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  • Fake Checks That Make You Pay

    Fake Checks That Make You Pay:

    Just because you might have access to the funds deposited via a check does not mean the check is “good.” Although federal regulations require financial institutions to make funds from a deposit available generally within one to five business days, it can take weeks before a bank discovers that a deposited check is worthless. The National Consumers League recently reported that fake-check scams are rising alarmingly. In 2006, counterfeit-check scams shot to the top of the league’s telemarketing fraud list and ranked third among Internet-based scams.

    If you want to avoid being a victim of a fake-check scam, follow this one piece of advice from Grant: Don’t ever accept a check if part of the deal involves you sending or wiring back some of the money.

  • China Economy Report by the World Bank

    Highly recommended: the World Bank’s latest China Quarterly by Brad Setser:

    Most likely because more and more components are made in China. Stage one involves shifting final assembly to China. But once the one-off cost savings from that shift have been realized, getting more cost savings requires shifting parts production. Stage two consequently involves shifting component production to China. The development of an internal Chinese supply chain for its final assembly plants is, I suspect, a bit reason why China’s trade surplus has increased so dramatically recently.

    Brad’s blog is one of those in our blogroll for a reason: when he highly recommends a report that is a good indication of value. Enjoy reading the report.

    Related: Top 10 Manufacturing Countries – Manufacturing Data – Accuracy Questions – Manufacturing Jobs Data: USA and China

  • More Non Bubble Bursting in Housing

    Housing sales drop in 40 states:

    Nationally, sales declined by 10.1 percent in the fourth quarter compared with the same period a year ago. The national median price – the point where half sell for more and half sell for less — fell to $219,300, down 2.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2005.

    While there is no agreed upon definition of bubble bursting, a almost 3% decline certainly can’t be seen as a “bursting bubble” can it?

    In all, median home prices fell in 49 percent of the 149 metropolitan areas surveyed, the largest percentage of areas showing price declines in the 27-year history of the Realtors’ price survey.

    Again hardly data of bubble bursting proportions.

    Related: Coming Collapse in Housing? – Beginning of the End of Housing Bubble? – Colored Bubbles

  • Make $500 for Every Illegal Telemarketer Call to You

    Making telemarketers pay — in cash

    So far, Lammé has won $6,000 in judgments against telemarketers in three cases. He’s not a lawyer, but by filing in small claims court, he’s spent no more than $100 in court fees and scarcely more than an hour of his time on any case. Now he wants you to do it, too.

    The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, signed into law by George Bush the elder, led to creation of the ragingly popular Do Not Call List. But tucked away in the bill was another important provision that entitles consumers to take what’s called a “private right of action.” For each violation of the act, consumers can sue for a $500 penalty. Violations include calling after a consumer has told a company to stop, or failing to provide the consumer with a copy of the firm’s Do Not Call policy.

    In his most recent case, heard in January in Sacramento, Lammé was awarded $3,500 for seven violations allegedly committed by Country Club Mortgage Inc. of Visalia. David Mitchell, vice president of Country Club Mortgage, said he couldn’t comment on the litigation.

    Good. Lets put those who don’t follow the law out of business and get yourself some money at the same time.

    Related: Info from Lamm̩ to help you earn some money from telemarketers РCharity Telemarketers РInvestor Protection Needed РReal Free Credit Report

  • Mortgage Defaults: Latest Woe for Housing

    The main point of this article is the increasing evidence of problems due to loose underwriting for mortgages of the last few years. Mortgage defaults: Latest woe for housing:

    The rate of subprime borrowers who are more than a month late on a mortgage payment was 13.2 percent in the third quarter of 2006, the latest numbers available, up from a 10.5 percent delinquency rate in the third quarter of 2005.

    The overall mortgage delinquency rate was 4.7 percent in the third quarter, just slightly above the 4.4 percent rate of a year earlier, when it was a historic low.

    The problem of loose credit is real and important. But isn’t it really amazing how 4.4% is the historic low for mortgages over a month late? That seems really high too me. Obviously 13.2% for sub-prime loans shows how risky it is to take out such a loan. In my opinion, the delinquency rate for over 90 days late is a more important figure (but these numbers can serve as a leading indicator).

    Related: articles on investing – investment dictionary – How Not to Convert Equity

  • USA and European Economies

    Who are the champions?

    Compared with the awesome strength of America and the raw power of emerging Asia, Europe is sometimes portrayed as a has-been, excelling in luxury goods, fine food, wines and fashion but weighed down by too many old industries and old ideas.
    …
    America enjoys awesome advantages over Europe. It is a huge, truly single market with a relatively youthful, growing population. It is the world’s economic superpower, with much higher productivity than its competitors (though productivity growth has recently been disappointing, and last year was slightly below Europe’s). It has world-class universities that work hand in glove with business. Americans have not only won more Nobel prizes, they have turned more scientific advances into profitable businesses than anyone else. Many of these firms have gone on to become the giants of modern business.

    It may have been a British scientist, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, working at a laboratory in Switzerland, who invented the world wide web, but America is the home of the internet and all the business sectors it has spawned. And even where Europe is holding its own against America, it seems unable to retain its advantage.

    I thought the aritcle was then going to say equally positive things about Europe. It did say positive things but not really with the same gusto. It is good to remember that most countries has strong and weak factors economically. The USA continues to take advantage of the best minds from elsewhere but I believe this flow will reduce and in fact flow in both directions increasingly. Tim Berners-Lee works at MIT now.

  • Growing Size of non-USA Economies

    Developing nations poised to challenge USA as king of the hill

    For more than half a century, Americans could take for granted that the world economy would orbit around them. No longer. The USA today produces about 30% of world output at market prices. That figure already is down significantly from about 46% in the aftermath of World War II, when European and Japanese factories lay in ruins. And it is headed lower still as China and India continue their ascent.

    Over the next generation, fast-growing developing nations are expected to see a significant uptick in their share of world output from 23% today to about 33% in 2030, according to a recent World Bank study.

    This trend is among the major economic and investment forces over the next several decades.

    Related: Science and Engineering in Global Economics – China now the 5th Largest Economy – Top 10 Manufacturing Countries

  • Exurbs Hardest Hit in Recent Housing Slump

    Exurbs hardest hit in recent housing slump:

    While the U.S. housing downturn has depressed once-thriving real estate markets around the nation, far-flung suburbs of major cities have suffered the most abrupt market correction. Home construction in these distant exurbs has slowed and prices and sales have fallen more than those of close-in suburban neighbors since a five-year U.S. housing boom ended in the summer of 2005.

    Average home prices in Loudon County, Virginia, 35 miles outside of Washington, D.C., fell roughly 11 percent in 2006, according to the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors. By contrast, Virginia’s Arlington County, which hugs the nation’s capital, saw a price decline of only about 2 percent.

    And, so far there has been no “bust.” As I mentioned previously I did not, and do not, see a “bursting of the real estate bubble” overall.

    Related: Beginning of the End of Housing Bubble? – real estate investing articles

  • Kodak Debuts Printers With Inexpensive Cartridges

    Kodak Debuts Printers With Inexpensive Cartridges. I don’t know anything about the printers but normally companies charge exorbitant amounts for ink cartridges. They rely on the tendency of consumers to only look at the purchase price and ignore the much larger operating expenses.

    In rolling out its new Easyshare All-in-One Printers, Kodak said it will “save consumers up to 50 percent on everything they print.” The new Kodak cartridges will cost about US$10 for black ink and $15 for a five-color unit.

    Kodak 4-in-1 Printer with Wi-Fi

    Related: Price Discrimination in the Internet Age

  • Roth IRAs a Smart bet for Younger Set

    There are few investment opportunities as valuable as IRAs (tax sheltered retirement accounts) – nor many more critical to successful personal financial success (for younger or older really). Roth IRAs a smart bet for younger set by Tami Luhby.

    Roth IRAs, as well as the newer Roth 401(k)s, are a smart bet for many people in their 20s and 30s, experts say. Younger workers are more likely to be in a lower tax bracket now than when they retire, making any current tax deductions less valuable, and they have enough years to save to make the tax-free withdrawals very beneficial.

    The beauty of the Roth IRA and 401(k) is that there’s no tax on the capital gains in the accounts, so the longer you have to accumulate those gains, the better.

    Mathematically, if the tax rate in the year of the contribution and the tax rate at the year of withdrawal are equal a Roth IRA and regular IRA provide the same value. However, in addition to earning less money in while young and therefor being in a lower tax bracket there is also the benefit from a Roth IRA of eliminating the risk of an increasing tax rate structure. Since money withdrawn from a Roth IRA is not taxable. This is a huge benefit.

    So add to your IRA for last year if you have not already and add to your IRA for this year now. Also add to any employer matched 401(k) for your long term retirement savings. Few investments will have the long term impact of adding to retirement accounts early and often.

    Related: Saving for Retirement