- Millions Doing Away with Landline Phones(AP): “In number, cellphones are creeping up on landline phones. They already comprise about 43 per cent of all U.S. phones, according to the International Telecommunication Union, up from 37 per cent in 2000. Meanwhile, the number of U.S. landline phones has dropped by more than five million, or nearly three per cent, since 2000, the Federal Communications Commission reported in June. The United States hasn’t been the quickest to adapt. Already, more than half the phones in the world are cellular. Cellphones overtook landlines earliest in some developing countries that hadn’t laid ground lines by the time cellular technology arrived. In Cambodia, for instance, nearly 90 per cent of phones are cellular.”
- Bangladeshis Reject Smelly Currency (Reuters): “Bangladesh’s currency notes have become so dirty that even fishmongers reckon they stink too much to use. The central bank wants to replace the notes and is threatening to deny branch licenses to banks that refuse to cooperate. The notes are losing their usefulness as currency because people are becoming unwilling to take them, central bank officials say. Fish-market traders, for example, have found that their customers are demanding coins as change, they say.” (Thanks Catallarchy)
- Surge in Rates May Hurt Pillar of the Economy (WashPost): “If cheap mortgages have kept the economy afloat, the economy may have just sprung a leak. A little more than a month after the Federal Reserve reduced its overnight lending rate to just 1 percent, mortgage rates have shot up as investors have soured on the bond market — in part because of confusion about the Fed’s intentions in managing the economy. This has abruptly stalled plans by thousands of homeowners to refinance their houses at even lower rates than they already enjoy. The pace of home loan refinancing has fallen by half the last several weeks, according to bankers and analysts. If the higher rates persist, they will make it more expensive for people to buy houses or to borrow money against their houses to pay for renovations, furniture and even cars. That would damp a principal source of consumer demand over the last two years, a period when consumer spending has been one of the few sources of economic growth.”
Posted by Mises.org News
