NC's new economy: feeding on misfortune

Dealing with the fallout from deregulation:

The North Carolina Bankers Association has created a website where foreclosed properties can be listed for sale. "(That property) needs to be earning interest and income for our stakeholders," Barbour said. "Banks are not in the real estate business. We understand it a little bit – in fact fairly well – but we are not in that business."

Then you should be taking every step possible to keep people in their homes. And here's a great new opportunity for people who love to talk on the phone:

The city of Winston-Salem is considering paying up to $500,000 to a nationwide collections company in return for 2,000 jobs averaging $41,320 with health benefits, city officials confirmed Friday.

The goal is to attract CFS II, a company that buys charged-off debt from credit card companies at a discount and then tries to recover the debt using its own collections agents. City officials said the company plans to invest $6.63 million to build a call center in Madison Park, which is in northern Winston-Salem.

I can't imagine going to work every day doing that. But I guess it's better than not going to work at all.