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Current DateTime: 12:35:30 29 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 31388230
Expiration DateTime: 11/29/2009 12:36:10 AM
    • Shopper & Investor Deals  25 Nov 2009

        A look at what's likely to happen at the registers once the doors open on Friday, with Richard Hastings, Global Hunters Securities; Richard Jaffe, Stifel Nicolaus & Co. and CNBC's Jane Wells.

    • Black Friday: Bargain or Bust?  25 Nov 2009

        Whether the deals are better than what shoppers will usually see or if it is just another marketing tactic, with Hitha Prabhakar, Style File Group; Brad Wilson, BlackFriday2009.com and CNBC's Jane Wells.

    • Holiday Central  25 Nov 2009

        A discussion of the many ways retailers are preparing for Black Friday, live from K-Mart in Burbank, CA, with CNBC's Jane Wells.

    • Retailers Getting Ready for Black Friday  25 Nov 2009

        Retailers are getting ready for Black Friday, and CNBC's Jane Wells has the play by play. Stacy Janiak, of Deloitte, shares her insight.

    • Amazon vs. Wal-Mart  24 Nov 2009

        What began as a price war between Wal-Mart and Amazon over a handful of books has nos spread to a wide assortment of consumer goods. Lee Eisenberg, a noted retail expert and consumer behaviorist, and CNBC's Jane Wells discuss.

    • Prices to Be Thankful For  24 Nov 2009

        A decrease in food prices is something to be thankful for this holiday, reports CNBC's Jane Wells.

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Current DateTime: 12:35:30 29 Nov 2009
LinksList Documentid: 31388237
Expiration DateTime: 11/29/2009 12:36:17 AM
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Funny Business

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Feb.15
8:45 AM ET
Friday, 15 Feb 2008
How To Make Mortgage Payments And Teenagers Disappear!
Posted By:Jane Wells
Topics:Mortgages

AP

A British man is able to keep his home even though he hasn’t made a mortgage payment since 1993. An appellate court has awarded him “squatters rights.” Apparently the guy and his wife took out a second mortgage way back when to cover business debts, but they soon couldn’t afford to make payments and went bankrupt. By 2006, he was threatened with losing his home. But under British law, if a lender doesn’t act within 12 years, you’re free and clear!

Lawyers for the lender are concerned the ruling by the court will hurt struggling homeowners because it will force lenders to act earlier, rather than later, to avoid losing their investments. The judges involved think that’s an exaggeration, though the Daily Mail reports “Lord Justice Mummery said the outcome of the case would be ‘of considerable interest to mortgagees and mortgagors in general." Lord Justice Mummery! A name worthy of Dickens!

THE BUSINESS OF MAKING TEENAGERS DISAPPEAR
More interesting news across the Pond. You may have heard that there are cell phone ringtones with high frequencies that only people under 25 can hear. Now, in England, police and shop owners are using that to their advantage. The BBC reports the popularity of sales of the Mosquito, a high-pitched noise-emitting device which only young people can hear, and which can disperse crowds with its annoying sound (sounds like something out of “Star Trek”). BRILLIANT! But civil rights groups want The Mosquito banned, saying it’s cruel. Cruel? I’ll show you cruel! Five drunken teenagers loitering in the mall.

The civil rights groups are concerned that devices like the Mosquito contribute to an increasingly negative attitude toward teens. The Children’s Commissioner of England, Sir Al Aynsley-Green (again, what is with these names?) says, "The use of measures such as these are simply demonizing children and young people, creating a dangerous and widening divide between the young and the old." But the Beeb quotes the inventor of the device, Howard Stapleton: "We're talking about a small sector of the population, teenagers, drunk, behaving badly, this device is to be used against. What about the rest of us out there? Aren't we all sick and tired of what's going on on our streets at the moment?"

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