By CAROLYN SAID, San Francisco Chronicle
Virtual museum showcases women in business
The images are stunning and vivid, worthy of National Geographic: Chinese factory workers make high-tech products; Nepalese women gather for a village meeting; Arab businesswomen clad head-to-toe in abayat chat on cell phones.
Fair-trade company tries to do 'World of Good' for poor artisans
SAN FRANCISCO - For Indian beadworkers who craft intricate necklaces and earrings, Haitian metalworkers who recycle oil drums into sculptures, and Guatemalan weavers who make rainbow-hued tapestries, the economic downturn that has choked off consumer spending could mean a devastating plunge back into poverty.
Priya Haji is determined to stop that from happening.
Subprime-loan architects seek new profits in housing
Can folks who made millions peddling subprime loans use that same Midas touch to mint money from the housing-market downturn?
California firm uses plane to sniff out mosquito-ridden pools
On a dazzlingly clear day last week under the high-noon sun, Bob Franklin and Dennis Vied taxied their Cessna Turbo 206 down the runway at Livermore Municipal Airport, east of Oakland, Calif., and took to the sky in search of a public-health menace.
Banks holding vast inventory of hidden foreclosures
A vast "shadow inventory" of foreclosed homes that banks are holding off the market could wreak havoc with the already battered real-estate sector, industry observers say.
Banks open centers to talk with troubled homeowners
After a year of fruitlessly asking Washington Mutual to lower her mortgage payments, Stacey Rustrum marched into a bank branch in Oakland, Calif., this week hoping that in-person help would accomplish what her hours of phoning had not.
"I saw this on the news this morning and came on down," she said. "They can't pretend I'm not here."
Banks open centers to talk with troubled homeowners
After a year of fruitlessly asking Washington Mutual to lower her mortgage payments, Stacey Rustrum marched into a bank branch in Oakland, Calif., this week hoping that in-person help would accomplish what her hours of phoning had not.
"I saw this on the news this morning and came on down," she said. "They can't pretend I'm not here."
Beware foreclosure-rescue schemes
Exiled Nigerian princes are old hat.
The hottest come-on these days, clogging e-mail in-boxes, voice mail and radio airwaves, goes something like this: "Are you struggling with your mortgage? President Obama approved the new federal loan modification program. We can help lower your mortgage payment."
20 percent of mortgaged houses under water
More than one-fifth of all mortgaged properties nationwide are underwater, with more owed on their mortgages than the homes are worth, according to a report released Wednesday.
First American CoreLogic said that more than 8.3 million U.S. mortgages had negative equity as of year end, compared with 7.6 million just three months earlier.
20 percent of mortgaged houses under water
More than one-fifth of all mortgaged properties nationwide are underwater, with more owed on their mortgages than the homes are worth, according to a report released Wednesday.
First American CoreLogic said that more than 8.3 million U.S. mortgages had negative equity as of year end, compared with 7.6 million just three months earlier.
