Ricardo Cortez's (rcortez) Blog

Most Americans, more than Fifty-five percent of Americans say no taxpayer money should be used to bail out private companies, even if their collapse would damage the economy, Main Street and Wall street are not happy with the $700 Billion bailout  according to the latest Bloomberg/Los Angeles Tim...

So what are the costs? Almost certainly the ultimate costs to the U.S. Taxpayer Higher taxes Higher interest rates on government debt Bigger government deficits When the alternative is the entire financial system going bankrupt, we guess these costs are acceptable. But we're not convinced that th...

After a few weeks of trying to stand tough in the face of demands for a wholesale rescue, Hank Paulson apparently couldn't take it anymore. So now we'll have the biggest bailout in history, including: A huge RTC-like government garbage can that banks can throw all their toxic balance-sheet waste ...

Treasury Department has decided to use a Depression-era fund to provide guarantees for U.S. money market mutual funds. credit system melts down, the economy falls. Money market mutual funds are typically considered safe, but many investors have been fleeing them due to worries about the funds' ex...

Wall Street extended a huge rally Friday as investors stormed back into the market, relieved that the government plans to rescue banks from billions of dollars in bad debt. The Dow Jones industrials rose more than 375 points, giving them a massive gain of more than 785 points over two days, and T...

After a weekend of intense negotiations with multi-national banks and the Federal government, one of the most powerful investment banks on Wall Street, Lehman Brothers is left standing at the alter and is forced to declare bankruptcy. It is clear that even at fire sale prices (about $3/share Frid...

New-Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study released today by J.D. Power and Associates.. Pulte brands,  ranked highest in customer satisfaction among new-home builders in 11 markets, J.D. Power reported. Here are the other companies cited for their experties and success Cambridge Homes, Centex ...

Pulte Homes Inc. ranked highest in customer satisfaction in a New-Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study released today by J.D. Power and Associates. Overall customer satisfaction for all builders was 779 on a 1,000-point scale in 2008, J.D. Power reported, which is up from 741 in the 2007 surv...

We are in , how shall I say it, an ‘Interesting' time in the Real Estate and new home building real estate market. Especially, here in Metro Phoenix and the familiar towns of Tempe, Mesa, Glendale and Scottsdale. Real Estate Industry analysts have thrown around the term, the Perfect Storm" reflec...

a Fannie Mae Survey this week, found Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, fell to 5.54 percent, down from 5.90 percent last week.   Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 5.87 percent this week, down from 5.97 percent last week. One-year, adjus...