Secret Hours

Ann Arbor, MI--Patients with a rare, blinding eye disease saw their vision improve after treatment with drugs to suppress their immune systems, according to researchers at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center. Because autoimmune retinopathy (AIR) is difficult to diagnose, the biggest challenge now is to find biologic markers that identify patients who can benefit from treatment.

In a review of 30 patients with autoimmune retinopathy, 21 individuals showed improvement after receiving treatment with immunosuppression therapy.

As a medley of border violence, recessionary pressure, international criticism and popular acceptance steadily undermines America’s decades-long effort to eliminate drugs and drug use, the U.S. movement to legalize marijuana is gaining unprecedented momentum.

Once derided and dismissed by lawmakers, law enforcers and the law-abiding alike, marijuana reform is sweeping the nation, although the federal government appears committed—at least for the time being—to largely maintaining the status quo.

As “tea parties” tepidly brew in cities across the country to protest government spending and budget deficits, President Obama is on the offensive, maintaining that the tax relief of his administration’s nascent months is helping resurrect our fallen economy.

Los Angeles Times:

President Obama, vowing today to make good on a promise to simplify income taxes, maintained that the tax relief that his administration won in its early months already is helping to revive the economy.

On the final day for filing of income-tax returns, the president delivered a speech near the White House to tout the tax breaks and the reforms he intends to pursue.

“We need to simplify a monstrous tax code that is far too complicated for most Americans to understand but just complicated enough for the insiders who know how to game the system,” the president said.

This midday address was intended not only as an appeal to the tax-paying public, but also as a message aimed at Congress, where Republicans are railing at the president for big spending and budget deficits.

Frankly, this is one of the more encouraging stories about business we've read in a long time.

NYT reports that Fannie (FNM) and Freddie (FRE) -- long a place where the politically connected could get huge salaries for doing nothing (at best) -- are suffering from brain drain. Between the scrutiny over pay, the hate from the media and the opportunity to work at somewhere a bit more dynamic and interesting, employees are fleeing by the droves.

This article doesn't sound like it was fed to the Times by some angry executive who wants to lash out at the government for ruining the companies -- we've read versions of that story about AIG in the Journal several times.

Rather, it sounds like the well-intentioned bureaucrats who run and regulate the GSEs genuinely think there's a problem with so many employees vacating. They're especially concerned, since the administration has expanded the role of Fannie and Freddie to help fight the housing crisis. That part continues to blow our mind, that after all this, the folks upstairs believe that the problem is that Fannie and Freddie currently aren't doing enough.

Maybe they should listen to their own employees, who in the worst job market in decades, are fleeing ship.

Over the holidays, and while policymakers came up with mortgage-modification plans, there was a general lull in foreclosures.

But they're coming back in a big way. All the major banks, like JPMorgan (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC) and the GSEs say they've been ramping up foreclosures in recent weeks, according to WSJ.

Foreclosure sales had dropped in the second half of 2008 as mortgage companies delayed taking action against delinquent borrowers. But sales have been edging up this year, according to LPS Applied Analytics, which tracks loan performance. Foreclosure-related filings increased by nearly 6% in February from the month earlier, and were up almost 30% from February 2008, according to RealtyTrac. The backlog of seriously delinquent loans has been growing.

In California, notices of trustee sales, which are preludes to foreclosure sales, climbed by more than 80% to 33,178 in March, from February, according to data from ForeclosureRadar.com and the Field Check Group. The increase reflects both the expiration of foreclosure moratoriums and a California law enacted late last year that temporarily delayed default and foreclosure notices, says Mark Hanson, president of the Field Check Group, a research firm.

Now granted, the 80% month-over-month increase is exaggerated since February was artificially low, and in March the banks were making up for lost time. Still, this probably explains some of the "shock" consumer spending drop in March, compared to February and January. Nothing like getting foreclosed on to decisively remind you that your broke.

the Senate is considering what to do about the estate tax. It is scheduled to be abolished next year, in one of several landmines the Bush administration set to go off after it left town. Obama proposes to reinstate the tax, at a 45 percent rate, on estates worth more than $3.5 million. Since there’s no tax on what you leave to your spouse, married couples could pass on $7 million before needing to pay a dollar — or needing to consult a lawyer who can use loopholes to save millions more.

The media today is full of reports about a massive military operation in the Helmand province of Afghanistan, codenamed DIESEL. Closer examination reveals reporting of the operation to have been dramatically propagandized by the Ministry of Defense, with the media acting as their willing - if somewhat confused - accomplices. Somehow a story about less than a £100,000 worth of raw opium has been transformed into a story about £50,000,000 worth of 'deadly heroin'.

« Older Entries

Newer Entries »