• A Good Renter is Hard to Find?
  According to this Biz Journal article, finding qualified renters is getting harder to do.
  (tags: apartment economy)
• Winston-Salem Coupons
  Gonna have to let my significant other know about this.
  (tags: winston-salem)
• Advice Worth $1 Billion – Freakonomics Blog – NYTimes.com
  For once a positive story about consultants.
  (tags: economics)
• Mortgage Bankers Assn Report is Icky
  "The Mortgage Bankers Association is revising downward its 2009 forecast for U.S. loan originations.

  The industry group now expects nationwide mortgage originations this year of $2.03 trillion, down more than $700 billion from what it was forecasting in March.

  The association says fewer home purchases account for $84 billion of the drop. The rest is due to fewer refinancings.

  The MBA now expects 4.8 million existing-home sales in 2009, a 1.2 percent decline from 2008. The association forecasts new-home sales will drop 27 percent to 352,000 units."

  (tags: economics realestate finance)

• New Watchdog in Town
  From the article: "Former N.C. State Auditor Les Merritt has teamed with Frank Perry, a veteran FBI agent who worked for both the N.C. Ethics Commission and the N.C. State Auditor’s office, to launch the Foundation for Ethics in Public Service.

  The nonprofit will facilitate the investigation and reporting of public corruption by receiving tips about alleged acts of corruption, ascertaining their credibility and passing the information along to investigative reporters or enforcement agencies."

  (tags: northcarolina ethics)

• Krugman Explains the Current Recession
  Links to audio and PDF files from Paul Krugman's Robbins Memorial Lectures at the London School of Economics
  (tags: economics)

• Clearing the air, or not, on Charlotte summers – CharlotteObserver.com
  Welcome to North Carolina and here's what you need to know.
  (tags: northcarolina)

• Health-Care Market Characterized By Consolidation, Not Competition …
  Why the argument that a public health insurance option would destroy competition is misleading; basically any real competition in health insurance disappeared a while ago.
  (tags: health healthcare healthinsurance insurance)

I don’t think brown is a natural color in the specrtrum Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

On the tram @ Vegas airport Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

I’ve spent the last week in Vegas on business and I can’t wait to get home to NC. I really miss the color green, and although it was something like 900 degrees in Vegas I wouldn’t know because I was in a conference center, thus I’m also looking forward to seeing the sun again.

BTW, it rained in Vegas while I was there and I learned that the news folks there treat rain like we treat snow in NC. They rolled out team coverage with quadruple Doppler technology to let everyone know that when you get a cloudburst that produces 1/10 of one inch of rain the ground gets wet and the roads get slick. They also want you to know that the cumulative rain total for June is 1/10 of one inch and that they are just as capable of finding the dumbest people in the city for “man on the street” interviews as the news folks in NC are. Oh,, and 109 is frickin’ hot.

Yep, looking forward to getting home. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Amazon.com is in a tax tiff with North Carolina and as a result any North Carolinian based person or business is apparently no longer welcome in the company’s Associates Program. Not that it means a whole lot to me because in the however many years I’ve been a member I think I’ve earned a grand total of $6 which is less than the minimum they require to actually go to the trouble of sending me money, and now that I’ve been tossed I’ll never attain my goal of becoming an Amazon gazillionaire. Despite the fact that this means literally nothing to me I still feel like I’ve gotten a “Dear John” letter…oh wait, I guess I kind of have. Anyway, here’s the text of the email they sent to gid rid of me:

Subject: Important Notice from the Amazon Associates Program

We are writing from the Amazon Associates Program to notify you that your Associates account has been closed as of June 26, 2009. This is a direct result of the unconstitutional tax collection scheme expected to be passed any day now by the North Carolina state legislature (the General Assembly) and signed by the governor. As a result, we will no longer pay any referral fees for customers referred to Amazon.com or Endless.com after June 26. We were forced to take this unfortunate action in anticipation of actual enactment because of uncertainties surrounding the legislation s effective date.

Please be assured that all qualifying referral fees earned prior to June 26, 2009 will be processed and paid in full in accordance with our regular referral fee schedule. Based on your account closure date of June 26, 2009, any final payments will be paid by September 1, 2009.

In the event that North Carolina repeals this tax collection scheme, we would certainly be happy to re-open our Associates program to North Carolina residents.

The North Carolina General Assembly s website is http://www.ncleg.net/ [ http://www.ncleg.net/ ], and additional information may be obtained from the Performance Marketing Alliance at http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com/ [ http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com/ ].

We have enjoyed working with you and other North Carolina-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program, and wish you all the best in your future.

Best Regards,

The Amazon Associates Team

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

• Groundbreaking set on apartment complex for people with disabilities
  (tags: ping.fm)