Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Goldman Paying $550 Million to Settle Civil Fraud Charges
July 16th, 2010Pocket lint. Via: ABC: Resolving a high-profile government case linked to the mortgage meltdown, Goldman Sachs & Co. has agreed to pay a record $550 million to settle civil fraud charges that it misled buyers of complex investments. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the settlement Thursday with the Wall Street titan, just hours after […]
Banks Repossess U.S. Homes at Record Pace
July 15th, 2010Via: Reuters: Banks repossessed a record number of U.S. homes in the second quarter, but slowed new foreclosure notices to manage distressed properties on the market, real estate data company RealtyTrac said on Thursday. The root problems of job losses and wage cuts persist, making a sustained U.S. housing recovery elusive. Banks took control of […]
U.S. Home-Buying Applications Sink to 13-Year Low
July 15th, 2010Via: Reuters: Demand for loans to purchase U.S. homes sunk to a 13-year low last week, and refinancing demand also slid despite near record-low mortgage rates, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday. Requests for loans to buy homes dropped 3.1 percent in the week ended July 9, after adjusting for the Independence Day holiday, […]
SmithKline Hid Test Data on Dangerous Diabetes Drug
July 14th, 2010Via: New York Times: In the fall of 1999, the drug giant SmithKline Beecham secretly began a study to find out if its diabetes medicine, Avandia, was safer for the heart than a competing pill, Actos, made by Takeda. Avandia’s success was crucial to SmithKline, whose labs were otherwise all but barren of new products. […]
Thousands of Laptops Stolen During Nine-Hour Heist from Government Contractor
July 14th, 2010Via: AP: Thousands of laptops have been stolen from the Florida office of a private contractor for the U.S. military’s Special Operations Command. Surveillance cameras caught up to seven people loading the computers into two trucks for nine hours. U.S. Special Operations Command coordinates the activities of elite units from the Army, Navy, Air Force […]
Crisis Awaits World’s Banks as Trillions Come Due
July 13th, 2010Via: New York Times: The sovereign debt crisis would seem to create worry enough for European banks, but there is another gathering threat that has not garnered as much notice: the trillions of dollars in short-term borrowing that institutions around the world must repay or roll over in the next two years. The European Central […]
Bank Profits Depend on Debt-Writedown ‘Abomination’
July 12th, 2010Via: Bloomberg: Bank of America Corp. and Wall Street firms that notched perfect trading records in the first quarter are now depending on an accounting benefit last used in the depths of the credit crisis to prop up their results. Bank of America, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, may record a $1 billion second-quarter […]
Bank of International Settlements Lent 380 Tonnes of Physical Gold?
July 12th, 2010Via: Telegraph: It takes a lot to spook the solid old gold market. But when it emerged last week that one or more banks had lent 380 tonnes of gold to the Bank of International Settlements in return for foreign currencies, there was widespread surprise and confusion. The news that a mystery bank has just […]
The Con of the Decade Part I
July 11th, 2010Via: Of Two Minds: In essence, these private banks and corporations now own the revenue stream of the Federal government and its taxpayers. Neat con, and the marks will never understand how “saving our financial system” led to their servitude to the very interests they bailed out. The circle is now complete: in “saving our […]
Hundreds of Federal Agents Fall Victim to Ponzi Scheme
July 11th, 2010Via: AOL News: FBI agents are supposed to unearth scams, not become victims of them. This time is different. Some 300 retired and current federal agents — representing the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement — collectively invested tens of millions of dollars of retirement money in what turned out to […]
