Sep 13 2009
Interest Only Mortgage Time Bomb: $71 billion in Loans will Reset in next 12 Months. Total Loans Outstanding at $908 Billion. Average Balance of $324,000. Median U.S. Home Price $178,000.
Interest only (IO) loans seemed like a viable mortgage option when home prices were appreciating on a double-digit basis every year. The interest only loan allowed borrowers the option of making no principal payments for 5, 7, or even 10 years. Now why would someone not make any principal payment for such a long time? [...]
Sep 10 2009
California Lost Decade of Employment: Bulk of Recent Income Gains went to Wealthiest Californians. 76.8 Percent of Adjusted Gross Income Gains between 2006 and 2007 went to the Wealthiest Fifth of California Personal Income Taxpayers.
California may now have one of the distinct misfortunes of enjoying a lost decade of job growth. This not only applies to the battered economy of California, but to the nation as well. To put the magnitude of the current recession in perspective, the only other time in economic history to see a contraction wipe [...]
