The four-bedroom house that Ilia Nielsen-Dembe purchased in west Denver earlier this year wasn’t her top choice. The first-time buyer had to settle on a home in a neighborhood with a high crime rate after losing out on bids for five properties in more desirable areas. “I definitely sacrificed in terms of location,” said Nielsen-Dembe, […] Continue reading → 
Ken Blackwell A monumental opportunity has presented itself as Julian Castro, former mayor of San Antonio, takes over as the new Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and Congress looks ahead on the critical issue of housing finance reform. After years of tepid growth and false starts, leaders in Washington have the opportunity to give […] Continue reading → 
LISBON, Portugal — Portugal’s Espirito Santo family business survived wars, dictatorship, revolution and family feuds for almost 150 years. Now, one of Europe’s last banking dynasties is being stripped of its wealth and influence amid accounting irregularities, huge unreported debts, and a police investigation. The scandal bears the hallmarks of the recent European financial crisis, […] Continue reading → 
Larry Elder The stock market reached a record high last week, closing over 17,000 for the first time. Good news, of course. As President John F. Kennedy famously said, “A rising tide lifts all boats.” But it sure helps if you own a boat. In this case, the “boat” would be the dynamic American stock […] Continue reading → 
Iraq will be foremost in investors’ minds in the coming week as oil price risk has returned to markets, complicating the task for central banks whose policies are beginning to diverge for the first time since the global financial crisis. Oil prices neared nine-month highs late last week, touching $115 a barrel, and the rapid […] Continue reading → 
European shares held steady near 6-1/2-month highs on Thursday, with gains limited by concerns over the pace of global growth, while oil prices hit a three-month peak on escalating violence in Iraq. A cut in the World Bank’s global growth forecast prompted investors to book profits from recent gains which propelled European, U.S. and Asian […] Continue reading → 
Humberto Fontova U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue was barely finished calling for the further impoverishment of American workers (i.e. “immigration reform”) when he shows up as a guest of Cuba’s Stalinist regime and gives a speech at the University of Havana calling for a further fleecing of American taxpayers (i.e. ending the so-called […] Continue reading → 
Back when Peter Lynch was the manager of the Fidelity Magellan mutual fund, he offered mom ‘n pop investors the folksy advice of “invest in what you know.” According to Lynch, successful investing was as simple as going to the mall and buying the stock of the retail chain where the lines are the longest. […] Continue reading → 
Private-equity mogul Bruce Rauner jabs his left index finger at the Chicago ballroom crowd after his victory in Illinois’s Republican primary election, vowing things will change in the debt-strapped state if voters choose him as governor in November. “This is about shakin’ up Springfield, rippin’ corruption out by its roots,” shouts Rauner, clenching his fist […] Continue reading → 
Treasure-hunter Bob Evans has spent half his life dreaming about the SS Central America, a pre-Civil War steamship decaying in the lightless depths off South Carolina. Now he’s returning to the shipwreck after 23 years. Evans, 60, set out this week with deep-ocean explorer Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. (OMEX) to revisit the remains of the […] Continue reading → 
Watching “House of Cards” on Netflix is about to get more expensive, and investors are cheering. The company that popularized binge-watching said today it plans to charge new customers $1 to $2 a month more for its online video service, starting later this quarter. Netflix Inc. also reported first-quarter sales, profit and subscriber growth that […] Continue reading → 
U.S. Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a possible 2016 White House contender, will unveil legislation on Wednesday to broaden the use of financial vehicles known as “income share agreements” that students can use to fund their higher education costs. Under the agreements, which are marketed as an alternative to traditional student loans, private investors or organizations […] Continue reading → 
Twitter Inc unveiled a redesign of its user profile pages on Tuesday, the latest in a series of steps promised by the company to bring new users to the seven-year-old service. In response to an all-time low in user growth figures during the recent quarter, Twitter Chief Executive Dick Costolo told worried Wall Street analysts […] Continue reading → 
Mayor Patrick Cannon was getting ready to close the deal with the big-time developer, but was reluctant to take a briefcase containing $20,000 while sitting in his city office. “I just got to be conscious about that kind of stuff here, you know,” Cannon told the fictitious developer, who was, in fact, an undercover FBI […] Continue reading →