NEWS
Your Money
Bloomberg -- U.S. stocks fell and the Standard &
Poor’s 500 Index retreated from an eight-month high as consumer
confidence trailed projections and companies from Office Depot
Inc. to Coach Inc. posted worse-than-estimated results. Oil and
metal prices slid, while Treasuries climbed.
Read More...
By Ron Scherer -- The US budget deficit is turning a deeper shade of red. On Friday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said this year’s budget deficit is now nearly $1.7 trillion, more than $400 billion larger than it forecast two months ago. Next year’s deficit will be nearly $1.1 trillion, $430 billion more than its prior forecast. Read More...
Your Government
July 28 (Bloomberg) -- The last time a president tried to overhaul U.S. health care, Americans were spending $912 billion
on the system and 40 million were uninsured. Today they’ respending $2.5 trillion and almost 50 million lack coverage. President Barack Obama’s
effort to revamp the system faces resistance from lawmakers of both parties who warn that the more
Read More
The Federal Government’s flood of red ink hit another high-water mark as the Treasury Department quietly reported today that the National Debt hit $11-trillion for the first time ever. To be exact, the Debt now stands at $11,033,157,578,669.78. Divide it by the U.S. population and it comes up to over $36,000 in debt for every man, woman and child among us. And the government is running up mountains of debt with Read More...
Your Taxes
The federal government collects taxes in order to finance
various public services. As policymakers weigh key decisions
about revenues and expenditures, it is instructive to examine
the recent usage of federal tax dollars.
In fiscal year 2008, the federal government spent $3
trillion, Read More...
In the wake of the April tax return deadline and associated tax and deficit tea party protests, I thought you might find it interesting to see just where our tax dollars go. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, or CBPP, took a look at 2008 expenditures and reports that during the last fiscal year, Uncle Sam spent $3 trillion, amounting to 21 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, or GDP. "While 2008 expenditures — as a share of GDP — slightly exceeded those of recent years, Read More...
Your Real Estate
Bloomberg -- A gauge of U.S. house prices posted its first monthly gain in three years, providing some solace to consumers shaken by rising joblessness.
The S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index rose 0.5 percent in May from the prior month, the Read More...
Commercial real estate, unlike residential, has typically been financed with five- to 10-year loans, the lender not requiring amortization or providing a guarantee of renewal. The borrower does not offer a personal guarantee of payment. That makes it vulnerable to foreclosure on maturity. Most commercial real estate has been initially financed at a 75 percent or 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio, with the additional constraint of a 1.2 to 1.5 debt service coverage ratio. Read More...
