Business: Market meltdown lights up suicide hotlines

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Make your money do good. nonprofits & volunteer opportunities Search Atlanta non-profits. Haunted houses, costume ideas and more in ajc.com's Holiday Guide Let your voice be heard: Vote for your favorite live theater in Best of the Big A. Local business eyes $100K prize My Opinion Thomas Oliver: Risk addicts were seduced by derivatives. Local business eyes $100K Forbes.com prize The online magazine's readers chose SoloHealth of Duluth - with it's new self-service vision testing machine - as one of five finalists in Forbes.com's Boost Your Business competition for $100,000 in funding. Georgia's big businesses don't duck politics Columbus-based Aflac, which uses a duck to promote its line of insurance products, is one of the most active Georgia players in this year's political contests. Only the corporate political action committee of Sandy Springs-based UPS spent more among Georgia companies. •A look at Georgia corporate PACs As economy sinks, pawnshops get busy Pawnshop owners and managers say they are seeing more first-timers and more frequent visits from regular customers, who tend to surrender the same item over and over again. Therapists are busy as economy sinks Atlanta psychologist Mary Gresham says the financial crisis has caused a shift in some of her clientele: unemployed executives. Bankrupt entrepreneurs. Commission-only salespeople grappling with withering income. Shell-shocked homeowners trying to make sense of their dwindling financial portfolios and home equity and no credit options. Suicide hot line calls increase Stocks rise at open Wall Street surged in early trading Monday as the credit markets showed signs of easing and investors awaited testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for a reading on the economy and battered financial system. •Several Georgia banks in jeopardy | Investors eye earnings, look for market bottom •Economic indicators show life in September Mortgage firm arranged stealth campaign Freddie Mac secretly paid a Republican consulting firm $2 million to kill legislation that would have regulated and trimmed the mortgage finance giant and its sister company, Fannie Mae, three years before the government took control to prevent their collapse. Oil rises on expectation of OPEC cut Gasoline has fallen more than a dime a gallon since Friday, hitting a national average of $2.92 Monday, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. But oil prices rose today with an OPEC production cut later this week all but certain. All the celebrities you want, on your cellphone Celebrity gossip has long been a profitable staple of print, radio and television. More recently, the cellphone has become the latest medium to feed the appetite for up-to-the-second celebrity gossip. Technobuddy Bill Husted: Put your PC to work and watch savings mount. Looking for an auto dealer? Look here first. www.ajccars.com The last word on schools! The NEW Ultimate Atlanta School Guide Order today at ajcstore.com Your Business News More on AJC AJC Home Business Insider Vents Traffic Business Page Markets Weather Lotteries CNN Private Quarters accessAtlanta Living Coke BellSouth ajccars Metro Delta Technobuddy ajcclassifieds Nation-World Ga. 100 Stocks Wage Finder ajchomefinder Opinion Home Depot Your Business ajcjobs Shopping UPS Your Money Mobile Sports Alerts Sports * Copyright © 2008, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. This news, information and advertising message is brought to you by Atlanta Journal Constitution, 72 Marietta St., N. W., Atlanta,GA 30303. This information is for personal use only and is not available for redistribution. This email was sent to: fpac.rangola@blogger.com Please do not reply to this e-mail. If you wish to remove your e-mail address from future mailings, please visit the subscription center. Manage your profile by visiting our profile center. If you have a question or concern about AJC e-mail newsletters, please visit our customer care site: http://www.ajc.com/newsletters To receive the latest Atlanta News and Sports Get The Atlanta Journal-Constitution delivered! Subscribe Today!				Sponsored by