Suit Charges Investors Fleeced of $86 Million to $106 Million in Ponzi Scheme
San Diego attorney Matthew Powell filed suit yesterday (Oct. 30), charging that a group of real estate operators with a firm named Corporate Funding Financial of America fleeced more than 100 investors of $86 million to $106 million in what …
First Big Shoe Drops in Next Crash; Citigroup Reports Big Loss in Credit Card Securitization
New York's Citigroup this evening (Oct. 31) reported a $1.4 billion third quarter loss as a result of securitizing of credit cards. For more than a year, savvy observers have known that this time bomb would go off throughout the …
Filner, Aguirre Say Sempra's $100,000 Gift to Lincoln Club Smacks of Attempt to Buy Election
Congressman Bob Filner and City Attorney Mike Aguirre held a press conference in front of headquarters of Sempra Energy today (Oct. 31). They pointed out, as Matt Potter showed in the current Reader, that the utility holding company gave $100,000 …
San Diego Lead Indicators Plunge from Year Ago; All Local Components Down
The lead indicators of the San Diego economy compiled by economist Alan Gin of the University of San Diego continued their decline in September. The index for September was 115.4, down from 116.3 in August and down from 133.5 in …
Here Is Double Talk That Only a Corporate Welfare-Loving Jock Worshipper Could Disregard
Get this: Mark Fabiani, lawyer/spokesman for the Chargers, is quoted saying the following on KFMB News today (Oct. 29): "We just can't do business with San Diego while Mike Aguirre is there. So we tell people that. We're not taking …
The Next Duke Cunningham? Hank Paulson, Treasury Secretary
The felonious former San Diego County Congressman Duke Cunningham started on his way to ill-gotten riches by getting a person seeking political favors to pay an outlandish price for the Cunningham house. Duke parlayed that -- plus other scams -- …
San Diego Lags State, Los Angeles Area in New Car Sales Year to Date
For the first nine months of this year, the San Diego market lags both the state and Los Angeles/Orange counties in new light vehicles sold at retail, according to the California New Car Dealers Association. San Diego car sales are …
San Diego Home Prices Continue Sharp Declines in August; Now Down Almost 33% from 2005 Peak
San Diego County home prices dropped 2.3 percent from July to August, according to Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, published this morning (Oct. 28). Only three metro areas among the largest 20 notched a bigger August decline: San …
Is San Diego Back to Old Tricks of Publishing False Financial Information?
On Oct. 22 on this blog (see below), I published information from the San Diego Retired Employees' Association (SDCERS), a group of retired City employees. According to notes taken by a reliable amanuensis, the president of the organization told members …
Union-Tribune Circulation Continues to Drop, but, Generally, Other Southern California Declines Are Greater
The Audit Bureau of Circulations released circulation figures for U.S. newspapers this morning (Oct. 27). For the six months ended September of 2008, U-T daily (Monday-Friday) circulation dropped by 3 percent to 269,819. Sunday circulation declined 4.7 percent to 342,384. …
Biotech Executive Tina Nova Wins Lawsuit Filed by Vegas Man She Married Briefly
Tina Nova, chief executive of biotech Genoptix, this week was the victor in a lawsuit filed by Las Vegas's Lawrence (Lance) Ackland, whom she had wed quickly in mid-2005. She had the marriage annulled almost as quickly, partly because she …
According to Rumors, U-T Has Been Sold. But Nobody Knows to Whom, and It May Be a Canard
Rumors are making the rounds among former Union-Tribune employees that its parent Copley Press has been sold. It put itself up for sale in July, and recent rumors of the latrine variety had three bidders competing. The rumored buyer's identity …
CalPERS Down 19 Percent Since Fiscal Year Began; Employers May Have To Boost Contributions, Increasing Municipalities' Chaos
The California Public Employees' Retirement System, the nation's largest public pension fund, reported today (Oct. 23) that it has lost 19 percent since its fiscal year began July 1 through Oct. 10. The portfolio has shrunk from $239.2 billion to …
Mea Culpas by Greenspan, Cox Are Historic; Derivatives Regulation Will Help, but Will Be No Panacea
"We have learned that voluntary regulation does not work," SEC chairman Christopher Cox told a House committee today (Oct. 23). More significantly, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan confessed, "I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, …
City Pension Portfolio Plunges Below $4 Billion; That's Lower Than Level of Mid-2006
The portfolio assets of the San Diego City Employees' Retirement System have plummeted to an unaudited figure of $3.92 billion, according to a report given Oct. 14 to members of the San Diego Retired Employees' Association, which consists of City …
Good News: SDCERS Discussing Lowering Interest Rate on DROP Account
At last, some promising news: the San Diego City Employees' Retirement System is discussing lowering the fat interest payment on its so-called DROP accounts. DROP is an acronym for Deferred Retirement Option Plan, under which a City employee declares his …
County Continues to Lose Jobs in September; Construction, Real Estate Big Losers
San Diego County continued to lose jobs in September, as non-farm employment dropped 5,100, or 0.4 percent from a year ago, according to the California Employment Development Department. Jobs were down 0.1 percent, or 1,300 jobs, from August. The September …
Buffett's Bullishness Moves Today's Market. But As His San Diego Experience Shows, Buffett Is Not Always Right
This morning (Oct. 17), billionaire investor Warren Buffett has an op-ed in the New York Times saying he is buying stock. The statement is credited with turning a down market into an up market early today (but there is no …
Mayor Sanders Reveals His Administration's Ignorance, Lack of Economic Vigilance
Mayor Jerry Sanders today (Oct. 14) revealed how deeply the City is in an economic hole. Unwittingly, he also revealed how he did not understand and plan for the woes that were all but inevitable two or three years ago. …
Lawsuits Filed Across Nation Against Countrywide Will Be Heard in San Diego
All predatory lending lawsuits filed in the U.S. against Countrywide Financial will be consolidated and heard in U.S. district court in San Diego, according to a decision announced today (Oct. 14) by the Federal Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. City …
Chargers Fans, Relax; There's Not Much Money for Sports, Says Wall Street's Journal
Today's (Oct 14) Wall Street Journal has a story headlined, "As Economy Weakens, Sports Feel a Chill." With other pressing economic needs taking precedent, there is not money for pro sports, including public subsidation thereof. The Florida Marlins' planned new …
Is Socialism Seductive? Or Was Today's Huge Rally More of a Technical Bounce?
The U.S. stock market shot up more than 11 percent today -- a historic one-day bounce. Of course, it was coming off Wall Street's biggest one-week plunge last week, and stocks are nowhere near where they peaked before this bear …
Asian Markets, U.S. Futures Rise Sunday Evening, Responding Positively to Worldwide Plans To Pour Liquidity into Banks
In early trading Monday morning in Asia (Sun.evening Oct.12 in the U.S.), stock markets reacted positively to plans of major nations to guarantee loans between banks and recapitalize them. U.S. stock market futures were up 2 to 3 percent, although …
Brandes Takes Another Bath; This One Is in Royal Bank of Scotland
San Diego's Brandes Investment Partners, which has been losing money on major holdings, and also losing clients, has a big position in another loser, Royal Bank of Scotland, according to a June 30 filing. At that date, Brandes was the …
NBC Reports Moores Wants To Sell 49 Percent of Padres As Part of Divorce Settlement
NBCSanDiego.com is reporting that Padres majority owner John Moores wants to sell 49 percent of the team as part of a divorce settlement with his wife Becky. She filed for the divorce earlier this year after 44 years of marriage. …
Liquidity Flood Is Not Getting Stock Market Drunk. One Reason Is Fear of Banking System Insolvency
The Federal Reserve joins with world central banks to slash interest rates, which are already very low. The Fed is buying commercial paper -- short-term debt that companies use to finance day-to-day operations. Now the government is thinking of taking …
Superb NY Times Story Tells How U.S. Economic Leaders, Particularly Greenspan, Failed To See Possibility of Derivatives Chain Reaction
On the front page of the New York Times today (Oct. 9) is a story that is MUST reading. It tells how U.S. economic leadership, particularly former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, failed to see how financial derivatives could cause …
For First Time in Ten Years, Consumers Pay Off Debt. This Will Probably Result in Contraction, but Is Actually Positive
For the first month since January of 1998, American consumers in August paid off more debt than they took on, according to a report from the Federal Reserve. If the trend continues, the economy will almost certainly contract -- something …
SEC Should Discipline Three Officials Who Interfered with Gary Aguirre's Insider Trading Investigation, Says Inspector General
The Securities and Exchange Commission's inspector general has concluded that the SEC should consider disciplining three officials who kept San Diegan Gary Aguirre, formerly of the SEC staff, from interviewing a top Wall Street official in an insider trading investigation. …
Stocks Down 3% to 4%, after Plunging 8%. Markets Take Bath Overseas, Too
As the credit crisis spreads throughout Europe, Russia, Asia and emerging markets, U.S. stocks plummeted between 3% and 4% today (Oct. 6), after being down 8% at one point, recovering near the session close. The Russian market has been beaten …
Union-Tribune Circulation Continues To Plummet As Skepticism About Sales of Metro Dailies Increases
For August of this year, the Union-Tribune's daily circulation plunged to 266,765 from 283,437 in August of 2007, according to internal numbers given to employees. Sunday circulation declined to 332,342 in August of 2008 from 355,598 a year earlier. In …