Partners Refi Loan, Market Land for Sale

Longview Farms LLC, whose principals are Glen Bascom Jr., Christopher Montesi and Gerald Lawson Sr., has filed a $675,000 refinance trust deed through Memphis Area Teachers’ Credit Union on a 194-acre parcel of farmland north of Arlington. The group, which bought the land for $550,000 in July 2006, is now marketing the land for sale.

Half of the land has crops – wheat, corn and soybeans – and the other half is wooded, said Bascom, adding that the crops generate a healthy cash flow.

“It’s just a good location,” he said. “We thought a couple of years ago when building was going and in the heyday everyone was building intensely that we bought it at a good price.”

The property has about 1,000 feet of frontage along Long Road. Its most recent appraisal was $995,000, and Longview Farms has the property listed for $900,000.

Bascom said the group’s loan through Bank of Tipton came due and the partners decided to switch banks to MATCU for a better rate.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

Deadline Today For Circuit Court Applications

Today is the deadline for candidates to apply to the Tennessee Judicial Selection Commission for Circuit Court judge.

The vacancy was created by the Jan. 2 death of Judge Rita Stotts. Through Friday, two attorneys had applied: Mischelle Alexander Best, a Shelby County public defender and former General Sessions Criminal Court judge and Sean Antone Hunt, an attorney at Spicer, Flynn & Rudstrom PLLC.

The commission will review all of the applicants and is scheduled to meet Feb. 25 to decide on three finalists. The list of three finalists will be submitted to Gov. Phil Bredesen who has the option of picking one of the three or getting a list of three more finalists from the commission.

Construction Spending Posts Record Drop in 2008

Construction spending fell for a third straight month in December, closing out a year in which building activity dropped by a record amount as housing continued to plunge. Economists don’t expect a quick turnaround amid a severe recession and the ongoing financial crisis.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported Monday that total construction spending dropped by 1.4 percent in December, slightly worse than the 1.2 percent decline economists expected.

For the year, construction spending fell by a record 5.1 percent, surpassing the 2.6 percent decline in 2007. The weakness in both years reflected huge declines in home construction, which fell 27.2 percent last year, the largest drop on records going back to 1993.

Housing construction surged earlier in the decade as both sales and prices climbed to all-time highs, but the boom ended after 2006. Builders have scrambled to cut back on production in the face of slumping demand and soaring mortgage foreclosures that are dumping more unsold homes on an already glutted market.

For December, housing activity dropped 3.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $319.2 billion.

Nonresidential construction also fell for the third straight month, dropping 0.4 percent to an annual rate of $417.9 billion. But for the year, nonresidential construction rose 15.3 percent, the third straight double-digit gain.

Still, with a severe credit crisis forcing banks to tighten lending standards, developers are finding it harder to get financing for new projects. Analysts expect further weakness in nonresidential construction in 2009, amid a recession now in its second year.

Government spending dropped by 0.8 percent in December to an annual rate of $316.6 billion, reflecting a slowdown in state and local building, which fell by 1.5 percent. Construction spending by the federal government rose 6.3 percent in December.

For the year, government construction activity rose 7.4 percent, following a 12.4 percent gain in 2007.

‘Fast Food Nation’ Author To Appear in Memphis

“Fast Food Nation” author Eric Schlosser will open the spring season of the University of Memphis’ River City Writers Series Wednesday at the Memphis Pink Palace Museum IMAX Theater, 3030 Central Ave.

Schlosser will discuss “Fast Food Nation” at 7 p.m. and a reception with refreshments and a book signing will precede the lecture at 6 p.m.

Schlosser has been a correspondent for Atlantic Monthly since 1996 and his work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, the Nation and The New Yorker.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Consumer Spending, Incomes Fall as Savings Rise

Consumer spending fell for a record sixth straight month in December as recession-battered households, worried about surging layoffs, boosted their savings rates to the highest level since May.

Economists expect consumer spending, which accounts for the largest portion of total economic activity, to remain weak this year, prolonging an already painful recession.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported Monday that personal consumption spending dropped by 1 percent in December. That was slightly worse than the 0.9 percent decline economists expected. The government also revised its November estimate lower to show spending fell 0.8 percent rather than 0.6 percent that month.

Incomes, reflecting a wave of layoffs, fell for a third straight month, but the 0.2 percent drop was slightly better than expected. The decline in November, however, was revised to show incomes dropped 0.4 percent, double the initial estimate.

Still, Americans worried about the possibility of more job cuts boosted their savings rate to 3.6 percent of their after-tax incomes in December. That was the highest level since tax rebate checks temporarily pushed the rate up to 4.8 percent in May.

For the year, consumer spending rose by just 3.6 percent, the smallest annual increase since 1961. Incomes rose by 3.7 percent, the weakest gain since a 3.2 percent advance in 2003.

The hard times are being made more severe as consumers cut back sharply on their spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of total economic activity.

The savings rate for all of 2008 rose to 1.7 percent. While historically low, it is well above the savings rates of recent years when soaring home prices and a booming stock market made Americans feel more wealthy and less concerned about saving.

The savings rate had dipped to a low of 0.4 percent in 2005, the peak of the housing boom. That was the lowest annual savings rate in seven decades. Savings had turned negative during the depths of the Great Depression.

For December, the 1 percent drop in consumer spending represented the sixth straight decline, a stretch not seen since the government began keeping monthly records on incomes and spending a half-century ago.

Real consumer spending, which removes the impacts of price changes, dropped by 0.5 percent. The smaller drop reflects the impact of falling energy prices.

Manufacturing Index Rises From Record Low

A private measure of the manufacturing sector’s health for January rose from a record low, but still posted the 12th straight month of contraction amid a global recession.

The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing executives, reported Monday that its U.S. manufacturing index rose to 35.6 in January from an upwardly revised 32.9 in December. The January reading was above the 32.6 that economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected.

Any reading above 50 signals growth, while a reading below 50 indicates contraction. The index has fallen steadily since August as the economy deteriorated, hitting a 28-year low in December.

The report, which is based on a survey of members of the Tempe, Arizona-based group, covers such indicators as new orders, production, employment, inventories, prices, and export and import orders.

While the increase in the index for January showed a significant improvement, “it is still a sign of continuing weakness in the (manufacturing) sector,” Norbert Ore, chairman of the institute’s manufacturing business survey committee, said in a statement. Executives surveyed said “that it will take a recovery in automobiles and housing for the manufacturing sector to once again prosper.”

On a more positive note, Ore said the index continues to show significant deflation of the prices manufacturers must pay for materials, which ultimately should help consumers.

The improvement last month in the manufacturing index is “unlikely to mark the start of a sustained trend,” given that inventories are excessive in many industries and export demand is falling sharply, said Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at MFR Inc., an economic consulting firm in New York.

Industries reporting growth in January included textile mills, petroleum and coal products, according to the survey. Nonmetallic mineral products, electrical equipment, appliances, paper products, and plastics and rubber all contracted last month.

Executives in the apparel and leather industries said the slowdown in the automobile industry is forcing their suppliers to cut production and employment. Likewise, those in the chemical products industry reported they are seeing a “trickle down” effect on their manufacturing, which is tied to the automotive industry.