Month March 2008

Mortgage company goes kersplat

Thornburg Mortgage Inc. lost more than half its market value after the home lender failed to meet $270 million of margin calls and a Citigroup Inc. analyst said bankruptcy is possible. If a company can’t make a margin call, it…

Hartford CT property tax death spiral

Hartford CT has been struggling for decades. One big problem is that people and businesses leave, moving to nearby, vastly more prosperous suburbs. Since Connecticut has no county governments or regional authorities to spread money around, Hartford gets no help…

Steve Earle. Copperhead Road

This is perhaps Steve Earle’s signature song. It’s about a Vietnam vet, his grandaddy and daddy were bootleggers, but he had new ideas. I volunteered for the army on my birthday They draft the white trash first round here anyway…