NEW YORK: Vacancy rates in office buildings exceed 10 percent in virtually every major city across the United States and are rising rapidly, a sign of economic distress that could lead to yet another wave of problems for the beleaguered financial sector. With job cuts rampant and businesses retrenching, more empty space is expected from New York to Chicago to Los Angeles in the coming year. Rental income would then decline and property values would slide further. The Urban Land Institute predicts 2009 will be the worst year for the U.S. commercial real estate market “since the wrenching 1991-1992 industry depression.”

Stock analysts say commercial real estate is the next ticking time bomb for banks, which have already received hundreds of billions of dollars in capital and other assistance from the U.S. government. Big banks – like Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley – each hold tens of billions of dollars in commercial real estate bonds, which were sliced and diced into securities. The banks also invested directly in properties. Jeffrey DeBoer, chief executive of the Real Estate Roundtable, a lobbying group in Washington, is asking for government assistance for his industry and warns of the potential impact of defaults. “Each one by itself is not significant,” he said, “but the cumulative effect will put tremendous stress on the financial sector.”

Anyone notice the strip malls starting to resemble ghost towns?

Fizzy drinks sold by Coca-Cola in Britain have been found to contain pesticides at up to 300 times the level allowed in tap or bottled water. A worldwide study found pesticide levels in orange and lemon drinks sold under the Fanta brand, which is popular with children, were at their highest in the UK. The research team called on the Government, the industry and the company to act to remove the chemicals and called for new safety standards to regulate the soft drinks market.

The industry denies children are at risk and insists that the levels found by researchers based at the University of Jaen in southern Spain are not harmful. The researchers tested 102 cans and bottles of soft drinks, bought from 15 countries, for the presence of 100 pesticides. The UK products were bought in London, Cambridge, Edinburgh, St Andrews and at Gatwick Airport.

The experts said the levels found were low under the maximum residue levels allowed for fruit, but they were ‘very high’ and ‘up to 300 times’ the figure permitted for bottled or tap water.

The chemicals detected included carbendazim, thiabendazole, imazalil, prochloraz, malathion and iprodione. They are mainly applied to fruit after harvest to stop it developing fungal infections and rotting.

A total of 19 products were bought in the UK, all made by Coca-Cola.

You gotta love the Brits they’ll put up with anything, stiff upper lip and all that.

Must now wear new “tested for lead” clothes from Macy’s

This is the most idiotic thing ever to come down the George Bush Pike. Only Walmart, Target and other big stores selling new products can afford this legislation. No mother will be able to buy used clothing for their children or a used children’s book. Technically this mean garage sales will not legally be able to sell these items either. Also the same goes for the Salvation Army stores and Goodwill. Unbelievable. And, note, China has not been shipping clothes with lead in the fabric. It was always about lead paint. How did this legislation come about then? Let’s track it down and I suspect a corrupt politician is behind it.

This legislation also applies to hand-made one-of-a-kind knit clothing. Screw all those grannies in New England who knit mittens.

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, passed by Congress in August, goes into effect February 10. Among other things, it mandates all childrens’ products, toys, clothes, books, etc. are tested for toxic lead and phthalates, chemicals used in plastic. Store owners must present a certificate proving the products were tested.

Many small business owners say they can’t afford the testing and will have no choice but to get rid of much of their inventory.

“The cost of digestive testing for lead ranges from $130 to $180 per test on a shirt I am selling for $4.95,” said Gulij.

While state attorney general in 1992, Burris aggressively sought the death penalty for Rolando Cruz, who twice was convicted of raping and murdering a 10-year-old girl in the Chicago suburb of Naperville. The crime took place in 1983.

But by 1992, another man had confessed [2] to the crime, and Burris’ own assistant attorney general was pleading with Burris to drop the case, then on appeal before the Illinois Supreme Court. Burris refused. He was running for governor.

“Anybody who understood this case wouldn’t have voted for Burris,” Rob Warden, executive director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions, told ProPublica. Indeed, Burris lost that race, and two other attempts to become governor.

Burris’ role in the Cruz case was “indefensible and in defiance of common sense and common decency,” Warden said. “There was obvious evidence that [Cruz] was innocent.” Assistant attorney general Mary Brigid Kenney agreed, and eventually resigned [3] rather than continue to prosecute Cruz.

Once Burris assigned Kenney to the case in 1991, she became convinced that Cruz was innocent, a victim of what she believed was prosecutorial misconduct. She sent Burris a memo reporting that the jury convicted Cruz without knowing that Brian Dugan, a repeat sex offender and murderer, had confessed to the crime. Burris never met with Kenney to discuss a new trial for Cruz, Kenney told ProPublica.

Feds start wait list for DTV converter box coupons | KOMO News — This is going to be a fiasco, you can see it coming down Broadway.

Consumers who apply for federal coupons to pay for converter boxes ahead of next month’s transition to digital television broadcasts are being placed on a waiting list and may not receive their vouchers before the switchover, the Commerce Department said Monday.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the arm of the Commerce Department administering the coupon program, created the waiting list on Sunday after hitting a $1.34 billion funding limit set by Congress.

The agency will send out coupons to those on the list only as unredeemed coupons currently in circulation expire, freeing up more money for the program. The waiting list already has requests for 103,000 coupons.

Found by Aric Mackey.

The family of Adolf Merckle said the German billionaire committed suicide after his business empire got into trouble because of the global financial crisis.

A brief family statement Tuesday did not give details on the circumstances of the 74-year-old investor’s death. It said the problems his holdings suffered due to the financial crisis “broke” him and “he ended his life.”