I see Stephen Hesters bonus is still dominating the news agenda. I wrote on the politics of it yesterday, but today Ive had another thought. What Ive found myself wondering is this: who on earth needs that much money anyway? Mr Hesters pay is called an incentive, but at some level of pay, it must stop being an incentive and start being a disincentive. At some point, you must start accumulating wealth so quickly that you want to stop working and start spending.
Since starting at RBS in 2008, Mr Hester has been paid something like £4.8 million in basic pay, before we even consider his bonuses. Surely he has something better to do with all that money than carrying on working as a banker?...
Charles Wohlforth, Executive Director of Citizens for the Educational Advancement of Alaskas Children, right, signs a settlement agreement with Mike Hanley, Commissioner of Education and Early Development, in the Moore v. State of Alaska case at the Attorney Generals office in Juneau on Thursday.
If lawmakers could design a housing policy from scratch what might it look like?
Today Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac–two government-sponsored enterprises originally designed to increase the availability of loans and thereby raise levels of home ownership–dominate the US mortgage lending market. Fannie Mae, which was established in 1938 as part of Franklin Delano Roosevelts New Deal, provides local banks with federal money to finance home mortgages. Freddie Mac, created in 1970, underwrites mortgages that fall below a certain size threshold with the intention of helping homeowners get access the housing market. These mortgages are cheaper since they implicitly–and...
Bond investors are driving down the
price of debt issued by retailers as they report comparable-
store sales for the holiday season that are failing to live up
to a record Thanksgiving weekend.
The cost of protecting bonds of Gap Inc. (GPS) from default
approached a record last week and contracts on JC Penney Co.
had the biggest two-day surge in 14 months. Merchandiser
debentures have lost 0.4 percent this month with Family Dollar
Stores Inc. the only one of the top 50 borrowers in Bank of
America Merrill Lynch’s US retailer index showing positive
returns for January. Investment-grade corporate bonds overall
are little...
LONDON, ENGLAND, Jan 24, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) –
Building on a growing online readership, World Finance has unveiled
a redesign to the magazine’s website, at
www.worldfinance.com .
Utilising the creative talents of World News Media’s digital arm
(found at
www.wnmedia.com ), the new website contains many new
features, and presents a user-friendly interface to allow
straightforward navigation of one of the most widely-recognised and
respected financial publications available.
Offering industry and expert comment pieces, market reports, and a
vast collection of insights across a variety of economies,...
PRAGUE Jan 25 (Reuters) – The number of mortgages
provided by Czech banks rose by 40 percent last year from 2010,
data showed on Wednesday, confounding fears that credit in
emerging Europe would dry up due to the crisis in the
neighbouring euro zone.
Banks lent more than 119 million crowns($6.09 million) in
71,088 individual loans, the data from the Regional Development
Ministry showed, as interest rates charged on mortgages
gradually declined through the year.
Low official interest rates in the central European country,
coupled with strong competition in the sector dominated by
well-capitalised banks, has kept borrowing...
According to the Mortgage Bankers Associations Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending January 20, mortgage applications decreased 5.0 percent from one week earlier. The results include an adjustment to account for the Martin Luther King holiday.
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 5.0 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 13.8 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index decreased 5.2 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 5.4 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased...
We have implemented very high academic standards that are internationally competitive
– Michael Block
The co-founders of BASIS Schools, Michael and Olga Block, aimed to offer the type of education students receive in the top performing education systems around the world, the type of education that would help American students compete in the global economy.
Ten years after BASIS Schools opened its first campus in Tucson, Arizona, the school topped the national rankings, earning the #1 spot on Newsweeks list of Americas Best High Schools, and was named a gold medal school by US News World Report. In addition...
If a bickering Congress cant agree to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance, US economic growth could slow by almost a full percentage point next year and send stocks down sharply, analysts say.
