Archive for the ‘Featured’ Category

I’m not sure what the most shocking business headline of the day is… You decide.

Wachovia mortgage unit halting loans via brokers

Wachovia is planning to stop offering home loans through brokers. They claim they want to focus on customers who have “relationships” with the bank. When was the last time a bank focused on the customer and not their assets?

Bank of America profit falls 41 percent but tops views

How is it, that a companies profits can fall 41%, and still be seen as a good thing? Just think, if they hadn’t taken part in the whole sub-prime lending fiasco, they could have helped avert the crisis in the first place. But then again, I bet they don’t focus on their customers the way Wachovia does. (cough)

Apple outlook well below Wall Street view

What? I don’t get it. Apple is always conservative in their outlook. Why is anyone surprised they came in under Wall Street’s view? If you read the whole article you will find that along with their September forecast being low, they also forecast that their third-quarter income would come in at $1 per share. Wall Street analysts expected $1.08, and they came in at $1.19. I bet, come September, the numbers going to fall in line like it has every time in the past.

So, which one is the most shocking story of the day? Tell me.

This special message is sponsored by the letter “D” and the number ‘0′.

It’s no secret that Countrywide Home Loans, with the help of a shady mortgage broker, took advantage of a couple people I hold very dear to my heart.

Just over two years ago, they realized they had been duped into a mortgage they were not going to be able to afford. With the adjustable rate climbing, and the mortgage barely within their ability to pay, they took action trying to prevent disaster before it happened.

Over the course of these past two years, they tried working with Countrywide. Countrywide wanted no part of it. The only assistance Countrywide offered, was negotiating a new mortgage (which would have caused them to default even faster). They placed the house on the market immediately.

Because of the turn in the market, they couldn’t even get anyone to look at the house. Countrywide still ignored them. When they did receive an offer, they inquired about short-selling, but Countrywide slammed the door on that idea.

Nine months ago they were forced to walk away from the house. Countrywide gave them no choice. Several months ago, they foreclosed on the house. Last month, the house sold to another person for less than half what was owed on it.

And now? Countrywide actually sent them a letter telling them that their mortgage payment had been “adjusted” into a fixed 7.25% interest loan, with payments that were very reasonable, and in fact, affordable. One month after the house sold.

The people at Countrywide are “d”umbasses. They were screwing people over for years, and now they are sending out these fake “we’ll help you now” letters to convince the government they are actually trying to help them. They have to. It’s the only way they can guarantee that the government is going to help bail them out.

Countrywide was, and still is, run by a bunch of people with ‘0′ (zero) common sense. If they had actually helped the homeowners who didn’t want to walk away, rather than ignoring them, the mortgage “crisis” might not have become much of a crisis at all.

Crossposted at Slobokan’s Site O’ Schtuff.

What happens when 5,000 gallons of molasses spills on a highway? I’m stuck for an answer.

A sticky mess has been cleaned up after an overturned tanker truck poured 5,000 gallons of molasses onto a major Texas highway.

Drivers heading to Sugar Land were rerouted Thursday after the afternoon accident shut down Texas 6 at Southwest Freeway for eight hours.

Molasses in Sugar Land. Haha. You couldn’t have scripted a better news story.

What a strange day in business.

Google reported disappointing earnings, and so did Microsoft. NASDAQ dropped a bit, but the Dow was pushed higher because Citigroup’s news wasn’t quite as bad as the other two.

Technology stocks fell on Friday and drove the Nasdaq down 1 percent on disappointing earnings from Google (GOOG.O) and Microsoft(MSFT.O), while Citigroup’s smaller-than-expected loss pushed up the Dow and helped keep the broader market near the unchanged mark.

Is the cause of our economic downturn Google’s fault? I know, crazy concept, but look at the facts.

I love the fail blog.

If you’re headed to the Beijing Olympic Games and you were planning to eat a nice big plate of Egg Foo Dog or had your heart set on some Dog Sum, you are going to be disappointed. Along with those dishes, Sweet and Sour Dog, Moo Shoo Dog, and Egg Dog Soup will not be offered either. You see, the Chinese government is taking dog off the menu during the Olympic games.

Beijing’s 112 officially designated Olympic restaurants have been banned from selling dog meat during the Olympics, the city’s food safety administration has said.

Non-designated restaurants (especially those serving Korean, Yunnan and Guizhou cuisine) have also been encouraged not to serve the meat, a notice drawn up earlier by the administration said.

All meat transported into Beijing during the Olympics will be checked to prevent violations, the notice said.

“Dog meat sales are being suspended as a mark of respect for foreigners and people from ethnic groups,” an anonymous official with the administration was quoted as saying by Beijing Daily on Friday.

They are not pulling dog from the menu because some people might find it gross to find Lassie chopped up in little pieces on their plate, they are pulling it because they don’t want to offend people from different “ethnic groups”. Wow.

When you visit a foreign country, isn’t it customary to experience their culture “as is”, without the need for any policing of the culture you see while you are there? Seriously… If you are going to be offended that the Chinese eat dog in some of their dishes, then you need to stay the hell home. That is, until being offended is added as one of the official Olympic sports. The way people are acting lately, it should already be one.

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It seems economists are having a hard time agreeing on what should be done to help the ailing economy.

Economists are deeply divided over whether the U.S. Federal Reserve should focus more on fostering growth or keeping inflation in check, The Wall Street Journal said citing its forecasting survey.

Of 53 economists polled, 22 said the U.S. central bank should be more concerned about economic weakness than inflation, while 21 said inflation should be the greater concern, the paper said.

The rest said the risks were balanced or declined to answer.

Ten of the economists weren’t sure how to answer. Some of them took the easy road and said things were balanced. Ha! Yeah, sure they are. What bothers me though are the economists who declined to answer. Why would they decline to answer? Are things so bad they don’t want their names associated with the article, or are things getting better and they don’t want to cast gloom on the occasion?

I want to be an economist. You see, I can predict things just as well as they can. Here goes.

#1. The housing market will continue to slide for a while.
#2. Oil will continue to rise for a while.
#3. The Federal Reserve will keep rates steady for a while.
#4. And then cut them for a while.
#5. The media will continue to report that we are in a recession, although we haven’t even had one quarter of negative growth and two are needed in order to define it as a recession, at least for a while.

and last but not least,

#6. I am going to go sit on the couch and relax for a while.

I bet I hit 6 out of 6 on this one. What do I win?

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Now ain’t that a coincidence. Freddie Mac shares are down 75% for the year. Aren’t 75% of the sub-prime mortgages in foreclosure as well? Wow.

US mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are facing growing pressure as fears intensify about a potential calamity at the firms, which underpin trillions of dollars in home loans.

On Thursday, Freddie Mac shares plunged 22 percent to eight dollars, and are down over 40 percent this week and 75 percent this year.

Word has it that the current administration has held talks about what to do if the two firms falter. Umm… What can they do? There is $1.5 trillion dollars tied up in Freddie Mac and $700 billion in Fannie Mae. How can he fix that? By signing another stimulus package into law? Crazy.

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When I saw the headline, “Pending home sales tumble in May“, I couldn’t help but click the link. I guess I am a compulsive clicker.

Pending sales of previously owned U.S. homes plummeted by 4.7 percent in May, far more than expected and a sign of more trouble ahead for the beleaguered housing market, a real estate trade group report showed on Tuesday.

How can this be a sign of “more trouble ahead” when we haven’t even hit bottom yet from the first trouble? That’s like worrying about a small boulder that happens to be in the path as your car plummets off a 1000ft cliff.

In other words, are you really worried about hitting that boulder? Take a moment to see what’s coming when you hit bottom.

Another automaker may be locating nearby.

The U.S. State of Alabama will be the likely home of a new Volkswagen manufacturing plant, beating two other states, German industry newsletter Automobilwoche said on Saturday, citing senior company sources.

This is only good news if they are planning to manufactur the new volkswagen bus, also known as the Kombi at that location. If not, I could care less.

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