September 2009

Short Sales Spread across Real Estate Market, Leaving Frustration in Their Wake (RISMedia Real Estate News)

September 25, 2009

RISMEDIA, September 26, 2009—(MCT)—A few years ago, few people in the housing market had ever heard of a short sale. Mention the term today and people, whether they are homeowners or real estate agents, just roll their eyes. The practice, which involves selling a property for less than the amount owed …

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Lodha Devlopers To Raise Rs 3000 in IPO

September 25, 2009

Industries : Real Estate Email this Mumbai based realtor Lodha Developers Ltd is planning to raise upto Rs 3000 cr through an IPO. THe premium housing player which is working on about 40

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Home sales drop 2.7 percent (Yesterday)

September 25, 2009

… 30. Congress is facing intense pressure from real estate agents and home builders to extend it, … a week earlier. Foreclosures and other financially distressed sellers accounted for about 30 percent of …

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ABM Offers Service for Maintaining Distressed Commercial Properties

September 25, 2009

Industries Inc., announced that it has launched a new service targeting the United States’ growing market of Commercial Real Estate Owned (CREO), vacant and distressed commercial properties. ABM Property Preservation Group, the company noted, will

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Stephen Viscusi: Should Disney/ABC Change the Name of "Good Morning America" to ABC’s "Good Morning Gay America"? Viscusi’s TOP…

September 25, 2009

I was recently reading on my friend Tory Johnson’s blog (www.womanforhire.com). Tory’s blog mentioned how she had met Suzie Orman and her “life partner,” Kathy Travis (“KT”), at a speaking engagement called the Pennsylvania Governor’s Conference for Women. Orman is a lesbian TV personality who talks and writes about money related issues. She is a class act to whom I look up to. According to the “Woman for Hire” blog, Suze and KT were both excited about Suzie’s high ranks in the TVNewser poll, which, to that date placed Orman as the highest contender to replace Diane Sawyer in January on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” Here is a little back-story about Tory Johnson. Tory founded a woman’s job fair company called, “Woman for Hire,” after losing her job at NBC, where she had previously worked as a publicist. Tory is also a paid workplace expert on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” and the author of the new book “Fired to Hired,” which I highly recommend. If Tory can go from a public relations person at NBC, lose that job and somehow convince a producer from Good Morning America to hire her as “on-air” talent–not to report on “public relations” but to give career advice, without her even needing to go back to school, you want to know her secret. I say, good for Tory. It’s sweet revenge for her with NBC. After all, these are the same producers that hired all these childless “on-air” talents to lure parents to the show. Welcome to the world of television! Or, as I call GMA, “smoke-and-mirrors in Jimmy Chu shoes!” However, I had to chuckle at the Suze Orman story Tory wrote. There is the sense of clear irony in what Tory wrote about regarding “Good Morning America” and the woman Tory said is now feels like her “BFF”-Suze Orman. It was my impression that Disney/ABC had decided to focus on attracting moms (women), to score the all-time highest ratings war for television’s morning shows. “Moms” are apparently the strongest demographic for morning television. However, here is the thing. Disney/ABC’s “Good Morning America” is the only morning show on network broadcast that does not have a parent at the helm. Diane Sawyer is not a mom. Robin Roberts is a single woman in her mid-to-late forties who never married, and never talks about having a boyfriend or even dating men, like Hode Kobe does on NBC’s “Today Show.” I was on a Ferry from the Fire Island Pines, a predominately lesbian and gay community near Long Island NY, about two years ago. Robin Roberts had spent the weekend there and was on her way back with her doggy. She may have been visiting Sam Champion, who has also been out there. All of the morning show’s programming strategy seemed to be to attract women, mostly moms who would be home in the morning or at least part of it, before getting the kids off to school and then heading off to work…and well, I found the whole story amusing. Tory would be an ideal host. As a working mom, she even looks like a Sawyer, that is, if Sawyer had had children. I love to put on my headhunter hat with these TV “on -air” scenarios and add my two cents, even when not asked. I have no gripe with the lesbians, even single straight women, and non-moms ruling the morning talk-show world. After all, Oprah and Tyra are not married, and are not mothers either- -at least that we have heard of. First, picture this in your head. “Good Morning America” with your hosts, Robyn Roberts and Suze Orman, Sam Champion with the weather and our news reader Chris Cuomo (who has kids). If ABC does not give the job to Cuomo, (and if not, I would walk if I were Chris Cuomo), then give his job to Anderson Cooper! Better yet, here is an idea: ABC can hire MSNBC’s, talk show host, Rachel Maddow. Then, ABC may be able to cross-sell their morning franchise to Viacom’s LOGO network. (Just tongue-and-cheek here, before you wrote, and no pun intended!) My last advice to ABC is that Barbara Walters should bring in Sarah Palin as a replacement for Elizabeth Hasselbeck! Boy did I hear from thousands of my readers about that. Wow! Therefore, I hope you will let me know what you think of this list of TOP TEN. OK-here are my top ten more realistic picks (men and woman) to replace Diane Sawyer on “Good Morning America. I write them as a recruiter, author of the HarperCollins book “Bulletproof Your Job,” and as a TV-journalist and writer myself: 1. Ann Curry (ABC should be trying to steal her away). 2. Kathy Lee Gifford (Meredith Viera and her are roughly the same age), she is a mom and cannot stop talking about her kids. 3. Rosie O’Donnell (at least she has kids) 4. Campbell Brown (Former NBC Weekend anchor of the “TODAY” show, and now has her own gig on CNN. Moreover, she cannot seem not stop having kids) 5. Dr. Phil -Come on, you know he would be great to wake up too. 6. Heidi Klum-Perfect complement to Robin and another one who can’t stop having children! 7. MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” contributor Willie Geist 8. ABC/Disney can go out on a limb and consider “How You Do-In’” gal, and my friend, Wendy Williams. 9. CBS Weekend Morning Show Host Chris Wragge – A HUNK that everyone seems to love. 10. And —for my Number TEN choice—well of course… Paula Abdu l…who I hear… is still looking for work! Tell me what you think! ——————————————————————— You’re always welcome to write me with your career dilemmas, and I’ll answer you on this column. Follow me on Twitter (@WorkplaceGuru) and add me on Facebook or email me at: stephen@viscusi.com. Disclaimer: The scenarios and events portrayed in this article are products of the author’s imagination. (c) Stephen Viscusi. All rights reserved. Article can be duplicated in part of full without author’s permission. Stephen Viscusi is the author of two books about jobs and the workplace. Charles Gibson from ABC’s World News calls Viscusi, “America’s Workplace Guru”. Viscusi is a TV broadcast journalist on jobs, a headhunter and resume spin doctor. His latest book, Bulletproof Your Job: 4 Simple Strategies to Ride Out the Rough Times and Come Out On Top at Work (HarperCollins) has been published around the globe in at least 9 languages including Chinese, Korean, Spanish and Portuguese. Viscusi is also the founder of www.BulletproofYourResume.com. Viscusi’s headhunting and workplace advice is usually considered counter-intuitive to the conventional wisdom. Viscusi is not a career or life coach. To the contrary, his current book, Bulletproof Your Job has been described as the New Millennium’s The Art of War, by Sun Tzu, and that’s how Viscusi sees the workplace. He’s your workplace General. Each week, Stephen Viscusi volunteers his headhunting career advice to the world. His disciples can be celebrities, politico, world leaders, heads of industry, and some are just ordinary people who write him for advice. It’s like Tony Robbins advising Al Gore or Deepak Chopra advising Michael Jackson (wait, scratch that one). Even you can get your own advice by writing to Stephen at stephen@viscusi.com, Facebook him or Twitter him at WorkplaceGuru.

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Video: King Of The Table

September 25, 2009

Killerspin is the leading table tennis retailer and sports event producer in the world. (Venture)

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Home sales surge, even as prices slip

September 25, 2009

… foreclosures, said Christi Phelps of Corin Bay Real Estate in Englewood. “During the last two months … it takes to hold on.” Pressures from distressed sales will continue, said Steve DuToit of …

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Video: Downturn’s Impact On Baseball

September 25, 2009

Analysis and discussion with President of Boras Corporation Scott Boras. He says they do not represent players in other sports; their effectiveness is based on the fact that they are players and their focus is 24/7 on one sport. (For The Record)

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Video: Market Sentiment Back To Normal

September 25, 2009

Analysis and discussion with Chief Market Strategist of Russell Investments Stephen Wood. He talks about the long and slow economic recovery. (Taking Stock)

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Video: Mongolia’s $30 Billion Mining Jackpot

September 25, 2009

Gold fever hits land of Genghis Khan. (The Trade)

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Video: Corn’s Big Year And Big Challenges

September 25, 2009

United States Department of Agriculture recently forecasts this year’s output with total close to 13 billion bushels which makes corn as the second-biggest ever crop on an annual basis. (Taking Stock)

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Woods Leads by One Stroke After Second Round of Golf’s Tour Championship

September 25, 2009
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Pakistan’s Pursuit of Militant Leader May Fail to Revive India Peace Talks

September 25, 2009

By James Rupert Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) — Pakistan’s detention of the top Islamic militant India blames for November’s guerrilla assault on Mumbai may not be the definitive crackdown India says is needed for progress in talks between them this weekend. Foreign ministers from the nuclear-armed foes are to confer tomorrow in New York on resuming a five-year detente process that built trade and transport links between their countries. India broke off the talks last year after Pakistani gunmen, who Indian and U.S. officials say belonged to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (Army of the Pure) militant group, killed 166 people in a three- day siege of hotels and other sites in Mumbai. Lashkar-e-Taiba’s founder, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed , “was the chief conspirator in the attack,” and India wants him prosecuted for it, Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal this week. “India cannot be lulled into some kind of satisfaction” by Saeed’s confinement at home this week by police, he said. Pakistan says its investigation of Saeed has found no solid evidence that he plotted the attack, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik told India’s NDTV television Sept. 24. “As far as Hafiz Saeed is concerned, please do not make this a precondition” for progress in peace talks, he said. Punishing Saeed will be hard for Pakistan, partly because its main spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate , for years has covertly supported and guided Saeed and the Lashkar fighters in attacking India, according to academics , including Husain Haqqani , Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S. Pakistan’s army denies backing jihadist groups. Popular Support Also, Saeed has won popular support through charity work done by his Jamaat ud-Dawa (Society of the Call), which a UN committee on terrorism said this year is a front for Lashkar. Saeed denies the groups are linked. Pakistan last week issued a criminal complaint against Saeed that could lead to his trial on charges unrelated to Mumbai. On Sept. 21, police confined him to his home “without presenting any detention order, said Saeed’s lawyer, A.K. Dogar. The government’s moves against Saeed “have been taken in part to facilitate” the talks in New York this weekend, said Hasan-Askari Rizvi , a political scientist in Saeed’s hometown, Lahore. They also may reflect that he “is gradually losing the support” he has held for years in the government and among top army officers, who dominate national security policy, said Rizvi, an associate analyst with the University of Bradford’s Pakistan Security Research Unit . ‘Move Swiftly’ Krishna this week kept pressure on Pakistan to prosecute Saeed and other members of Lashkar. “The chief perpetrators of the attack on Mumbai are still scot-free,” and Pakistan should “move swiftly” to prosecute them with evidence that India has provided, he told India’s CNN-IBN news channel Sept. 22. Authorities are unlikely to accede to Indian pressure that they prosecute Saeed over the Mumbai siege, Rizvi said. Pakistani authorities “are curtailing his activities, but we don’t know how far they will go against him,” he said. Saeed on Sept. 24 challenged two criminal complaints by authorities accusing him of rallying support and funds for Jamaat ud-Dawa. The complaints, issued last week, “are baseless in legal terms,” Dogar, said by phone from Lahore. The criminal complaints and confinement of Saeed also may reflect a shift among top army officers who have long secretly backed Lashkar and other jihadist groups as proxy forces for Pakistan in Afghanistan and India, said Rizvi and other analysts. Losing Sympathy “The relationship has been fraying for years, as the military’s control” over Lashkar and other groups “has been slipping,” said Shuja Nawaz , director of the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council, a non-partisan think-tank in Washington. The military leadership’s sympathy for Pakistani jihadist groups has been falling “dramatically” in the past year, as officers saw evidence of the militants’ growing alliance with al-Qaeda and their long-term threat to the Pakistani state, said Nawaz, author of a history of the Pakistani army. The army fought a 10-week battle beginning in April and lost 158 troops to recover the strategic Swat Valley from Taliban guerrillas. Unlike the Taliban, Lashkar has appeared to remain relatively cooperative with the military and has not attacked Pakistani forces. While Pakistani “policymakers are more critical” of Lashkar, “we can’t say the government has turned decisively against it,” said Samina Yasmeen, a Pakistani researcher on Lashkar-e-Taiba who directs the Center for Muslim States and Societies at the University of Western Australia . Schools, Clinics Largely because of the schools, clinics and other social projects run by Jamaat ud-Dawa, it and Lashkar-e-Taiba “have a nationwide presence” and “a large population of sympathizers,” said Yasmeen in a telephone interview. Pakistani authorities “don’t want to be seen” cracking down on Lashkar or Jamaat “under pressure from India,” Pakistan’s long-time rival, said Rizvi. The countries have fought three wars since they separated at independence from Britain in 1947. Police in the city of Faisalabad registered criminal complaints against Saeed on Sept. 16 that accuse him of soliciting funds and support for Jamaat ud-Dawa. Because those charges are unrelated to India’s demands, they offer the government a politically easier way to prosecute Saeed, Rizvi said. To contact the reporter on this story: James Rupert in New Delhi at jrupert3@bloomberg.net

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Korean Families Separated by War to Reunite for First Time in Two Years

September 25, 2009

By Bomi Lim Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) — A group of South Koreans is set to cross the heavily armed land border with North Korea today with the resumption of a program to reunite families separated since the 1950-1953 war. The six days of meetings at the Mount Geumgang resort in North Korea are the first since October 2007. About 200 relatives, 100 from each side, will participate. The cross-border exchanges, which were agreed to in August, come amid other conciliatory gestures from the communist regime following its detonation of a nuclear device in May. The North’s leader Kim Jong Il told a Chinese envoy on Sept. 18 he’s prepared to return to international negotiations on dismantling his nuclear weapons programs. “I am still dazed at the fact I will be meeting my sister and brother in a couple of days,” Lee Sun Soo, 76, said in a Sept. 24 telephone interview from Seoul. “They were just babies. Would I even recognize them?” Lee said he was separated from the rest of his family in December of 1950 when he followed a crowd of refugees by himself “out of curiosity.” They were traveling south across the border. Some 20,000 Koreans since 2000 briefly met relatives across the border until the visits were halted, the Unification Ministry said on its Web site. Registered With Government Lee is among more than 85,000 people in South Korea seeking to take part in the meetings, according to the ministry. About a third of the 130,000 in the nation who registered with the government have since died. The Korean War ended in a cease-fire that has never been replaced by a peace treaty. About 1.7 million troops are stationed on both sides of the border strewn with land mines. The U.S. has about 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea, according to the United States Forces Korea Web site. When South Korean President Lee Myung Bak took office in February last year, he pledged to change the so-called Sunshine Policy of openness with the North pursued by his two predecessors. Reunification with North Korea can only come after the communist country gives up its nuclear program, Lee said in a Sept. 21 speech in New York. “Unfortunately, we don’t find any indication anywhere that North Korea has such intentions,” Lee said, according to a transcript on his office Web site. Any economic support from South Korea will come only after Kim’s regime abandons nuclear weapons ambitions, he said. Atomic Test Tensions on the peninsula peaked after the North’s atomic test, which was followed by a vow never to return to so-called six-party talks on ending its nuclear program. South Korea, China , Japan, Russia and the U.S. are partners to the talks. Relations began to improve after former U.S. President Bill Clinton traveled to Pyongyang to secure the release of two detained U.S. journalists on Aug. 5. North Korea then freed a detained Hyundai Group worker and four South Korean fishermen and Kim sent a delegation to South Korea to pay respects after the death of former President Kim Dae Jung. This month the Koreas settled a wage dispute at a jointly run industrial complex inside North Korea. For Lee Sun Soo, the coming reunion is something he never believed he would see. “I had given up,” said Lee, who has five children. “My parents are long gone. At least now I can find out which dates they died so I can pay respects.” To contact the reporter on this story: Bomi Lim in Seoul at blim30@bloomberg.net

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AIG Says Hartford, Liberty Mutual Shortchanged Workers’ Compensation Pools

September 25, 2009

By Hugh Son Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) — American International Group Inc., the insurer bailed out by the U.S., filed an amended complaint against competitors including Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. and Liberty Mutual Group Inc., saying they shortchanged industry-funded pools covering worker injuries. AIG’s rivals “formed an illegal conspiracy” to hide underreporting of premiums, said Mark Herr , a spokesman for the New York-based insurer, in an e-mailed statement. Today’s filing, in federal court in Chicago, elaborates on a prior AIG complaint from March 2008. The dispute focuses on who pays the bill for state insurance programs that compensate injured workers. The rivals participated in a national group that sued AIG in 2007, saying the insurer owed more than $1 billion tied to underpayments. That case was dismissed last month. AIG’s competitors are seeking class-action status for a related suit. In most states, companies that sell workers’ compensation insurance must fund pools that serve as insurers of last resort to cover worker injuries at employers that pose unattractive risks for individual carriers. AIG agreed in 2006 to fund a $301 million program after then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer accused the insurer of underreporting premiums used to calculate contributions. AIG’s competitors “engaged in the very same or similar underreporting practices that the New York authorities alleged against AIG,” the company said in the complaint. Richard Angevine , a Liberty Mutual spokesman, and Shannon Lapierre of Hartford didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment. The case is National Council on Compensation Insurance Inc., for the participating companies of the National Workers Compensation Reinsurance Pool v. American International Group Inc., 1:07C-2898, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois (Chicago). To contact the reporter on this story: Hugh Son in New York at hson1@bloomberg.net

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Japanese Five-Year Notes Rise, Complete Weekly Gain, After Stocks Decline

September 25, 2009

By Yoshiaki Nohara Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) — Japanese five-year notes rose the most this month as a slide in stocks worldwide spurred demand for the relative safety of government debt. Benchmark five-year yields fell to the lowest level in more than a week on speculation banks were using increasing cash reserves to purchase debt rather than generate new loans. Bonds also gained before a government report next week that economists said will show Japanese consumer prices dropped at a record pace, enhancing the value of the fixed payments from debt. “Bonds are benefiting from the losses in stocks,” said Akihiko Inoue , chief market analyst in Tokyo at Mizuho Investors Securities Co., a unit of Japan’s second-largest bank. “Banks probably don’t have a choice but to keep buying bonds as the economic outlook remains iffy.” The yield on five-year notes fell 4.5 basis points this week to 0.58 percent in Tokyo at Japan Bond Trading Co., the nation’s largest interdealer debt broker. The 0.7 percent security due September 2014 rose 0.217 yen to 100.579 yen this week, in which trading was limited to two days due to public holidays from Sept. 21-23. Five-year yields dropped yesterday to the lowest level since Sept. 16. Ten-year yields fell three basis points this week to 1.305 percent. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point. Ten-year bond futures for December delivery gained 0.49 to 139.04 this week at the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Industrial Production Bonds found buyers after the Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 2.6 percent yesterday, the biggest decline in almost six weeks. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 1 percent on Sept. 24. Stocks slid after a U.S. report on Sept. 24 showed sales of existing homes unexpectedly declined, signaling the recovery in the world’s largest economy is losing momentum. Sales of existing U.S. homes fell 2.7 percent in August to a 5.1 million annual rate from a 5.24 million rate in July, the National Association of Realtors said in Washington. Bonds advanced on speculation declining prices will help boost the value of the fixed payments from debt. Consumer prices excluding fresh food fell 2.4 percent last month from a year earlier after sliding 2.2 percent in July, a Bloomberg survey showed before the Sept. 29 report. That would be the sharpest drop since the survey began in 1971. The difference between yields on five-year notes and similar-maturity inflation-linked debt, which reflects the outlook among traders for consumer prices over the term of the securities, was negative 1.11 percentage points. Inflation-adjusted securities typically yield less than regular bonds because their principal payment increases at the same rate as inflation. Japan’s Ministry of Finance will sell 2.4 trillion yen ($26.5 billion) of two-year notes on Sept. 29. To contact the reporter on this story: Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo at ynohara1@bloomberg.net .

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Shanda Will Overcome 14% Trading Debut Drop as CEO Takes `Long-Term View’

September 25, 2009

By Veronica Navarro Espinosa Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) — Shanda Games Ltd., a unit of China’s biggest online games provider, will overcome the setback in its U.S. market debut on the “long-term” growth prospects for the Chinese online gaming industry, said Chief Executive Officer Diana Li. The shares plunged 14 percent yesterday to $10.75 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Shanghai-based Shanda Games was spun off by Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd. in the $1.04 billion initial public offering, the largest in the U.S. this year. “We are pleased with this successful IPO,” Li said in a telephone interview. “We are taking a long-term view of the business and we’re committed to executing this vision.” Shanda Games and Shanda Interactive sold 83.5 million American depositary receipts at $12.50 apiece, the upper end of the range of $10.50 and $12.50 cited in the prospectus. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. managed the IPO. Investors and analysts say that the IPO was overpriced. “What’s the room to go up if it’s already priced at market?,” said Tian Hou , a New York-based analyst with Pali Capital Inc. Shanda Games is a “market leader in the long run” and is “fundamentally strong.” China’s online game market will grow 18 percent annually, said Shanda Games’ Li. The company operates 31 games and has 24 more in the pipeline, according to Li. “We are the company that’s got the most number of games ready to be released,” she said. Internet Growth The company is tapping into investor interest in game companies as Internet growth surges in China. China’s total Web- gaming market grew 77 percent to $2.7 billion last year, the company said, citing research firm IDC. The Chinese economy will grow 9.5 percent next year after expanding 8.3 percent in 2009, according to a Bloomberg survey of analysts conducted the week ended Aug. 28. Shanda Interactive is selling shares in the U.S. as equity markets in China slump. The Shanghai Composite has fallen 18 percent since this year’s peak on Aug. 4 on speculation a plunge in new lending will damp domestic spending and stifle economic growth. Metallurgical Corporation of China Ltd. debuted yesterday with the weakest first-day performance for a newly listed company in Hong Kong this year. The state-owned construction company shares fell 12 percent. Shanda Interactive’s decision to spin off its game unit comes after Sohu.com Inc.’s successful IPO of Changyou.com Ltd in April. Changyou, an online game developer and operator, has more than doubled since it started trading on the Nasdaq. It raised $60 million in its IPO. Citigroup Inc. recommended selling shares of Shanda Interactive, saying valuations are “inflated.” ‘Hard to Justify’ “Shanda Interactive plus Shanda Games is now valued at $7.5 billion from $3.7 billion before, without any change to underlying revenue and earnings potential,” Citigroup analysts Alicia Yap and Jason Brueschke wrote in a report. “We find it hard to justify.” Shanda Interactive shares slid 12 percent to $50 yesterday, the most since October 2008. They have gained 55 percent this year, compared with a 33 percent advance for the Nasdaq. The company retains 71 percent of Shanda Game’s stock and 96 percent of voting control. The IPO was “priced too high,” said Stephen Parr, who oversees $30 million at Memphis-based Parr Financial Group LLC including Chinese stocks. He said he didn’t buy the shares. Competition Shanda Games increased first-half profit 75 percent as it attracted more players with games such as MIR 2 and Aion in the world’s biggest online market. The company will speed up new product development and offer more titles from outside developers as competition from Chinese rivals including NetEase.com Inc. and Changyou.com intensifies. “We are seeing more and more game developers in China starting out, and this will benefit publishers like Shanda,” said Eric Wen , an analyst at Mainfirst Securities. Rivals such as NetEase and Changyou rely more on self-developed games, said Wen, who rates shares of parent Shanda Interactive “buy.” First-half profit rose to 671.2 million yuan ($98.3 million) from 382.8 million yuan a year earlier, according to Shanda Games’ IPO prospectus. Sales climbed 43 percent to 2.03 billion yuan. Shanda Interactive, which derived 96 percent of its 2008 revenue from games, said it will focus on developing other Web businesses. In June, the company bought control of Hurray! Holding Co., a Chinese Internet-music provider. The parent’s other Web businesses include an online- literature unit that accounts for more than 80 percent of the market in China, Jin Yoon , an analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc., wrote in a May 26 report. The unit’s shares trade on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker “GAME.” To contact the reporter on this story: Veronica Espinosa in New York at vespinosa@bloomberg.net

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Asian Stocks Post First Decline in Three Weeks as Commodity Prices Fall

September 25, 2009

By Patrick Rial Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) — Asian stocks declined for the first time in three weeks as commodities prices slumped and companies took advantage of the recent rally to sell new shares. Aluminum Corp. of China, the nation’s biggest producer of the metal, slumped 8 percent in Hong Kong. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest miner, fell 3 percent. Nomura Holdings Inc., Japan’s biggest brokerage, slumped 17 percent after announcing a record $5.6 billion share sale. Guoyuan Securities Co. slumped 11 percent after regulators approved its plan to sell additional equity. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we’d seen the peak of the market for this year because the economic news isn’t going to improve very much,” investor Marc Faber , the publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report said in a Sept. 25 interview with Bloomberg Television. “The correction in the market has been overdue for quite some time.” The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 0.5 percent this week to 117.77. Asian markets have rallied 67 percent since the MSCI benchmark dropped to a five-year low on March 9. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 1 percent, while China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index tumbled 4.2 percent for the region’s steepest decline. Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia were among markets that posted gains this week. Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. surged 28 percent after saying it will raise HK$2.59 billion ($334 million) selling convertible bonds and warrants to a fund managed by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Japan Airlines Corp. plunged 22 percent as it sought aid to avoid a bankruptcy filing. Asia Outperformance MSCI’s Asian index has recovered to levels last seen before the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. a year ago the previous week. The ensuing credit crisis sparked more than $1.6 trillion in losses and writedowns at financial institutions and helped send economies globally into recession. The 31 percent advance this year by the Asian gauge tops a 16 percent rise by the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and 20 percent climb by Europe’s Stoxx 600 Index . The MSCI Asia Pacific Index’s six-month rally has been driven by better-than-estimated economic reports and corporate earnings . Of 646 companies on the gauge that reported net income for the latest quarter, 256 beat analyst predictions, compared with 168 that missed. Aluminum Corp. retreated 8 percent to HK$8.63 in Hong Kong. BHP lost 3 percent to A$37.55. PetroChina Co., the country’s biggest oil company, declined 3.1 percent to HK$9.02. A measure of six metals traded in London slid 3.1 percent this week, the biggest drop since July. Crude oil slumped 8.4 percent. Share Sales Nomura plunged 17 percent to 573 yen. The company will sell about 800 million shares, equivalent to almost 30 percent of the stock outstanding, to fund expansion outside Japan. Guoyuan Securities declined 11 percent to 18.51 yuan. China’s regulator granted approval for the company’s plan to sell as many as 500 million new shares, raising as much as 10 billion yuan ($1.46 billion.) Chinese companies raised at least 96.1 billion yuan in local initial public offerings since a nine-month moratorium on sales ended in June. In a sign that rising supply may be overwhelming investor demand, Metallurgical Corporation of China Ltd. rose 28 percent in its first day of trading in Shanghai on Sept. 21, less than half this year’s average debut gain of 68 percent. Investor Caution Metallurgical’s Hong Kong listing on Sept. 24, in which its shares fell 12 percent, was the weakest first-day performance for a newly listed company in the city this year. Of the three companies that listed in Hong Kong this week, only one, Sinopharm Group Co., gained. “Investors will become more cautious about buying into IPOs following the debuts this week,” said Louis Wong , a fund manager at Phillip Securities HK Ltd. in Hong Kong. Geely rallied 28 percent to HK$2.29. The company plans to raise HK$2.59 billion selling convertible bonds and warrants to a fund managed by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Japan Airlines retreated 22 percent to 133 yen. The nation’s largest carrier will be reorganized under a government plan designed to avert a bankruptcy. JAL posted a 99 billion yen loss in the first quarter, the most in at least six years, as business and leisure travel plummeted during the country’s worst postwar recession. To contact the reporter responsible for this story: Patrick Rial in Tokyo at prial@bloomberg.net .

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Bond Funds Swell by $295 Billion, Fueling Debt Rally, Bank of America Says

September 25, 2009

By Jody Shenn Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) — Cash continues to pour into bond funds , helping to explain the size of the credit-market rally as recent inflows exceed those in stock funds by the most since at least 1993, according to Bank of America Corp. analysts. About $295 billion has been added this year to funds targeting debt including corporate bonds, bank loans and municipal notes as investors seek to limit risk-taking as they shift from money-market funds , which have shrunk $334 billion, the analysts wrote in a report yesterday, citing AMG/Lipper Data Services. Net outflows from equity funds have been trimmed to $31 billion, from $77 billion in April. The flow of money into bonds, with the Federal Reserve buying $1.75 trillion of debt, has helped inflate values along with signs that the economy and markets are healing. Yields on high-yield, high-risk corporate bonds have tumbled to 7.54 percentage points more than Treasuries, from a record high of 19.7 percentage points last December, according to Barclays Capital index data . “Investor preference for security and stable coupons following Lehman’s collapse is finding its reflection in overwhelming flows into fixed-income products as opposed to equities,” the New York-based Bank of America analysts Oleg Melentyev and Mike Cho wrote. “This also helps explain why credit is leading stocks in this market rebound.” Post-Lehman Spreads Yield spreads on investment-grade and junk corporate bonds, along with other debt including top-rated asset-backed securities, have fallen below their levels before New York-based Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection on Sept. 15, 2008, sending global asset markets into a tailspin. Through yesterday, the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index dropped 16 percent since Sept. 12, 2008, just before the Lehman bankruptcy. The difference between flows into bond and equity funds, calculated as a percentage of assets over trailing six-month intervals, currently is 22 percent, the highest since at least 1993, according to Bank of America. “As the systemic risk has faded, all of that available capital that came out of the equity markets, that came out of other financial assets — the first step back into risky assets has been toward riskier bonds,” said William Cunningham , head of credit strategies and fixed-income research at State Street Global Advisors in Boston. “So any bonds with a substantial risk premium versus traditional governments have been the beneficiary,” he said in an interview. State Street oversees $1.6 trillion in assets. — With assistance from Shannon Harrington in New York. Editors: Charles W. Stevens , Mitchell Martin . To contact the reporter on this story: Jody Shenn in New York at jshenn@bloomberg.net or

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Bank-Pay Guidelines Adopted by G-20 Avoid Caps, Tie Bonuses to Performance

September 25, 2009

By Christine Harper and Ian Katz Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) — Leaders of the Group of 20 countries agreed today to adopt guidelines on pay practices at banks and other financial companies that aim to curb risks by aligning rewards with long-term success. The guidelines would discourage bonus guarantees longer than one year, encourage companies to defer bonuses for senior executives and other key employees and enable pay to be clawed back if losses occur at a later date. The leaders meeting in Pittsburgh didn’t set absolute caps on pay, falling short of some of the rhetoric leading up to the summit, and, instead, adopted a set of more general guidelines proposed by the Basel, Switzerland-based Financial Stability Board led by Bank of Italy Governor Mario Draghi . Compensation practices at banks have been a focus for world leaders after companies that continued to pay bonuses during the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression sparked public outrage. “We fully endorse the implementation standards of the FSB aimed at aligning compensation with long-term value creation, not excessive risk-taking,” the G-20 leaders said in an e- mailed statement. Under the FSB’s implementation standards, which now have to be adopted by each country, senior executives and other employees who have “material impact” on a firm’s risk exposure would have a “substantial” part of their pay as a bonus tied to individual, business-unit and firm-wide performance. A portion, “such as 40 to 60 percent,” couldn’t be paid out for at least three years. Deferred Compensation “For the most senior management and the most highly paid employees, the percentage of variable compensation that is deferred should be substantially higher, for instance above 60 percent,” the FSB’s proposals said. “The more pay that is tied to long-term performance, the lower the risk to the company if the business erodes,” said David Schmidt , a senior consultant for New York-based compensation firm James F. Reda & Associates. “The bigger question is whether product and selling behavior will change.” The guidelines also say that a big part of bonuses, “such as more than 50 percent,” should be paid in shares or share- linked instruments that would be subject to restrictions. Cash bonuses could also be deferred and could be clawed back if the company or business unit loses money during the vesting period. “There have been cases where, in spite of the horrible results, sizeable bonuses were being paid,” Draghi told reporters in Pittsburgh. “That’s exactly what this system is meant to avoid now.” Several Adopted Several of the guidelines have already been adopted by financial companies. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which set aside a record $11.4 billion to pay employees in the first half of this year, has a set of compensation policies that include limiting bonus guarantees to one year and paying a larger portion of bonuses in stock as the amounts increase. Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse Group AG are among the companies that have already created systems to claw back bonuses after they are awarded. Under the new proposals, companies would also be subject to disclosure requirements, such as the new sign-on and severance payments made during the financial year and the number of people receiving such awards. The G-20 members account for about 85 percent of global gross domestic product. They are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the U.S., the U.K. and the European Union. “Action in all major financial centers must be speedy, determined and coherent,” the Financial Stability Board said in its report to the G-20. “Urgency is particularly important to prevent a return to the compensation practices that contributed to the crisis.” To contact the reporters on this story: Christine Harper in New York at charper@bloomberg.net . Ian Katz in Washington at ikatz2@bloomberg.net .

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Video: Bet On Better Earnings

September 25, 2009

Analysis and discussion with Chief Investment Officer of Navellier Associates Louis Navellier. He says he likes the idea of a weak dollar and that’s the key the stocks go higher. (Taking Stock)

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Video: Stocks’ Biggest Weekly Drop

September 25, 2009

The S&P is down about 2.25% and Dow drops to 1.6% that is lower than estimated data on home sales. (Taking Stock)

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Allen Stanford Hospitalized After Fight With Another Inmate

September 25, 2009

Allen Stanford, who is in jail awaiting trial on charges related to an alleged $7 billion fraud, was taken to a Texas hospital after a fight with another inmate, a Houston television station reported on Friday.

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Chicago Cab Vomit Fee Would Be First Of Its Kind

September 25, 2009

Chicago could become the first major city in the country with a puking ordinance if cab drivers get their way. Chicago taxi drivers proposed a package of fee and fare hikes Thursday designed to offset their plunging income during the recession. Among the more controversial revenue-boosting ideas brought to the City Council is charging customers $50 for vomiting in cabs. If enacted, Chicago would become one of America’s least friendly cities for drunks and people who eat bad shellfish. Customers who barf in cabs in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Washington, D.C., Houston or San Francisco may face the driver’s wrath, but they won’t see any additional charges. “No, we do not have a puking fee,” Boston Police spokesman Joe Zanoli told the Huffington Post. “To my knowledge it’s free to puke in a cab.” Raymond Turner, president of Yellow Cab Houston, said Friday that of the nearly 3.7 million cab trips his company makes yearly only a fraction involve incidents of reverse peristalsis. “It’s a fairly rare event,” Turner said. “From my perspective, putting a city ordinance that applies to all cab rides for something that happens only three or four times a month is not very prudent.” Turner added that while Houston has no law allowing for a fee, drivers often work out arrangements with customers who ralph while in transit. Some passengers agree to pay for a car wash, while others give larger tips. But proponents of the mandatory barfing surcharge argue that such arrangements leave drivers at the mercy of crabby and sometimes incoherent customers. Plus, even if they do get compensated extra, drivers still must stop to clean up the mess, wasting time that could be spent getting additional fares. Dena Reed, general counsel for the District of Columbia Taxicab Commission, agreed that drivers often strike deals with customers to clean up their puke but said that such deals are, nonetheless, not allowed. “No official fee can be imposed on a customer for throwing up in the cab,” Reed said. “You can’t unofficially do that, either.” Even in the hilly city of San Francisco, puking cab customers face no penalty. “There appears not to be a fee for throwing up,” said Mariana Valdez of the San Francisco Taxicab Commission. “I couldn’t tell you about giving birth or cutting off your own finger.”

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No distressed deals yet, but when they experts say foreigners will have their day

September 25, 2009

time being at least, all that much talked about money crowding on that metaphorical sideline in wait of distressed assets will have to keep waiting. At a breakfast in midtown yesterday hosted by the Appraisal Institute, real estate executives highlighted

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First Citizens deal intriging, observers say

September 25, 2009

… assets. Georgian was heavily involved in residential real estate and land development. The bank publicly prided … FDIC backstop, coupled with the relative quality distressed assets, Marinac said First Citizens can afford …

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Spending (78)

September 25, 2009

30-year fixed is averaging 5.15%. How long can it last? Sep 25 2009 | Topics: Personal Finance, Real Estate, Consumer, Mortgage, Housing Deal of the Day Everything Borrowed? 7 Subtle Wedding Savings How to spend less — without your guests knowing it.

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Housing (36)

September 25, 2009

30-year fixed is averaging 5.15%. How long can it last? Sep 25 2009 | Topics: Personal Finance, Real Estate, Consumer, Mortgage, Spending The Tax Guy Helping Your Child Buy Their First Home Low interest rates and a soon-to-expire tax credit make this a

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No distressed deals yet, but when they…

September 25, 2009

time being at least, all that much talked about money crowding on that metaphorical sideline in wait of distressed assets will have to keep waiting. At a breakfast in midtown yesterday hosted by the Appraisal Institute, real estate executives highlighted

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Ex-ING man Lee sets up First Growth

September 25, 2009

Former ING managing director and property veteran Wilson Lee has launched his own investment company to target distressed loans and property in the UK and continental Europe Lee, who quit ING Real Estate in June, has set up First Growth Real Estate

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Portland?s Home Market Reflects National Upswing

September 25, 2009

temporary tax credit and lower prices, home sales in the western U.S. are up. According to Portland real estate statistics, that trend holds mostly true here as well. Ethan Lindsey reports. The National Association of Realtors data shows that the price

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British sunseekers flock back to Spain and France in search of bargain holiday homes

September 25, 2009

… company, whitehotproperty.co.uk, is currently marketing around 4,000 distressed properties in the popular tourist destinations with … with its land registry data showing that real estate transactions crashed by 35 per cent year-on-year …

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Bernanke: Consumer loan program still needed (Newsday)

September 25, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday a government program intended to spark lending to consumers and businesses is still necessary even with other emergency lending programs winding down as the economy recovers. “An ongoing need still clearly exists” for the program, which also is aimed at making sure loans flow to the troubled commercial real estate market …

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Wave of REIT Debt and Equity Raising Officially Over

September 25, 2009

Although REITs spent the last five months in a capital frenzy, raising some $20 billion in new debt and equity, the party is now over, according to a capital markets update released this morning by real estate investment banking firm Cushman & Wakefield

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Distressed Debt Analysis: Swift Transportation

September 25, 2009

Distressed Investing means investing in the equity and/or debt securities of a distressed company, a company whose cash flows are at risk of being unsupportive of the size of its balance sheet. The reason a company winds up in such an …

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Distressed Debt Analysis: Swift Transportation

September 25, 2009

Distressed Investing means investing in the equity and/or debt securities of a distressed company, a company whose cash flows are at risk of being unsupportive of the size of its balance sheet. The reason a company winds up in such an …

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Here come the spammers

September 25, 2009

BS, Realtor, CDPE on Short sales, mods give investors grief Christopher Pagli on The Web your way: 7 real estate tools Peter McCullough on The Web your way: 7 real estate tools Angelina Nobles on The Web your way: 7 real estate tools Marcy Spieker on The

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Home resales take dip in August

September 25, 2009

… 30. Congress is facing intense pressure from real estate agents and homebuilders to extend it, but … a week earlier. Foreclosures and other financially distressed sellers accounted for about 30 percent of …

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Economist finds good news about commercial real estate by looking back

September 25, 2009

News from the commercial real estate front has been so grim for so long that economist Robert Bach at brokerage Grubb & Ellis has taken to writing a short e-mail feature called Good News Friday

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Apartment (REIT) Hunting

September 25, 2009

currently paying for stocks? That's the question on traders' minds these days, and it certainly applies to real estate companies, which have seen their shares roughly double since the market's financial crisis nadir in March, easily trumping the S&P

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Time ripe to re-evaluate commercial real estate

September 25, 2009

within this challenging environment. One such strategic opportunity can often be found in a company’s use of real estate. Opportune timing Real estate, whether leased or owned, is one of the most expensive ongoing costs for many businesses, usually

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RealtyStore.com’s June ’09 Arizona Foreclosure Report – Foreclosure Notices Up 26% From ’08

September 25, 2009

… of Arizona State previously unaffected by the real-estate downturn now showing record increases in the … their first home and investors looking for distressed properties. “We currently have 95,373 Arizona records …

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Peter Diamandis: Launching Commercial Space Flight: Part Four — Anousheh Ansari and Her $10 Million Purse

September 25, 2009

Ever since I was a young girl in Iran, I have had a deep curiosity and active imagination which peak whenever I look up at the night sky. I’m fascinated to think about how we got to this place and time, what will come after us and what else is out there. For many others the dream of space is tied to the thrill of riding a rocket, but if I could blink my eyes and be there, I would do so. To me, rockets are just transportation — the allure is in exploring the universe. I have also always had an inner voice which compels me to follow my dream and aspirations. This voice has been my guide in my journey to the U.S. and in rough road of entrepreneurship to successful business. Even though my Entrepreneurial aspirations were not directly related to my passion for space, they ultimately provided me the financial means to make space travel a realistic possibility. And so, having carried the dream of space exploration throughout my life, I was incredibly excited when Peter Diamandis came to visit our family (me, my husband, Hamid, and his brother, Amir, who are also space enthusiasts) to tell us about the X PRIZE. As entrepreneurs, we knew the huge amount of work that it would take to make his idea succeed, as well as the many setbacks he would face along the way. And yet, sitting there listening to him, what was so captivating about Peter was his passion, because in the end, we knew that only passion that strong would keep him going in the face of the tremendous challenges ahead. Additionally, his vision really resonated with us; we had been looking for possibilities to go to space and perhaps find a way for other like us with a passion for space to be able to do it as well. While some options existed, they lacked credibility. The beauty of the X PRIZE was that we didn’t have to decide which company had the greatest probability of building a safe and usable private spaceship, we could support all of the competing teams (and therefore multiple solutions) and we would not have to pay out unless there was a winner. The investment also offered considerable leverage, as the $10 million prize purse would incentivize multiple teams around the globe to compete, and those teams would find sponsors to invest in their technology (in the end team and sponsorship investment amounted to over $100 million). So we signed on to sponsor the prize, which then became known as the Ansari X PRIZE. Throughout the competition, for selfish reason, I hoped with all my heart that someone would win. I wasn’t sure if it was possible, but I always maintained hope — even when the first deadline passed and the prize remained unclaimed. As a family of entrepreneurs, we are eternally optimistic, so we decided to extend the deadline by a year. When I realized the second deadline was drawing near, I still didn’t lose hope. I had witnessed miracles in the past, and I knew we were on the brink of something really important. When the prize was at last won (with less than a month until the deadline!), it exceeded all of my expectations. Witnessing SpaceShipOne hanging in the Air & Space museum really proved that we had made history. And when we learned that the prize had sparked a new industry and that Sir Richard Branson commercialized the technology… Well, that was just the cherry on top. Now, as a member of the Board of Trustees and the Vision Circle of the X PRIZE Foundation, I have the opportunity to continue to make history using incentive prizes to drive radical breakthroughs. Although there are four different areas, including Energy & the Environment, Life Sciences, Exploration, and Education & Global Development, that are being addressed with X PRIZEs, I am a space cadet. I look forward to the day when the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE is won, and I am committed to developing more space-based prizes which will give us further access to crucial materials and energy necessary to solve some of mankind’s greatest challenges. Tune in next week for the culmination of the blog series, when Brian Binnie tells about what it felt like to fly in the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE winning flight!

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Distressed Opportunity of the Week

September 25, 2009

Click through here for a look at what could be yours for just $12200000. Related Posts: A Trip to California’s Inland Empire; Commercial Real Estate in College Towns – Recession Proof? Free Equity – Limited Time Offer.

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Small Bank Bailouts Under Consideration

September 25, 2009

WASHINGTON — Treasury officials and regulators are weighing a fresh round of bailouts for banks that were deemed too small or too risky to qualify for earlier aid. Representatives from the Treasury Department, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and House Financial Services Committee discussed the plan by phone Thursday, said California Bankers Association Chairman Dan Doyle, who was on the call. Small community banks are struggling as commercial real estate and other loans go sour. Officials and industry representatives are considering how to get money to those banks, Doyle said Friday. Other banking industry leaders confirmed that the conversations are taking place. They did not know when Treasury might announce the plan. Spokesmen for Treasury and the FDIC did not respond to requests for comment. The money could go to banks whose ratings by regulators made them too weak to qualify for earlier rounds of funding. It may be limited to banks with less than $5 billion on their books. The banks could be required to raise matching money in the private markets, Doyle and others said. “The rules were pretty restrictive,” he said. “They want to give another opportunity for some of the community banks.” As with earlier capital injections, banks eventually will have to repay Treasury with interest. The move could prevent some small bank failures, which would ease pressure on the FDIC’s dwindling fund that insures bank deposits. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., has been “very, very supportive” of extending the program to reach more community banks, said committee spokesman Steve Adamske. Adamske said Frank had talked with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner about the plan. “We’re very concerned about the community banking sector,” Adamske said. “We await Treasury’s decision.” Adamske said one challenge is that the program was designed for larger banks that are publicly traded. Many community banks are privately owned or held by small groups of investors, making it more complicated for them to participate. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., at a forum Friday, told Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that she worries about the ability of small and minority-owned banks to access capital. Bernanke responded that the “the best source” was the government’s $700 billion bailout fund. He also said the government was looking at expanding the program to make it available “very broadly for access.” He offered no details. Small banks have until Nov. 9 to apply for the money. If more banks are deemed eligible, the deadline could be pushed back as the application process can take months to complete. The plan could prevent officials from winding down a key bailout program. The $700 billion fund is set to expire on Dec. 31. Republican lawmakers and some Democrats want Treasury to stop lending now that the financial markets have stabilized. Frank said this week that he supports extending the program beyond the end of the year. Geithner has trumpeted the end of some emergency financial programs as signs the economy is recovering. The department expects to see tens of billions of dollars in additional repayments to the fund in coming months. But Doyle said FDIC officials still expect up to 150 bank failures this year. So far, 94 banks have been closed. That’s the most since 1992, during the savings-and-loan crisis. Officials are scrambling for a way to add money to the deposit insurance fund, and may levy a second extra fee on the banking industry. Officials have said the capital injections from Treasury are intended for healthy banks not at risk of failing. Lobbyists for small banks say the rules have been too restrictive, discriminating against smaller institutions that are likely to succeed. “We believe the criteria to determine viability have been too strict,” said Karen Thomas, the top lobbyist with the Independent Community Bankers of America. Banks that want government money should be required to raise some private capital to prove that the market believes they will succeed, she added. The program would help “avoid any preventable bank failures,” bolster the FDIC’s deposit insurance fund and help small banks “weather the storm,” Thomas said. ___ AP Economics Writer Jeannine Aversa contributed to this report.

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Woods Leads by One Stroke Midway Through 2nd Round of Tour Championship

September 25, 2009
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Podesta Says Value-Added Tax `More Plausible’ Than Ever as Deficits Grow

September 25, 2009
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Kirk of Massachusetts Sworn In to Replace Late Friend Kennedy in Senate

September 25, 2009

By James Rowley and Tom Moroney Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) — Paul G. Kirk Jr . took the U.S. Senate seat of his close friend, the late Edward M. Kennedy , providing Democrats a crucial vote for pushing health-care legislation through Congress. Kirk, 71, the former Democratic National Committee chairman, was sworn into office today by Vice President Joe Biden in the Senate chamber. A day earlier, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick named him to temporarily fill the vacancy created by Kennedy’s Aug. 25 death. Kennedy served in the Senate for almost 47 years. After taking the oath, Kirk hugged Kennedy’s son, Representative Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island. Kirk gave a thumbs-up to his wife, Gail, who was seated next to the late senator’s wife, Victoria. “I’m very pleased,” Victoria Kennedy said afterward. “Paul Kirk is an outstanding person, a man of deep integrity, great ability.” Kirk provides the critical 60th vote that Senate Democrats need to shut off debate and force votes on legislation. By sticking together, Democrats could force votes on health-care legislation almost unanimously opposed by Republicans. Only Maine Republican Olympia Snowe has shown a willingness to consider supporting a measure being drafted in the Finance Committee. New Deal “Not since the New Deal have we had this much on the table at one time in Washington,” Massachusetts’ senior U.S. senator, Democrat John Kerry , said yesterday after Patrick announced the appointment. “Every vote will count, and that means Massachusetts should be fully counted.” Kirk will serve until a Jan. 19 special election determines who will complete Kennedy’s term, which ends in January 2013. President Barack Obama and his aides had pushed for an interim pick. Kirk is a one-time special assistant to Kennedy. The two spent Thanksgivings with their families together and watched the annual Harvard-Yale football game , Kerry said. A Washington insider for years, Kirk is an attorney and heads the consulting firm Kirk & Associates. He is named executor of Kennedy’s will in documents filed yesterday in Barnstable Probate Court. While people familiar with the matter said Kirk was the favorite of the late senator’s two sons and some officials in Obama’s administration, Kennedy’s widow, Victoria, said the family didn’t lobby or pressure Patrick to appoint him. ‘Knows My Father’ “He knows my father,” Kennedy’s son Edward Kennedy Jr . said. “He knows my father’s staff. He knows the people of Massachusetts.” Kirk pledged yesterday to “be a voice and a vote” for Kennedy’s constituents. Kirk also said he won’t run in the Jan. 19 special election and will retain his friend’s Senate staff. “This is a caretaker appointment, a kind of stewardship, and Paul Kirk will be a superb steward,” Kerry said. Senator Max Baucus , a Montana Democrat who is chairman of the finance committee debating health-care legislation, called Kirk “the perfect choice” to succeed Kennedy. “He’s very smart, he doesn’t grandstand,” Baucus said. Kirk is chairman of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Foundation and was head of the Democratic National Committee during then-Governor Michael Dukakis’s unsuccessful 1988 presidential bid. Profile in Courage Award Kirk also serves on the JFK Profile in Courage Award Committee with, among others, Senator Olympia Snowe , a Maine Republican. Kirk graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School. He and his wife live on Cape Cod. He also co-founded the Commission on Presidential Debates , which has sponsored those events since 1988. Since 1997, Kirk has served on the board of the Hartford Financial Services Group , an insurance and investment company. He stepped down in May as lead director of the company, based in Hartford, Connecticut, and is now a board member. Questioned yesterday about his business ties, Kirk said he has “no conflicts.” He said he had represented two pharmaceutical firms until 2002, that those client representations had ceased, and he is resigning from all boards he serves on. The two pharmaceutical companies were Hoechst and Aventis, according to the Center for Responsive Politics , a Washington research group. Partisan Wrangling The selection capped weeks of partisan wrangling as Democratic state legislators pushed through a new law to allow the governor to name an interim senator before the special election. Republicans accused Democrats of hypocrisy, pointing out that Democrats changed the law in 2004 to prevent the governor, then Republican Mitt Romney , from having the chance to appoint a senator if Kerry had succeeded in his presidential bid that year. Patrick invoked emergency powers to appoint Kirk immediately and bypass the 90-day waiting period for new laws to take effect. Republicans unsuccessfully sought to derail the appointment, arguing to a judge that Patrick overstepped his constitutional authority. The judge rejected the argument today. Candidates lining up to run in the Jan. 19 special election include Democrats Martha Coakley , the state’s attorney general; U.S. Representative Michael Capuano ; and Boston Celtics co-owner Stephen Pagliuca . Democrat Alan Khazei , founder of City Year, a youth service program in Boston, announced yesterday he will run. Scott Brown, a Massachusetts state senator, and Bob Burr, a selectman from Canton, are seeking the Republican Party nomination. To contact the reporter on this story: James Rowley in Washington at jrowley@bloomberg.net ; Tom Moroney in Boston at tmorrone@bloomberg.net .

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GMAC’s Ally to Buy Mortgages From Smaller Banks, Filling Taylor Bean Void

September 25, 2009

By David Mildenberg Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) — GMAC Inc., the auto and home loan company that received two U.S. bailouts, formed a team to buy residential mortgages from community lenders, filling a void left by the collapse of Taylor Bean & Whitaker Co. GMAC hired the head of Taylor Bean’s correspondent community banking unit, Doug Miller, to run the new team, according to a statement today from the Detroit-based lender. Ten former employees of Ocala, Florida-based Taylor Bean are also joining GMAC, said Matt Detwiler , a GMAC senior vice president, in an interview today. The operation will be part of Ally Bank, GMAC’s online bank. Taylor Bean’s collapse in August left hundreds of banks looking for a new place to sell their loans. Taylor Bean, the 12th-largest among U.S. mortgage firms, stopped lending in August and went bankrupt after regulators accused it of improper business practices. At least 2,000 people lost their jobs. The collapse of Taylor Bean “was a pretty big motivator for us,” Detwiler said. “Smaller organizations are generally under-served.” The program also will help local banks, savings banks and credit unions outsource some or all of their mortgage lending operations, the statement said. GMAC has “no reason to believe that any member of our new sales team was involved in any wrongdoing” at Taylor Bean, spokeswoman Jeannine Bruin said. “We are pleased to have them join our firm.” Taylor Bean’s Collapse GMAC originated $25.9 billion in mortgages through independent or “correspondent” lenders and mortgage brokerage firms during the first half of 2009, according to a regulatory report. The company is the industry’s fifth-largest correspondent lender, Detwiler said. Bruin declined to say how much money GMAC is committing; Taylor Bean handled $17 billion of loans, or 1.7 percent of the U.S. total, in the first half of this year, according to the industry newsletter Inside Mortgage Finance. Taylor Bean failed after it was expelled from the ranks of mortgage lenders approved to do business with government- sponsored mortgage companies; the government cited concerns about possible fraud. The firm’s implosion followed an attempt to lead an investor group that would pay $300 million for a controlling stake in Colonial BancGroup Inc., one of its lenders that also has since collapsed and been taken over by BB&T Corp. GMAC reported its seventh loss in eight quarters in August, and has been selling assets since last year after surging defaults on subprime loans almost forced the mortgage unit into bankruptcy. GMAC formed Ally Bank earlier this year as an Internet bank offering competitive rates to attract deposits. GMAC averted collapse last year when the government declared the firm crucial to the auto industry , and has received $13.5 billion in government funds since converting into a bank holding company in December. To contact the reporter on this story: David Mildenberg in Charlotte at dmildenberg@bloomberg.net

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