Monday May 5 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Is the credit crisis over, as many are saying? Not according to Martin D. Weiss, Ph.D., founder and president of Weiss Research, Inc. and a leading advocate for investor safety, is a nationally recognized expert on domestic and international financial markets
Wall Street pundits would have you believe that the Fed has saved the day, that the worst of the credit crisis is behind us, and that there's nothing more to worry about. My view: They're full of baloney! And for the evidence, look at what's just hit the fan on Friday:

· First, Standard & Poor's downgraded America's largest mortgage lender — Countrywide Financial — to "junk." The reason: Bank of America, which was supposed to be gung-ho about saving Countrywide from bankruptcy, is getting cold feet. In its latest filing with the SEC, Bank of America says it may not want to back up all of Countrywide's debts after all. Instead, it may decide to put $31.8 billion of Countrywide's debts in a separate corporation. And analysts now suspect Bank of America may later take that corporation into bankruptcy, stiffing Countrywide's bondholders. So you can easily see why even S&P, typically slow to act, promptly downgraded Countrywide's bonds to junk! But I ask you: Is this a sign that the credit crisis is behind us?

· Second, the Fed just announced that it's greatly expanding its Term Auction Facility (TAF). This is the new facility the Fed inaugurated last December to funnel money to big banks in exchange for shakier-than-normal collateral. At the time, they made it sound like a temporary, emergency measure, with biweekly auctions of up to $20 billion. Then, earlier this year, they expanded this facility to $50 billion. And on Friday, they've just bumped it up — again — to $75 billion per auction, or nearly FOUR times the original level. So I ask again: If the credit crisis were truly behind us, why would the Fed need to be dishing out so much more money to the banks? It makes no sense.

· Third, the Fed also announced on Friday that it's expanding its Term Securities Lending Facility (TSLF). This is the newer, more radical, program whereby the Fed gives big brokers its high-quality Treasury securities in exchange for inferior quality, toxic paper. Until now, the Fed was accepting only securities based on home and commercial mortgages. And given the sorry state of U.S. real estate, that was bad enough. However, the Fed's new rules, effective immediately, make it possible to take in a lot of other garbage, including securities backed by credit cards and student loans that may be going sour. Is this the type of thing the Fed does when credit conditions are improving? Or is this the sign of a Fed with its back against the wall, still desperately searching for ways to put the crisis behind us?


S&P cuts Countrywide to junk status after BofA filing Markets ... - (www.reuters.com)
Bernanke Answers S.O.S. Call - (Mish at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com) – Another crisis created by US Fed and US politicians. Now Bernanke answers Senator Dodd's request to bailout the Student Loan Program.
No Assets? No Problem. Crap loans continue. - (www.forbes.com) - many Americans can still buy homes with nothing down thanks in large part to the federal government and a legal loophole that lets builders and bankers ensure a steady stream of asset-challenged borrowers for taxpayer-insured loans. With quietly expanded powers, the Federal Housing Administration is already offering the next-best thing to nothing down on a house: a payment of just 3.0% will get practically any American with a pulse and a job a mortgage of up to $729,000, at least until the end of this year.
Baseball star Canseco loses house to foreclosure - (news.yahoo.com) – The latest athlete/celebrity to lose their home or walk-away.
Bush vs Olbermann - (www.ml-implode.com) - Bush, world’s most famous failed oilman and the dumbest guy in the room, tries to spin his way out of the housing crash and high gas prices. Olbermann is there to smack him down.''
What do you do when you're the most tasteless and tactless person in the world? - (www.ml-implode.com) – Mukesh Ambani net worth is estimated at $43 billion by Forbes in March. Reliance Industries was founded by Mukesh's father, Dhirubhai Ambani, in 1966, and is India's most valuable firm by market capitalization. The couple, who have three children, currently live in a 22-story Mumbai tower that the family has spent years remodeling to meet its needs, at a cost of $2B.
Credit crunch expands to cash-out refinancing, investment properties and vacation homes - (www.latimes.com)
Fed Moves to Loosen Tight Credit - (www.nytimes.com)
Government Intensifies Mortgage Investigation - (www.nytimes.com)
Desperate house sellers start swapping - (www.9news.com)
Arab States May Drop Fixed Dollar Exchange Rates - (www.bloomberg.com)
Financial Crisis Protest - New York, April 25, 2008 - (www.ml-implode.com) - Love some of the posters.
U.S. Sees First Sales Tax Revenue Drop in 6 Years - (www.ml-implode.com)


Other Stories:

Condo Flipper Rental Woes - (www.ml-implode.com) - "The Washington Post finds two fresh victims of the RE bust, condo owners whose mean, nasty condo boards won't let them rent out...
Waking Up From The American Dream - (www.ml-implode.com)
Is the Credit Crisis Really Over? Minsky Would Say No - (www.ml-implode.com)
Accelerating Housing Declines - (www.ml-implode.com)
3 Aides Ousted; AG Admits Affair - (www.ml-implode.com)
Slowly I Turned - Foreign Financing of US Faltering - (www.ml-implode.com)

Credit Crunch Sends More Consumers To the Sidelines - (online.wsj.com)
Americans cutting back for Mother's Day - (www.latimes.com)
Downgrades Show Storm Isn't Over - (online.wsj.com)
Say goodbye to the specialized mortgage options - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Buffett Says Bond Insurers Don't Deserve AAA Rating - (www.bloomberg.com)
US art market beginning to feel strain - (www.ft.com)
Weaker confidence in retirement savings a good thing - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Precious-Coin Market May Lose Its Luster - (online.wsj.com)
What difference will +$1,200 make up against -$100,000 - (www.ml-implode.com) - "With home price in parts of the country dropping by $100,000 per year or more, is $1,200 in rebates from the government going t...
Housing Bust Duration - (www.ml-implode.com) - "This is an update to a previous post using the February Case-Shiller Price Indices."


Microsoft Walks Away From Yahoo After Fight on Price - (www.bloomberg.com)
UBS May Cut 8,000 Jobs After SF12 Billion First-Quarter Loss - (www.bloomberg.com)
Corn Ethanol Loses More Support - (online.wsj.com)
Asia fears lost decade, unrest from food price shock - (www.reuters.com)
How to Clear a Road to Redemption - (www.nytimes.com)
US art market beginning to feel strain - (www.ft.com)

The Fed and you: don't bet on cheaper mortgages - (www.schwabinsights.com)
Fed running out of room - (www.nypost.com)
Fed Rate Cuts Won't Stop Housing Plunge - (www.bloomberg.com)
Is The Bottom Really In? No! - (Charles Hugh Smith)
Another Full Year Of Housing Pain? - (online.wsj.com)
FED Up - (www.fedupusa.org)
Discounted Houses, Going, Going - (promo.realestate.yahoo.com)
12 Observations on Residential Housing - (www.seekingalpha.com)
House Rabies - (www.oxfordamericanmag.com)