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A Naples woman was literally painting the town park Friday just before getting arrested, police said. An 18-year-old woman painted her face black and white, dunked her hands in blue paint and then began painting a city park, Naples police reported. A witness told police he saw a young blonde woman, later identified as Elizabeth Ann Peele, 18, of the 1000 block of 10th Street North, painting several benches, poles and tables of Fleischmann Park a light blue color, according to reports. She had black and white face paint on and light blue paint on the palm of her hands,...

Despite potential tax and investment problems, more investors have been borrowing from their 401(k) plans or taking hardship withdrawals in recent months, some retirement plan providers say. Many in the field expect more borrowing in 2008, as consumers struggle with tighter credit and potentially higher mortgage payments. "I don't think it's a groundswell but it's enough to be noticed," said Rick Meigs, president of 401khelpcenter.com, which provides information on 401(k) plans. Increased borrowing on 401(k)s could be because of the credit crunch and slumping housing prices. To be sure, the indications are preliminary; it's too early to say why it's...

Fortune Magazine) -- Here I go. I am about to walk into one of the biggest sucker's games in the whole world of economics: declaring that the U.S. consumer is tapped out, so desperately in hock and troubled about the future that he finally just can't spend like it's 1999 anymore. And to be clear, that is what I'm declaring. Unless I can talk myself out of it by the end of the column. I must be nuts. One of the most reliable ways to look like a business dope over the past several years has been to announce that...

Most anybody in the mortgage business will tell you that August was a month that will live in infamy: The market was in turmoil, as doubts about the stability of subprime loans spread to other sectors of the mortgage world. How bad was it? A survey of mortgage brokers suggests that one in three consumers who recently signed purchase contracts canceled in August -- up from just 4 percent three years ago, according to the research firm that conducted the survey for Inside Mortgage Finance, a trade journal. The cancellation rate undoubtedly was fed by two scenarios playing out: Many...

LONDON – The fate of the world economy hinges on what happens to house prices in America and that may not be a good thing, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said on Monday. Speaking at the Reuters headquarters in London, the former Fed chair delivered a gloomy prognosis on the state of the global economy – U.S. house prices are likely to fall further and they could drag the rest of the world with them. * * * “The critical variable in this judgement is the price of homes in the United States,” said Greenspan, who ran the U.S....

Paul Backers "Paint The Town Ron" posted October 1, 2007 Supporters of presidential candidate Ron Paul say they brought their "shock and awe" sign campaign to Chattanooga Cleveland area roads over the weekend. Lauren Walker of the Paul campaign said, "You have probably noticed “Ron Paul Revolution” and “Ron Paul 2008” signs and banners everywhere. "In the wee hours of the night and early morning on Friday and Saturday, bands of Ron Paul supporters were roving the streets of Hamilton County hanging banners and signs in a concerted effort to let people know about their candidate, Ron Paul. "These young,...

Late payments on U.S. home equity lines of credit rose to a 5-1/2 year high in the second quarter of 2007 but delinquencies on many other types of consumer loans fell, the American Bankers Association said Wednesday. In its quarterly report on consumer borrowing, the bankers group said delinquencies in repaying home equity lines of credit rose to 0.77 percent in the April-June period. That compared to a rate of 0.60 percent in the first quarter and represented the highest rate since the fourth quarter of 2001 when the rate was 0.81 percent. However, the rate of closed-end home equity...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Demand for big-ticket manufactured goods plunged in August by the largest amount in seven months, with widespread weakness signaling a slowdown in the nation's industrial sector. The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that orders for durable goods, everything from commercial jetliners to home appliances, fell by 4.9 percent in August, the biggest decline since a 6.1 percent fall in January. It was far larger than the 3.5 percent drop that economists had been expecting and resulted from across-the-board decreases in a number of categories. The concern is that the steep downturn in housing and turbulence in financial markets...

More Americans Say Value Of Their Home Has Fallen Topics:Housing | Real Estate | Consumers | Economy (U.S.)By Reuters | 21 Sep 2007 | 10:48 AM ET Font size: A record 26% of U.S. homeowners say the value of their homes has fallen during the past year, above the previous peak of 24% seen in 1992, a survey released Friday showed. Reflecting the extent of the prolonged housing slump, 21% of homeowners polled in September expect the value of their home to decline in the year ahead, up from 18% in August, according to the data from Reuters/University of Michigan...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. As data gathered in the real world of international rivalry continues to show an expanding U.S. trade deficit that will likely hit $700 billion this year (up from $617 billion last year), a great wailing is heard from the Defenders of Free Trade. Their libertarian economic faith is immune to facts, either from present observation or historical experience. That's what makes it a secular religion. Nothing better reveals its reliance on superstition and ignorance than how readily its adherents resort to falsehoods to defend its dogma. Consider two recent columns that...

Must see TV this morning to see if Katie Couric is showing her "bitter main stream media" face this morning as she discusses the Iraqi elections. It'll be curious to see if her sad angry steely eyed gaze will be worse than back on November 3rd after Kerry's loss.