In the New York Times Ellen Barry writes about the outcry among academics St Peterbsurg University (alma mater of Putin and Medvedev) who are concerned about new legislation that may require their work to be submitted to the authorities before it can be published overseas.  Whilst defenders of the order, such as the university's rector, Putin-Medvedev friendly Nikolai M. Kropachev, say it is a standard move to defend intellectual property, detractors claim that the project recalls the Soviet-era censorship program and suggest that those interested in controversial topics, such as human rights, will be the first to suffer from its restrictions.In an interesting footnote, under the rector's leadership, the University has, says Barry, strengthened in the league tables, ...

Housing Numbers: The Truth Behind It All

Ryan Cole, The Investment U Research Team

Continuing our series looking at the truth behind current economic data, today we turn to housing numbers.

Housing has been in the news lately, with a few “green shoots” of news. Most recently, home prices ticked upward last month, even though they’re down compared with a year ago. Many analysts are reading this as a sign that the worst is behind us, and we could be in for a quick recovery.

Don’t be so sure.

We Won’t Foreclose… For Now

First, there’s one important fact that most analysts have forgotten, or at least aren’t revealing.

That is, the six largest lenders – businesses like Citibank, Bank of America, etc – and Fannie and Freddie got together earlier this year and declared a three-month moratorium on foreclosures.

They all agreed,

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