Thursday February 7 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Celebrity Real Estate Losers - (www.forbes.com)
Thank ACORN And Co For Mortgage Crisis - (www.sweetness-light.com)
'Anyone for Some Used Corporate Debt?' - (online.wsj.com)
Commercial property credit crunch tremor in US - (www.ft.com)
Growing Pot To Pay The Mortgage - (www.santacruzsentinel.com)
Warning of surge in distressed property sales - (www.ft.com)
Buyers asked to pay suppliers stiffed by builder - (webtracy.blogspot.com)
Socialist Hillary's plan to repudiate contracts (overruling 200 years of contract law) - (www.tnr.com)
Builders cut prices, but sales fall anyway - (www.marketwatch.com)
GMAC to consider sale of mortgage lender arm (they have already tried this, but now have artificial lift in price due to Fed rate cuts) - (www.ft.com)
Toll Has Seventh Straight Drop in Quarterly Revenue (gloomy on outlook for 2008)- (www.bloomberg.com)
More homeowners walking away (old story getting lots of repeated airplay by very slow media outlets like CNN) - (money.cnn.com)
States using tried and true tricks to raise funds - Florida joins coalition of states suing EPA - (www.stateline.org)
"Reduced motivation to retain possession" - (latimesblogs.latimes.com)
Appeal to Senators - (paper-money.blogspot.com)
Wall Street Wakes Up to Home Glut - (online.wsj.com)


Other Stories:

CDO Market Is Almost Frozen, JPMorgan, Merrill Say - (www.bloomberg.com)
Wall Street Throws A Tantrum - (www.newsweek.com)
Wall Street Wetting Its Pants - (www.wallstreetexaminer.com)
Lending Risk Levels By City - (www.blownmortgage.com)
Echoes of Japan's 'lost decade' rattle U.S. market - (www.guardian.co.uk)
Wheat Extends Rally to Record as High-Protein Supplies Dwindle - (www.bloomberg.com)
Treasuries Fall as 10-Year Auction Draws Lowest Yield Since '78 - (www.bloomberg.com)
Oil Falls After U.S. Supplies Surge the Most in Almost 4 Years - (www.bloomberg.com)
Recession Fears Intensify - (online.wsj.com)
U.S. Job-Market Weakening Is Led by Self-Employed, Data Shows - (www.bloomberg.com)
Fed wrestles with growth and inflation worries - (www.reuters.com)
Troubled homeowners: Can't pay? Just walk away - (money.cnn.com)
Papers Show Wachovia Knew of Thefts - (www.nytimes.com)
U.S. recession could be worse than recent downturns - (www.reuters.com)
Rust Belt cities fight glut of abandoned houses - (www.ap.com)
Bush budget gives states little to cheer about - (www.stateline.org)

A Year of Reckoning - (online.wsj.com)
Junk-Bond Defaults Seen to Multiply - (online.wsj.com)
Credit Crisis: Where Was The SEC? - (www.forbes.com)
Insight: CDS market may create added risks - (www.ft.com)
The Fed isn't fooling anyone - (articles.moneycentral.msn.com)
Fannie Mae, A Ticking Time Bomb - (greatdepression2006.blogspot.com)
S&P Warns on Banks’ Exposure to Bond Insurers - (www.nytimes.com)
Corporate-Loan Market Is Reeling - (online.wsj.com)
Bubble worries surround Treasury market - (www.chron.com)
Goldman's Viniar Says Fear Rules in Credit Markets - (www.bloomberg.com)
Goldmans warns on $15bn monoline rescue - (business.timesonline.co.uk)
Wheat goes above $10 a bushel - (www.usatoday.com)
Recovery for SIVs unlikely given Basel II rules-panel - (www.reuters.com)
Speculators May Have Accelerated Housing Downturn - (online.wsj.com)
Wood's SRM Global Fell 30% in January, Adding to 2007 Losses - (www.bloomberg.com)
Commercial CDO Delinquencies Rise - (www.forbes.com)
The Minsky Moment - (www.newyorker.com)
Media Meltdown: Unreporting the Housing Bubble - (www.oftwominds.com)
Bond Insurer Downgrades Could Lead to Bank Downgrades - (www.researchrecap.com)

MBIA Raises Loss Estimate by $65 Million, Plans to Sell Stock - (www.bloomberg.com)
Cisco Profit Rises; Third-Quarter Forecast Trails - (www.bloomberg.com)
Macy's Lowers Profit Forecast, Will Cut 2,300 Jobs - (www.bloomberg.com)
U.S. prosecutors eye U.S. ties to SocGen case: report - (www.reuters.com)
Retail sales off to dreary start in '08 - (www.latimes.com)
Generic-Drug Firms Get Bolder - (online.wsj.com)

Why home prices could drop 25% more - (www.beursduivel.be)
Bear markets and recessions: Historical perspective - (www.bloggingstocks.com)
One-fourth of flights late or canceled in '07 - (www.chron.com)
French Trader Says He Won’t Be Made a Scapegoat - (www.nytimes.com)
Delta merger could add to flight delay woes - (www.ajc.com)
U.K. Consumer Confidence Falls to Lowest Since 2004 - (www.bloomberg.com)
Bank ratings may be cut on bond insurer woes: S&P - (www.marketwatch.com)
Georgia loses federal case in a dispute about water - (www.stateline.org)