New Tax Man at Huffington Post points us to a growing trend: Nearly a dozen major banks and hedge funds, anticipating quick profits from homeowners who fall behind on property taxes, are quietly plowing hundreds of millions of dollars into businesses that collect the debts, tack on escalating fees and threaten to foreclose on the […]

A Washington Post editorial suggests the meme that deliquencies are the main concern for us to consider instead of ownership issues that are more fundamental and problematic. But the author also suggests the states are at fault for their antiquated registration system… To be sure, the revelations of “robo-signing” and other sloppy or unlawful methods […]

I took a couple of days to let life interfere with blogging, but none of the standard politics/economics bloggers seems to have highlighted this note from the Lex column of last Wednesday’s (13 October 2010) FT (again, no link; feel free to provide in comments) under the heading “Defence M&A”: Lockheed has two small services […]

When the question is asked whether the Obama Administration are fools or liars—and a certain Chicago mayoral candidate is often nominated as both—you can be certain discussion of “the public option” will come up. It doesn’t come up directly in today’s FT (page 4 of the print edition; no link; I get the paper edition, […]

Industrial production is clearly slowing as total output and manufacturing output fell 0.2% in September– the difference between total and manufacturing output is utilities and mining and mining includes oil and gas production. The slowdown was widespread as output of oil dirlling and the information technology sectors both fell. About the only increase was an […]

by Mike Kimel Discouraging Greg Mankiw From Working Would be Good for the Economy, Part 2: Why the Correlation Between Top Marginal Rates and Real Economic Growth is PositiveCross posted at the Presimetrics blog. I had a post the other day noting that the correlation between top marginal rates and real GDP per capita is […]

by Dale CoberlyAn Op-ed There’s no way out of here said the Joker to the Thief … or is there? This essay grew by strange turns from an argument I was having with another Bear, with whom I agree about all important things. A long time ago I went with some civil rights workers to […]

Hat tip comments in Economic Populist: Where is the note offers a way to check on your house! Request for original mortgage note and additional information To whom it may concern: This is a qualified written request under Section 6 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). I own the property at the address […]

Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Health Care: Leave the gun, take the cannolis A few months ago I posted about the changing face of health care fraud, and especially about fraud committed by non-providers – such as non-existent durable medical equipment shops. These groups often combine computer hacking, identity theft and bill-and-run phony front offices. Today […]