Cryptogon Reader Signs Up for Hosting with Blue Host
October 26th, 2007Thanks to the owner of megahaters.com who signed up for webhosting at Blue Host. Cryptogon receives $65.
U.S. Home Sales Hit Fresh Lows, Unsold Properties Flood Market
October 25th, 2007Nowhere near bottom. We’re getting into the momentum phase now.
Via: AFP:
Sales of US homes and apartments tumbled a hefty 8.0 percent in September extending one of the nation’s worst housing slumps in decades, an industry group said Wednesday.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said in a monthly snapshot that sales of existing homes and apartments fell to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.04 million units in September from 5.48 million in August.
The drop was worse than expected. Most economists had only expected sales to decline to around 5.25 million. August sales were revised lower from an original tally of 5.50 million homes.
Stripping out apartment turnover, sales dived to their lowest level since January 1998.
Analysts said the grim news boosts the odds that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates for the second time in as many months at a policy meeting next Wednesday.
The depth of the housing depression was underlined by an annual reading which showed sales of homes and apartments across the United States have plummeted a dramatic 19.1 percent from September 2006.
The sales slowdown has pushed home prices lower in many cities in the past 12 months in a market downturn which has also forced many mortgage lenders out of business.
The national median existing-home price for all housing types fell 4.2 percent from a year ago to 211,700 US dollars.
The glut of unsold homes swamping the market rose 0.4 percent at the end of September to 4.40 million, marking a 10.5-month supply at the current sales pace.
Excluding apartments, the number of unsold homes flooding the market has spiked to its highest level since February 1988.
Merrill Lynch Reports Biggest Quarterly Loss in Its 93-Year History
October 25th, 2007Via: Bloomberg:
Merrill Lynch & Co. reported the biggest quarterly loss in its 93-year history after taking $8.4 billion of writedowns, almost double the firm’s forecast three weeks ago.
The writedowns on subprime mortgages, asset-backed bonds and leveraged loans led to a third-quarter loss of $2.24 billion, or $2.82 a share, six times more than Merrill estimated on Oct. 5. Chief Executive Officer Stanley O’Neal said today that the New York-based firm may sell assets to shore up its balance sheet.
Merrill’s stock fell the most in five years, its credit rating was cut and the perceived risk of default on the company’s bonds rose after O’Neal said the firm misjudged the severity of the decline in debt markets since July. Investors who lauded the 56-year-old CEO for chasing higher returns as the biggest underwriter of securities backed by subprime loans now question his management. O’Neal said the firm increased the writedown after a more “conservative” analysis of its holdings.
Terror Watch List Swells to More than 755,000
October 25th, 2007Via: USA Today:
The government’s terrorist watch list has swelled to more than 755,000 names, according to a new government report that has raised worries about the list’s effectiveness.
The size of the list, typically used to check people entering the country through land border crossings, airports and sea ports, has been growing by 200,000 names a year since 2004. Some lawmakers, security experts and civil rights advocates warn that it will become useless if it includes too many people.
“It undermines the authority of the list,” says Lisa Graves of the Center for National Security Studies. “There’s just no rational, reasonable estimate that there’s anywhere close to that many suspected terrorists.”
The exact number of people on the list, compiled after 9/11 to help government agents keep terrorists out of the country, is unclear, according to the report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Kids Submit Biometric Data to Receive Their Government Cheese
October 25th, 2007Via: Statesman Journal:
With the federal government lagging behind on its plans to implement the use of electronic passports, identification cards and driver’s licenses, biometric vendors are targeting a new market: schools.
But the use of biometric technology in schools, such as a system being used by Stayton Middle School’s cafeteria, has some parents and privacy advocates condemning the move as outright Orwellian.
“This is biometric data collecting,” said Jann Carson, the associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Portland. “It’s the ‘Big Brother’ theory. The last thing we should do is teach parents and their young children to be casual about turning over personal data, like a fingerprint, just for the sake of speeding up a lunch line.”
California Fires: Arson
October 25th, 2007I’m waiting to hear that bin Laden himself did it. Swooping low over the bone dry death trap of Southern California, with his magic carpet, and his Zippo of mass destruction.
Film at 11.
Via: CBS:
CBS News has learned a task force of agencies, including the FBI, ATF, the Orange County Fire Authority and the California Department of Forestry will announce shortly that the massive Santiago Canyon Fire – which has caused an estimated $10 million in damage – is being officially declared an arson, and a $50,000 reward is being offered to find the arsonist.
Investigators have identified two separate “points of origin” where they believe the fire was set, CBS News has learned. FBI agents secured the scene to “maintain its integrity.”
Mitre Corporation Search
October 24th, 2007The Mitre Corporation user (host: mw-128-29-43-3.mitre.org, ip: 128.29.43.3) conducted the following Google search: synthetic environments for analysis and simulation
Related Cryptogon Page: Synthetic Environments for Analysis and Simulation
Mitre Corporation is one of the BIG intelligence and military community cutouts, like SAIC and Battelle Memorial Institute. Tens of billions of dollars worth of tax payer money flows into these black holes each year, yet, how many Americans have ever even heard the names of these organizations?
One in one hundred?
One in one thousand?
(No jokes, please, about Americans who can’t find the U.S. on a map.)
Trillion-Dollar War: Afghanistan and Iraq Set to Cost More than Vietnam and Korea
October 24th, 2007Via: Independent:
President George Bush will have spent more than $1 trillion on military adventures by the time he leaves office at the end of next year, more than the entire amount spent on the Korean and Vietnam wars combined.
There are also disturbing signs that Mr Bush is preparing an attack on Iran during his remaining months in office. He has demanded $46bn (£22.5bn) emergency funds from Congress by Christmas and included with it a single sentence requesting money to upgrade the B-2 “stealth” bomber.
By wrapping his request in the flag of patriotism, the President has made it very difficult even for an anti-war Congress to refuse the money. He was accompanied by the family of a dead US marine when he made the request for funds on Monday.
More: $2.4 Trillion by 2017
Cash-Strapped Americans Raiding Their 401(k)s
October 24th, 2007Via: Chicago Tribune:
Despite potential tax and investment problems, more investors have been borrowing from their 401(k) plans or taking hardship withdrawals in recent months, some retirement plan providers say.
Many in the field expect more borrowing in 2008, as consumers struggle with tighter credit and potentially higher mortgage payments.
IMF Chief Warns Dollar May Suffer ‘Abrupt Fall’
October 24th, 2007Via: AFP:
The head of the International Monetary Fund, Rodrigo Rato, warned Monday of a potential “abrupt fall” in the US dollar that could roil the global economy.
“There are risks that an abrupt fall in the dollar could either be triggered by, or itself trigger, a loss of confidence in dollar assets,” Rato said at the close of annual meetings here of the IMF and the World Bank.
The outgoing IMF managing director spoke here as the European single currency hit a new high of 1.4347 dollars and global equity markets plunged amid renewed fears a US credit crunch could pitch the world’s biggest economy into recession.
“The uncertainty … comes from downside risks that are much higher than they were six months ago. The turbulence in the credit markets is a warning that we cannot take the benign (global) economic environment of recent years for granted,” Rato said on the final day of the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank.
“We still do not know the full effects of the decline in the housing market and the subprime problems of the US economy. Further disruption in financial markets and further falls in housing prices could lead to a global economic downturn,” he said.
A crisis in the risky US subprime mortgage sector, where loans are given to homebuyers with poor credit histories, erupted this year as borrowers defaulted on mortgages amid rising interest rates and a sharp slump in US housing prices.
The credit woes spilled into global financial markets and roiled stock markets worldwide in August. Although markets have recovered somewhat, the uncertainties of the extent of the problems are plaguing investors.
