Author: Tom Silva

The long recession has dramatically impacted the lives of all Americans, according to demographic data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.  Commutes are lengthier; people are not moving; immigration is down; and couples are delaying marriage.  The annual American Community Survey report, based on information gleaned from three million households, highlights how deeply the recession […]

With 28 million people and a $376 billion economy, Saudi Arabia provides its citizens with subsidized goods, services, healthcare, housing and education to assure a stable political system and long-term allegiance to the House of Saud, according to Rochdi Younsi, director in the Middle East and Africa practice at the Eurasia Group.  An expert on […]

Paul Krugman – winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, Princeton University professor and New York Times columnist – is taking advantage of falling home prices in a difficult market.  Krugman and his wife, economist Robin Wells, recently paid $1.7 million for a three-bedroom co-op apartment in a pre-war building on Manhattan’s upscale Riverside Drive.  […]

The wealth of the world’s high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) declined by nearly one fifth last year to $33 trillion, according to the 2009 World Wealth Report from Merrill Lynch and Capgemini.  A HNWI has at least $1 million of assets besides a primary residence, its contents and collectible items.  In 2008, the number of HNWIs fell […]

The Alter NOW blog is pleased to announce that we are among the select few to be included in the real estate section on Alltop, an internationally renowned website that collects the “headlines of the latest stories from the best sites and blogs that cover a topic. Alltop, which envisions itself as the magazine rack […]

When times are really tough, people within an organization look to leadership for direction.  This is the opinion of Gail Golden, Ph.D. MBA, Principal at Gail Golden Consulting in Chicago and previously a professor at the University of Western Ontario.  Dr. Golden believes that there are two kinds of change:  change that I initiate and […]

Finally, there’s encouraging news on the economic front.  The economy declined just one percent during the second quarter of 2009, a rosier report than was expected.  It is the strongest signal so far that the longest recession since the end of World War II is easing its grip. In a report issued by the Department […]

One European nation has escaped the worldwide financial meltdown and recession.  It’s Norway, which saved its money – rather than spent – through the boom years. As a result of frugal financial management, Norwegian housing prices and consumption are on the upswing and interest rates are affordable.  Norway’s fiscal responsibility of its income from enormous […]

In his semi-annual testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that although the economy is exhibiting “tentative signs of stabilization,” he plans to maintain a “highly accommodative” monetary policy for the time being.  According to Bernanke, “The pace of decline appears to have slowed significantly.  In light of the […]

Ponzi scheme swindler Bernie Madoff has some notorious neighbors at the federal prison in Butner, NC, that he now calls home.  According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the medium-security Butner facility houses 3,400 inmates, including Omar Abdel-Rahman, the terrorist known as the “Blind Sheik”, who plotted the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.  Also imprisoned […]