- Home sales declined dramatically last month and housing prices posted their sharpest decline in four decades as a rapidly slowing economy discouraged many potential buyers from tip-toeing into the market. Sales of existing homes declined 8.6 percent last month, to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.49 million, according to the National Association of Realtors, a trade association. The median price of a home fell 13 percent in November , to $181,300 from $208,000 a year ago. That was the lowest price since February 2004.
Shoplifters and employees who steal walked away with $34.8 billion in 2007, or an average of $350 per U.S. household, according to the National Retail Federation in Washington, D.C. The shoplifting portion is estimated at $12 billion. As the economy has worsened in the last few months, some retailers say they are seeing that figure grow 5 to 20 percent. Cities and states also lose vital tax dollars. The Retail Industry Leaders Association estimates that Missouri lost $27 million and Kansas lost $14 million in sales tax revenue due to shoplifting in 2007. (Brief commentary: shoplifting does make a difference.)
- A counterfeit casino chip scam has cost one casino more than $100,000 in recent weeks. A cashier had detected several $100 chips that were slighter thicker than the casino’s own and did not fit properly into storage racks. No one has been charged yet, said Lt. Bob Zubeck, the patrol’s gambling enforcement supervisor for the state’s western district. “These were really high quality, the best I’ve seen,” he said.
- C.S.A. Strategy Quote Of The Day: "Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances."-- Thomas Jefferson
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