Business and Finance Guide

Posted on Thursday, 23rd June 2011 by Jana Sanders

Tough budget times are forcing state governments to rethink the tax breaks they grant.
Michigan last week eliminated several tax credits, including those for small donations made to universities, food banks, museums and public television. The state also capped at $25 million a year the tax incentives it gives the film industry, which has been lured to the state since 2008 by some of the more generous incentives in the nation. The changes were part of a tax overhaul that Republican Gov. Rick Snyder says will spur job growth.
The Oklahoma Legislature has set up a special committee to review tax incentives there. A report from the Oklahoma Tax Commission in October 2010 listed the cost of hundreds of credits and incentives. Read more…

Tags: Breaks, Tax Breaks
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Posted on Thursday, 23rd June 2011 by Charlotte W

LSAP Scorecard: Week 32

So long, goodbye, and thanks for all the liquidity

Tags: Liquidity
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Posted on Thursday, 23rd June 2011 by Charlotte W

Mortgage lenders have continued to tighten consumer credit over the past year, although not as aggressively as in the past three years.

A survey of the nation’s largest banks, reported today by the Office of the Comptroller of Currency, found that 40 percent of those reporting tightened their credit standards for mortgage loans over the past year. Eight percent said they loosened their mortgage credit standards, while the rest are unchanged.   That compares to over half of all banks that tightened their underwriting standards for mortgages in each of the previous three years, including nearly three-quarters in 2009. The survey covered the nation’s 54 largest banks, with 48 of them reporting on mortgage activity.   Trends were slightly more favorable for home equity loans, with only 36 percent of banks tightening credit standards. Howev Read more…

Tags: Mortgage, Mortgage Standards
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Posted on Thursday, 23rd June 2011 by Mark Chambers

Does your organization or church need a Website?

TechMission has received a grant where for our TechMission Youth Academy program where we will be providing free Websites for nonprofits and churches.  Below is a summary of how the program works:

1. Apply. Your organization applies to get a free website though TechMission.  This will include the cost of designing the site, domain name registration (if needed) and one year of free Web hosting.  This sub-grant is limited to organizations that are primarily focused on serving at-risk or low-income communities.
2. Get a Free Website. If

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Tags: Free Website, Profit
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Posted on Wednesday, 22nd June 2011 by Charlotte W

RALEIGH, N.C.  — Owning a home has long been a part of the American dream, but, of course, home buying has gone through a tremendous financial upheaval in recent years. As a result, are we seeing this part of the American dream change? N.C. State University economist Mike Walden responds.

“Well … I don’t know about dreams, but we do see some big changes in the statistics. The home ownership rate — that is, the percentage of households who own a home — actually have been rising for several decades. It got up to almost 70 percent, 69 percent prior to the recession. But over the last four years it’s dropped. So it’s gone f

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