Morgan Stanley will repay the $10 billion in federal bailout loans on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. A week ago, the company said it would pay it back but didn’t give a specific time line.
The bailout money came from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, a program that was set into motion to help the financial industry in the United States and attempt to cushion the blow of the economic downturn.
In a press release, Morgan Stanley stated that they believe the Troubled Asset Relief Program was a success.
Morgan Stanley is pleased to be repaying its $10 billion in TARP capital …read more

Google CEO Eric Schmidt may not seem like the most likely candidate to speak at a newspaper convention, but sources announced that he’ll be giving the keynote address at the Newspaper Association of America’s annual convention. Right now, most print news publishers are seeing a dramatic loss of sales, and many blame online news aggregation services like Google.
Analysts estimate that Google is responsible for 20% to 30% of all traffic sent to newspaper websites. In the past, Schmidt has urged newspapers to jump on board with better technology, allowing them to increase their revenue from online readership. Many, however, question …read more

As it turns out, though, celebrities face many of the same problems as we all do, especially when it comes to their homes.

Then the housing slump came. And California is now suffering more than any other state.

The number of vacant homes for sale in the United States hit an all-time high in the first quarter of the year.

Owners trying to sell their homes don’t need any more bad news. Unfortunately for them, a new survey by the Associated Press and and AOL Money & Finance just gave them some.

The nation’s Sun Belt continues to be the fastest-growing region of the United States. Texas, especially, saw big population gains in both 2006 and 2007.

The sales of new homes dropped by a record amount in 2007, while sales prices had their weakest showing in 16 years. If that’s not enough to shake builder confidence, what is?

Fannie Mae, which the Associated Press reports funds one of every five home loans in the United States, has written off $185 million of mortgage loans made to homeowners in Michigan and $101 million to those in Ohio. This means that Fannie Mae has decided that it has no chance of recovering any payment on these loans.