Monday March 31 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

http://docs.google.com/TeamPresent?docid=ddp4zq7n_0cdjsr4fn&skipauth=true - very funny cartoon subprime primer (subprime for idiots) :-)
Upscale condos on auction block - Inside Bay Area - (www.insidebayarea.com) - $550K condos now being auctioned starting at $245K. Unfortunately, homeowner association dues range from $389 to around $520 a month based on the unit
Housing Woes Shake Bank In California - (online.wsj.com)
Condo Meltdown: Developer halts project, faces millions in liens - (www.dailybusinessreview.com)
COUP ALERT: Bush and Paulson want to give even MORE powers to the Federal Reserve Bank. Be afraid America, be very afraid - (www.ml-implode.com) - 'The Federal Reserve was supposed to regulate the lending industry and didn't. Maybe that was the plan - offload the responsibil...
Treasury Dept. Plan Would Give Fed Wide New Power - (www.bloomberg.com) – Giving the Fed more power is all wrong. Never give the people who caused the original problem more power.
KB Home on Housing: "No meaningful improvement in near term" - (www.ml-implode.com)
Banks Fail to Lower Mortgage Rates as Bernanke Cuts - (www.bloomberg.com)
As Deals Crash, Investors Flee Hedge Funds - (online.wsj.com)
Buyers' Revenge: Trash the House After Foreclosure - (online.wsj.com)
French Consumer Confidence Slides to Record Low, Deficit Widens - (www.bloomberg.com)
cbs5.com - Oakland Condo Glut Leaves Developers In Dilemma - (www.cbs5.com)
Floridians Forgo Beer, Take $200 Vacations as House Prices Fall - (www.bloomberg.com)
Dear Citigroup Customer... - (Mish at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com)
Thornburg: $1B Or Bust - (www.forbes.com)


Other Stories:

LI leads state in subprime foreclosures - (www.ml-implode.com) - As the housing crisis continues to ripple across New York State, it is hitting certain communities far harder than others, accor...
Suspicious minds caught in Iceland trap - (www.ft.com)
Bush Readies Mortgage Aid Plan - (www.ml-implode.com)
Only 29 Percent of Americans Approve of a Government-Led Mortgage Bailout - (www.ml-implode.com)
Owner, Son & Accountant for Fidelity Home Mortgage Corp Indicted On Tax Fraud Charges - (www.ml-implode.com)
KPMG Under Fire - (www.ml-implode.com)

U.S. Housing: The Big Picture by the Numbers - (seekingalpha.com)
American house prices -- Grim realty - (www.economist.com)
The Housing Market Is Not Making a Comeback - (www.homeguide123.com)
Superbear says there's more to come - (www.rgemonitor.com)
NAR Optimists Drubbed by their Own Dismal Data - (www.seekingalpha.com)
Taleb Outsells Greenspan as Black Swan Gives Worst Turbulence - (www.bloomberg.com)

Sweeping Changes in Paulson Plan - (online.wsj.com)
Inside The Paulson Plan - (www.forbes.com)
Treasury Wants to Reshape Regulation - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Fed May Rethink Greenspan's Hands-Off Approach Towards Bubbles - (www.bloomberg.com)
Fed Leaders Ponder an Expanded Mission - (www.washingtonpost.com)

Don't be fooled by "low" prices - (howtostopathief.blog.com)
Intuition tells me people are going mad - (intuitiveblogger-intuition.blogspot.com)
Stop The Mortgage Bailout! - (www.nationalbubble.com)
UBS Lowers Price of Security Seen as 'Cash' - (online.wsj.com)
Higher-Quality Loans May Trip Merrill Next - (www.thestreet.com)
Odd Crop Prices Defy Economics - (www.nytimes.com)
UBS to Mark Down Auction-Rate Securities - (money.cnn.com)
House sellers more realistic - (www.floridatoday.com)
Reconsidering the Deflation Risk - (www.seekingalpha.com)
Equity Loans as Next Round in Credit Crisis - (www.nytimes.com)
Rising Credit Card Delinquencies - (http://www.researchrecap.com/)
US House Prices Down 15% - (http://www.seekingalpha.com/)
CA House prices down 26% in February - (www.investorvillage.com)

Lehman Target of $250 Million Swindle in Japan, Journal Says - (www.bloomberg.com)
Lehman May Be Victim of Fraud - (online.wsj.com)
Countrywide Exec Gets $28 Million from Bank of America - (www.cnbc.com)
High Rice Cost Creating Fears of Asia Unrest - (www.nytimes.com)
ECB to offer markets 150 billion euros as analysts warn of wider crisis - (news.yahoo.com)
The Foreclosure Machine - (www.nytimes.com)

Friday March 28 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Calls for Mortgage Bailout Grow As Crisis Deepens - (www.cnbc.com)
Wall Street Firms Borrowing Heavily From the Fed - (www.cnbc.com) – Of course the transparent Fed does not release borrower names, but Big Wall Street investment companies are taking advantage of the Federal Reserve's unprecedented offer to secure emergency loans, the central bank reported Thursday. Those firms averaged $32.9 billion in daily borrowing over the past week from the new lending facility, compared with $13.4 billion the previous week. The program, which began last Monday, is part of the Fed's effort to aid the financial system. On Wednesday alone, lending reached $37 billion
Lehman's Stock Plunges on More Liquidity Rumors - (www.cnbc.com)
Bear Stearns' Cayne Dumps Stake for $61 Million - (www.cnbc.com) – After stock rises to over $10/share
AIG Sues Greenberg Over $20 Billion in Company Stock - (www.bloomberg.com) – Finally, AIG goes after crook Hank Greenberg
Chase mortgage memo pushes 'Cheats & Tricks' - (www.ml-implode.com) -The bank says it never backed the strategies, which detail how to get an iffy loan approved 'The secret to approval? Inflate the borrowers' income or otherwise falsify their loan application.'
Welcome to subprime's ghost town - (www.ml-implode.com) 'By the end of the year, almost 9,000 subprime jobs were gone from Orange County. Many of these people have been unable to find new jobs. And economic officials say that was only part of the economic pain.'
HTFC Mortgage Company CEO Has A Potty Mouth - (www.ml-implode.com)
NY Buget Perils - (www.nypost.com)
Meriwether hedge fund down 28 percent in 2008 - (www.reuters.com)
Nationwide shuts door on mortgage hunters - (business.timesonline.co.uk)
Unrest grows in Egypt as food prices soar - (www.ft.com)
Jump in rice price fuels fears of unrest – (www.ft.com) – Central bank inflationary policies could cause food riots around the world
Grain rises 30% to all-time high - 18:30


Other Stories:

Where Was Media When Sub-Prime Disaster Unfolded? - (www.ml-implode.com)
From $70K to food bank, one family's struggle - (www.ml-implode.com)
Subprime-hit German lender faces shareholder wrath - (www.ml-implode.com)
Asset-Backed Commercial Paper Falls for Fourth Straight Week - (www.ml-implode.com)
Dear Citigroup Customer .... - (www.ml-implode.com)
S Korea pension fund shuns US debt - (www.ml-implode.com)

U.S. Stocks Fall on Profit Concern; Oracle, Google, Banks Drop - (www.bloomberg.com)
Oil Rises Above $107 After Iraqi Pipeline Blast Curbs Supply - (www.bloomberg.com)
Treasuries Decline on Weaker Demand at Treasury, Fed Auctions - (www.bloomberg.com)
Dollar Advances Against Euro as Spending Beats Prior Estimate - (www.bloomberg.com)

U.S. Economy Grew 0.6% in Fourth Quarter as Housing Slumped - (www.bloomberg.com)
Central banks boost liquidity as Q1 nears end - (www.reuters.com)
Greenspan doctrine on asset prices questioned - (www.ft.com)
Jobless claims fell 9,000 last week - (www.reuters.com)
Fed Actions Defuse Subprime ARM Rate Reset Bomb: John M. Berry - (www.bloomberg.com)

Hedge Funds, Others Hurt By Clear Channel Investments - (money.cnn.com)
Two Senate Panels to Investigate Bear Stearns Deal - (www.nytimes.com)
Money-Market Rates Rise; Banks Fail to Quell Concern - (www.bloomberg.com)
Equity Loans as Next Round in Credit Crisis - (www.bloomberg.com)
Ten Days That Changed Capitalism - (online.wsj.com)
Grain Elevators Caught Between Farm Boom, Credit Crunch - (online.wsj.com)
Paulson wants to regulate Wall Street - (www.nypost.com)
Paulson warns Wall Street of possible new oversight - (www.latimes.com)
Meriwether Must Scramble Again - (online.wsj.com)

Oracle Falls After Third-Quarter Sales Miss Analysts' Estimates - (www.bloomberg.com)
Motorola to split in 2 - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Report Assails Auditor for Work at Failed Home Lender - (www.nytimes.com)
Judge orders banks to fund Clear Channel buyout - Market Watch from (money.cnn.com)
Lennar Slips To Loss In Q1 On Higher Charges, 62% Fall In Revenues - (www.rttnews.com)
Beazer bonds downgraded - (www.ajc.com)
Increasingly, consultants are preaching the doctrine of simplicity - (www.cfo.com)
Merrill, UBS to Post Loss, Oppenheimer's Whitney Says - (www.bloomberg.com)
Report Details Lender's Collapse - (www.washingtonpost.com)

UN: Asia faces sharp food price inflation - (www.chron.com)
China Stock Index Drops to Eight-Month Low - (www.bloomberg.com)
Unrest grows in Egypt as food prices soar - (www.ft.com)
Bank eyes new ways to resolve credit crisis - (www.ft.com)
Asian businesses and workers suffer from dollar's weakness - (www.iht.com)
Protesters enter Bear Stearns building in New York - (biz.yahoo.com)
Taxpayers May Be Liable From Bear, Mortgage Rescue - (www.bloomberg.com)
Bear Stearns Sale to JPMorgan to Be Probed by Senate - (www.bloomberg.com)
How Bear Stearns threatens the entire world financial system - (www.rawstory.com)
Behind the Deal, the Hand of the Fed - (www.nytimes.com)
Jim Rogers on Investment Bank Bail Outs - (www.seekingalpha.com)
Fed Facing a 'Money Trap' - (www.seekingalpha.com)
Iceland contagion may spread far and wide - (www.telegraph.co.uk)
Washington sends in cavalry to fight off full-blown crisis - (www.ft.com)
Inside the Mortgage Crisis - (money.cnn.com)

The Fed is Deflating: 10 Reasons Why - (www.seekingalpha.com)
It's Not Going to Stop - (www.voiceofsandiego.org)
Credit crunch 'at $1.2 trillion' - (news.bbc.co.uk)
Credit losses tipped to hit $1.3 trillion - (news.com.au)
If the bailout comes, watch for a dollar dive - (uk.reuters.com)
New-Home Sales in U.S. Fall to Lowest in 13 Years - (www.bloomberg.com)
House losers vs. buyers - (www.dailynews.com)
Consumer Attitudes and Home Prices Sour - (www.nytimes.com)
Owners Who Won't Cut the Price - (www.nytimes.com)
How Counter-Productive Is NAR Spin? - (www.seekingalpha.com)

Thursday March 27 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Congress May Help on Municipal Bonds - (biz.yahoo.com) – Municipal governments and hospitals whining to politicians and proposing new legislation. I predict another bailout in a few years of the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) system.
Hoarding by banks stokes fear over crisis - (www.ft.com) – Glad to see all the free money and credit going to the banks from the Fed is making it back to the consumers (sarcasm intended).
Investors rode housing boom, now many going bust - (www.signonsandiego.com) – Good real life examples
FHLB seeks to enter monoline market - (www.ft.com) – Hmm, sounds like another government attempt to stabilize the bond market
Gambling no longer considered recession-proof - (www.chicagotribune.com) – Of course it isn’t. Vegas had bad years in the 70s and early 90s but everyone thinks things have changed.
Rise in debt among older people - (www.ft.com)
New-Home Sales in the U.S. Fell to 13-Year Low in February - (www.bloomberg.com)
Clear Channel shares sink on reports that buyout deal is on brink of collapse - (www.chron.com) – More private equity deals falling apart.
Hedge Funds, Others Hurt By Clear Channel Investments - (money.cnn.com)
Stocks in Longest Funk Since '70s - (online.wsj.com) – I don’t believe this story, as the markets were in a funk from 2000-2003, this one has only been for 6 months.
Icelandic saga - (www.ft.com)
South FL market still bleak as prices and sales keep dropping - (www.sun-sentinel.com)
McCain Warns Against Hasty Mortgage Bailout - (www.nytimes.com) – So far, the only politician not completely catering to the voters who got themselves into their own trouble.
Bond funds run into trouble - (www.sfgate.com)
Fed Creates New Rules For Itself - (www.bloomberg.com)


Other Stories:

House Price Drop Signals Tough Spring - (http://www.sfgate.com/)
Confidence Slides, House Prices Decline - (http://www.bloomberg.com/)
Durable-Goods Orders in U.S. Unexpectedly Drop as Machinery Demand Slumps - (www.bloomberg.com)
Consumer confidence crumpling - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Demand for durable goods falls 1.7% in Feb. - (www.marketwatch.com)
Be It Ever So Illogical: Homeowners Who Won’t Cut the Price - (www.nytimes.com)
Consumer Attitudes and Home Prices Sour - (www.bloomberg.com)
Ariz. hopes baby boomers remain in workforce longer - (www.azcentral.com)
Real estate investors: We're in a recession - (www.ajc.com)
Freddie sees more missed payments - (money.cnn.com)
Caterpillar CEO says U.S. likely in recession - (www.reuters.com)
Wall Street May Face $460 Bln in Losses - (www.bloomberg.com)
Our Financial House of Cards - (www.mises.org)
History shows wide-ranging reasons for recessions - (twincities.com)
US house prices slide 10.7 percent in major markets - (news.yahoo.com)
Case-Shiller 10 City Index Worst Drop Since 1987 - (http://www.mybudget360.com/)
Santa Clara County Prices Fall 14.8% In One Year - (http://www.housingtracker.net/)
Median price of existing CA house fell 26.2% - (www.signonsandiego.com)
FDIC to add workers to bank-failure division - (msnbc.msn.com)
Banks Balk at Paying for Clear Channel Deal - (www.nytimes.com)
Euro Money-Market Rates Advance to Highest This Year, EBF Says - (www.bloomberg.com)
Distressed ratios are at their highest level since 2003 - (www.cfo.com)
Two Senate Panels to Investigate Bear Stearns Deal - (www.nytimes.com)
S&P: Home prices drop 11.4% in January - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Funds overseeing $6.7 bln have shut so far in 2008 - (www.marketwatch.com)
Risky Strategy Lures Investors Seeking Yield - (online.wsj.com)

Deutsche Bank Says Worsening Markets May Affect Goal - (www.bloomberg.com)
Banks Hiding Desperation as US Housing Slump Continues - (marketoracle.co.uk)
NAR Existing Home Sales Report Bogus Headline - (seekingalpha.com)
February Existing Home Sales Fell 23.8% - (seekingalpha.com)
Tata buys into 40 years of trouble - (money.cnn.com)
Report Assails Auditor for Work at Failed Home Lender - (www.nytimes.com)
5 companies land on CalPERS' worst-run list - (www.latimes.com)
FDIC Plans for Rise In Bank Failures - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Clear Channel deal in trouble as banks fear loss - (www.latimes.com)
High Energy Costs Hit Cotton Producers - (www.ap.com)

ECB Pumps Extra Funds Into Europe Bank System - (online.wsj.com)
FSA admits failings over Northern Rock - (www.ft.com)
China's forex reserves climb sharply in first two months: report - (www.afp.com)
Bank eyes new ways to resolve credit crisis - (www.ft.com)
The rescue of Bear Stearns marks liberalisation’s limit - (www.ft.com)

Wednesday March 26 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

FDIC adds 140 workers to bank-failure division - (www.ml-implode.com) - ``Anticipating a surge in troubled financial institutions, federal regulators will increase by 60% the number of workers who han...
Trouble for airlines - (www.chron.com) – In 2003 to 2004, 4 of the big 7 airlines went into bankruptcy protection. They probably didn’t negotiate the pay low enough to survive this downturn and high oil prices.
Aloha Airlines files for bankruptcy - Yahoo! News - (news.yahoo.com)
The Sordid Subprime Connections Between Obama, The Pritzkers, Bear Stearns, and even Hillary - (www.ml-implode.com) - Sorta gives you the feeling that our country is a billionaire's playground, with politicians as their lackeys, and we just foot ...
Iceland Lifts Key Rate to 15% at Unscheduled Meeting - (www.bloomberg.com)
Colleges Change Lending Habits - (online.wsj.com)
Great Depression questions resurface - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Fed subsidising biggest, most powerful investment banks - (www.guardian.co.uk)
Hidden Derivative Losses Spook India Investors: Andy Mukherjee - (www.bloomberg.com)
Small Firms Find Credit Is Tightening - (www.nytimes.com)
Now Is It a Bailout? - (blogs.wsj.com)
Letter To Bernanke in WSJ - (bp1.blogger.com)
Pay day loans exacerbate housing crisis - (www.reuters.com) – I believe Pay Day loans are a result of the loose Fed policies.
Appraisers: Pressure to inflate inflates - (www.myrecordjournal.com)
Fed To Destroy Dollar Buying Up McMansions - (www.bloomberg.com)
Countrywide Reconstructed: PennyMac - (www.ml-implode.com)


Other Stories:

Mad Max Check Out Time - (www.ml-implode.com) - 'China’s Mad Max Road Warrior economy is in the process of shutting down.'
Subprime woes threaten Japan real-estate boom - (www.ml-implode.com) ``While real estate investment trusts, or REITs, have played a key role in the surge in property values, their holdings, purchas...
Hillary Clinton Proposes New Mortgage Bailout Plans - (www.ml-implode.com) ``Senator Hillary Clinton has been proposing ideas to provide foreclosure relief for more than a year now. On Monday, she added ...
Unique Mortgage Solutions files Chapter 11 - (www.ml-implode.com)
Freddie sees more missed payments - (www.ml-implode.com)

Why is Bear Stearns Trading at $6 Instead of $2? - (www.hussman.net)
JPMorgan Raised Bear Stearns Bid - (www.nytimes.com)
Auctions prove prices far lower than Zillow says - (happyinvestor.wordpress.com)Massachusetts Prices Falling - (www.boston.com)
Real estate slump hitting Santa Cruz hard - (santacruzsentinel.com)
The inevitable collapse of the dollar - (youtube.com)
Housing Crash Unaffected By Fed Actions - (seekingalpha.com)
Resales Probably Fell as Prices Slid, Credit Shrank - (www.bloomberg.com)
Meltdown Not Over Yet - (jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com)
Debt crisis nothing new - (www.edmontonsun.com)
Dollar Falls on Bets Fed Will Make Deeper Interest Rate Cuts - (www.bloomberg.com)
Gold Advances in N.Y. as Euro Restarts Climb Against Dollar - (www.bloomberg.com)
U.S. stocks struggle to prolong move higher into third session - (www.marketwatch.com)
Oil Falls a Fourth Day as U.S. Economic Slowdown Curbs Demand - (www.bloomberg.com)

The Hand Behind the Deal - (www.nytimes.com)
APS seeks rate hike of $11.51 per household - (www.azcentral.com)
Food prices on the rise worldwide - (money.cnn.com)
IRS opens offices to help with stimulus payments - (www.azcentral.com)
Is your grocery bill going up? You're not alone - (www.ap.com)

Foreclosure Rate Outpaces Sales by Lenders - (online.wsj.com)
Higher-yield bond funds run into trouble - (www.sfgate.com)
Great Letter to Bernanke in WSJ - (wcvarones.blogspot.com)
Open Letter To All Truckers - (Mish at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com)
Will Citibank Survive? - (marketoracle.co.uk)

Wall Street banks slashing workforces - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Did Deal Overexpose J.P. Morgan? - (online.wsj.com)
American Airlines parent expects huge jump in '08 fuel bill - (www.dallasnews.com)
Paints maker Sherwin-Williams reduces earnings expectations for 1st-qtr - (www.signonsandiego.com)
Natural gas growing pains - (www.chron.com)

UK employers foresee 'jumpier waters' - (www.ft.com)
BOJ's Shirakawa warns of growing downside econ risks - (www.boston.com)
Subprime holdings damp China bank profits - (www.ft.com)

Tuesday March 25 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Crony capitalism: In the face of Wall Street panic, the Fed is subsidising the biggest and most powerful investment banks - (www.guardian.co.uk)
Hillary Clinton has a massive brainfart, calls on Alan Greenspan (who created the housing mess) to head a special panel to solve the housing problem - (www.ml-implode.com)- Fox, meet henhouse...
Rule of thumb. Never count on idiots who got you into a mess to fix the mess after the fact.

Truckers ‘going broke’ and threatening to strike - (www.qctimes.com) – Truckers strike planned April 1, 2008
Cities grapple with surge in abandoned homes - (www.ml-implode.com) - ``In western New York, the city of Buffalo filed a lawsuit on February 21 against 36 lenders -- including big names like JPMorgan Chase & Co Inc and Countrywide Financial Corp -- who were involved in 57 foreclosures that led to properties being abandoned and ultimately demolished by authorities.''
Iceland shows cracks as the krona crashes - (www.telegraph.co.uk)
Banks Plot Public Bailout - (www.roguegovernment.com)
Welcome to "Bailout Nation" - (www.ml-implode.com) - 'And now US homeowners, justifiably, will scream that the government cares more about Wall Street fat cats than it does about th...
Insurers deal new blow to house buyers - (www.miamiherald.com)
When media coverage, industry interests clash - (www.inman.com)
Federal Home Loan Banks May Buy $100 Billion of Mortgage Bonds - (www.bloomberg.com) – Government finds another way to blow $100B in bailouts. Add this to the $400B last week and $500B from previous months.
JPMorgan Quadruples Bear Stearns Bid to Win Over Shareholders - (www.bloomberg.com)
Wall Street Firms Cut 34,000 Jobs, Most Since 2001 Dot-Com Bust - (www.bloomberg.com)
More commercial real estate loans go on the block - (www.financialweek.com)
Leery Lenders Demand More From Borrowers - (biz.yahoo.com)
Can U.S. avert a Japan-style economic bust? - (www.csmonitor.com)


Other Stories:

Wells Fargo CEO open to a 'Fed-assisted' deal - (www.ml-implode.com) - Look what you've done now, Bernanke. Now every fat cat banker is lining up for a handout, in the form of guaranteed buyouts of ...
February Existing Home Sales Fell 23.8% - (www.ml-implode.com) - ``Year over year changes showed that single family home sales were 23.8% below February 2007 levels. The national median sales ...
Investors rode housing boom, and now many are going bust - (www.ml-implode.com)- 'Homeowners, lenders and investors in mortgage-backed securities shoulder a lot of the pain from the mortgage mess. '
Fed May Buy Mortgages Next, Treasury Investors Bet - (www.ml-implode.com)
Carrington asks for $200m to replace bank loans - (www.ml-implode.com)

Why We Borrow Until It Hurts - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Treasuries Fall as Stocks, Mortgage Purchase Ease Haven Appeal - (www.bloomberg.com)
U.S. Stocks Rise; Bear Stearns, Tiffany, Monsanto Shares Climb - (www.bloomberg.com)
Car title lenders driving up Americans' debt - (www.chron.com)
Fair-value rules get more blame for crunch - (www.financialweek.com)
S&P drops its outlook for National City Corp. - (www.ml-implode.com)
Why an Economic Slowdown May Not Contain Inflation - (www.ml-implode.com)
Political Pendulum Swings Toward Stricter Regulation - (online.wsj.com)
With Economy Tied to Wall St., New York Braces for Job Cuts - (www.nytimes.com)
"Pay day" loans exacerbate housing crisis – (www.reuters.com)
Articles of Impeachment? Bear Stearns Buyout Illegal? - (market-ticker.denninger.net)
Glut of Unsold Housing in Santa Clara County - (patrick.net)
Napa County foreclosure data - (www.napavalleyregister.com)
The Impact of AU Technology on Subprime Lending - (www.lendingsanity.com)
NAR Propaganda - (optionarmageddon.blogspot.com)
Signs of Trouble - (www.nytimes.com)
Is the US economy heading for a collapse? - (www.rediff.com)

Corporate liquidity begins to dry up - (www.financialweek.com)
Qualified borrowers face credit squeeze - (www.boston.com)
Mortgage assets 'are likely target' - (www.ft.com)
When banks cannot trust each other - (www.economist.com)
The ins and outs of the Fed's open window - (www.thedeal.com)
Private-equity firms showing strain - (www.usatoday.com)
Who Says Private Equity Is Dead? - (www.cfo.com)
In the Fed's Cross Hairs: Exotic Game - (www.nytimes.com)
Fed's bold moves: Band-Aid or breakthrough? - (www.sfgate.com)
It's Hard to Thaw a Frozen Market - (www.nytimes.com)
It's High Time to Re-Regulate Banking - (www.spiegel.de)
The Financial System: What went wrong - (www.economist.com)

Banks should brace for added regulation - (www.financialweek.com)
Crumbling Profit Center – (online.wsj.com)
JPMorgan in Negotiations to Raise Bear Stearns Bid - (www.nytimes.com)
Citigroup Slips to Also-Ran After 10 Years as Biggest U.S. Bank - (www.bloomberg.com)
Against the Grain: Food Firms Hedge Costs - (online.wsj.com)
China Stocks Fall as Speculation Wanes State to Boost Market - (www.bloomberg.com)
Central banks go separate ways – (www.economist.com)
Japan corporate mood gloomy amid economic woes - (www.boston.com)
China Facing Renewed Fuel Shortages - (www.ap.com)
A glum outlook from Japanese firms - (www.iht.com)
Rising costs forcing some South Korean factory owners to flee China - (www.iht.com)

Monday March 24 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

House foreclosed, renters given little notice - (www.kvbc.com) – really crooked realtor/landlord didn’t tell tenants house was foreclosed and sold at auction and continued to try to collect one last month of rent. Very good text message exchange
Central banks float rescue ideas - (www.ft.com) - The first step towards a taxpayer bailout.
Fed Denies Discussions to Buy MBS - (www.ml-implode.com) - Of course, Fed and Bank of England deny it, but then state all options are being considered and use of taxpayer money would be a last resort.
Woes in Condo Market Build As New Supply Floods Cities - (online.wsj.com) More than 4,000 new units will be completed in both Atlanta and Phoenix by the end of the year. Developers in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., are readying nearly 10,000 total new units in a market already struggling with canyons of unsold condos. San Diego, another hard-hit region, will add 2,500 units.
Wary banks revert to strict lending standards - Mortgage Mess ... - (www.msnbc.msn.com) - Entire states being blacklisted by mortgage insurers.
Bear Economists Snipe at Bernanke - (www.nytimes.com)
New York Feels the Crunch - (www.businessweek.com)
Swaps Backfire As Cost Saver On Public Debt - (online.wsj.com)
LBO debt woes lurk in sub-prime's shadows - (www.businessspectator.com.au) – Leveraged buyout firms left many companies leveraged with debt to the hilt. Similar to the crooked Mike Milken days.
Clamp on lending spreads to wider group of borrowers - (www.ft.com)
CIT Taps Credit Lines and Talks of Asset Sales - (www.nytimes.com)
Mortgage Mess Hits Home For Nation's Small Builders - (online.wsj.com)
Rescue Plans That Alarm Shareholders - (www.nytimes.com) , Norris
Wells Fargo Fixed Jumbo Rate Hits 8.0% - (www.wellsfargo.com)
End of Cheap Credit Hits Houses, Businesses - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Massive amount of deleveraging going on - (www.bloomberg.com)
Bear Stearns big shots reaped big paydays - (www.msnbc.msn.com)
Bear Stearns Bailout Proves US Fed is Merely an Extension of the Financial Industry - (www.ml-implode.com)


Other Stories:

Credit Bubble Bulletin: Nationalization - (www.ml-implode.com) - Especially after the 2004 revelation of massive fraud and gross system inadequacies, a consensus developed in Washington that th...
Overlevered Brits Facing Their Day of Reckoning - (www.ml-implode.com) - ``The British are on the same downward path we are on, with perhaps a one-year delay, and an even higher level of gearing.''
Denninger Dismantles Bove - (www.ml-implode.com) - Why we're not even close to "hitting bottom." We agree. Bove is simply showing signs of "collapse fatigue" -- if only reality ...
Mortgage Bailout Update for Taxpayers - (www.ml-implode.com) - Read this if you're a taxpayer. Especially if you're a renter.
Editorials: Spitzer Was Taken Down By Bush And Wall Street - (www.ml-implode.com) - Two articles for you on this subject: Why Spitzer was Bushwhacked by Bill Engdahl The $200 billion bail-out for predator bank...
Treasury bonds for $100 - (www.ml-implode.com)

Why the Fed's Bailout Won't Work - (robertreich.blogspot.com)
Bernanke's own house down $260K - (latimesblogs.latimes.com)
Dollar Overnight Rate Soars; Fed Move Signals Crisis - (www.bloomberg.com)
The four ‘new sheriffs’ of Wall Street - (www.ft.com)
Slump Moves From Wall St. to Main St. - (www.bloomberg.com)
A dangerous divergence - (www.economist.com)
The Well Gets Shallower - (online.wsj.com)
The Fed's Revolution - (www.businessweek.com)

Financial Market Turmoil Raises Worries - (www.ap.com)
Ripple Effect of U.S. Economic Woes - (www.bus.umich.edu)
Mortgage fraud case brings new calls for tighter regulations - (www.sfgate.com)
Brokers who lie? Shocking! - (money.cnn.com)Clashing Magazine Covers - (www.seekingalpha.com)
In Washington, a Split Over Regulation of Wall Street - (www.nytimes.com)
Credit crisis puts vise grip on leveraged companies - (www.boston.com)
Auction-Rate Market Shrinks By $21 Billion as Borrowers Escape - (www.bloomberg.com)
Insurer Gives Its Reasons for Severing Merrill Pacts - (www.nytimes.com)
Wall Street Taps Fed's New Loan Program - (online.wsj.com)

The Street on Welfare - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Public Risk, Private Gain - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Housing inventory glut pressures prices - (www.nctimes.com)
There are side effects to financial medicine - (www.sfgate.com)
Goldman, Lehman Rating Outlook Cut to Negative by S&P - (www.bloomberg.com)
Maverick bank beaten by its biggest bet - (www.ft.com)
Goldman Will Reduce Capital Markets Workforce, N.Y. Post Says - (www.bloomberg.com)
Questions abound on Bear Stearns buyout - (www.reuters.com)
FedEx Sees Profit Fall, Glum Forecast - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Mortgage Mess Hits Home For Nation's Small Builders - (online.wsj.com)
Debt-Gorged British Start to Worry That the Party Is Ending - (www.nytimes.com)
Propping up mortgages - (www.ft.com)
Five reasons to start worrying - (www.thestar.com)
Spectre of Depression haunts Federal Reserve - (www.telegraph.co.uk)
Foreigners Sell Most Japanese Stocks Since Black Monday Crash - (www.bloomberg.com)
Hong Kong IPO market is 'almost dead' - (www.ft.com)

In the Fed’s Cross Hairs: Exotic Game - (www.nytimes.com) , Morgenson
California Leads U.S. in Defaults, Price Decline - (www.bloomberg.com)
The Great Unwind has started, avoid leverage - (www.marketwatch.com)
Index suggests economy weakening - (news.yahoo.com)
What Created This Monster? - (www.nytimes.com)
What went wrong - (www.economist.com)
New York Fed's chief steers Wall Street into uncharted waters - (www.investors.com)
The Bear Trap - (www.time.com)