Mortgage stat

intresting Asian stat (knowledge)

It is telling that almost all Asian-born Nobel scientific laureates have been honoured for work done in the west. 

 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c1d1ca7c-dd92-11db-8d42-000b5df10621.html

Sweden to axe wealth tax symbol of leftwing rule..go long SEK??

Sweden’s centre right -government’s plan to scrap the country’s wealth tax, will remove one of the most powerful symbols of seven decades of almost uninterrupted leftwing rule.

Fredrik Reinfeldt, prime minister, who won elections last September, said a proposal to eradicate the 1.5 per cent tax on personal wealth of more than SKr1.5m ($200,000, €160,000, £109,000) would be included in next month’s budget.

 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/96db2066-dd92-11db-8d42-000b5df10621.html

Japan land prices

More crap on hidden Imam

While the Zionist plan targets Jerusalem, which is holy to us, the Safavid plan targets Mecca and Al-Madina. If you go back to their books – which they do not mention in the media, yet these books exist and are accepted by them – they claim that their Hidden Imam will come to Mecca and Al-Madina, destroy the Al-Haram Mosque and the Mosque of the Prophet, and dig in the graves of Abu Bakr and Omar and burn them both, and then he will command the wind to blow them away. He will also dig in the grave of Aisha, the Mother of the Believers, and will execute her. All this is part of their plan.”

http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=countries&Area=iran&ID=SP146507

 There is no Sunni mosque in Tehran, even though there are over two million Sunni Muslims there.”

Stats on lobyists in Washington

Huge supply of talented lobbyists
Since 2000, the number of Washington lobbyists has doubled. Imagine: 35,000 lobbyists for a mere 536 elected officials (435 Congressional reps, 100 Senators and one President) with $2.8 trillion to spend. Each insider has an average of $5 billion to spend. Business is booming: “Lobbying firms can’t hire people fast enough,” says the Washington Post. “Starting salaries have risen to about $300,000 a year for the best-connected aides.” And it’s the favorite retirement job for “nearly half of all lawmakers who return to the private sector when they leave Congress.” Lobbying is also huge at the state level. Barron’s says “The number of lobbyists and the amount spent on lobbying has swelled over the years … New York State had 3,842 lobbyists, 18 for each elected legislator. Colorado, Florida, Illinois and Ohio each had 10 per legislator,” for an estimated total of about 40,000 state lobbyists.And things will only get better, says The Post in “The Road to Riches is Called K Street:” “There’s unlimited business out there for us,’ said Robert L. Livingston, a Republican and former chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, now president of a thriving lobbying firm, ‘Companies need lobbying help.’”

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/private-equitys-day-past-get/story.aspx?guid=%7BD17A0133-0B28-4BA3-80C0-670F940E52F7%7D

Acre of corn

The US Department of Agriculture predicts the net return for an acre of corn will rise to $334 (£173, €253) this year from $125, and remain high

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e0a08b1c-d31c-11db-829f-000b5df10621.html

Rapid ageing of developing world surprises UN experts..from FT

i aint Malthus  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malthus, but this is going to be  a huge macro trend. Think how to play it !

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Europe, which boasts the world’s oldest population, is set to age from a median of 39 years in 2005 to 47 years in 2050, according to a mid-range scenario.

But the trend in the developing world is even more dramatic, with the median age in Latin America rising from 26 to 40, and in Asia from 28 to 40. Even Africa, says the study, would see an increase from 19 years today to 28 years in 2050.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/3880a148-d1d1-11db-b921-000b5df10621.html

U.S. Subprime Mortgage Delinquencies at 4-Year High

March 13 (Bloomberg) — Subprime borrowers fell behind on their mortgages at the highest rate in four years in the fourth quarter and delinquencies rose on all types of U.S. home loans, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

U.S. mortgages entering foreclosure rose to an all-time high of 0.54 percent, the Washington-based bankers’ group said in a report today. Subprime delinquencies rose to 13.33 percent from 12.56 percent in the third quarter. Overdue payments on all types of loans rose to 4.95 percent from 4.67 percent in 2006’s third quarter. That was the highest since the second quarter of 2003.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aY_SKqJZEdbQ&refer=home

Subprime-loan originations totaled about $605 billion last year, or about a fifth of the overall market for U.S. home loans, according to trade publication Inside Mortgage Finance.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117369890345734007.html?mod=mkts_main_news_hs_h