Economic Glance
Tens of thousands of vulnerable people are being forced to sell their homes at rock-bottom prices through controversial 'sale-and-rent-back' schemes to avoid repossession, according to a study by Shelter, the homeless charity.
The schemes are part of an unregulated industry worth £2.5bn a year. Homeowners are typically offered a lump sum for their properties - usually between 70 and 90 per cent of its value - and told they can stay in their homes providing they keep up payments. But Shelter said most firms only allowed tenants to remain for a matter of months before insisting on selling.
Rent-back schemes 'rob thousands of homes'
Taxpayers handing $33 bln to oil companies
Even though it is already experiencing record profits, the oil and gas industry is set to receive at least $33 billion in handouts from taxpayers over the next five years, according to a new analysis released today by Friends of the Earth.
Struggling College Students Turn to Food Banks
There's definitely been an increase in usage and demand. We're seeing more and more students that have never used the pantry before."
In the past year, the price of groceries has jumped nearly 5 percent, the highest increase in nearly two decades. The cost of some staples has shot up by more than 30 percent.
TVNL Comment: Another Bush legacy.
The moneychangers versus the U.S. Constitution
The most insidious enemy of the Constitution is the private moneychanger and its misuse of our security assets, military and police agencies. Never have we witnessed such blatant and relentless assaults on our Constitution, and the moneychangers are central to those assaults. The first major congressional assault was the secret Christmas holiday passage of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. These assaults are directed to serve private interests, not the common citizen.
The threat posed by Saddam Hussein was his intention to trade Iraq's oil, not in petrodollars, but in Eurodollars. This threat was the real justification to deploy our military. Sales pitches such as “spreading democracy” and the security of Israel were widely promoted by the private news media, but Saddam's Eurodollar threat was the clincher. Similarly, that same media is now claiming that Iran is working on WMDs and poses a threat to nuclear-armed Israel. But also not widely publicized is the Iranian oil trades in Eurodollars. Reduction of the hegemony of the Federal Reserve and petrodollars is regarded as the true threat. Is there a pattern here?
Make no mistake and your rate can still spike
You pay on time and stay within your limit, and your rate can still spike. How can that possibly happen?
Credit card companies are always coming up with new ways to make money. Slip up and they'll bump up your interest rate. But the latest gotcha takes the cake.
Make companies now put language in their contracts that gives them the right to change your interest rate whenever they feel like it.
Citigroup's $1.1 Trillion of Mysterious Assets Shadows Earnings
Nowhere mentioned in the accompanying 66-page handout were the additional $1.1 trillion of assets that New York-based Citigroup keeps off its books: trusts to sell mortgage-backed securities, financing vehicles to issue short-term debt and collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs, to repackage bonds.
Employers use federal law to deny benefits
The story has played out often under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Designed to protect employee benefits, the law has been used by employers as a shield against suits.
Federal appeals courts, interpreting Supreme Court decisions dating to 1993, consistently have said companies that offer health, life and retirement benefits under ERISA cannot be sued for large amounts of money, or damages. Instead, they can be sued only for typically smaller sums such as Amschwand's insurance premiums.
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