Bank Dividends

It appears that any bank that takes government money to recapitalize is not allowed to pay dividends until the borrowed government money is repaid.  Take a look at the Big Picture for more detailed info.

Baby Food

Wal-Mart is seeing spikes in baby food purchases based on when people are paid.  Per Infectious Greed this is the first time Wal-Mart has seen this event.  This suggests people are running along a financial razor’s edge.  If they can’t buy baby food until they get their paycheck, how can they buy any type of luxury item (iPod, new cell phone, flat screen, new car, etc.)?  They can’t.

Housing Foreclosures

Housing foreclosures for September dipped by 12% from an August high.  This is an artificial reduction, as some of the hardest hit states have changed laws to slow down foreclosures. 

“Much of the 12% decrease in September can be attributed to changes in state laws that have at least temporarily slowed down the pace at which lenders are moving forward with foreclosures,” Realty Trac CEO James Saccacio said in a statement.

For instance, California - one of the states hardest-hit states in the housing crisis - has a new law that requires banks to contact struggling homeowners at least 30 days before delivering a notice of default. That’s helped to drastically slow the number of foreclosure filings in the state.  -  CNN

Unfortunately, this is just postponing the inevitable. 

Circumstances in Massachusetts illustrate his point. That state enacted a law back in May requiring lenders to give troubled homeowners 90 days notice before initiating foreclosure, which pushed the number of foreclosure filings it reported way down for several months. But in September, when the law expired, filings spiked.

Weekend

Looks like another good weekend.  The beer of choice this weekend, especially Saturday night for the Penn State vs. Ohio State game, is the Troegenator from Troegs Craft Brewery in Harrisburg, PA.  Enjoy.