Dow Jones Industrial Average -- 9,885.80

[amoeba15]

Report to provide clues on U.S. stimulus plan job creation

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. government reports due this month will provide clues on how the economic stimulus plan has impacted the country's workforce but they may not show exactly how many jobs it has created.

At the beginning of October, all those who received money under the $787 billion, two-year American Recovery and Reinvestment Act were required to submit information on where they spent the dollars.

On Thursday, the Web site www.recovery.gov will post a report based on data provided by contractors. It will follow on October 31 with a report on how stimulus grants were used.

"The one thing we're going to look at is the job numbers," said Brian Deery, senior director of the highway and transportation division of the Associated General Contractors of America. "We're going to be very interested with how those numbers jibe with unemployment we're seeing."

The stimulus was designed to staunch layoffs in the workforce. President Barack Obama said it would create or save more than 3 million jobs, with funding for transportation and infrastructure directly targeting construction workers, thousands of whom lost their jobs in the real estate downturn.

Still, the national unemployment rate has continued to grow since the stimulus was passed in February, reaching 9.8 percent in September, its highest in more than 25 years. The rate for construction workers has also remained high, at 17.1 percent, according to an analysis by the contractors group of Labor Department data.

Thursday's report will address a small portion of all of the funding in the stimulus plan, and will focus on Energy Department and General Services Administration projects.

"Whatever jobs figures come out will also undoubtedly be a tiny sliver of the Recovery Act's total job impact," said Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch, a non-profit group that monitors the federal budget, at a press conference.

www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE59C5ZY20091013

[TW]

Has anyone seen the latest craze in housing? Builders who were hustling condos for $350,000 in areas are now renting them out for as little as $500 a month, first come-first serve.

The result? There goes the neighborhood - according to the police and the locals living in areas. In fact, these builders are even violating the agreements they signed with buyers, which gave them association rights. They just don't care. They're filling the condos, and in the process, those expensive condos people bought are now worth 25% of what they were just a year ago, sometimes less.

That's going to be the new glut of housing out there with foreclosures. People aren't going to pay for crack houses next door in their high priced neighborhood, because the builders are looking for anyone to live in those homes.

I know... it sounds prejudicial in what these people are saying, but they have paid for their neighborhood, and have agreements in place that apparently did not violate anyone's rights.

Now... they're going to be leaving, and these new developments are going to go right down the tubes.

[packerconvert]

This complaint is as dumbfounding as those who purchase homes by railroad tracks only to protest having trains use said tracks.

[gopackgo2000]

Oct 15, 2009 14:10:36 GMT -5 TW said:

Has anyone seen the latest craze in housing? Builders who were hustling condos for $350,000 in areas are now renting them out for as little as $500 a month, first come-first serve.

The result? There goes the neighborhood - according to the police and the locals living in areas. In fact, these builders are even violating the agreements they signed with buyers, which gave them association rights. They just don't care. They're filling the condos, and in the process, those expensive condos people bought are now worth 25% of what they were just a year ago, sometimes less.

That's going to be the new glut of housing out there with foreclosures. People aren't going to pay for crack houses next door in their high priced neighborhood, because the builders are looking for anyone to live in those homes.

I know... it sounds prejudicial in what these people are saying, but they have paid for their neighborhood, and have agreements in place that apparently did not violate anyone's rights.

Now... they're going to be leaving, and these new developments are going to go right down the tubes.

TW,

Didn't you realize that contracts mean nothing anymore??? Just ask the GM Bond holders what those bond contracts got them.

[TW]

PC,

Your reading isn't up to par today. The people who invested in their property were there first.

You've decided to reverse the situation because it gives you a warm fuzzy I'd guess.

[packerconvert]

Yes, they were there first, but such as the nature of living in an area were developers are....are?? are???

Beuller? Bueller? Developers are ??

[TW]

The developers made the rules, they agreed to them, made everyone who bought there agree - including no rentals under any circumstances - and now say screw you, we'll do what we want.

[packerconvert]

It's how our government operates..so you have a trickle down effect in ethics.

[amoeba15]

OUCH!!!

Bank of America, GE results push stocks lower

NEW YORK - Disappointing earnings from Bank of America Corp. and General Electric Co. reminded investors that businesses and consumers are still struggling to pay off their debts.

Stocks slid Friday as the reports upended enthusiasm that had been building during the week about corporate earnings for the July-September period. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 100 points and moved back below the 10,000 mark, which it reached this week for the first time in a year.

Bank of America lost more than $2 billion after preferred dividends in the third quarter. The loss was steeper than expected and stirred fears that struggling consumers won't be able to increase their spending. The bank, one of the largest recipients of government bailout funds, said its losses from failed loans came to almost $10 billion.

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3683270/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/

[TW]

Here's a gimmick being used by certain people to salvage a lot of money. They buy a house in Florida using every nickel they can put together, then take up residency for two years.

At the end of two-years, they file bankruptcy and the house is theirs under Homestead Laws.

There are people doing this with homes worth $10 million or more, who are using cash they scammed from various sources to do it, and they're getting away with it. And now, in the depressed market, they're actually buying homes that will be worth twice that amount in five to ten years.

It just goes to show... you have money, you make money, and the fed will bail out the banks you bilked.

The "American way!"

www.alperlaw.com/bankruptcy.html

[amoeba15]

Real Estate Agent Is Charged With Mortgage Fraud

An Ashburn real estate agent has been charged with several counts of mortgage fraud after helping more than 100 people buy houses they couldn't afford and defrauding lenders of about $50 million, the Loudoun County sheriff said yesterday.

Diane H. Frederick Atari, 42, fixed her clients' poor credit scores and inflated their incomes so they could qualify for mortgages they otherwise would not have gotten, county authorities said. The alleged fraud occurred between 2006 and last year. Many of the homes were bought in eastern Loudoun and in Fairfax County.

Authorities say they believe that Atari left the country last week for Jordan, where her ex-husband's relatives live. The sheriff's office has contacted Interpol to help them track her down.

Atari has been charged with 10 counts of false statements to obtain credit, and each count carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence if she is convicted. She also has been charged with one count of money laundering and one count of racketeering, which each carry sentences of up to 40 years in prison.

Atari owns and operates ACR Consulting and Atari Management in Loudoun. Her scheme involved preying on "hard-working people" who had low-paying jobs and poor credit, said Howard M. Mulholland, an investigator with the Virginia attorney general's office.

Investigators said Atari falsified employment documents to show that her clients had higher-paying jobs than they really had and in some cases deposited her money into their bank accounts to show higher balances.

She also is accused of boosting her clients' credit scores so they could qualify for mortgages, sheriff's officials said. Atari would advise credit card firms to add her clients as "authorized users" of cards that belonged to her associates who had excellent credit, authorities said.

"She would advertise that if you had bad credit you could come to her," Mulholland said.

Many of her clients could not afford their monthly mortgage payments, and their homes went into foreclosure.

Investigators said they believe Atari made about $1 million from the mortgage scheme. That money came mostly from commissions on the sale of the homes. Authorities are investigating other people possibly involved in the scheme.

Diane Atari was married to Ali H. Atari, an Ashburn restaurateur who is believed to be a distant relative of Loudoun businessman Osama El-Atari. El-Atari is suspected of involvement in a fraud scheme, his creditors and a Loudoun County Circuit Court judge say.

loudounextra.washingtonpost.com/news/2009/jul/15/ashburn-woman-indicted-50-million-mortgage-fraud-s/

[amoeba15]

Hang these SOB's who are behind these freakin scams.

Another reason why we need checks and balances and if that means having more governmental involvement...then so be it.

By NO means am I advocating for governmental involvement to be the perfect solution, but rather that such matter be opened to debate/hearings and let the will of the people determine the appropriate course of action to take. Laws are created to deter criminal activity and lately, our legislators need a few kicks in their rears.

[amoeba15]

White House claims stimulus saved 250,000 teaching, education jobs

Federal stimulus dollars are responsible for saving more than 250,000 teaching and education jobs this year, White House officials announced Monday.


States suffered considerably as a result of last year's economic meltdown, and most local lawmakers authorized substantial cuts in areas like education to keep their budgets out of the red. But the report released Monday from the White House's Domestic Policy Council suggests those reductions in education dollars would have been far worse without federal stimulus cash, more than $276 billion of which was allocated to education-related fields, according to the report.


"Initial reporting from states shows that education stimulus dollars have created or saved over 250,000 education jobs across the nation and have been invested in the kinds of reforms that will help today's students compete in a global economy," Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said Monday in a statement.

"Early feedback from states also tells us that many districts are using stimulus dollars in ways that will move us beyond the status quo," he added. "There is a lot more work to be done, but we applaud those districts that have successfully used stimulus funding to stave off catastrophic layoffs and invest in critical reforms."

thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/63639-wh-250000-education-jobs-saved-by-stimulus