I get these letters all the time telling me I can get a loan modification. I did. Through the bank that holds my mortgage. Not some fly by night place that wanted money up-front.

Federal prosecutors announced the indictment of a Southern California man on money laundering and conspiracy charges for a scheme to defraud delinquent homeowners hoping to modify their mortgages.

Glenn Steven Rosofsky is accused of running a mortgage fraud scheme in San Marcos, California, that operated under the names Nations Housing Modification Center and Federal Housing Modification Department, according to a statement released Tuesday by U.S. Attorney Karen Hewitt in San Diego.

The government said Rosofsky and others would make false statements to induce customers to pay $2,500 to $3,000 to buy loan modification services. He also asked others to rent a post office box and office space in Washington, D.C. to create the impression that his service operated on Capitol Hill, the government said.

Just think of all the payments they could have made with those “service” fees.

Investors in February pulled an estimated $3.7 billion from U.S. stock-focused mutual funds, dashing hopes of a rebound in demand for equities, while showering $19.7 billion on taxable bond funds, according to a report from Morningstar.

After investors pulled almost $26 billion from U.S. stock funds last year, analysts thought the trend might have turned around in January, when investors added a net $2.7 billion. But the one-month inflow ended in February, fund analysts at Morningstar wrote in their latest monthly report.

Lately it’s been more take, on the part of investors. Seems the government is set in a give mode. Give, give, give, then pay for it with take, take, take.

Honda announced the recall of an estimated 412,000 vehicles in the United States because of problems with “soft” brakes, in the latest blow to the embattled Japanese auto industry.

Honda said the problem can result from air accumulating in a “vehicle stability assist modulator,” which causes the pedal to get closer to the floor than normal before the vehicle stops.

They just can’t stop, can they?

Because making cigarette taxes so prohibitively high worked to make people quit smoking, it’s time to take on the sodas and pizzas!!

U.S. researchers estimate that an 18 percent tax on pizza and soda can push down U.S. adults’ calorie intake enough to lower their average weight by 5 pounds (2 kg) per year.

The researchers, writing in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine on Monday, suggested taxing could be used as a weapon in the fight against obesity, which costs the United States an estimated $147 billion a year in health costs.

For the record, I have had pizza three times since November, and I have lost 16 pounds. That’s unfair taxation without representation I say.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust… But can they turn concrete into tomatoes? Only time will tell.

Detroit, the very symbol of American industrial might for most of the 20th century, is drawing up a radical renewal plan that calls for turning large swaths of this now-blighted, rusted-out city back into the fields and farmland that existed before the automobile.

Operating on a scale never before attempted in this country, the city would demolish houses in some of the most desolate sections of Detroit and move residents into stronger neighborhoods. Roughly a quarter of the 139-square-mile city could go from urban to semi-rural.

Because the economy is doing so well…

The Federal Reserve is beginning a program to drain some of the unprecedented liquidity it added to markets during the credit crisis.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Monday it will begin conducting reverse repurchase agreements. That’s when the Fed sells securities from its portfolio with an agreement to buy them back later.

Funny, it’s that initial act of adding liquidity into the credit markets that created the mess we are in now. Thanks guys!

Anyone who thought we’d see a full return of our money, let alone make money on any of the bailout deals, was an idiot.

The Treasury Department sank billions into auto finance giant GMAC Inc. without an exit strategy or proof the company was viable — a decision that could cost taxpayers $6.3 billion, a new watchdog report says.

The government said the $17.2 billion bailout was a necessary step to save troubled automakers General Motors and Chrysler. GMAC provides critical financing to auto dealers, who borrow to finance their fleets until the cars can be sold to consumers.

ITT Educational Services (NYSE:ESI – News) didn’t pay $20.8 million for debt-ridden Daniel Webster College in June just to acquire its red-brick campus, 1,200 students, or computer science and aviation training programs.

To ITT, the third-biggest higher-education company in the U.S., the Nashua (N.H.) college’s “most attractive” feature was its regional accreditation, says Michael Goldstein, an attorney at Dow Lohnes, a Washington firm that has long represented the Carmel (Ind.) company. Regional accreditation, the same gold standard of academic quality enjoyed by Harvard, is a way to increase enrollment and tap into the more than $100 billion the federal government pays out annually in financial aid.

It may be the same regional accreditation, but saying you went to ITT rather than Harvard sure doesn’t raise any eyebrows.

Just think, the other day Harry Reid said more job loss was a big day in America. I wonder if the people back home are happy with that statement of his?

The jobless rate in the Las Vegas area jumped to 13.8 percent in January, the 13th consecutive month of double-digit unemployment.

Hardest hit was the construction industry, where employment fell from 63,000 in December 2009 to 51,700 in January. But there was a rebound in gaming employment in January with 151,200 on the job, compared to 146,200 in December.

The Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation reported today that statewide, the seasonally adjusted jobless rate was 13 percent with an estimated 187,700 people out of work. The 13 percent compares to the national average of 9.7 percent for January.

Thirteen percent!!! Something’s not working.

Sex.com, often touted as one of the most valuable Internet domain names, is due to head to the auction block next week.

DOM Partners LLC, a New Jersey lender that backed a 2006 purchase of the domain name for a reported $14 million, is foreclosing on the Internet property, and is due to auction it on March 18 at New York law firm Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf LLP, according to legal notices.

Bidding for the Internet property, the tumultuous past of which includes several lawsuits and two books, is due to start at $1 million.

Face it, sex sells but it doesn’t always pay the bills.