One in 10 Mortgage Holders Faces Foreclosure (While Obama is enjoying his vacation, summer recovery marches on)
One in 10 American households with a mortgage was at risk of foreclosure this summer as the government’s efforts to help have had little impact stemming the housing crisis.About 9.9 percent of homeowners had missed at least one mortgage payment as of June 30, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday.
That number, which is adjusted for seasonal factors, was down slightly from a record-high of more than 10 percent as of April 30.
Read the whole story at MSNBC
DEM JOKES THAT PELOSI COULD DIE BEFORE NEXT YEAR (Not funny even when we don’t agree with Princess Pelosi)
U.S. Congressman Bobby Bright, the first-term Democrat and former mayor of Montgomery, was heard having a little fun at U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s expense during his recent participation in the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce’s Eggs and Issues.
Bright, who is facing a battle against Montgomery City Councilwoman Martha Roby this fall, joked that Pelosi might lose her own election, decide not to run for the speaker’s job or otherwise not be available.
He suggested, jokingly he insisted to his audience, that Pelosi could fall ill and die in coming months. That remark drew laughter from the crowd.
Read the whole story at Montgomery
Former Republican Chairman: “I’m gay” (Moral Decay)
Ken Mehlman, President Bush’s campaign manager in 2004 and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, has told family and associates that he is gay.
Mehlman arrived at this conclusion about his identity fairly recently, he said in an interview.
Read the whole story at TheAtlantic
Palin rebounds with string of Republican primary victories
Tuesday’s Republican primaries showed that Sarah Palin’s power should not be discounted.
Four candidates backed by the former Alaska governor pulled off primary victories, while a fifth, Alaska attorney Joe Miller, appeared to be on the verge of pulling off a major upset by defeating Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
Miller led Murkowski by less than 2,000 votes with 97 percent of Alaska’s precincts reporting at noon, according to the Associated Press. Even if Murkowski pulls off a come-from-behind victory, Miller’s strong showing suggests Palin will continue to have an influence in her home state and beyond.
Miller credited Palin with his performance.
“I’m absolutely certain that was pivotal,” he said of Palin’s support, according to The Anchorage Daily News.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com
McCain prevails but road ahead unclear (oh boy)
What’s to become of John McCain?
Until Nov. 4, 2008, the Arizona senator could cherish the hope that his future depended more on New Hampshire and Florida voters than on those back home. But with his loss to Barack Obama in the presidential race, McCain’s Arizona electorate reclaimed its career-ending power over him.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com
Democratic House Strategy For Falls Election: Go Negative Early
As we turn toward the general election, Democrats are revealing a key component of their strategy for trying to retain their House majority: Going negative.
They want to define — or smear, depending on how you look at it — their Republican opponents immediately after they emerge from their primaries.
“If you’re the Democrats you’re probably thinking that desperate times call for desperate measures,” said Ken Spain, the NRCC’s communications director.
(Excerpt) Read more at hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com
Democratic Senator: “Trillions in Debt, ‘Nothing to Show for It”
Michael Bennet, D-Colo,at a town hall meeting in Greeley last Saturday, Aug 21 said we had nothing to show for the debt incurred by the stimulus package and other expenditures calling the recession the worst since the Great Depression. […]
Regarding spending during his time in office he said, “We have managed to acquire $13 trillion of debt on our balance sheet” and, “in my view we have nothing to show for it.” Speaking of the debt, he said our debt almost equals the economy. Regarding the current job situation, Bennet said the situation has been dire for over a decade saying, “We have created no net new jobs in the United States since 1998” which were the last two years of the Clinton administration. Pointing to a slide showing budget expenditures, he said that currently 65 percent of the budget was for social security, Medicaid and Medicare expenditures and that we could not grow our way out of debt.
Read the whole story at National Review
Intel CEO Otellini: The Democrats are destroying our economy
Intel CEO: U.S. faces looming tech decline. Intel chief executive Paul Otellini offered a depressing set of observations about the economy and the Obama administration Monday evening, coupled with a dark commentary on the future of the technology industry if nothing changes.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.cnet.com
Small Business CEOs Reveal Why They’re Not Hiring: Economic Contraction, Obama, And Healthcare
In response to Small Businesses are Not Hiring - Should They? I received a couple emails worth sharing. The CEO of a healthcare consulting company writes ….
Hello Mish
You ran a series of articles on small businesses, hiring and expansions. I thought I would add to it.
I run a small firm, with about 45 employees and 40 contractors. We have been growing pretty well, close to 80% topline numbers for the past 3 years. Our average salary is over $100,000. We have some innovative software we sell to the industry. We also offer operational improvement strategies and IT consulting.
We provide great healthcare insurance coverage to our employees. It is necessary in order to attract talent and I am in the talent business. Our healthcare costs went up 90% this year – and that is on a 6-figure number to begin with. We found only one insurer willing to provide us coverage, United Healthcare.
‘CBS Evening News’ Ties All-Time Low
The network newscast ratings for last week are in and “CBS Evening News with Katie Couric” tied its all-time low in total viewers with an average of 4.89 million tuning in during the five days.
The low was set last June, when ABC also hit its own low. (Ratings records date back to the 1991-’92 season.) Last week, NBC averaged 7.42 million total viewers and ABC averaged 6.51 million. We’ll have the full breakdown of the week shortly.
(Excerpt) Read more at mediabistro.com