Tuesday March 4 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Fairfax County To Recalculate Disputed 2008 Assessments - One Virginia county finds a novel way to preserve property tax levels..by jacking up presumed land values... (www.ml-implode.com)
Security Capital shares slump 37% - (www.ml-implode.com)
Alabama County Is Center of Muni Turmoil as Debt Cut to Junk - (www.bloomberg.com)
Consumers addicted to debt - (www.marketwatch.com) – This is just an extension of their government and business. Government is truly addicted to debt, just look at all the municipal and corporate bond debt.
New recession worry: Bank failures - 'Construction loan problems threaten spike in smaller bank failures and add to worry over credit crunch.' - Bank failures mark D... (www.ml-implode.com)
Vacant Houses in U.S. Climb to Most Since 1970s - (http://www.bloomberg.com/)
Sydney house prices in landslide - (www.news.com.au)
Thornburg Mortgage Plunges on Bankruptcy Worry - (www.reuters.com)
Gold Futures Rise to Record $992 on Dollar Slide; Silver Jumps - (www.bloomberg.com) - This may be more than just a dollar slide story, but not convinced yet. If it were just a dollar slide story, the stock markets would also be higher.
MBIA Cannot Estimate January's Losses - 'MBIA, the "AAA" rated company that recently raised capital by selling notes at 14% to shore up its balance sheet, is now saying... (www.ml-implode.com)
Asset-Backed, Commercial-Mortgage Spreads Met `Ebola' - (www.bloomberg.com)
The Federal Reserve's rescue has failed - (www.telegraph.co.uk)
Banks Saddled With Unsold Bonds After $4.2 Trillion in Sales - (www.bloomberg.com)
Disingenuous Begging By Paulson - 'In a nutshell, banks made business decisions to lend money to people to buy houses that banks knew people could not afford. Ban... (www.ml-implode.com)
Record CDO Fees Set Up Merrill, Citigroup for Worst Writedowns - (www.bloomberg.com)
Activists bare teeth over foreclosures, fling sharks - (news.yahoo.com) – Someone please find the address of these activist clowns and I will post on this site.
Ambac bailout may cause crisis - (www.atimes.com)
America's Banking Crisis--Financial Tsunami Approaching - (http://www.realtruth.org/)
More Americans using credit cards to stay afloat - (www.usatoday.com)


Other Stories:

Subprime crisis hits more Gulf banks - (www.ml-implode.com)
Radian Group Will be Late On 10-K - (www.ml-implode.com)
Credit Crisis Morphs into Stagflation - (www.ml-implode.com)

Overview: Dollar sinks and commodities soar - (www.ft.com)
Company Bond Risk Rises on HSBC Bad Loans, UBS Loss Forecast - (www.bloomberg.com)
Crude Oil Rises to a Record as Dollar Extends Weakness to Euro - (www.bloomberg.com)
U.S. stocks flat-lined at the close after downbeat day - (www.marketwatch.com)
Ten-Year Treasuries Fall on Bets Fed Cuts to Increase Inflation - (www.bloomberg.com)

U.S. ISM Factory Index Decreased to 48.3 in February - (www.bloomberg.com)
Credit Crisis Seen As Economic Threat - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Dollar: It will only get worse - (money.cnn.com)
Construction Spending in the U.S. Decreased 1.7% in January - (www.bloomberg.com)
Americans Start to Curb Their Thirst for Gasoline - (online.wsj.com)
Rising wheat prices have far-reaching significance - (www.chron.com)
Credit Crisis May Make College Loans More Costly - (www.washingtonpost.com)

Auction Supply `Tsunami' Foreshadows Deeper Municipal Losses - (www.bloomberg.com)
Loan blame game now in court - (www.latimes.com)
Wall Street Gears for Its New Pain - (online.wsj.com)
Gold Beats Financial Assets as Investors Seek Haven - (www.bloomberg.com)
Don't expect average stock returns - (money.cnn.com)
Buffett: Don't bank on big returns - (money.cnn.com)
2nd-mortgage issues join rate resets for 1-2 punch - (www.chicagotribune.com)
States and Cities Start Rebelling on Bond Ratings - (www.nytimes.com)
Payday loan foes aim at car-title loans - (www.ap.com)

Thornburg Gets More Margin Calls - (online.wsj.com)
MBIA, Ambac Filings Show Subprime Writedowns Extended Into 2008 - (www.bloomberg.com)
HSBC in $17bn credit crisis loss - (news.bbc.co.uk)

Jumbo Mortgage Risk Will Topple the GSEs - (seekingalpha.com)
From Deregulation to Government Ownership in One Fell Swoop - (robertreich.blogspot.com)The gruesome reality of HSBC's US affairs - (business.timesonline.co.uk)
Weak Dollar Hurts Smaller European Firms - (www.chicagotribune.com)
California Prices Continue To Plummet - (patrick.net)
76% Price Drop In Richmond, CA - (patrick.net)
Buffett faults housing excess - (news.yahoo.com)
Ben Bernanke's Tightrope Act - (seekingalpha.com)
Gold and the Dollar: Value is in the Eye of the Beholder - (http://www.goldmau.com/)
Dollar Falls to 3-Year Low Versus Yen; Fed Cheers - (http://www.bloomberg.com/)
Lawful Money? - (http://www.civil-liberties.com/)
How a Bubble Stayed Under the Radar - (nytimes.com)
U.S. banking sector headed for meltdown - (http://www.globalresearch.ca/)
The Fed's Role, Poole speech from 2003 - (http://www.stlouisfed.org/)
Ron Paul Schools Ben Bernanke Yet Again - (www.youtube.com)