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)