Did You Know…

November 10, 2009: A recent survey shows that only 1 in 20 Americans plans to buy a home next year. The distressed American economy and high unemployment rates seem to be putting a damper on people's desire to move.

June 21, 2009: No more liar loans - in May 2009, the House voted to tighten controls on the mortgage industry. Income and credit now have to be verified on borrowers, and ballooning payments and questionnable banking practices have been outlawed. 

June 7, 2009: A skin care clinic in Arlington, Virginia is giving away free Botox injections to unemployed workers...a sign of the times as job markets tighten up across virtually all industries.

May 20, 2009: Many people are comparing the current economic recession to the Great Depression, which lasted almost twelve years, from 1929 to 1941. At its highest point, in 1933, unemployment was 25%.

April 23, 2009: First the American legal industry took a hit during this global recession, now the prostitution industry in Germany. Brothels in Germany are having to step up their marketing efforts, with free promotions, all-inclusive packages, discounts, and free transportation, bringing new meaning to the term economic stimulus packages. 

April 21, 2009: No one seems to want to take a risk on a start-up business in this economy. Venture capital funding dropped 61% in the first quarter of 2009, sinking to its lowest point since 1995. This is bad news for small businesses, who only received a miniscule portion of the various economic stimulus packages, $15 billion in lending, to be precise.

April 20, 2009: Leading economists point out that in a typical recession, the economy begins to rebound 6-10 weeks after unemployment rates hit their highest points. Following are job loss totals for the first quarter of 2009: January 650,000; February 651,000; March 663,000.

April 11, 2009: The economic stimulus packages can't come quickly enough for women and children who are at risk of domestic violence. Crisis centers all across the country are reporting increases in domestic violence rates, attributed to high rates of unemployment and high levels of financial stress. 

April 10, 2009: Approximately 120 million economic stimulus checks were sent out to American taxpayers in 2008 by the Bush Administration. This time around, under the Obama stimulus package passed in February 2009, the average American worker will receive $400 per year in 2009 and 2010, in the form of small amounts added to each weekly paycheck. For 2009, the economic stimulus amount will be approximately $10 per paycheck (because the program started partway through the year), and in 2010, the economic stimulus bonus will drop to about $7 per check.

April 9, 2009: As the economy unraveled, so, too, did Ponzi schemes around the country, big and small. Bernie Madoff, who stole somewhere in the range of $50 billion from investors, is the poster child for this type of fraud, but he wasn't alone. It seems that investment advisors all across the country had been running similiar scams, most of which didn't come to light until the fall of 2008, when frightened clients tried to pull their money out of the stock market. Just one little problem. Their savings and retirement had never been invested in the stock market, and all of the statements showing 20% returns and greater were pure fiction, printed out on home computers. Once the economic stimulus packages take hold and the stock market rebounds, undoubtedly, Ponzi schemes will spring up again, fueled by people's greed and desperation.

April 6, 2009: Pretty soon, lawyers will need their own economic stimulus package. In a typical recession, law firms fare well as people increasingly turn to lawsuits as a way to generate money. But nothing about this economic crisis seems to be typical. Reportedly, aw firms are suffering because most people are choosing to settle rather than risk drawn-out court cases, and corporate business is way down because mergers and acquisitions have come to a virtual halt. If President Obama announces a stimulus plan for attorneys, we'll give cover the economic stimulus package in detail!

April 2, 2009: Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius, who is slated for the Department of Health and Human Services post, is the sixth senior nominee to the Obama Administration who has admitted to shortchanging the Internal Revenue Service.

April 1, 2009: At one time, General Motors was the largest automaker on Earth, selling half of all of the cars sold across the world. Now teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, General Motors has received economic stimulus from the Bush Administration in September 2008 (part of the $25 billion in low-interest loans given to Big 3 automakers General Motors, Chrylser, and Ford) and from the Obama Administration in March 2009 (part of the $22 billion economic stimulus given to GM and Chrysler). 

March 9, 2009: Congress discovers that billions of dollars from the Bush Administration’s $700 billion stimulus package to banks has been invested overseas. Citgroup sent $8 billion to Dubai, J.P. Morgan sent $1 billion to India, and Bank of America invested $7 billion in China.

March 9, 2009: According to Global Financial, of the 50 safest banks in the world, only four American banks made the list: Wells Fargo (which merged with Wachovia), U.S. Bancorp, Bank of New York Mellon, and JP Morgan Chase (which merged with Washington Mutual).

March 6, 2009: Almost half (48% to be exact) of the homeowners in America who have subprime, adjustable rate mortgages were now in default or in foreclosure. The distress wasn’t just felt in California, Florida, and Nevada (which were notorious for shady lending practices), but had spread to every state in the nation.

March 5, 2009: The Dow shrunk to 6,594 and set a record for the fastest plummet under a new president since Herbert Hoover. The decline represented almost a 20% drop in value since January 20, 2009, inauguration day for Barack Obama.

February 24, 2009: The government reported that health care in America would average $8,160 per person in 2009.

February 17, 2009: Barack Obama signed the $787 billion economic stimulus package in Denver, Colorado, on a desk that was purchased by former Colorado Republican governor Bill Owens.

February 13, 2009: The Feds reported that between December 2007 and October 2008, the average net worth of American households fell more than 22%, disproportionately affecting the wealthiest households and people between the ages of 55 and 64.