| Civility marks Republican debate
The debate at Florida Atlantic University hosted a five-man field that appeared to have taken a mutual vow to stay civil and even complimentary of one another. While the Romney and McCain campaigns released TV ads last night attacking each other, on stage, the men kept their remarks conciliatory. Instead, the candidates saved their attacks for Hillary Clinton, saying the Democratic New York senator would weaken American security by pulling the United States out of Iraq prematurely. No GOP candidate mentioned either of the other two Democratic contenders, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois and former North Carolina senator John Edwards. Asked how he would run against Hillary and Bill Clinton, who has been aggressively campaigning for his wife, Romney cocked an eyebrow.
In Search of a Subprime Villain
Mozilo is further amassing extra-credit points by announcing the easing of loan terms on more than 81,000 homeowners facing foreclosure and partial debt forgiveness in an additional 8,000 cases. If that doesn't immunize him, he's willing to play dumb—or to proclaim martyrdom. It's clear now that Countrywide's easy underwriting culture invited nothing short of business suicide: an astonishing 7.2% of its mortgages are delinquent, while foreclosures more than doubled in a year. Cut off from the credit market and paying unsustainably high rates to attract depositor cash, Countrywide started the year on bankruptcy's doorstep. With his company's stock in free fall, Mozilo had to agree to what traders derisively call a "takeunder"—as opposed to a premium-sweetened takeover. All of which will conveniently allow Mozilo to profess: Hey pal, pity me.
Streets ahead of the rest
Because the repayments were small, I could pay rent, pay off the loan and still lead the same lifestyle. I guess that was an easier option than going on a hardcore savings plan but it was riskier, too. In the end I didn't have to give anything up to pay off the debt sooner because my income was going up," he says. Rampono says he was lucky with his share investments because the market has been especially good during the past five years. "When I went into the market in 2002 it was a mug's market. Any stock you picked went up. It worked out but it could quite as easily have also turned to custard and I wouldn't have the deposit now," he says. David Darmali, financial planner with PSK Financial Services, says investment risk is the key consideration when saving for a home deposit.
Cleveland suit smells like a pig
Running a pig farm is a sloppy business. Lagoons of manure put a stench in the wind and may even contaminate the neighbors' wells. "Creating a public nuisance" is what they call it. And for pig farmers, public- nuisance lawsuits can be a cost of doing business. Last week, the city of Cleveland filed a public-nuisance lawsuit against some of the biggest pig farmers I know: 21 investment banks and lenders whose subprime-mortgage- lending practices have allegedly turned Cleveland into a sty. "The city has become the poster child for the national foreclosure crisis," the city's lawsuit reads. "An average of 20 Cleveland homeowners faced the grim reality of foreclosure every day in 2007." After suffering more than 7,500 foreclosures last year, Cleveland now has "entire streets, blocks and neighborhoods" of abandoned homes that have become "eyesores . . .
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