Friday January 18 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Good Video - Cramer Rages on Banks: 'Where's the SEC?!' (why didn’t Cramer understand this 1 year ago?) - (www.cnbc.com)
Sailfish Fund Loses Half Its Assets, Clients Say - (www.bloomberg.com)
Convicted Appraiser Exposes Toxic Debt Tie to Inflated Values - (www.bloomberg.com)
Wealthy may be next in line in home crisis (Hinsdale, IL examples) - (www.reuters.com)
U.S. Housing Starts Drop to Lowest Level Since 1991 (probably a good thing to get rid of overhang) - (www.bloomberg.com)
Defaults exposing truth of "liar's loans" - (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
Shiller on New York: We're Ancient Rome, Right Before the Fall - (www.observer.com)
Australians lost $40 billion in sub-prime wipeout - (theaustralian.news.com.au)
Philadelphia Fed Bank's January Factory Index Takes Large Fall - (www.bloomberg.com)
Volcker blames Fed for 'bubbles,' says it isn't in control - (www.usatoday.com)
Banks urged to disclose bad debts quickly - (www.ft.com)
Bond insurers spark new credit concerns - (www.ft.com)
Top credit ratings seen in jeopardy - 23:23
Ambac (and MBIA) plummets on downgrade plan - 21:38
US stocks plunge amid recession fears - (www.ft.com)


Other Stories:

Flagstar Suspends Jumbo Loan Origination - ``According to a memo sent out to Flagstar Bank wholesale lending customers, effective tomorrow, the mortgage lender will be tem... - (www.ml-implode.com)
WestLB to foot bill for troubled SIVs - (www.ml-implode.com)
Aurora Loan Services Imploded? - (www.ml-implode.com)

Ambac Odds of Default 73%, MBIA 71% - (Mish’s Housing Blog - globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/)
Death Blow For Ambac? - (Mish’s Housing Blog - globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/)
CEOs Are Worried - (Mish’s Housing Blog - globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/)
Glut Of Mall Space Headed Our Way - (Mish’s Housing Blog - globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/)
Luxury Vehicles and Auto Loans Feel the Squeeze - (Mish’s Housing Blog - globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/)
Tipping Point For Tech - (Mish’s Housing Blog - globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/)
Ambac Slashes Dividend and Reports Loss of $32.83 Per Share - (Mish’s Housing Blog - globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/)
House sellers' pain is renters' gain - (www.baltimoresun.com)
The current credit crunch is more than the bursting of a ‘bubble’ - (www.hinduonnet.com)
Bay Area home sales fall to 20-year low - (www.sfgate.com)
Bernanke Is Said to Support Stimulus Measures - (www.nytimes.com)
New inflation data explain middle-class squeeze - (www.ajc.com)
Mortgage woes hit rental income - (money.cnn.com)
Bernanke faces grilling on fiscal stimulus stance - (www.reuters.com)
Fed’s Survey Provides More Indications of Economic Slippage - (www.nytimes.com)
House sellers' pain is renters' gain - (www.baltimoresun.com)
As house prices fall, rents flatten - (money.cnn.com)
Huge Discounts in California - (patrick.net)
Americans Pay for Housing Boom's Excess - (biz.yahoo.com)
As baby boomers retire, house markets will hurt - (www.usatoday.com)
Profiting from Subprime: The Other Paulson - (optionarmageddon.blogspot.com)
Mortgage Broker Spam - (calculatedrisk.blogspot.com)
The Recession's Regulatory Causes - (www.lewrockwell.com)
The Federal Reserve Has Failed Us - (www.seekingalpha.com)
Tax Breaks Sweeten Countrywide Purchase - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Proof of Zillow's Changing Past Prices - (patrick.net)
Moody's, S&P Reviewing Bond Insurers as Losses Mount - (www.bloomberg.com)
Banks hit by turmoil at bond insurers - (www.ft.com)
Las Vegas Default Highlights Commercial-Property Crunch - (online.wsj.com)
Bond refundings to pressure credit markets - (www.cfo.com)
Scary time to be in the market - (www.nypost.com)
Bond insurers spark new credit concerns - (www.ft.com)
Default Shows Property Crunch - (online.wsj.com)
The Home Equity Crisis Ahead - (www.businessweek.com)


Merrill Posts Record Loss on $15 Billion Writedown - (www.bloomberg.com)
Washington Mutual Posts Quarterly Loss on Provisions - (www.bloomberg.com)
Deal Fees Under Fire Amid Mortgage Crisis - (online.wsj.com)
Lender seeks to shed loans - (www.ft.com)
Credit crunch hits $3 billion casino project - (money.cnn.com)
Lehman Brothers to Cut 1,300 Jobs in Mortgage Unit - (www.bloomberg.com)
Stalled in Detroit: A US downturn spells more misery for carmakers - (www.ft.com)
AMR posts loss; cites jet fuel costs - (www.latimes.com)
Wells Fargo Net Sinks 38% - (www.nypost.com)

Gulf states’ foreign assets to top $2,000bn - (www.ft.com)
The Education of Ben Bernanke - (www.nytimes.com)
A Source of Our Bubble Trouble - (online.wsj.com)