Word: past
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
This kind of activity - flushing out low-rent tenants and replacing them with wealthier new renters - has been a staple of strong real estate markets for years. What was different over the past few years was how widespread this Dickensian business model had become, largely fueled by Wall Street money seeking high rates of return. Another difference was how much the general investing public - through university endowments and pension funds - became party to such morally dubious schemes. Consider it another footnote to the Gilded Age we just passed through. (See pictures of Americans in their homes...
...recovery cycle. People and companies continue to fall behind on their debt obligations long after the economy turns. While the banks' lending operations still look weak, the volume of bad loans at many of the banks, including Citigroup and JPMorgan, are piling up slower than in the past...
...despite the wide use of levamisole, cases of agranulocytosis are relatively uncommon. According to government surveys, nearly 2 million Americans have used cocaine at least once in the past month. "Why aren't 90% of cocaine users [in San Francisco] getting sick?" wonders Graf, who says he sees about one case every few weeks, mostly in women. He suspects that men are less likely to be affected because they are less vulnerable to autoimmune disorders than women, but says the truth is that no one really knows why certain users become ill. Zhu and Graf urge users who are suffering...
Despite the lull in violence, infighting has become par for the course among Iraqi politicians. A dispute between Arab and Kurdish legislators over voting lists in the disputed northern city of Kirkuk this past autumn nearly derailed plans for the entire national election, which had to be moved from its original date in January to March. That dispute was only settled with the direct intervention of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who made personal phone calls to top Kurdish leaders while the American ambassador rounded up votes in Baghdad...
...temporary camps had family members working on reconstruction. Overall the quake region produced less than 1% of China's GDP, so it did little to slow the national growth engine. A chief concern was that rebuilding would contribute to inflation. That was largely forgotten over the past year...