The Federal government was truly broadsided by the collapse of the housing market if a 2006 transcript is to be believed. According to the recently discovered document while the signs of a distressed market were beginning to show themselves the Fed’s downplayed the risk.

According to Binyamin Appelbaum in a response to the New York Times:

“The officials clearly did not grasp how “deeply intertwined the housing sector and financial markets had become.”

Highlighted in the transcript was then New York Fed leader Timothy Geithner who said:

“We think the fundamentals of the expansion going forward still look good,” he said in December 2006. A few months earlier: “We just don’t see troubling signs yet of collateral damage, and we are not expecting much.”

Geithner’s own incompetence was then backed up by Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke who noted at his first chair meeting in March of that year:

 “Again, I think we are unlikely to see growth being derailed by the housing market.”

In September Bernanke appeared to more realistic about the situation, telling those around him:

“I don’t have quite as much confidence as some people around the table that there will be no spillover effect.”

While Bernanke’s comment showed some distrust in the housing market system his thought wasn’t shared by Janet Yellen of the San Francisco Fed who noted:

“Of course, housing is a relatively small sector of the economy, and its decline should be self correcting.”

In fact Yellen was so confident in the ability of the market to correct itself that during the transition from Alan Greenspan to Ben Bernanke she said to Greenspan:

“The situation you’re handing off to your successor is a lot like a tennis racquet with a gigantic sweet spot.”

We all know exactly how wrong the feds were at the time of their comments, ever since 2008 they have been climbing out of quicksand of their own design.

Do you believe the feds were as clueless as they appeared to be in the transcript highlights presented to you?

Housing Market Transcripts From 2006 Reveal: Feds Were Clueless is a post from: The Inquisitr

There’s a very important lesson that politicians are taught earlier in their career, don’t say anything that can be misconstrued or tied into your past failures, apparently Mitt Romney missed both parts of that lecture.

During a campaign stop in New Hampshire on Monday the GOP presidential hopeful was discussing the advantages of purchasing health care services when he pointed out that if you don’t like your insurance company “you can fire them.” While that statement would have been fine he instead said:

“I like being able to fire people who provide services to me.”

In itself the statement makes sense however liberal media outlets, bloggers and constituents have blasted Romney for the comment while using the opportunity to point out that his own Bain Capital reap huge profits in 2011 after partaking in massive layoffs.

While I personally don’t see the harm in his wording Romney hasn’t exactly played fair when President Obama has made certain statements. In fact Obama was quoting John McCain when he mocked his efforts by telling reporters ”If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.” Romney, after being told that the quote was from McCain and not Obama continued to attribute it to the President.

Therefore by Mitt Romney’s own admission as Greg Sargent in the Washington Post writes,  ”it wouldn’t be questionable at all to whittle Romney’s quote down to a claim that he enjoys the act of firing people.”

With John McCain recently endorsing Mitt Romney the former Massachusetts governor sure picked a strange time to dredge back up his own endorsers 2008 misfire, even if he is now trying to pin it on President Obama.

Here’s Romney’s “Fire People” speech:

Do you think it’s fair to attribute a misquoted Mitt Romney attribution to his run for the Presidency since he’s playing by the same dirty trick?

Mitt Romney In Hot Water, Says He Likes To Fire People [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

NEW YORK – While the economy still struggles onward into an uncertain future, more than 1.4 million low-income earners will see their paychecks increase after the new year as minimum wage goes up in 2012.

Minimum wage is set to go up on New Years Day for Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Montana, Ohio, Oregon,Vermont, and Washington. It will reportedly rise between 28 and 37 cents per hour starting Jan. 1, due to state requirements that minimum wage stays consistent with inflation.

The federal minimum wage rate stands at $7.25 per hour, which adds up to an average annual income of approximately $15,000. 18 states have wage rates above the federal requirement, and 10 states raise minimum wage every year in order to keep a steady pace with the rising cost of living.

Rates in the states mentioned above will start at $7.64 per hour in Colorado, and reach as high as $9.04 in Washington next year. These increases are expected to put an extra $582 to $770 in the pockets of full-time minimum wage earners. These increases come with a hope that higher pay will result in a potential economic boost. 2012′s minimum wage increases should raise consumer spending, adding about $336 million to the nation’s gross domestic product and result in the creation of more than 3,000 full-time jobs. Paul Sonn, legal co-director at NELP, had this to say about the anticipated increase:

“Increasing minimum wage is a key form of local stimulus. It helps front-line workers whose wages have been stagnant and falling by putting more money into the pockets of low income families who then spend the money at local businesses.”

Low-wage workers, with average wages under $13.52 an hour, have watched their wages decline 2.3% since the beginning of the recession. Roughly 80% of low-wage workers affected by the increases are over the age of 20, with 78% working at least 20 hours a week.

The minimum wage boosts might be just what we need right now given the questionable progress of the payroll tax cut. Though a short-term extension was approved on Friday, it only extends the tax breaks to February, giving business owners a very tiny and unstable window to plan for the future.

So is this just what our nation needs right now? Let us know down below.

Minimum Wage Goes Up For 1.4 Million Workers in 2012 is a post from: The Inquisitr

Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit has announced plans to fire 4,500 employees in the coming quarters.

To accomplish his goal Pandit will take a charge of nearly $400 million which will be used to pay severance packages and provide for other reductions.

Speaking at a New York City based investor conference Pandit said the company currently employs nearly 267,000 people while announcing that cuts have become necessary as the European sovereign-debt crisis continues to persist and banks prepare for regulations that will affect minimum capital levels.

To control costs the company will only hire for “critical” positions in the short-term.

Since becoming CEO of Citigroup in December 2007 Pandit has eliminated more than 100,000 jobs through direct firings and through the sale of distressed assets from Citi Holdings unit such as the company’s sale of their student loan assets to Discover Financial.

Speaking about the company’s current position Pandit said that:

“Financial services faces an extremely challenging operating environment with an unprecedented combination of market uncertainty, sustained economic weakness in the developed economies and the most substantial regulatory changes we have seen in our lifetimes,” and “These trends will likely significantly affect the competitive landscape in the coming years.”

Upon news of the firings Citigroup stock fell by .3 percent to $29.75%, a 37 percent fall in 2011 to date.

Are you surprised to learn that Citigroup is continuing to gut their employee base? Given the last four years of trending it wouldn’t come as a surprise to learn of more employee firings as we head into 2012.

Citigroup To Cut 4,500 Jobs In Response To Slumping Revenue is a post from: The Inquisitr

The American Dream has been lost for almost half (41%) of Americans, according to a survey by Yahoo! Finance.

The figure may be shocking but it’s consistent with reality that 49 million Americans are living in poverty and unemployment rate at 16%. Confidence is also low with Americans not willing to take on debt, not confident to buy real estate properties, and spending less in general. Despite the unwillingness to spend, savings is also low compared to three years ago. It is not surprising then that 63% of Americans believe that the economy is getting worse, including 72% of those over the age of 55.

What’s scary though it the finding that 37% of adults have no retirement savings and 38% plan to live off Social Security.

All is not lost though as 53% of Americans between the ages of 18-34 still see America as the land of opportunity. About 45% of parent also believe that their kids will be better off than they are. There’s hope apparently.

How about you, how do you feel about the American Dream?

The American Dream Has Been Lost for 41% of Americans is a post from: The Inquisitr

This is one survey that US President Barack Obama wouldn’t want to see.

Despite the highly-spirited speech he delivered to Congress presenting his jobs bill, the President is starting the fall with 32% or one-third of Americans giving him positive ratings. That is the same ratings he had at the end of summer. Two-thirds or 68% gave him negative ratings.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,462 adults surveyed online by Harris Interactive.

Why the negativity from those who were surveyed? Here are the issues that Americans feel the government should address: economy (27%); healthcare (17%); budget deficit (13%); budget and government spending (11%); and taxes and social security (7%).

There is some consolation to this survey but let’s have one more disturbing result. If the election for president were to be held today, over half of Americans (53%) say they would be unlikely to vote for Barack Obama while 39% say they would be likely to vote for him.

Okay, now for the better part of the survey. The President is doing a better job than Congress. Right now, almost all Americans (94%) have a negative view of the overall job Congress is doing and just 6% give them positive ratings.

See, everything’s not lost. Besides, election results will judge if this survey holds true.

Almost Half of Americans Do Not Think President Obama Will be Re-Elected is a post from: The Inquisitr

Hong Kong remains the world’s freest economy, according to the Economic Freedom of the World: 2011 Annual Report. This is the 15th consecutive year that Hong Kong has topped the ranking.

Donald Tsang, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, welcomed Hong Kong’s ranking:

“That means strong fiscal discipline, low taxes, open markets, free flow of information, goods and capital, clean government and a level playing field for business. The fact that we have held true to these beliefs for decades is no doubt one reason why Hong Kong has consistently ranked so highly in the league tables of economic freedom.” 

Hong Kong offers the highest level of economic freedom, with a score of 9.01 out of 10, followed by Singapore with a rating of 8.68.  The US is the tenth freest economy in the world with a rating of 7.60. 

The Economic Freedom of the World report uses 42 different measures to create an index ranking economies around the world based on policies that encourage economic freedom.

Economic freedom is measured in five different areas: (1) size of government; (2) legal structure and security of property rights; (3) access to sound money; (4) freedom to trade internationally; and (5) regulation of credit, labor and business.

Hong Kong is World’s Freest Economy (United States is Tenth) is a post from: The Inquisitr

10 years ago medical device spending accounted for approximately 6 percent of all U.S. health spending and in 2009 that number remained barely changed according to a new report.

The steady numbers come as medical devices rose more slowly in pricing than prescription drugs and other products in the industry.

The research, sponsored by the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) studied 400 companies ranging from bandages and basic supply sellers to pacemakers and other high tech manufacturers.

The study comes after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid determined that health expenditure had nearly quadrupled since 1989, currently bringing in approximately $2.5 trillion in 2009 with medical devices accounting for $147 billion.

The study was conducted as AdvaMed seeks to roll back taxes on medical device companies, taxes that were set into place during 2010′s healthcare overhaul and which will go into effect in 2013.

U.S. Medical Device Sales Remain Steady In Unsteady Economy is a post from: The Inquisitr

Investors could face a tough week with talks over the United States debt ceiling continuing with no solution in sight as both Republicans and Democrats refuse to budge on major selling points.

Some areas of the market have already shown weakness such as the S&P 500 index which saw its worse numbers in five weeks as investors have begun placing their assets in safer areas such as cash.

In the meantime many American company’s have had positive gains with 39 companies on the S&P 500 index posting results and 74% announcing earnings that beat Wall Street estimates despite a down week on the market.

According to MSNBC:

Companies in the index are forecast to show a 6.5 percent rise in profits over the second quarter of 2010 when all the reports are in.

For this week, the S&P 500 ended down 2.1 percent; the Dow fell 1.4 percent and the Nasdaq declined 2.5 percent.

According to Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist at Windham Financial Services:

“The news flow next week dealing with the deficit issues and the political posturing that is taking place is going to intensify and is really going to drive these markets.”

“People are starting to get nervous about what they are seeing out there. For a portfolio manager — let alone an average investor — this is a treacherous market to be trying to position yourself in.”

Market conditions in the next week could go in several directions depending on reports on the housing market which will include June housing starts on Tuesday and existing-home sales numbers being announced on Wednesday. Also due is economic indicators for June and the Philadelphia Fed survey on manufacturing data in the Mid-Atlantic regions.

Regardless of indicators, investors are worried about future volatility for stocks with the debt ceiling question remaining unanswered.

Tommy Huie, chief investment officer of BMO Asset Management U.S. tells MSNBC:

“The more it drags out into Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or whatever, then we’ve got some serious issues. That will be an overhang no matter how good the financials come in terms of earnings reports next week.”

Debt Ceiling Dilemma: U.S. Stocks Could Facing Beating This Week With No Debt Plan In Place is a post from: The Inquisitr

A major economic indicator is showing a positive turn around for the first half of 2011, bankruptcies are down for the first half of the year by eight percent compared to the same period of 2011.

According to a report by the American Bankruptcy Institute filings fell to 709,303 between January 2011 and the end of June 2011, that’s compared to 770,117 last year.

The report also shows that June was a better month than 2010 with cases down from 126,270 to 119,768.

According to ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano:

“The drop in bankruptcies for the first half of the year shows the continued efforts of consumers to reduce their household debt and the overall pull back in consumer credit.”

The report also shows that unemployment at the beginning of 2011 dropped to 9 percent from a 2010 start of 9.7 percent.

Bankruptcy Cases Down For First Half Of 2011 is a post from: The Inquisitr

My first thought was that it meant a year less of drunken debauchery, but according to Stephen Trachtenberg, president emeritus of George Washington University, availability is more the reason the programs aren’t catching on.

Trachtenberg says not enough schools are implementing the programs. The VP of another college spoke to the Washington Post about the general disinterest in the accelerated programs, saying students often don’t have the motivation to complete the rapid-pace courses:

The recent proliferation of three-year degrees has heightened interest in accelerated study among college freshmen. But enthusiasm tends to peter out.

“A lot of students are interested in it,” said Dave McFadden, executive vice president of Manchester College. “A smaller number of students sign up for it, and an even smaller number finish it.”

The programs do offer a significant benefit in cost savings- aside from less time in college, students can also work sooner and begin paying off student loans. But there is a trade off in flexibility:

“If you try to do it in three years, your options are limited,” said Candace Evilsizor, 17, a rising freshman from Phoenix who plans to enroll in the three-year program at American University.

Evilsizor likes the idea of accelerated study. But, as a Global Scholar, she also wants to see the globe. In a three-year program, she might not have time.

“They say you can study abroad for a summer. But I want to study abroad for a full year. So I’m not sure how that will work out,” she said.

There’s one more benefit to accelerated study- students who go on to graduate programs can receive a master’s in five to six years. Do you think as the economy continues to falter, the idea will catch on more?

George Washington University President: Three-Year Degrees Not Catching On is a post from: The Inquisitr

Bad job news, bad home sales news- sometimes it feels like the adage “there is no bottom” gets truer every day.

One area not experiencing the depression seen in other areas is sales of online advertising. 2010 was huge for this sector, with a 14.9% rise and $26 billion in sales. Sound encouraging? 2011 is set to be even more dramatic, with a 20.2% jump, to $31.3 billion in revenue. The trend doesn’t seem to be a one-trick fiscal pony, either, with gains predicted for the next few years, according to eMarketer.

While the gains forecasted were somewhat less impressive than this year’s expected 20% increase, 2012 is set to see pretty massive cheddar-flow in online ad sales as well. A 17.6% rise is expected in 2012, and revenues are predicted to jump 12% in 2013, 10.4% in 2014 and 8.8% in 2015- where spending is expected to be at $49.5 billion.

Media Life Magazine quoted principal analyst David Hallerman on why the expected gains are so significant:

…Hallerman says that the internet has become as fundamental as TV to advertisers, and that a couple different factors will play into the medium’s expected growth. “As consumers continue to increase their time spent online and as the resurgent economy continues to bolster ad budgets, we’re going to continue to see an influx of dollars toward the internet,” Hallerman said in a release. According to the forecast internet ad spending will account for 28 percent of total U.S. major media ad spending in 2015.

Online Advertising Set to Jump 20% in 2011 is a post from: The Inquisitr

Do you remember those halcyon days in 2008-2009 when gas prices hovered around $2 and it was awesome?

They’ve been steadily increasing up until this January, when they began sharply increasing. (Prices for gas right now here on Long Island have shot up to $4.59 per gallon at some locations.) Analysts say that the trend may finally begin reversing, albeit slowly. Consumers can expect a drop of perhaps 50 cents a gallon by June, maybe because President Obama has “opened a probe” of market speculators, a move that sounds frankly physically uncomfortable.

BusinessWeek says that even if the decline gets underway by June, you may not see it immediately:

Station owners still feel bruised from their own higher costs earlier this year. In some cases, their suppliers raised prices so quickly that station owners couldn’t pass along those higher costs to consumers fast enough. Competition also makes it hard for some stations to raise prices.

“So station owners will be watching each other this summer,” [retail pricing director Fred] Rozell said. “When one guy drops, so will the other.”

Dropping gas prices just 50% would save American drivers $189 million each day.

[Image]

Gas prices to finally drop somewhat in June is a post from: The Inquisitr

One of the cornerstones of the whole “Save the earth from ourselves” movement has been the idea of “individual involvement”. While we wait for government and big business to get off of their collective asses and get serious about dealing with the climate change problem it is up to the individual to start doing what they can within their own sphere of influence to make changes in the products we use and to try and lessen our abuse of the planet.

One of the ways we hear the most of about how individuals can make a difference is through simple things like using those new fangled light bulbs that look like a corkscrew. Commonly referred to as CFLs they are meant to replace our current love affair with incandescent bulbs by promising to save you money because they last longer and use less energy. Sure they might cost more than their counterparts but hey you’ll save that money in the long run right?

Treehugger had a post the other day lamenting the decline in sales of the CFLs and how the manufacturers are whining about the fact that without increased subsidies and incentive programs they could end up losing what market share they have carved out for themselves. In the post Brian Merchant writes

This is all pretty incredible to me–even if people don’t care that they’re using less electricity from an environmental standpoint, don’t people care that they could be saving money? Sales have fallen harder as the recession deepened–exactly a time when people should be expected to look for ways to save money. I guess it’s just a testament to the short-sightedness of the American consumer–we’ve developed a severely bad habit of placing instant gratification and short term savings over practical investment (just look at our rate of savings compared to consumer spending over the last 20 years).

When I read that I just shook my head. I mean seriously folks – don’t people like Brian get it?

It’s not about instant gratification you smuck – it’s called being able to survive on a decreasing amount of money. Sure your electric bill might be a few dollars more next month because you are using the wrong bulbs but that’s next month; and right now that extra five bucks or so for some fancy light bulb can make the difference of having enough food to feed your family for one night – even if it is only Mac & Cheese.

You are asking why people the majority of whom are probably one paycheck away from being homeless don’t buy something now that “might” save them some money down the road? Come on let’s not be idiots here. Most of these people are lucky if they are planning anything past the end of the week at best so saving $10 on their next electric bill means squat. Hell they are probably just happy to have any bulb to light their apartments or in foreclosure homes with.

Sorry but on a poverty level income I’ll gladly take a full belly and a roof over my head lit by light bulbs that cost me $1.99 for a four pack instead of having to tell my kid that what is on their plate is all there is for tonight because daddy wanted to be all cool and spend $8.00 for a three pack of fancy light bulbs.

That the real world life buddy so keep your condescension to yourself.

So why aren’t those silly looking light bulbs selling like hotcakes? is a post from: The Inquisitr

You mention the name Michael Moore in any mixed company and you will probably get equally mixed comments. More than once he has proven to be a lightening rod over the issues he has made documentaries about. It seems that lightening will be striking again with his upcoming, and yet to be named, documentary about our current economic situation if a recent stunt he has pulled is any indication.

According to Alex Billington over at FirstShowing.net some of the theaters showing the new Taking of Pelham 123 were to be treated to a trailer of Moore’s documentary. Other theaters though were treated to Michael Moore appearing on the screen asking them to donate money to “needy banks and corporations” at which point the ushers would enter the theater with buckets to collect the money.

This apparently is no joke as Alex has the exact text of what Michael said

"Hi, I’m Michael Moore. Instead of using this time to tell you about my new movie I’d like to take a moment and ask you to join me in helping our fellow Americans. The downturn in the economy has hurt many people, people who have had no choice but to go on government assistance. Yet our welfare agencies can only do so much. That’s why I’m asking you to reach into your pockets right now and lend a hand. Ushers will be coming down the aisles to collect your donations for Citibank, Bank of America, AIG, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and a host of other needy banks and corporations. Won’t you please give generously? Now, I know what you’re thinking – I already gave at the bailout. And I know you did, but even if you’ve given in the past, give some more. It will make you feel… good."

You can hear the full audio portion of his “appeal” over at Slashfilm. This isn’t something that will be happening at all the showings of the Pelham but rather in selected theaters in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington D.C.

Trust Michael to pull a stunt like this.

Michael Moore asking for donations for bailout companies? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Virgin Megastores Closing

There are currently six Virgin Megastores locations still open across America, including the store in New York City’s Times Square. That store, according to published reports, was set to make $56 million last year — but when the nationwide economic trouble began, the trends suddenly dropped and the store did not meet its projection. Overall, the stores are said to ring in $170 million a year, compared to $230 million a year back in 2002 (at which point Virgin had 23 U.S. locations).

The 52,000-square-foot Times Square Virgin store will close first, with a final day scheduled for April. The other five stores will shut down in June. About a thousand jobs will be lost in all.

Virgin Megastores first opened in 1992 with a store on Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard. The U.S. branch of the company was bought by Related and Vornado Realty Trust in 2007.

About 150 Virgin Megastores will remain open in parts of Asia, the Middle East, and France. Those locations, unlike the closing U.S. ones, are all still owned by the Virgin Group.

Virgin Megastores Closing All U.S. Locations is a post from: The Inquisitr

According to Sam Stein in a post at Huffington Post the executives of the soon to be merged Morgan Stanley and Smith Barney have figured out just a way. It called retention awards and are in no way to be confused with bonuses (ya okay) nor is anyone to use the word bonuses when talking about these nice fat additions to their bank accounts. The payments are also to be based on performance in 2008 rather than 2009 which means even more bonuses err retention awards money.

While 2008 was challenging for the firms — Morgan Stanley’s client assets in fee-based accounts dropped 25 percent in the fourth quarter, and a round of lay-offs is expected — 2009 is expected to be substantially weaker.

“I think I can hear you clapping from here in New York,” Gorman joked during the call, after announcing that the payments would be linked to ’08 performance. “You should be clapping because frankly that is a very generous and thoughtful decision that we have made. We spent a lot of time kicking this around. We could easily have done it from the point of closing, which is obviously going to be somewhere in the latter half of this year or around the middle of the year. But we just decided… that it was right thing to do, to give you that certainty that it would be based off ’08. ’09 is a very difficult year… So that degree of anxiety, which many, many of you have emailed me about… is now off the table.”

Source: Huffington Post

You can listen to an audio of the conference call talking about this new style of getting money for nothing over on Huffington Post

Yup .. business as usual – like anyone thought things would really change.

Did you really think these jerks would sit still for caps? is a post from: The Inquisitr

They say that in every cloud there is a silver lining and for skateboarders in California their silver lining are the pools at homes that are being foreclosed on. As more homes head into foreclosure and builders abandon have built projects people like 27 year-old skateboarder who goes by the name of Josh Peacock seek out these abandoned pools and turn them into a ‘boarder’s skate park.

New York Time’s reporter Jesse McKinley tells of how Mr. Peacock turns these potential cess pools into something that while illegal is still better than breeding grounds for insects and disease

In these boom times for skaters, Mr. Peacock travels with a gas-powered pump, five-gallon buckets, shovels and a push broom, risking trespassing charges in the pursuit of emptying forlorn pools and turning them into de facto skate parks.

“We can just hit them back to back,” said Mr. Peacock, who preferred to give his skateboarding name because of the illegality of his activities.

Skaters are coming to places like Fresno from as far as Germany and Australia. Mr. Peacock said his floor and couch were covered by sleeping bags of visiting skateboarders each weekend.

Source: New York Times

The availability of these backyard skate parks are so abundant that Mr. Peacock can’t keep up with them. It has reached the point that skaters are using real estate tracking site like realquest.com and realtor.com to find all the foreclosed homes with pools. This isn’t only happening in California either as the same activity is being reported in Florida, Arizona among other southern states.

[photo courtesy of Jim Wilson for The New York Times]

Sk8’ers find heaven in foreclosure is a post from: The Inquisitr

You might think twice about helping yourself to those goods on the shelves but a growing number of people aren’t. People who wouldn’t normally even think of shoplifting are finding themselves on the wrong side of the law as our economic worries get worse.

According to Ian Urbina in a New York times post says that police departments around the country are seeing a 10 to 20 percent increase in shoplifting arrests this year over last. As Ian points out this figure is probably on the low side since most stores just ban the shoplifters from the premises instead of having them arrested.

This isn’t a case of serial shoplifters either as much of the increase appears to be coming form first time offenders like Richard Johnson

Recently laid off from a job building trailers in Elkhart, Ind., Mr. Johnson came up a dollar short at Martin’s Supermarket last month when he went to buy a $4.99 bottle of sleep medication. So, “for some stupid reason,” he tried to shoplift it and was immediately arrested.

“I was desperate, I guess,” said Mr. Johnson, 25, who said he had never been arrested before. As the economy has weakened, shoplifting has increased, and retail security experts say the problem has grown worse this holiday season. Shoplifters are taking everything from compact discs and baby formula to gift cards and designer clothing.

Source: New York Time

[picture courtesy of Joe Raymond for The New York Times]

Shoplifting ranks swell as economy flounders is a post from: The Inquisitr

The site, claiming 9 million volunteer members, lets anyone sign up and post a problem. Users — who are ranked in expertise and helpfulness by other members — then offer solutions. You can also search existing queries submitted by others to see if the answer you need has already been posted.

During our visit, the solutions featured on the front page included things such as a Motorola phone that wouldn’t charge, a pen drive that wouldn’t accept new files, and a BMW with a flashing engine warning light.

FixYa does also offer a pay-based option in which you can chat directly and immediately with a high-ranking expert via IM or phone. The expert keeps a portion of the fee. Unless you need instant assistance, though, you could just as easily post into the free forum system.

FixYa has been around since 2005. It’s now grown to about 30 employees and claims 10 million unique visitors a month, a rate its founder says continues to increase by about 12 percent every month.

FixYa Offers Free Crowdsourced Tech Support is a post from: The Inquisitr