| Bankruptcies, building permits and more
Collins, Petra Denise, liabilities $13,905, assets $3,035. Cook, Timothy L., liabilities $435,855, assets $262,120, Chapter 13. Dolenz, Anthony James, liabilities $24,552, assets $11,930. Godfrey, Tabatha Leigh, liabilities $28,622, assets $5,810. Heck, Aaron J., liabilities $68,329, assets $21,700. Janzen, Courtney Tyler, liabilities $25,022, assets $298. Nesbitt, Mary Katherine, aka Mary Katherine Morey, liabilities $178,585, assets $97,583. Rich, Christopher Lee, Jennifer Lea Rich, aka Jennifer Lea Ratliff, liabilities $247,385, assets $106,732, Chapter 13. Vinduska, Annabel L., liabilities $179,783, assets $156,500, Chapter 13. Benton Good, Todd Michael, liabilities $94,342, assets $4,575.
Banks' bad loans hit level of S&L Crisis
Atlanta's residential bust is rapidly becoming a financial disaster on a par with the Savings and Loan Crisis of the 1980s. Local banks' ratio of nonperforming assets-to-loans (a way to easily compare banks' credit health across eras and business models) averaged 2.2 percent at the end of third-quarter 2007, according to a new analysis by local bank advisory and research firm FIG Partners LLC. That figure has tripled since 2003, when Atlanta banks reported a 0.70 percent ratio and Atlanta's residential real estate boom hit its stride. .
Clinton, McCain win; tax measure passes
As expected, Sen. Hillary Clinton swept to victory Tuesday in Florida's delegate-less Democratic presidential primary. In the Republican contest, John McCain defeated Mitt Romney, capturing 57 GOP delegates. ''Florida has always been a special place for me and it is all the more so tonight,'' McCain said during a victory celebration in Miami. ``Our victory might not have reached landslide proportions, but it is sweet nonetheless.'' Rudy Giuliani, destined to finish a distant and crushing third or fourth in a state he absolutely needed, seemed ready to drop out of the Republican race. ''Win or lose, our work is not done,'' Giuliani said Tuesday night during a rally in Orlando. ``You don't always win, but you can always do it right.'' In another contest of major interest to Floridians, voters approved a constitutional amendment intended to rein in the state's rising property taxes.
The Real Start of Something New
Shane, "every year only about 7 percent of new companies in the United States are started in . . . high technology, and only about 3 percent of business founders consider their new businesses to be 'technologically sophisticated.' " What's more, America is no longer a particularly entrepreneurial country; nor are we in much of an entrepreneurial era. The rate of entrepreneurship in the U.S., Mr. Shane says, "has been flat or declining over the past twenty years." This is true for other industrialized countries as well, but there is no need for alarm: The richer a country is, the lower its rate of business starts. When a country gets wealthier and its real wages rise, Mr. Shane explains, "the opportunity cost of running your own business goes up because the amount of money you could have earned working for someone else increases." In short: Fewer people start businesses because they can make more money working for established companies.
Too close to call as Florida voting begins
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - After days of hectic campaigning all over Florida, the Republican presidential contenders could do little but wait for the returns to come in as voters cast their ballots in Tuesday's primary. Up for grabs: 57 delegates, more than in any previous Republican contest so far this year. Mitt Romney is trying to scuttle the momentum that Sen. John McCain had been gaining in this state after his victory in the Jan. 19 South Carolina primary. .
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