| 'Idiot' bidder buys speeding ticket at auction
WELLINGTON.- In a strange example of internet madness, a New Zealander has sold a $NZ130 ($A116) speeding ticket on a local online auction website. Nearly 30,000 people viewed Bob Grieve's ticket on the Trade Me site before Allan Hearn, an insurance assessor from Pukekohe, - by chance the V8 motor racing capital of New Zealand - bought it for $NZ51 ($A45.60). Hearn said he had never had a speeding ticket - a gap in his life that is now filled, The Press of Christchurch reported. "For 50 bucks, who cares?" he said. "I told my missus about it, and she called me an idiot." Grieve, a TV cameraman from Christchurch, posted his photograph holding the ticket on the site and said he had fielded a flurry of amorous comments as well as bids.
Louisville eclipses million-dollar milestone in surplus sales
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Mayor Jerry Abramson today announced that the city has "unloaded" more than a million dollars worth of surplus government vehicles, equipment and other items through online auctions. Metro Government sells obsolete and other surplus items through its website, LouisvilleKy.gov, and GovDeals.com, an online service similar to eBay. The $3,760 sale of a Case International 585 tractor to a bidder in Cookeville, Tenn., recently brought the total funds generated through the online auctions to more than $1 million. "The online auctions are a creative way this government is operating efficiently and effectively for our citizens," Abramson said. "We're unloading items that have outlived their useful life for government, and in doing so creating a revenue stream and reducing warehouse space." Abramson said the online auctions often generate more money than traditional auction-house auctions because items are up for bids around the clock and the online auctions allow more people - virtually from anywhere - to participate.
Nicholas Cage and Leonardo DiCaprio were reportedly locked in a ...
The two actors are said to have fought it out for a 67-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus bataar fossil in an auction which was broadcast live to Beverly Hills from New York's IM Chait Gallery. A source told National Enquirer magazine: "The auction was very heated. Both actors just went up and up and up." Bidding for the 32-inch-long skull began at $100,000 but Cage beat DiCaprio eventually with a final bid of $276,000. The 'Ghost Rider' star already owns a human skull which he has nicknamed Vince. .
RBI asks market participants to submit bids for MSS
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked participants to submit their bids for the market stabilisation scheme (MSS) in physical form. This has been done on account of a system failure, the central bank said. The RBI will auction dated securities worth Rs3,000 crore (nominal) on April 18, 2007 under the MSS. In consultation with the government of India, "7.55 per cent government stock 2010" will be sold (re-issued) through a price-based auction using multiple price method. The RBI will conduct the auction at its Mumbai (Fort) office on April 18.
Up to five per cent of the notified amount of the sale of the stock will be allotted to eligible individuals and institutions as per the scheme for non-competitive bidding facility in the auction of government securities.
Why we shouldn't be bailing out subprime lenders or borrowers
For starters, there's no easy way to bail out homeowners without bailing out the lenders and investors who were largely responsible for the subprime mess. Many experts say we are in the early innings of the foreclosure cycle. If we bail out people today, will we be willing and able to help people who fail later in the game? Propping up borrowers who took a gamble on a house and lost reinforces gambling. "If people think they can take out a bad mortgage and they get bailed out, that's called moral hazard in social insurance and it's a very bad thing," says Thomas Davidoff, an assistant professor in the Haas Real Estate Group at UC Berkeley. Bailout advocates say they want to help people who were duped, not gamblers. But even if you could separate the swindled from the speculators, there's no guarantee that people who get a bailout will keep their homes.
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