The Patriotic Activist

More U.S. homeowners fell behind on mortgage payments last month, driving the number of homes facing foreclosure up 65 percent versus the same month last year and contributing to a deepening slide in home values, a research company said Tuesday.

Nationwide, 243,353 homes received at least one foreclosure-related filing in April, up 65 percent from 147,708 in the same month last year and up 4 percent since March, RealtyTrac Inc. said.

Nevada, Arizona, California and Florida were among the hardest hit states, with metropolitan areas in California and Florida accounting for nine of the top 10 areas with the highest rate of foreclosure, the company said.

Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac monitors default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.

One in every 519 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing in April. Foreclosure filings increased from a year earlier in all but eight states.

The combination of weak housing sales, falling home values, tighter mortgage lending criteria and a slowing U.S. economy has left financially strapped homeowners with fewer options to avoid foreclosure. Many can’t find buyers or owe more than their home is worth and can’t get refinanced into an affordable loan.

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Mortgage fraud is an escalating problem in the United States, the FBI said on Tuesday in a report that cited the subprime lending crisis as a key contributing factor.

The FBI said it received 46,717 “suspicious activity reports” from financial institutions related to mortgage fraud last year, compared with 35,617 in fiscal 2006 and just 6,936 in fiscal 2003. The government’s fiscal year begins on Oct. 1.

The total dollar loss attributed to mortgage fraud is unknown. But 7 percent of the suspicious activity reports filed in 2007 indicated a specific dollar loss exceeding $813 million, the FBI said.

“The $813 million loss denoted in this report is just the tip of the iceberg, reflecting only a small percentage of financial damage suffered by victims of mortgage fraud,” said Assistant FBI Director Kenneth Kaiser, who is in charge of the criminal investigative division.

“The FBI remains committed to working with our law enforcement, regulatory, and industry partners to unravel these complicated fraud schemes and bring their perpetrators to justice,” he said in a statement released with the report that details mortgage fraud in 2007.

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The toll from a powerful earthquake that struck southwest China has crossed the 10,000 mark, state media said.

Buildings collapsed and telephone links in several areas snapped after the magnitude 7.5 quake struck 92km northwest of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, at 2:48 local time (0628 GMT) on Monday.

The quake was felt across a number of cities in Southeast Asia, including the Thai capital Bangkok, more than 1,800km from the epicentre in the county of Wenchuan.

The mountainous region has a population of about 100,000 people and Al Jazeera’s reporter in the area said aftershocks were continuing.

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Four-dollar-a-gallon gas is good for business — if you run a bike shop. Commuters around the country are dusting off their old two-wheelers — or buying new ones — to cope with rising fuel prices, bicycle dealers say.

“Everyone that comes in the shop is talking about the gas prices,” said Barry Dahl, who opened Barry’s Bikes in Bismarck in April. He sold more than 50 bicycles in the first month, double the projections in his business plan.

Teacher Joyce McCusker of Herndon, Va., owns a bicycle for the first time in years. She bought it last month and uses it to make the eight-mile trip home from work. A friend drives her pickup to take McCusker’s daughter home from school.

“I’m still using fossil fuel,” she said. “In two years, my goal is to ride both ways, every day through the year.”

About 18 million bicycles have been sold annually in the U.S. over the past few years, accounting for about $6 billion in annual sales, said Fred Clements, executive director the National Bicycle Dealers Association in Costa Mesa, Calif.

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Instead of dealing with the obvious truths that the terrorism report highlights, the authors of the report have resorted to another logic that places blame squarely on external circumstance, never holding the US government accountable for its actions, says Ramzy Baroud.

The data provided in the US State Department’s annual terrorism report for 2007 points to some interesting if puzzling conclusions. The much publicised document, made available 30 April via the State Department’s website, makes no secret of the fact that Al-Qaeda is back, strong as ever. It also suggests that violence worldwide is nowhere near subsiding, despite President Bush’s repeated assurances regarding the success of his “war on terror”.

Will the report inspire serious reflection on the US’s detrimental foreign policy and its role in the current situation?

Let’s look at some of the data. To start with, take Pakistan. Al-Qaeda or Al-Qaeda-inspired attacks in the country more than doubled (from 375 to 877) between 2006 and 2007. These attacks have claimed the lives of 1,335 people, compared to 335 in a previous report. That is a jump of almost 300 per cent.

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At least one person has been killed in clashes between supporters of Lebanon’s government and the Hezbollah-led opposition in the northern city of Tripoli.

The fighting, which began late on Saturday and continued throughout the night, came hours after Lebanese opposition forces started to withdraw from the streets of Beirut, Lebanon’s capital.

An Al Jazeera correspondent reported on Sunday that all groups involved in the clashes have agreed on a truce to allow the evacuation of injured people.

An army official in Tripoli said government supporters had fought loyalists of an Alawite sect with links to Hezbollah in the Bab al-Tebbaneh, Kobel and Jabal Mohsen neighbourhoods.

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Nineteen years ago, the fall of the Berlin Wall effectively eliminated the Soviet Union as the world’s other superpower. Yes, the USSR as a political entity stumbled on for another two years, but it was clearly an ex-superpower from the moment it lost control over its satellites in Eastern Europe.

Less than a month ago, the United States similarly lost its claim to superpower status when a barrel of crude oil roared past US$110 on the international market, gasoline prices crossed the $3.50 threshold at American pumps, and diesel fuel topped $4. As was true of the USSR following the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, the US will no doubt continue to stumble on like the superpower it once was; but as the nation’s economy continues to be eviscerated to pay for its daily oil fix, it, too, will be seen by increasing numbers of savvy observers as an ex-superpower-in-the-making.

That the fall of the Berlin Wall spelled the erasure of the Soviet Union’s superpower status was obvious to international observers at the time. After all, the USSR visibly ceased to exercise dominion over an empire (and an associated military-industrial complex) encompassing nearly half of Europe and much of Central Asia. The relationship between rising oil prices and the obliteration of America’s superpower status is, however, hardly as self-evident. So let’s consider the connection.

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Oil prices surged past $125 per barrel Friday on the eve of the U.S. driving season as a weakening U.S. dollar drove investors to snap up commodities.

Light, sweet crude for June delivery rose as high as $125.12 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at midday before falling back to $124.86 by early afternoon in Europe.

On Thursday, the contract rose to a record close of $123.69 a barrel.

In London, Brent crude contracts also hit record highs before slipping and traded up $1.13 on the day at $123.97 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. Earlier Friday, Brent had reached $124.25 before falling back.

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The price of crude oil today is not made according to any traditional relation of supply to demand. It is controlled by an elaborate financial market system as well as by the four major Anglo-American oil companies. As much as 60% of today’s crude oil price is pure speculation driven by large trader banks and hedge funds. It has nothing to do with the convenient myths of Peak Oil. It has to do with control of oil and its price. How?

First, the role of the international oil exchanges in London and New York is crucial to the game. Nymex in New York and the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Futures in London today control global benchmark oil prices which in turn set most of the freely traded oil cargo. They do so via oil futures contracts on two grades of crude oil - West Texas Intermediate and North Sea Brent.

A third rather new oil exchange, the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME), trading Dubai crude, is more or less a daughter of Nymex, with Nymex president James Newsome sitting on the board of DME and most key personnel British or American citizens.

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Hezbollah’s leader has warned any crackdown by the government on the Shia organistaion would be tantamount to a “declaration of war”.

Hassan Nasrallah’s comments were broadcast on television on Thursday, as street clashes in Lebanon between government loyalists and opposition supporters entered a second day.

The civil unrest began on Wednesday during a general strike, called by the main labour union over price increases and wage demands, which quickly developed into a confrontation between supporters of the government and the opposition.

On Thursday, residents of the capital, Beirut, woke up to burning tyres and roadblocks, with many streets closed and traffic light in the Muslim section of the city.

In his speech, Nasrallah said the crisis in Lebanon had “entered a new phase” because of what Hezbollah claims are government moves against the Shia group.

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Thirteen Florida banks, including Synovus Bank of Tampa Bay, have been singled out on an updated watch list of troubled banks.

TheStreet.com Ratings Inc. targeted Florida for its update, reasoning that the state has been “on the forefront of the residential real estate calamity.”

First Priority Bank of Bradenton posted the worst loan quality and lowest capital ratios on the list. “The institution had a very bad first quarter, with nonperforming assets rising to 15.65 percent of total assets and a net loss of $3-million — its sixth straight quarterly loss,” wrote Philip van Doorn, a senior analyst for TheStreet.com Ratings.

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Oil futures surged to a new record over $120 a barrel Monday, raising concerns about higher prices for gasoline and goods and services throughout the economy. Retail gas prices fell more than a cent over the weekend, but oil’s advance increased the likelihood that pump prices would resume their climb.

Supply threats that emerged overseas and a weaker dollar sent light, sweet crude for June delivery to a new trading record of $120.36 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange before futures retreated slightly to settle up $3.65 at a record $119.97.

Oil’s sharp rise this year has driven gas prices to unprecedented levels, prompting consumers to reconsider summer vacation plans and limit daily excursions; they’re also spending less at malls and shopping centers because they’re paying more not just for fuel, but for all kinds of goods and services. Americans are also being pinched by tight credit conditions, a sluggish jobs market and a downturn in the housing market.

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BRATTLEBORO, Vt.: When a Home Depot set up shop across the street, Fireside True Value hardware store owner Wayne St. John knew it would probably take some of his customers away.

He and his brothers, who’ve operated their store for 35 years, had heard the stories about big box stores and their low prices driving competitors into the ground.

So the store stuck to what it does best — good customer service, competitive prices and a willingness to stock that hard-to-find part folks never seemed to find at the big building with the orange roof.

Four years later, it’s Fireside True Value that’s still standing.

“I’ve had a lot of customers come in and say ‘You guys put them under,” said St. John.

In truth, many factors played a role in the closing of Home Depot store No. 4552 and in the Atlanta-based home improvement giant’s decision to close 14 other “underperforming” stores whose annual sales averaged about $11 million, far below the $36 million desired by the company.

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