Tuesday June 24 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Vacant houses a big, new headache for police - (www.ajc.com)
Desperate Condo Company Unwraps Plan For Clothing-Optional Pool - (www.tbo.com) Swimmers will have the option of wearing nothing at all at the Arbors at Branch Creek, a complex of 390 homes that landed on the idea to help move units in a down market. One pool is being set aside for nude swimmers, sunbathers and hot tubbers, said Christine Pirkle, director of sales with the Web site for the project's developers.
It’s All Unravelling - Bond Insurers Beg Banks for $125 Billion “Forgiveness” - (www.ml-implode.com) – This is a huge story. This desperate act comes as reports are surfacing that the public mutual fund universe has not been truthful about their structured mortgage debt marks. Sources say that most mutual fund managers have their MBS holdings mis-priced, which puts the public at significant risk. The job that structured mortgage debt did on hedge funds and banks has been bad, but a mark-to-market across the public mutual fund universe could be worse because it larger and directly effects Ma and Pa America
Brokers threatened by run on shadow bank system - (www.marketwatch.com) A network of lenders, brokers and opaque financing vehicles outside traditional banking that ballooned during the bull market now is under siege as regulators threaten a crackdown on the so-called shadow banking system.
U.S. banks may need $65 bln new capital - (www.boston.com) .S. banks may need to raise $65 billion of additional capital to cope with mounting losses from a global credit crisis that will not peak until 2009, Goldman Sachs & Co analysts said on Tuesday.
Update: Indymac - Sink or Swim? - (www.ml-implode.com) - Shares of IndyMac have fallen in the past year from $32.54 down to $1.32 at mid-day today. Attorneys calling for Class Action su...
Catching Predators is Good; Economic Justice is Better - (www.ml-implode.com) - ``So far, no TV network has announced a special series on these corporate predators, but the New York Times business section has...
Hedge fund reveals big short position in HBOS - (www.ml-implode.com) - A US hedge fund on Monday revealed a short position of more than 3 per cent in the outstanding shares in HBOS, the mortgage lend...
S. Florida houses can now take months, even years, to sell - (www.sun-sentinel.com)
Houseowner Destroys House Before Foreclosure - (www.lasvegasnow.com) – This is becoming a recurring theme J
What Happens if We're Wrong? - (www.nytimes.com) - IN 1995, home prices in the United States rose by 1.7 percent. They kept climbing over the next 10 years at an accelerating rate. The climax was in 2005, when the increase was 15.7 percent, putting home prices at more than double their 1995 level. Except for the early years after World War II and during the great inflation of the 1970s, home prices in the United States had never doubled in the short space of 10 years.


Other Stories:

Bank of America now writing US laws - (corner.nationalreview.com)
Did Bank Of America Write The Housing Bill? - (market-ticker.denninger.net)
S&P Slashes BOA to Sell - Thanks Countrywide! - (mrmortgage.ml-implode.com)
Bank Bailout Bill Moves Forward Despite White House Veto Threat - (www.homeguide123.com)
$2 Trillion Reduction In Credit Card Lines Coming Up - (Mish at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com)
Banks Trimming Limits for Many on Credit Cards - (www.nytimes.com)
Did Bernanke Go Too Far, or Not Go Far Enough? - (knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu)
Gas and House Prices: What a Difference Two Years Can Make - (www.seekingalpha.com)
As First-Time Buyers Vanish, the Lights Go Out Across Britain - (www.blackenterprise.com)
Insured Short-Term Muni Bonds Surge to 9% - (www.bloomberg.com)
Anatomy of the housing market's rise and fall - (www.honoluluadvertiser.com)
Property becomes an investment turn-off - (www.news.com.au)
Big brokers threatened by crackdown on shadow banking system - (www.marketwatch.com)
FBI Sweep Reveals New Twists to Mortgage Fraud - (www.npr.org)
New Credit Worries Cap Bad Week For Markets - (washingtonpost.com)
New Crisis Threatens Healthy Banks - (washingtonpost.com)

Odey Hedge Fund Discloses Short Position in Bradford & Bingley - (www.ml-implode.com) - Odey Asset Management LLP, the $5.1 billion fund manager set up by Crispin Odey, holds a short position in U.K. mortgage lender ...
In Distressed Mortgages, MBS Investors Stuck in a Holding Pattern - (www.ml-implode.com)
A defense borne of hubris, or stupidity - (www.ml-implode.com)
George Carlin (1937 - 2008) - (www.ml-implode.com)
Homeownership Is Effect, Not Cause Of Prosperity - (www.ml-implode.com)
Homeowner Begs Bank To Foreclose - (www.ml-implode.com)
Citigroup to cut 10 pct of investment bank unit: WSJ - (www.ml-implode.com)
Weekend Sneaky Monoline Downgrades - (www.ml-implode.com)
A Housing Depression, without a Depression - (www.ml-implode.com)
Hedge Funds Gird for Withdrawals - (www.ml-implode.com)

State, local governments layoffs 45,000 and counting - (money.cnn.com)
Overvalued housing not limited to U.S. - (www.iht.com)
Oil rises on modest Saudi increase, Nigeria - (www.ap.com)
Euro Falls Most Versus Dollar in Week as German Sentiment Ebbs - (www.bloomberg.com)
Gold Falls as Dollar Strengthens Against Euro; Silver Declines - (www.bloomberg.com)
U.S. Stocks Gain, Led by Energy Producers as Oil Price Climbs - (www.bloomberg.com)

Early rate rises not in Fed's Plan A - (www.ft.com)
Work outlook dim for graduates - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Fed, SEC to Redraw Regulation - (online.wsj.com)
Politics May Crimp Fed's Inflation Fight - (www.thestreet.com).com
State, city layoffs: 45,000 and counting - (money.cnn.com)
Thirty years on, inflation makes global comeback - (www.reuters.com)
Even Mild Inflation Should Scare You - (www.thestreet.com).com
Record corn prices mean more expensive meat, dairy - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Home hunting in the age of $4 gas - (www.boston.com)

At Oil Conference, Saudis Offer Slight Rise in Production - (www.nytimes.com)
Natural-Gas Forecast Is Hot - (online.wsj.com)
Panel Cites Surge in Speculative Trades - (online.wsj.com)
Soros, the Man Who Cries Wolf, Now Is Warning of a 'Superbubble' - (online.wsj.com)
401 (k) sponsors push for fee cuts - (www.financialweek.com)

Citigroup Plans Layoffs In Its Investment Bank - (online.wsj.com)
U.S. banks may need $65 bln new capital: Goldman - (www.boston.com)
Banks Struggle to Get Capital - (online.wsj.com)
FCC to Study TV Product Placements - (online.wsj.com)
Dexia Will Provide $5 Billion Line of Credit to FSA - (www.bloomberg.com)
Citigroup's global investment bank braces for layoffs - (www.iht.com)
Job fears mount as Goldman sheds staff - (www.ft.com)
United to raise fares, add minimum stays - (www.chicagotribune.com)

German Business Confidence Declines to Two-Year Low - (www.bloomberg.com)
Eurozone indicators raise stagflation fears - (www.ft.com)
Rupee Steepest Slide Since '93 Repels Funds on Prices - (www.bloomberg.com)
Chinese warned of record rise in ore price - (www.ft.com)
House-sellers outnumber purchasers by 15 to 1 - (www.ft.com)