Even after home prices began their long descent in early 2006 — a hard-to-ignore stop sign — the U.S. financial industry created $1.7 trillion in home mortgage-backed securities and other exotic products tied to the loans' performance, Phil Angelides, the Democratic chairman of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, told a news conference.
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GM decides not to borrow $14.4 billion from US
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The move is part of GM's plan to eliminate most of its debt and fully fund its pension plans. After receiving $50 billion in government aid in 2008 and 2009, the post-bankruptcy company has prioritized self-sufficiency, design chief Ed Welburn said Thursday at the Washington auto show.
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Networking site LinkedIn files for public stock offering
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The Mountain View, Calif., company, which has been valued at more than $2.5 billion on one private share exchange, is one of several social networking sites whose public offerings have been widely anticipated in recent months.
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Blowing whistle on health care fraud proves lucrative
HEALTHCARE-WHISTLEBLOWER:TBW_
But it wasn't filling prescriptions that made Ven-A-Care of the Florida Keys Inc. such a success.
Tiny Ven-A-Care has developed a lucrative niche market: blowing the whistle on drug companies that overcharge Medicare and Medicaid — and collecting tens of millions of dollars in reward money.
Unlike most whistle-blowers who help the government with one case after they encounter wrongdoing, Ven-A-Care has filed suits alleging fraudulent conduct against dozens of drug companies supplying pharmacies and health care providers.
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ARCHIVE ILLUSTRATION
Obama's clean-tech vision meets with skepticism
ENV-OBAMA-CLEANENERGY:LA_
But after getting a surprisingly extensive shout-out in Obama's State of the Union address — he sees clean tech as the country's best chance to seize its "Sputnik moment" — industry officials this week were less than enthused and questioned whether the ambitious targets were even attainable.
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REAL ESTATE STORIES
Report names cities hit hardest by foreclosures
REAL-FORECLOSURES:MK_
Nationwide, one in every 45 homes received a foreclosure filing in 2010, according to RealtyTrac. Foreclosure activity increased in 149 of the nation's 206 areas with a population of 200,000 or more.
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Mortgage help can turn into disaster
REAL-MODIFICATIONS:MS_
Thousands now face a stark choice: Go deeper into debt, or foreclosure.
Lenders routinely approved short-term "trial" loan modifications that reduced payments for desperate borrowers under the umbrella of the Obama administration's Home Affordable Modification Program. But lenders continued to count the mortgages as delinquent or in default.
Now instead of granting permanent modifications, lenders often are reinstating the original loan terms and demanding big back payments.
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Low costs — and spring fever — expected to spur home buyers
REAL-BUYERS:PH_
A recent survey of 3,500 U.S. homeowners and renters conducted for the National Association of Realtors by Harris Interactive found that 60 percent of those who would like to own a house worry about job security and creditworthiness.
That said, some real estate agents say they think the market may be rebounding because prospective buyers fear interest rates are permanently back on the upward trajectory and they need to get in the game.
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MORE BUSINESS NEWS
Dimon v. Sarkozy: Bank CEO, French president clash over regulations
DAVOS-REGULATIONS:MK_
''It's important for people to take a deep breath ? too much would be too much," hampering the economy and affecting jobs, Dimon said during the question-and-answer portion of Sarkozy's address at the annual gathering.
Sarkozy responded he didn't dispute that regulations need to be "flexible," but blasted the banks for defying "common sense" and undertaking a variety of "hair-raising" tactics that had contributed to the financial crisis, ultimately resulting in "tens of millions of unemployed."
450 by William L. Watts in Davos, Switzerland. MOVED
Senators slam Air Force over $35 billion tanker contract
TANKERS-CORRECTION:WA_
At a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., called the incident "a debacle" and asked what punitive action had been taken. She said those involved in the error should be fired.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called it "a fiasco" and part of an ongoing "saga of mismanagement."
700 (with trims) by Rob Hotakainen in Washington. MOVED
Airlines cancel more than 2,000 flights as storm rakes Northeast
WEA-AIRLINES:MK_
It's been a particularly bad winter for airlines, with an earlier blizzard grounding more than 9,000 flights from Jan. 10 through Jan. 12, and knocking back industry profits by up to $145 million, according to one estimate.
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Applications for jobless benefits rise as South's snow melts
ECONOMY-JOBLESS:MK_
Snowstorms earlier in January forced unemployment offices in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina to open for fewer hours and to process fewer claims, a Labor Department spokesman said. Efforts by those states to reduce the backlog contributed to the spike in new claims, but did not account for all of the increase, he said.
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Taco Bell fires back after lawsuit questions 'seasoned beef' content
TACOBELL-SUIT:TB_
''The lawsuit is bogus and filled with completely inaccurate facts," says a statement attributed to Greg Creed, president and chief concept officer of Taco Bell Corp. He said the beef is "just like the quality beef you would buy in a supermarket and prepare in your home."
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Verizon bolsters cloud services with $1.4 billion Terremark buy
CPT-VERIZON-TERREMARK:LA_
Verizon offered $19 a share in cash_
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Tesla to build all-electric SUV
AUTO-TESLA-SUV:LA_
Although the vehicle will be the size of a small SUV, Tesla said it would offer a much larger interior because the electric drive train and components will take up less space than a conventional gasoline engine and transmission.
Tesla also is working with Toyota to develop an electric version of the RAV4 compact sport utility vehicle. It will go on sale in 2012.
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Crude tactics rile Texans
OILPIPELINE:LA_
But that was before a Canadian company, TransCanada Corp., came forward with a plan to build a 1,700-mile pipeline to carry heavy, high-pollutant oil from the tar sands under the boreal forests of northern Alberta, across the American heartland, through scenic ranchlands in the piney woods of east Texas and on to refineries near Houston and Port Arthur.
For many in Texas — who are holding meetings, passing out leaflets and hosting neighborhood talks with, of all people, the Sierra Club — the Keystone XL pipeline is a barrel too far.
1800 (with trims) by Kim Murphy in Port Arthur, Texas. (Moved as a national story.) MOVED
PHOTOS, GRAPHIC
3 insurers agree to delay rate increases
CALIF-INSURERS:LA_
Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross and PacifiCare agreed to delay the increases for people with individual policies. Unaffected are workers insured through their employers.
550 by Stephen Ceasar and Duke Helfand in Los Angeles. MOVED
Live Nation settles class-action lawsuit over fees, reduces earnings estimate
MUS-LIVENATION:LA_
The lawsuit, originally filed by two individual plaintiffs in Los Angeles Superior Court in 2003 and granted class-action status in September, accused Ticketmaster of misleading customers when it tacked on $14.50 to $25 in delivery fees. The suit alleged that Ticketmaster suggested that the fees simply covered the cost of delivering the tickets, but were in fact designed to boost the company's profit.
250 by Alex Pham in Los Angeles. (Moved as an entertainment story.) MOVED
Stocks edge higher but fail to clear hurdles
MARKETS:MK_
The Dow closed up 4.46 points at 11,989.83. The measure hasn't closed above 12,000 since June 19, 2008.
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FIXTURES
BOOK-MONSTER:SE_
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MCT Business Desk: Sarah Murray, 202-383-0001, smurray@mctinfoservices.com.
MCT News Desk: 202-383-6080, news@mctinfoservices.com
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5/8 2011, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
Not for publication or retransmission without permission of MCT.
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