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...market's descent arrived on Friday, when the Department of Labor announced that the non-farm payrolls shed an unexpectedly high 240,000 jobs in October, the tenth straight monthly decline, and yet another sign that the recession's grip is tightening. Overall, the unemployment rate surged to 6.5%, higher than most economists had been expecting. The report added to that gloom with a downward revision of September job losses to 284,000, the biggest monthly loss since...
...National Association of Realtors (NAR) is lobbying for the U.S. government to artificially lower mortgage rates by purchasing loan points for home buyers. They say the program would cost $100 billion, and could raise home prices as much as 4% nationwide. Anyone buying a house for primary residence would be eligible for the mortgage-rate buydown, which would lower a purchaser's loan rate 1% for the life of the loan. They say the incentive should be made available for the next 12 months. "The sentiment in Washington is that we need to get the housing market moving...
...Home buyers have long been able to purchase so-called loan points, which can lower the interest rate they have to pay on their mortgage. Generally, it costs 1% of the total amount of the loan to lower a mortgage rate by a quarter of a percent. That means on a $200,000 loan, a home buyer would pay $8,000 to lower their mortgage rate to 5.5% from the current rate on a 30-year mortgage of about...
...association's proposal calls for the government to pay that upfront fee to lower the mortgage rate instead of the home buyer. Yun says lowering mortgage rates 1% would result in up to 840,000 additional home sales nationwide, reduce the inventory of homes on the market by 20% and boost housing prices. "It would be a significant inducement for buyers to enter the market," says Yun. "We could stabilize the housing market and, as a result, Wall Street and the U.S. economy in general...
...several significant improvements over what's currently available. The new device employs two pumps, instead of one, more accurately mimicking the function of a real heart's two ventricles, as well as a system of miniature sensors that react to physical activity and automatically increase or decrease the heart rate and blood pressure. The prosthesis also uses new composite bio-tech materials, which are made from animal tissue and chemically treated to eliminate the risk of blood clots, Carpentier says, a problem that has plagued earlier alternatives. (See TIME's A-Z Health Guide...