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| Florida |
| Some homeowners in for unpleasant surprise
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| Already hit by the biggest drop in property values in the state's history, many full-time residents will get another dose of bad news this week: Their property tax bills are actually going up, some significantly.
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| @ Sarasota Herald Tribune | Posted: 08/17/09 at 0201 EDST
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| Have bad drywall? Manatee County, Bradenton; homeowners may get reduced property tax bills
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| Manatee County homeowners with defective Chinese drywall might be getting an additional break on their property tax bills. Property Appraiser Charles Hackney said his office is looking into possibly further reducing those homes’ appraised values, adding Manatee to a growing number of Florida counties considering the idea.
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| @ Bradenton Herald | Posted: 08/17/09 at 0315 EDST
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| Florida banks aren't healthy enough for federal bailout
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| Despite all of its woes, including billions of dollars in bad real estate loans, Florida's financial sector has gotten relatively little help in the way of funds from the government's bailout till. Banks and other financial-service companies based in the Sunshine State have received less than $856 million combined from the various bailout programs
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| @ Orlando Sentinel | Posted: 08/17/09 at 0320 EDST
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| Colonial Bank fails; BB&T assumes its assets
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| Colonial Bank, overwhelmed by soured real estate loans in Florida, was seized Friday by federal regulators, who sold its assets to longtime Southeast banking rival BB&T Corp.
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| @ St. Petersburg Times | Posted: 08/17/09 at 0330 EDST
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| Midwest |
| Chicagoans believe economic storm has passed: Survey
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| In a survey on ChicagoBusiness.com last week, 80% of respondents said they expect the local economy to improve or stay the same over the next six months. But even as they see the storm passing, survey respondents were divided on whether the recession was nearing an end, and the majority remains concerned about the job market and said they plan to keep a lid on spending.
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| @ Crain's Chicago Business | Posted: 08/17/09 at 0345 EDST
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| Low rates can't last too long
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| Last week, amid signs that the U.S. economy was turning up, the Federal Reserve took the first baby steps toward normalcy. Though the Fed kept benchmark interest rates at virtually zero, policy-makers pledged to stop buying Treasury securities with newly printed money, a potentially inflationary strategy known as quantitative easing.
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| @ Milwaukee Journal | Posted: 08/17/09 at 0400 EDST
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| Sales of apartments in Minneapolis a bright spot
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| The one bright spot in the local market was sales of multi-unit properties, where the dollar value rose 10 percent. That increase bucked the nationwide trend, where the dollar total fell by 75 percent. The price per unit of multi-unit buildings here increased 27 percent from a year ago.
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| @ Minneapolis Star Tribune | Posted: 08/17/09 at 0415 EDST
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| Dropping birth rate has economic consequences
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| When economic times are bad and people worry about the future, they become cautious about undertaking long-term projects. There are few initiatives that have longer-term implications than having babies. So the recent news that the number of births in our country dropped last year for the first time in a decade is not surprising.
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| @ St. Paul Pioneer Press | Posted: 08/17/09 at 0419 EDST
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| National |
| U.S. consumer prices flat, inflation pressures muted
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| U.S. consumer prices were flat in July versus June, but fell over the past 12 months by the most since 1950, according to government data that suggested benign inflation pressure even amid signs the recession may be winding down. The Labor Department said on Friday its Consumer Price Index was unchanged after rising 0.7 percent in June,
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| @ Reuters | Posted: 08/17/09 at 0419 EDST
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| Feasting on failed banks
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| Big banks are scooping up troubled, smaller institutions at a time when growth is hard to come by -- and thanks to favorable FDIC rules, more deals are likely.
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| @ Fortune Magazine | Posted: 08/17/09 at 0419 EDST
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| UK Central Bank Governor King: Crushing Pound as U.K. ‘Can’t Afford’ Strength
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| The pound’s biggest five-month rally in 24 years is ending as the Bank of England floods the shrinking U.K. economy with newly printed cash and slowing inflation precludes higher interest rates to lure investors.
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| @ Bloomberg News | Posted: 08/17/09 at 0646 EDST
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| Salary-cut insurance set to be launched in UK
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| A new insurance service to protect workers against the possibility of a salary cut will be introduced in the UK next month, as the tough economic environment continues to create a market for innovative financial products. Salisbury Underwriting Services is set to launch salary gap insurance, which will bridge the gap in wages of UK workers who are made redundant and re-employed in jobs that pay a lower annual income.
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| @ Financial Times - UK | Posted: 08/17/09 at 0652 EDST
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| Rethinking Canada's pension problem
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| Pensions have been centre stage in many of the dramas that played out in the recession, from retirement portfolios wiped out in the stock market crash to the bankruptcies of high-profile corporations like Nortel Networks Corp. and AbitibiBowater Inc., which have left massive underfunded pension liabilities in their wake. No one was immune, not even blue-chip funds like the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
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| @ Financial Post - CA | Posted: 08/17/09 at 0655 EDST
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