estate team in the state, alleging a "scheme of fraud and misrepresentations" involving home purchases, sales and financing.

The suit, a proposed class action, names the Creig Northrop Team, Long & Foster and several mortgage firms — including Long & Foster's Prosperity Mortgage Co. — as defendants.

A similar lawsuit brought against the Northrop team by a Howard County couple was settled in March... http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/real-estate/bs-bz-creig-northrop-lawsuit-20111219,0,1629264.story

Bus Econ 2011, Business Economics, Journalists Hopkins Jamie Smith Sun, Real Estate, Real Estate Maryland, Real Estate property management

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Jamie Smith Hopkins - The Baltimore Sun Real Estate Wonk

Labels: Bus Econ 2011, Business Economics, Journalists Hopkins Jamie Smith Sun, Real Estate, Real Estate Maryland, Real Estate property management

DECEMBER 21, 2011

Most say 'good time to buy,' few say 'good time to sell'

Most Americans surveyed by the group that provides the data for a widely tracked measure of consumer confidence say it's a good time to buy a home -- but not a good time to sell one.

This will probably not come as a shock. http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/business/realestate/blog/

About Jamie Smith Hopkins

Jamie Smith Hopkins, a Baltimore Sun reporter since 1999, writes about the regional economy. Her reporting on the housing market has won national and local awards. Hopkins is a Columbia native and has lived in Maryland all her life, save for 10 months spent covering schools in Ames, Iowa.
She trained to become a wonk by spending large chunks of time as a geek and an insufferable know-it-all.
• Baltimore Sun articles by Jamie

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/business/realestate/blog/

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Wednesday, December 21, 2011

The Hill: Obama calls Boehner, urges him to pass two-month payroll tax extension - By Amie Parnes

News from The Hill:

Obama calls Boehner, urges him to pass two-month payroll tax extension

By Amie Parnes

President Obama called Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Wednesday and urged him to allow a vote on the two-month payroll tax extension, calling it it "the only option" to ensure taxes don't go up.

In a phone call made late Wednesday morning, Obama urged Boehner to take up the Senate's bill, White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.

In the call, Obama told the speaker he was committed to working with Congress for extending the payroll tax for the entire year. He also reminded Boehner that "the short-term bipartisan compromise passed by almost the entire Senate is the only option to ensure that middle class families aren't hit with a tax hike in 10 days and gives both sides the time needed to work out a full year solution," according to a White House readout.

Read the story here.

Labels: Bus Econ 2011, Media The Hill, People Boehner John US Congress, Pres 2009 44 Obama-Barack, US Congress fiscal discipline
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Saturday, December 17, 2011

News from The Hill: House GOP members voice extreme opposition to Senate payroll tax plan By Russell Berman

News from The Hill:

House GOP members voice extreme opposition to Senate payroll tax plan
By Russell Berman The two-month payroll tax cut extension that passed the Senate on Saturday may not be a done deal.
Rank-and-file House Republicans voiced extreme opposition to the package during a conference call Saturday afternoon in which Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) briefed them on the legislation and their options to respond, according to two sources with knowledge of the call.

One source said Boehner spoke approvingly of the deal as a win for the GOP but that three other members of the leadership team - Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Va.), Whip Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling (Tex.) - all criticized it.

The source said that with the exception of Reps. Tom Cole (Okla.) and Walter Jones (N.C.), Boehner was the only person on the call to praise the deal.

Read the story here.

For all the latest news:
Visit TheHill.com
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Steve Berryman: The “what-ifs” of 2012

Steve Berryman

The “what-ifs” of 2012

Originally published December 16, 2011

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/opinion/display_columnist.htm?StoryID=129561

Are you in stocks, bonds, gold, or real estate? Or, what if life is just paycheck-to-paycheck, and choices made daily contain immediate consequences? With a record number of imponderables hanging over our heads like Damocles’ sword, how does one function financially, or as a business, in our new world of “never seen that one before”?

Being able to see just over the horizon has been necessary for planning and investment decisions since the beginning of time. Watching trends and monitoring indicators had been useful tools.

A predictability of risk had made choices and investment easier, and trends more trustable. With the consequences of the Great Recession still upon us — no matter the political definition — we must consider the sheer number of “what-ifs” surrounding us carefully... http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/opinion/display_columnist.htm?StoryID=129561

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Melissa Maynard Stateline: Short-staffed and budget-bare, overwhelmed state agencies are unable to keep up

After years of budget cuts, layoffs, furloughs and hiring freezes, the everyday work of state government is piling up. This Stateline series examines what causes backlogs, who is hurt by them and how states can dig themselves out.

http://www.stateline.org/live/

Today: Agencies overwhelmed
Wednesday: Anatomy of a backlog
Thursday: How one agency overcame its backlog
Have your own backlog story? Tell us about it.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2011

http://www.stateline.org/live/

http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=618752

Short-staffed and budget-bare, overwhelmed state agencies are unable to keep up

By Melissa Maynard, Stateline Staff Writer

After years of budget cuts, layoffs, furloughs and hiring freezes, the everyday work of state government is piling up. This Stateline series examines what causes backlogs, who is hurt by them and how states can dig themselves out.

Today: Agencies overwhelmed

Wednesday: Anatomy of a backlog

Thursday: How one agency overcame its backlog

Have your own backlog story? Tell us about it.

On the face of it, the backlog the Hawaii Public Housing Authority is experiencing seems a simple matter of supply and demand. Some 11,000 families are on the authority’s waiting list, hoping against the odds that they can get one of only 6,295 public housing units. In a state where housing is notoriously expensive, the only people with a real shot at getting a unit are the homeless and survivors of domestic abuse. Even for them, the waiting can take years. “The waitlist is so extensive and the homeless problem is so great that a lot of people are getting preference over working families,” explains Nicholas Birck, chief planner for the Hawaii Public Housing Authority. “They never make it to the top.”

BACKLOGGED Part 2: Anatomy of a backlog

BACKLOGGED Part 1: Agencies overwhelmed

But there’s another, hidden problem at play in Hawaii’s housing backlog. Lately, the authority hasn’t had enough employees to manage turnover in vacant units. As a result, 310 homes have been sitting empty, even with all the people languishing in waitlist limbo. For many of the vacant units, all it would take is a few simple repairs and a little bit of administrative work to give a family a home — and get the authority’s backlog shrinking rather than growing.

The situation is a byproduct of big budget cuts in Hawaii and a hiring freeze that wasn’t lifted until earlier this year. A handful of employees in the housing authority’s property management office retired, and the hiring freeze made it impossible to fill the vacant positions. For a while, there was only one person overseeing the office’s far-flung portfolio spanning four islands. “It was a very difficult position for her to be in,” Birck says. Today, the office’s ranks are back up to six employees, but both the number of vacant units and the size of the waiting list have continued to grow since a state audit first brought attention to the issue in June.

Hawaii isn’t the only place where the everyday tasks of state government are piling up. A Stateline investigation found that agencies across the country are seeing growing backlogs of work, as increased demand for state services in a weak economy bumps up against the states’ efforts to cut their payroll costs. From public housing to crime labs, restaurant inspections to court systems, four years of layoffs, furloughs, hiring freezes and unfilled vacancies are beginning to take their toll. At its most benign, the result for taxpayers is a longer wait for things like marriage licenses or birth certificates. At its most dangerous, growing backlogs are threatening the lives of vulnerable children, elders and disabled persons, as overwhelmed protective services agencies face delays investigating reports of abuse and neglect.

The size of some backlogs growing in state government is staggering: Read more: http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=618752

This Stateline series examines what causes backlogs, who is hurt by them and how states can dig themselves out.

http://www.stateline.org/live/