NEW YORK — The decline in U.S. home prices accelerated nationwide in July, posting the steepest drop in 16 years, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday. Home prices have fallen by more every month since the beginning of the year. An index of 10 U.S. cities fell 4.5 percent in July from a year ago. That was the biggest drop since July 1991. S&P Index Committee Chairman David Blitzer said the severe declines may be done by the end of the year. ‘Maybe the first stage is steep declines, and we’re just about done with those,’ he said. ‘The second stage is not much gain, not much loss. ‘The rest of the economy has to catch up to home prices.’ Yale economist Robert Shiller, who helped create the indices, said in a statement, ‘The further deceleration in prices is still apparent across the majority of regions.’ Shiller is also MacroMarkets LLC’s chief economist and perhaps is best known for predicting the dot-com bust. A broader index of 20 cities fell 3.9 percent in July over last year, with 15 of 20 cities reporting that prices fell. The five […]
WASHINGTON, DC — The Interior Department’s program to collect billions of dollars annually from oil and gas companies that drill on federal lands is troubled by mismanagement, ethical lapses and fears of retaliation against whistle-blowers, the department’s chief independent investigator has concluded. The report, a result of a yearlong investigation, grew out of complaints by four auditors at the agency, who said that senior administration officials had blocked them from recovering money from oil companies that underpaid the government. The report stopped short of accusing top agency officials of wrongdoing, concluding that the whistle-blowers were sometimes unaware of other efforts under way to recover the missing money and that they sometimes simply disagreed with top management. But it offered a sharp description of failures at the Minerals Management Service, the agency within the Interior Department responsible for collecting about $10 billion a year in royalties on oil and gas. Many of the issues, including the complaints by whistle-blowers, were initially reported last year by The New York Times. Prepared by the Interior Department’s inspector general, Earl E. Devaney, the report said that investigators found a ‘profound failure’ in the agency’s technology for monitoring oil and gas […]
LONDON — Almost two-thirds of the world’s people say there must be urgent action to tackle global warming, a poll for the BBC World Service showed on Tuesday. Overall, 65 percent of the 22,000 people polled in 21 countries said there was a need ‘to take major steps very soon’ ranging from 91 percent in Spain to 37 percent in India. In the United States, the world’s biggest emitter of climate changing carbon gases, 59 percent called for urgent action and in China, which builds a coal-fired power station every five days to feed its booming economy, it was 70 percent. The poll showed nine out of 10 people want some action on climate change, and 79 percent said human activity was contributing significantly to the problem that scientists say will cause major hardship worldwide. The poll surveyed people in 14 of the 16 nations invited to a meeting of major world carbon emitters in Washington this week by George W. Bush, who has rejected calls for the United States to sign up to the Kyoto Protocol on cutting emissions. Washington is still opposed to timetables or targets and argues technology holds the answers. […]
WASHINGTON, DC — Global climate change presents a serious national security threat that could affect Americans at home, impact U.S. military operations, and heighten global tensions, finds a study released today by a blue-ribbon panel of 11 of the most senior retired U.S. admirals and generals. Climate change, national security and energy dependence are a related set of global challenges that will add to tensions even in stable regions of the world, found the panel, known as the Military Advisory Board. ‘We will pay for this one way or another,’ said retired Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni, former commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East. ‘We will pay to reduce greenhouse gas emissions today, and we’ll have to take an economic hit of some kind. Or, we will pay the price later in military terms. And that will involve human lives. There will be a human toll.’ ‘The U.S. should commit to a stronger national and international role to help stabilize climate changes at levels that will avoid significant disruption to global security and stability,’ the Military Advisory Board recommends. The study, ‘National Security and the Threat of Climate Change,’ explores ways in which climate […]
NEW YORK — US television networks believe they have found the business model needed to profit in the digital age – streaming their hit shows over the internet as opposed to selling them to consumers as digital downloads. This season they are gearing up to stream unprecedented amounts of programming with embedded advertisements on their own websites and via those of distribution partners. They are embracing streaming video after recent experiments eased concerns that it would cannibalise traditional broadcast audiences and undermine business models. Instead, many TV executives are confident that putting programmes online will build greater awareness among consumers and increase audiences. The networks have also been encouraged by advertisers, who are rapidly shifting their budgets to the internet to reach young consumers. ‘This is definitely something that’s here to stay,’ said Albert Cheng, executive vice-president of digital media at the Disney-ABC Television Group, which last week cited a deal to distribute its top programmes via AOL. ‘We have a sound economic model. Our next phase is to build on top of that,’ he added. Quincy Smith, president of CBS Interactive, agreed, saying: ‘Ad-supported streaming is absolutely the future.’ The TV networks’ dominance […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
