“The Federal Trade Commission today issued a statement announcing that it will forbear from enforcing most provisions of its Mortgage Assistance Relief Services (MARS) Rule against real estate brokers and their agents who assist financially distressed consumers in obtaining short sales from their lenders or servicers. As a result of the stay on enforcement, these… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: July 2011
New GAO Reports: Disadvantaged Students; DHS Tech Acquisitions; Abandoned Mines
Disadvantaged Students – School Districts Have Used Title I Funds Primarily to Support Instruction, GAO-11-595, July 15, 2011 Homeland Security – DHS Could Strengthen Acquisitions and Development of New Technologies, GAO-11-829T, July 15, 2011 Abandoned Mines – Information on the Number of Hardrock Mines, Cost of Cleanup, and Value of Financial Assurances – GAO-11-834T, July… Continue Reading
Empire State Manufacturing Survey shows conditions for New York manufacturers deteriorated for second consecutive month
“The July Empire State Manufacturing Survey indicates that conditions for New York manufacturers deteriorated for a second consecutive month. The general business conditions index remained below zero, at -3.8. The new orders index also remained negative, while the shipments index increased to a level slightly above zero. The indexes for both prices paid and prices… Continue Reading
A General Equilibrium Model of Sovereign Default and Business Cycles
A General Equilibrium Model of Sovereign Default and Business Cycles – Enrique G. Mendoza and Vivian Z. Yue – IMF Working Paper, Research Department. July 2011 “Emerging markets business cycle models treat default risk as part of an exogenous interest rate on working capital, while sovereign default models treat income fluctuations as an exogenous endowment… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports: Children's Television Act, Defense Logistics, DOD Civilian Personnel, Dodd-Frank Act, EPA Health Risk Assessments
Children’s Television Act: FCC Could Improve Efforts to Oversee Enforcement and Provide Public Information, GAO-11-659, July 14, 2011 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands – Status of Transition to Federal Immigration Law, GAO-11-805T, July 14, 2011 Defense Logistics: Oversight and a Coordinated Strategy Needed to Implement the Army Workload and Performance System, GAO-11-566R, July 14,… Continue Reading
The Macroeconomic and Budgetary Effects of an Illustrative Policy for Reducing the Federal Budget Deficit
The Macroeconomic and Budgetary Effects of an Illustrative Policy for Reducing the Federal Budget Deficit – As requested by Senators Kent Conrad and Jeff Sessions, Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, July 14, 2011 “The federal government’s debt has increased dramatically in the past few years, and large annual budget deficits will… Continue Reading
S&P : Special Report: U.S. Negative CreditWatch Placement And The Knock-On Effects
“Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services today said it placed its ‘AAA’ long-term and ‘A-1+’ short-term sovereign credit ratings on the United States of America on CreditWatch with negative implications. The CreditWatch action reflects our view of two separate but related issues. The first issue is the continuing failure to raise the U.S. government debt ceiling… Continue Reading
New FTC Video Helps Businesses Comply with CAN-SPAM Rule
News release: “Say spam and most business executives think of annoying e-mail messages, like the ones that hold out a phony offer to split $50 million thats sitting in a foreign bank. Of course, this type of message is covered by the Federal Trade Commissions CAN-SPAM Rule, which is designed to protect consumers from deceptive… Continue Reading
FTC Testifies on Protecting Consumers' Privacy
“The Federal Trade Commission today told Congress that protecting consumers privacy through law enforcement, education and policy initiatives is a top priority at the agency. In delivering Commission testimony before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittees on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, and Communications and Technology, Commissioner Edith Ramirez said, Privacy has… Continue Reading
BLS Producer Price Index June 2011
“The Producer Price Index for finished goods decreased 0.4 percent in June, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This decline followed increases of 0.2 percent in May and 0.8 percent in April. At the earlier stages of processing, prices received by manufacturers of intermediate goods were unchanged in June, and the… Continue Reading
OECD Regions at a Glance 2011
“The differences between countries are often not as great as the disparities within them. OECD Regions at a Glance makes these differences across places apparent and unpacks what they imply for national performance and individual welfare. It does so by providing region-by-region indicators that help to identify areas that are outperforming or lagging behind in… Continue Reading
Department of Defense Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace
Department of Defense Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace, July 2011 “…the Department of Defense (DoD) depends on cyberspace to function. It is difficult to overstate this reliance; DoD operates over 15,000 networks and seven million computing devices across hundreds of installations in dozens of countries around the globe. DoD uses cyberspace to enable its military,… Continue Reading
