E.T. Clark of Port Richey sees parallels between the current financial system problems and the savings and loan industry collapse of the 1980s. ...more

November 22, 2008

Construction of the sheriff's Law Enforcement building could be delayed for several months, and the county's construction of Phase Two of Sebring Parkway will be scaled back due to the nationwide economic downturn. ...more

November 21, 2008

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Saturday accused Democratic rival Barack Obama of favoring a socialistic economic approach by supporting tax cuts and tax credits McCain says would merely shuffle wealth rather than creating it. ...more

October 18, 2008

The American people need to hear the truth, but no one's willing to give it to them. That's because the quickest way to lose an election is to tell the public something they don't want to hear - even if they desperately need to hear it. ...more

October 15, 2008

As Congress hashes out the details of the mortgage bailout plan, another wave of problem loans will soon come crashing down, especially in Florida. ...more

September 24, 2008

As Congress hashes out the details of the mortgage bailout plan, another wave of problem loans will soon come crashing down, especially in Florida. Nearly $100 billion worth of loans are deemed at risk for foreclosure over the next two years nationwide as borrowers with adjustable rate loans, called option-ARMs, see rates adjust, some ahead of schedule, according to a report released this month by Fitch Ratings. ...more

September 23, 2008

Recently, the county commission decided to dismiss action on a proposed impact fee stimulus package. Charitably, it was not a good policy. A number of factors clearly illustrated that it would have jeopardized the local economy rather than stimulated it. That concept energized the following brief history of how such concepts affected working people in this country. Over a hundred years ago, President Teddy Roosevelt busted the robber barons. They had a stranglehold on workingmen. They dictated the price they paid for labor. Men worked 12 hour days, seven days a week for low wages with no vacations or sick leave. They worked till they dropped, 365 days a year. In the next 100 years, through bloody wars, goon squads and sheer persistence, working conditions improved. The '30s and '40s were pivotal decades in that slow process of working people earning a "piece of the pie," but they had to struggle to maintain the progress so bitterly fought for. The idea of "helping" the developers and construction industry "stimulate" the economy triggered recall of that history. Unions were formed to help workers collectively demand and earn better wages and work conditions. They gained those rights, but had to fight to keep them. In the '50s, the U.S. Congress passed laws to correct a flaw "discovered" in the wages and pension package. ...more

May 2, 2008

The United States has been borrowing money from many nations, where we have been paying for their security with the American tax dollars. The many military bases cost millions of dollars each and every day, creating a huge economy for the nations involved, plus security for that nation. They, in return, loan America huge loans at very high interest rates, a win-win situation for their nation. The new proposed loan to bail America out of its financial mess is from China, which is also a win-win situation for them. ...more

February 11, 2008

Sales of new recreational vehicles may be down nationwide, but entrepreneurs in east Pasco County say high gas prices and high interest rates haven't significantly slowed their RV businesses. ...more

February 10, 2008

Most Americans feel compassionate about anyone facing foreclosure. Witnessing more than a million people staring down foreclosure due to home mortgages leaves all us wanting to save people from this sad situation. But before we spend billions in taxpayer dollars for a bailout, we need to consider how this happened in the first place. When we do that, we'll see that most of the people losing their houses never should have qualified for a home loan in the first place, and that predatory lenders are to blame for most of this mess. The Bush administration reached a deal with mortgage bankers to freeze interest rates on some sub-prime mortgages for five years. Other limitations apply, and only about 225,000 people will benefit from it. In fact, it's fair to say that if these homeowners are already in trouble, freezing interest rates won't help much – if at all. ...more

December 9, 2007