There is an economic theory that the markets are all driven by social mood and not by events or economic news per se. Elliot Wave International is the largest proponent of this theory. It is a great resource and provides a unique perspective. ( Here is a link to that site: http://www.elliottwave.com/ . One of their specific predictions is that gold will not be a safe haven during the deflationary bust that is almost upon us.)

A related site, which provides brief commentary on the economic news, has a current article on the coming efforts to reform governmental oversight of the financial markets.

Quote: This month’s issue of The Elliott Wave Financial Forecast covers a big increase in the use of the phrase “since the Great Depression.” There it is again on page 1 of today’s L.A. Times: “The most sweeping reform since the Depression is proposed.”

“I think the timing is great," said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said. He’s right, the timing is perfect as it marks the start of a huge downtrend in social mood with an exquisite illustration of government’s propensity for recognizing a new mood with measures designed to deal with the excesses of the preceding trend. This is an important signal as it is exactly what EWI called for in the wake of The Great Mania. Here’s how August 2, 2006 Socio Times described the dynamic on August 2, 2006: “Government literally waits for the horses to exit the barn to slam the door shut.” At that time, we noted a belief that hedge funds “could contribute to a 1929-style financial debacle,” but we said nothing would be done about it until after a big peak was in place. On August 2, 2006, “Peak Experience Pulls Plug on Hedge Fund Reform” (click to view the whole entry) Socio Times said: In other words, despite an overwhelming sense of foreboding, government can't do anything about a hedge fund blow up until after hedge funds blow up. The situation is developing into one of the all-time great examples of how government operates as “the ultimate crowd.”

Here is a link to their site: http://www.sociotimes.com/archives/2008/03/winds_of_reform.aspx

Michael

Although in-house debt collector complaints are down by 6.5% in 2007 from the previous year, the complaints about third-party debt collectors increased by 2.4%. The top five complaints lodged in 2007 with the Fair Trade Commission were:

1. collectors attempted to collect on debts that consumers either did not owe or was larger than what was actually owed [27,393 complaints];
2. harassment (either by repeated or continuous calls, profane language, calls during off hours, threats of violence, etc.) [13,989 complaints];
3. falsely threatened lawsuits or other similar actions [4,592 complaints];
4. consumers called at work [4,161 complaints]; and
5. improper third-party contacts [2,672].

ACA International is working with a vendor to create an enhanced dispute-resolution program incorporating an ombudsman.

You can read the entire article at: http://www.creditcollectionsworld.com/article.html?id=20080324OCBCEJ3O&from=creditandcollectionnews.

Chandra