Debt's Dominion. (Protection racket: how bankruptcy went from saving the average Joe to shielding the CEO).
DEBT'S DOMINION by David A Skeel, Jr. Princeton University Press, $35.00. IMAGINE THE GOOD FORTUNE TO BE AN author whose history of bankruptcy in America is published just as Enron collapses, the credit card industry clamors to get tough on the customers it addicted to plastic money...

UC Santa Cruz plans laboratory, housing on controversial site. (Public Development).
Early this spring, University of California, Santa Cruz, officials intend to release a draft plan for new facilities that will expand the school's marine biology research capabilities. Opposition to the project has come from nearby residents and some City of Santa Cruz officials. Opponents dislike the housing...

Filling the Gap: Environmental Protection for Lenders.
Courts have ruled that commercial lenders can be liable for environmental contamination at foreclosed properties. Here's what you need to know to assess your exposure. In the past, investors and lenders did not perceive significant environmental liabilities when financing commercial, and residential real estate properties. Today, all...

MY FATHER'S HOUSE.
Officials from the Federal National Mortgage Association were almost speechless when Norman and Melissa Cameron told them why they didn't plan to pay their $54,000 mortgage. "When I read it, I was taken aback," said Fannie Mae's lawyer. Read what? The Camerons' response to foreclosure proceedings on their Hartford,...

Indiana Church Takes On IRS Over Payroll Taxes.
An Indiana church that refuses to follow federal law by withholding income taxes, Social Security and Medicare contributions from employees' salaries is facing foreclosure by the Internal Revenue Service. The Indianapolis Baptist Temple first faced punishment for tax evasion when the Justice Department filed suit against the...

Usufructuary mortgages in rural South Asian economies: collateral valuation and internal rates.
I Introduction MONEYLENDING in the rural areas of South Asia takes various forms. One type of informal loan agreement commonly found in many areas is the usufructuary land mortgage, hereinafter abbreviated to ULM. Under this type of contract, the borrower transfers to the lender a parcel of his...

Lying during crisis negotiations: a costly means to expedient resolution.
#1 After being confined to a wheelchair for over eleven years, a twenty-eight-year-old paraplegic attempts to quell his overwhelming anger with alcohol. The beautiful spring afternoon is no consolation for the man who, at the age of seventeen, permanently lost the use of both legs. Paralyzed after being thrown from...

A fistful of risks.
What does it mean to talk about the risk of, say, being in an airplane crash or being struck by lightning? Calculations of risks are averages, so they have limited value to the individual. Airplanes, for instance, may be safe in terms of deaths per passenger mile, but that says...

Indiana Church May Lose Property In Tax Battle.
A federal court has ordered an Indianapolis church to surrender its property to the Internal Revenue Service to pay $5.9 million the church owes the government after refusing to withhold income taxes, Social Security and Medicare contributions from employees' salaries. U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Evans Barker...

Stealing home.
How the government and big banks help second-mortgage companies prey on the poor Just before the credits roll in the movie Tin Men, a couple of 1960s aluminum-siding salesmen commiserate about losing their licenses to hawk home improvements. A city commission has decided to punish the "tin...