Gov't goes after 3 lenders over their mortgage-aid record

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is blaming the three largest U.S. mortgage lenders for the failures of its foreclosure-prevention program. It says they've done little to help people at risk of losing their homes.

Wells Fargo & Co., Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have failed to help enough people permanently lower their mortgage payments so they can stay in their homes, the Treasury Department said Thursday.

Based on those lenders' lackluster success for the first three months of 2011, the government is withholding financial incentives that amounted to up to $1,000 per permanent loan modification. Treasury said the three lenders incorrectly determined that many people were ineligible for the program.

Continue »

Need to 'Rent-a-Grandma'? Try This New Franchise

A Los Angeles-based employment service that specializes in providing senior women for domestic staffing needs has just launched a national franchise program. Even though the ink on the disclosure documents is barely dry, Rent-A-Grandma has already reached tentative agreement with a Texas entrepreneur to roll out five franchises in the Lone Star State.

The service provides carefully screened women age 50 and over for roles including child care, elder care, housekeeping, cooking, estate management, pet sitting and other domestic staffing jobs. The advantage that older women bring is their extensive age/life experience, Todd Bliss, the company's founder and CEO, told BusinessNewsdaily.

"Women in their 50s don't text or tweet while they're watching your kids," Bliss said. "There's no replacement for experience."

Continue »

Unleashing Rooftop Solar Energy through More Efficient Government

June 02, 2011 - Across the country, the race is on to drive down the cost of solar energy. And a new challenge through the U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative could help slash the costs even faster.

We are challenging cities and counties to compete nationwide to cut the red tape that can push up the price tags on solar energy projects.

One of the highest hurdles for would-be investors in residential and small commercial solar energy installations is navigating the differing and expensive administrative processes required to get their solar panels from the drawing board to the rooftop.

Continue »

Oyster Mushroom recycles diapers in 4 months

DESPITE their name, disposable diapers are notoriously difficult to dispose of. Studies of landfills suggest they may take centuries to rot away. But Alethia Vázquez-Morillas of the Autonomous Metropolitan University in Mexico City thinks she has found a method of speeding the process up.

As she and her colleagues describe in Waste Management, cultivating the right type of mushroom on soiled diapers can break down 90% of the material they are made of within two months. Within four, they are degraded completely. What is more, she says, despite their unsavoury diet the fungi in question, Pleurotus ostreatus (better known as oyster mushrooms), are safe to eat. To prove the point she has, indeed, eaten them.

Continue »

Jobs Market Picks Up for Graduates

After two years of sharp declines in hiring, M.B.A. students are having more success landing jobs, and getting them earlier, than during the depths of the financial crisis.

 

The increase comes as companies become more optimistic about their opportunities for growth, gaining confidence that new hires now will pay off down the line.

Hiring is up by double-digits at consulting firms such as Bain & Co. and Accenture PLC, compared with 2008 troughs. Similar gains are being seen at financial-services companies, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley.

Continue »