$108 Million Returned to 450,000 Homeowners Overcharged by Countrywide

The Federal Trade Commission is mailing 450,177 refund checks worth almost $108 million to homeowners who were allegedly overcharged by Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. As part of the FTC’s efforts to protect financially distressed homeowners, the FTC reached a settlement with Countrywide last year over allegations that the company collected excessive fees from borrowers who were struggling to keep their homes.

“It’s astonishing that a single company could be responsible for overcharging more than 450,000 homeowners,” FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said. “Countrywide’s unconscionable behavior harmed American consumers on a massive scale and we are proud to be getting every single dollar back to hundreds of thousands of struggling consumers who can least afford to lose the money.”

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Can The Local Food Movement Scale Up?

The local food movement in America is gaining steam. Families, restaurants and schools are purchasing more of their food from farmer’s markets. Community, school, and backyard gardens are springing up all over. And in places where land is scarce--large, densely populated urban areas--consumers and some businesses are taking to the sky and growing food hydroponically in rooftop greenhouses.

The question we must ask is, "Will this scale?" For anything to scale, it must solve a real problem, be cost-effective and replicable, and have the right systems in place to support it. To do that, it must attract sufficient capital from the private sector to encourage entrepreneurs to build large, profitable businesses.

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New All-organic Carpets Could Have Multiple Lives

When a carpet gets old, users usually throw it away. And in our increasingly recycling-aware society, a carpet is one of those things that usually does not get re-used - it is simply burned. That could soon change, say researchers.
An international team of scientists has come up with a method to make wool carpets from all-natural materials that can be re-processed after a life cycle. Although wool and cellulose fabrics are biodegradable, most modern carpets have another ingredient holding fibres together. It is a bonding agent called latex - and because of it, carpets usually end up in an oven.

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