Do you want to profit from the housing crisis and the mortgage meltdown? Disgraced ex-New York Governor Eliot Spitzer might have just the opportunity you’ve been looking for. Spitzer is putting together a real estate “vulture fund” to buy and flip distressed property, envisioning projects valued between $100 million and $500 million. According to the New York Sun, “Eliot

Stolen trade secrets can spell the difference between extinction and profitability.

They distort trade figures, smuggle goods across ill-guarded borders, ignore international treaties and conventions and, in short, revive moribund economies.

“A sea of green shirts poured out of white buses headed for the Capitol steps this morning.” The AP reports: Thousands of state workers converged on the Capitol today to ratchet up pressure on the Blagojevich administration to end a stalemate over a new union deal before the current one expires next week. A new contract for more

 Illegal immigrants can make good home buyers, according to a new study. Undocumented immigrants — those who aren’t legal permanent residents — who have an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN), good credit, and proof of tax filing can qualify for a fixed-rate “ITIN mortgage.” Less than 1 percent of ITIN loans have gone into foreclosure, according to

I’ve always been a big fan of the unions movement. They (aim to) ensure that employers play fair, and are there to make sure the people that actually generate the wealth (yes, that’s the workers, not the employers or, shudder, middle-managers) earn some small part of the benefit. You’d think Labour - whose name is

The other day I had the pleasure of visiting The Market, which is a part of Dan Valley Food Service(which is also a member group of Piedmont CU). The store didn’t feel like a typical grocery store. It felt like I was walking into the past, like I was following my mom around

Update 2-17-2008: A revised edition of this post appeared in the Danville Register & Bee opinion section today. Here is a link to that column. You may have heard that in Virginia the General Assembly is considering putting a cap on the interest rates that can be charged by payday lenders in our commonwealth. There

Here is a little video about how credit unions are different. It’s the simplest explanation I’ve seen that also communicates all the details. It’s done totally by a 19 year old girl in Canada, named Larissa. Thanks to our friends North of the border at Currency Marketing, a credit union marketing company, and Young

Any new year’s resolutions that somehow made it this far have just been blow away.  But it was for a good cause! Today credit unions across Virginia participated in Sweets 4 Sweethearts, a fund raiser for the Children’s Miracle Network. Credit union staff and families brought in homemade goodies to share with credit union members.