Freakonomics' Steven Levitt is an economist at the University of Chicago and the school's magazine asks if he's responsible for ruining economics. It's an interesting article in and of itself, but I got no small measure of pride when the one non-Chicago economist cited was from my alma mater (George Mason University). FYI, GMU's first Nobel Prize was for economics in 1986 and the winner was James Buchanan, Director, Center for Study of Public Choice. I can still remember the buzz on campus the day it was announced.

From the story: “All of the components of real estate value are going in the wrong direction simultaneously,” said Ross, one of nine money managers participating in a government program to remove toxic assets from bank balance sheets. “Occupancy rates are going down. Rent rates are going down and the capitalization rate — the return that investors are demanding to buy a property — are going up.”

h/t to Ed Cone for the link.

Not a headline you'll see every day. BTW, the "hot Mormon moms" are posing to raise money for breast cancer research, but that doesn't mean some of the more conservative in their church aren't a bit upset.

What this piece doesn't mention is that in addition to the 15 year high vacancy rate of 13.9% compared to 11.6% a year ago, the average rent is also down in the Triad from $643/month this time last year to $629 this year. (That might be covered in the full version of the article which seems to be behind a paid subscriber firewall). Not good news any which way you slice it.

Dan Collins posted a nice piece on his blog about Wake Forest AD Ron Wellman's connection to Joe Girardi (he was Girardi's college coach at Northwestern). I learned quite a few things about Girardi that I didn't know, like he was a three time Academic All-American in Industrial Engineering and he played minor league ball here in Winston-Salem. With all the abuse that Girardi's been taking in the press it was nice to read this.

In general countries that have lower murder rates have higher suicide rates.

Dave Ribar offers some good economic news, although he points out there are still problems:

"The figures mean that the economy has turned the corner and that the Great Recession has ended, at least for now. While the news is good, it's important to remember that the level of output is still substantially (2.3 percent) below where it was a year ago. Foreclosures, bankruptcies, and bank failures continue to mount. Unemployment is expected to continue rising into next year. And at some point the government has to take its foot off the fiscal and monetary accelerator pedals."

Cone provides a great quote from a conversation he had in China during a recent business trip: "The government knows a picture is worth a thousand words," came the reply. "As long as you don't actually say the words, it's OK."

You can't make this stuff up. South Carolina assistant Attorney General Roland Corning was caught in a cemetery "with an 18 year old stripper from the Platinum Plus Gentlemen's Club, a bag of sex toys and at least one dose of Viagra."

Sometimes politics can be funny.

Almost 1,000,000 foreclosures in the US in 3Q 2009. Ouch.

This is what I call chutzpah. Send out a rate hike notice AND a flyer asking your just-hiked customers to lobby on your behalf. Ah, the health insurance industry.

Not exactly a light read, but this piece at the NAA site provides an overview of the legal requirements for Freddie Mac's new CMBS product.

Quote from the Freakonomics blog post: "Reading the Secretary’s blog post, it strikes me just how differently he is reacting to a challenge than Arne Duncan (now the Secretary of Education) did when I first told him about my work on teacher cheating when Duncan was in charge of the Chicago Public Schools. I expected Duncan to do what LaHood did: dismiss the findings, circle the wagons, etc. But Duncan surprised me. He said that all he cared about was making sure the children were learning as much as possible, and teacher cheating was getting in the way of that. He invited me into a dialogue, and we ultimately made a difference."

This is an interesting post from the National Apartment Association blog, particularly some of the reasoning behind the lack of deals in multi-family housing:

"'There are going to be deals out there,' he said. But companies should not expect a large-scale clearance reminiscent of the U.S. government’s Resolution Trust Corporation that liquefied many non-performing assets in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he said. 'I don’t see that happening.'

Part of the issue is that special servicers, which represent multiple lenders in commercial mortgage-backed security (CMBS) loans, have little incentive to sell properties at a discount right now, said Christy Freeland, who was recently named Chairman of Riverstone Residential Group, which manages 185,000 apartments across the country. 'Servicers can wait three or four years and see if the property’s value or NOI goes up,' she said."

Seth Godin's post about some people being better customers/prospects has this interesting tidbit:

"Walmart and other mass marketers are now offering top bestsellers for $9 or less each, about $5 less than their cost. Why? Why not offer toasters or socks as a loss leader to get people in the store? I think the answer is pretty clear: people who buy hardcover books buy other stuff too. A hardcover book is a luxury item, it's new and it's buzzable. This sort of person is exactly who you want in your store."

I think he makes an excellent point and it's something to remember as you consider premiums and giveaways for boosting sales: make sure they attract the right kind of customer.

Mark Cuban argues that TV execs should be praising DVRs instead of trying to kill them.

Once again Fec provides a compendium of information about a pressing financial issue. This time it's commercial real estate. Here's my favorite quote-of-a-quote:

"The problem for the industry is that between now and 2013, more than $2 trillion in commercial mortgages, which typically have a five- to 10-year term, will need to be refinanced, according to a July report by Richard Parkus, head of commercial mortgage-backed securities at Deutsche Bank AG. It is not turmoil in the capital markets that is causing the bottleneck, but rather the fact that properties are not worth enough to retire the old debt in a refinancing, Parkus said."

As Scooby says: "Ruh, roh."

"Even with the credit slowdown and recession, the Triangle’s banking market grew by 10 percent in the dozen months ending June 30, according to new federal data."

Depending on what time Erin's team has to be in Burlington for State Cup this Saturday we might be hitting this for breakfast.

Lex points to the RH Donnelly bankruptcy case as more proof that our economic system is rigged. Here's a part of a quote that Lex pulls from a Zero Hedge post: "There is one simple reason: The CEO will make more money bankrupting the company than keeping it alive. It takes a year or more for shareholders to elect new board members who in turn elect the CEO. As a result, when the CEO and board of a company feel threatened they may lose their jobs; they can wipe out current equity at any time regardless of the company’s financial condition by declaring bankruptcy. David Swanson, R.H. Donnelley’s CEO, cut a deal with bondholders to keep his job and have management acquire a 10% stake of the Company when it emerges from bankruptcy."

Once again I think Fred Wilson is SO right:
"And this past week was a big one for the mobile web. We got three big things we've needed badly:

1) A real competitor to the iPhone – the Droid

2) A scalable business model for mobile apps – in app transactions in free apps

3) A standard for broadcasting video (and audio) to mobile devices"

The case study for this piece was a bordello in Germany:

"But Maison d’Envie has seen its business begin to return since it began offering the euro 5 ($7.50) discount in July, Goetz said.

To qualify, customers must show the receptionist either a bicycle padlock key or proof they used public transit to get to the neighborhood. That knocks the price for 45 minutes in a room, for example, to euro 65 from euro 70."

The author of the blog post points out that this is probably a classic case of someone using green as a cover for price discrimination.

A game maker did a limited time "pay what you want" offer for a game: "A survey taken by some of the customers on the game’s website reveals the top two reasons customers chose to pay what they did: It’s all they felt they could afford, and they wanted to support the PWYW model. Few paid the amount they thought the game was actually worth."

A bunch of condo owners in Barefoot Landing have been hosed by the failure of Premier Resorts. Bad times in North Myrtle.