Mortgage Crunch "Solution"

Consequences be damned! It seems the solution to the increasing number of mortgage defaults by people who should not have mortgages in the first place is to place a 5 year freeze on their "teaser" rates which will give the banks time to "renegotiate" the terms of the loan and work through their increasing inventory of foreclosed homes.

Financial Models and Market Volatility

As anybody who pays attention to the stock market will tell you, these past few weeks have been particularly volatile. Volatility is what drives a market really. Volatility creates opportunity; it also destroys wealth if one is not careful.

The past few years have seen a major sea-change wash over Wall Street regarding the way it conducts business. Many jobs that were formerly carried out by a living, breathing person are now being done by a computer model, especially in the equities arena. But models are only as smart as the person programming them, and these past few weeks have been humbling for many "quant" guys to say the least.

The Green Side of the Sub-Prime Meltdown

Equifax recently announced the latest mortgage default levels: a record 2.87% nationally in the first quarter, with deliquency rates up in 44 of 50 states. Yet somehow, I don't think these particular sub-prime borrowers were in any danger of not meeting their mortgage obligations:

California is in the midst of a major boom in large-scale marijuana cultivation operations run from inside homes, with authorities confiscating more than $100 million worth of pot in the last year alone, including in a series of recent raids in the suburbs of Los Angeles.

Officials with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration say the number of indoor marijuana plants seized by federal, state and local authorities in California has

10 Reasons You Are Not Rich...

Unless you are, then you can please disregard this post and get back to livin' la vida loca...!

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The reason why you aren't a millionaire (or on your way to becoming one) is really quite simple. You probably assume it's because you aren't earning enough money, but the truth is that for most people, whether or not you become a millionaire has very little to do with the amount of money you make. It's the way that you treat money in your daily life.

Here are 10 possible reasons you aren't a millionaire: