The Nation -- For more than a decade, we Americans have been living on an economic San Andreas fault--a foundation of fracturing competitiveness covered by unsustainable consumer spending with money borrowed from foreigners. A financial earthquake was inevitable. We don't know how high on the recession Richter scale the current crisis will take us, but it increasingly looks like, as they say in San Francisco, "The Big One." .

Get Extra Cash By Refinancing Your Car

(ARA) - Sometimes life throws you a curve ball. The water heater springs a leak, your son breaks a tooth or you need a plane ticket to visit a sick relative. These unplanned expenses add up and if you don't have savings to cover them, where will the extra payments come from?One way to come up with some extra cash is to refinance your car with RateGenius. The company offers a variety of refinancing options; if you qualify, you may be able to skip car payments for a minimum of 45 days and as long as 90 days, giving you time to catch up on those expenses."You get a new lender when you refinance for an existing loan, which often means you get a better rate," explains Chris Brown, CEO of RateGenius. "With a new loan you can skip a few payments, add or remove a co-applicant if you have one, add products (such as GAP insurance and extended warranties) and extend the payment term."Auto loan refinancing is very similar to refinancing a home mortgage, with one exception -- the title transfer fee.

Capstead Mortgage says market settling down

NEW YORK - Capstead Mortgage Corp said on Tuesday that it expected to have sufficient liquidity to manage its $7.3 billion portfolio absent any significant drop in financing availability, but it would take a $1.5 million first-quarter loss from a recent sale of $760 million of debt.