Tuesday April 15 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Terrified Fannie "warns" housedebtors who walk away - (www.sfgate.com) – On March 31, Fannie Mae sent out new guidelines to lenders intended for walkaways and other foreclosure situations. Fannie will now prohibit foreclosed borrowers from getting another mortgage through the giant investor for five years, unless there are "documented extenuating circumstances." In those cases, the mortgage prohibition is for three years.
You Thought You Had an Equity Line - (www.nytimes.com)
Continental, United Could Merge 'Pretty Quickly': Source - (www.cnbc.com)
Continental Airlines and United Airlines have laid most of the groundwork for a merger, sources said, and could have a deal ready if Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines announce a tie-up.
Sinking housing market maroons houseowners - (www.insidebayarea.com) – Homes are supposed to be more than 1-2 year investments so homeowners “should” be marooned in their homes.
What is Paulson Smoking? "IRS's $600 Stimulus Checks Will Add 500,000 - 600,000 Jobs to Economy." - (www.nytimes.com)
Restaurants Find Diners Choosing Cheaper Fare - (www.boston.com)
Jury Says Realtor Not to Blame for Purchase Price - (www.voiceofsandiego.org) – For once I agree, it is about time the home-purchasers take some blame here for their greed and stupidity instead of blaming everyone else.
New loan changes bring no relief - (www.sfgate.com)
Walking Away From Your Mortgage - (www.ml-implode.com) – The San Francisco Chronicle reported the threat by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac 'to make anyone thinking about joining the growing "walkaway" trend,..., feel the pain'. Here are some good observations on the subject on minyanville.com
Biofuels Nothing Short of a Disaster - (www.canada.com)
No-down-payment mortgages are gone - (www.marketwatch.com)
‘Tranche warfare’ breaks out over CDOs - (www.ft.com)
Assets seized to halt payment to others - 18:45
Did appraisers juice Florida real-estate market? - (www.orlandosentinel.com) – Yes, but so did the banks, realtors, homeowners and everyone else. They all participated on the way up and are now blaming each other on the way down.
Stresses on Fannie, Freddie pose wider risks - (www.ml-implode.com) - 'A deep recession could force mortgage-finance titans Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to require a federal bailout large enough to hurt the U.S. government's top-grade credit rating, Standard & Poor's warned Monday.'
Banks Must Write Down Loans to Prevent a Mass Homeowner Exodus - (www.ml-implode.com) - The word is out and the banks and servicers need to get a clue. People are walking from their underwater homes in droves. Wha...
John Rubino: America, Ex-Distortion - (www.dollarcollapse.com) – Key paragraphs below:
"Almost four decades have passed since the United States scrapped its last currency ties to precious metals. Our copper and nickel coinage still retains some metallic value, but not nearly enough for the purpose of currency tampering--the historic temptation of inflation-plagued or otherwise wayward governments, including, at times, our own. Instead, since the 1960s, Washington has been forced to gull its citizens and creditors by debasing official statistics: the vital instruments with which the vigor and muscle of the American economy are measured. The effect, over the past twenty-five years, has been to create a false sense of economic achievement and rectitude, allowing us to maintain artificially low interest rates, massive government borrowing, and a dangerous reliance on mortgage and financial debt even as real economic growth has been slower than claimed. If Washington’s harping on weapons of mass destruction was essential to buoy public support for the invasion of Iraq, the use of deceptive statistics has played its own vital role in convincing many Americans that the U.S. economy is stronger, fairer, more productive, more dominant, and richer with opportunity than it actually is."


Other Stories:

Nationalization or monetization? - (www.ml-implode.com) - 'Fortunately, given the rate at which home prices are now declining in many parts of the country, any government action in suppo...
Mortgage payments worry many - (www.ml-implode.com) - 'In an ominous snapshot of how the sagging real estate market and sour economy are intersecting, the Associated Press-AOL Money ...
Accounting failures enter the subprime equation - (www.ml-implode.com) - As homeowners, shareholders and federal investigators pick through the subprime wreckage, many have asked how effectively fro...
Bank denies cash-raising reports - (www.ml-implode.com)
Phoenix Median Home Price Down A “Stable” 17% In March - (www.ml-implode.com)
Many skeptical of Foreclosure Protection Act - (www.ml-implode.com)

Credit Crisis Could Affect Markets for Decade: Study - (www.cnbc.com)
Citi allows loan ‘cherry picking’ - (www.ft.com)
Move could complicate balance sheet clean-up - 23:22
Inflation takes bite out of paychecks: Fed's Fault - (www.idahostatesman.com)
Blunt former Fed chairman Volcker takes on Bernanke - (www.theglobeandmail.com)
A Tale of Two Coasts - (www.seekingalpha.com)
Price boom redistributes wealth destructively - (www.independent.co.uk)
California Mortgage Rates Still High - (www.mybudget360.com)
Stocks Brace for Flood of Earnings - (www.marketwatch.com)
Congress study: Housing aid wouldn't help economy - (news.yahoo.com)
'Subprime Relief Plan' May Make a Bad Situation Worse - (www.seekingalpha.com)
US Housing Woes Spread Around the Globe - (www.nytimes.com)
CitiGroup, Merrill Reveal Fresh $15B Losses - (business.timesonline.co.uk)
Oil, Gasoline Close at Records on Dollar Weakness Against Euro - (www.bloomberg.com)
Stocks Close Down Amid Earnings Concerns - (www.ap.com)
Against a housing bailout: let the prices fall! - (www.walletpop.com)
Shiller: Housing Will Continue to Fall - (www.seekingalpha.com)
Pending sales index points to declines ahead - (www.businessweek.com)

U.S. Retail Sales Rise on Gain in Gasoline Purchases - (www.bloomberg.com)
The consumer spending mirage - (www.businessweek.com)
Phoenix job growth slows - (www.azcentral.com)
As Greenspan’s reputation sinks, Volcker’s rises - (www.ap.com)
Atlanta gas prices hit new high of $3.36 per gallon - (www.ajc.com)
Schools Get A Lesson in Lunch Line Economics - (www.nytimes.com)
The Meltdown Lowdown - (www.prospect.org)
Gold as an investment - (en.wikipedia.org)
Is A House Really A Good Investment? - (cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com)

Goldman Strategists Say U.S. Earnings Are `Awful' - (www.bloomberg.com)
Is Street Turmoil Coloring Art Market? - (online.wsj.com)
Record grain prices provide food for thought - (www.ft.com)
Nothing Special With Treasuries as Fed Has Mortgages - (www.bloomberg.com)
IRS audits of largest corporations declining - (www.ajc.com)

Wachovia Posts Loss, Plans $7 Billion Capital Raising - (www.bloomberg.com)
Northwest, Delta near merger deal - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Newspaper Vendors Worry About Downturn - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Ex-Commerce Chief down on big banks - (www.nypost.com)
Housing Woes in U.S. Spread Around Globe - (www.nytimes.com)