Fraud, sub-prime mortgages, return on S&P 500...it's only money

By Dian Vujovich

Having a life as a stock broker once, I still receive and read a magazine called Registered Rep. And every now and again on one of the last pages in that monthly will be a listing of factoids about money-related things, all well-resourced I might add.

Here are a few that were listed in the July 2010 issue:

•Percentage of AAA-rated subprime-mortage-backed securities issued in 2006 that have been downgraded to junk status: 93.

•Return of $330 invested in the S&P500 in 1960, without fees, and with reinvested dividends: $35,000.

•Return on that same $330 when invested in the musical “The Fantasticks,” which ran for 27,612 performances with royalties reinvested in T-bills: $422,000

•Value of Priceline pitchman William Shatner’s shares in the international travel site: $582 million.

•Price that Bloomberg paid to acquire BusinessWeek magazine expressed as a percentage of Bloomberg’s $6.3 billion in revenue: 0.079.

•Median income of Cadillac, Lexus, and Audi owners, respectively:
$129,656; $141,745; and $183,603.

•The percentage of prime, fixed-rate loans in foreclosure or delinquent in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2010: 10.73 (a record high).

•Combined budget shortfalls of 38 states for fiscal 2011: $89 billion.

•Number of states considering legalizing and taxing marijuana as a way to ease budget shortfalls: 13

•Total value of the 10,149 U.S. companies acquired since 2001 by foreign interests: $1.48 trillion.

•Average number of whistleblower complaints received per year between 2004 and 2008: 81.

•Number that claimed fraud of over $100 million: 0.

•Number of complaints in 2009 claiming fraud of $100 million or more: 60.

Sort of fascinating, isn’t it.