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Judge refuses to toss CalPERS suit against credit rating agencies - (www.sacbee.com) CalPERS has won the right to pursue a $1 billion lawsuit against two Wall Street heavyweights, beating back their efforts to have the case thrown out of court. A judge Wednesday denied a motion by Moody's Corp. and Standard & Poor's to dismiss the lawsuit by the California Public Employees' Retirement System. Judge Richard Kramer in San Francisco Superior Court didn't rule on the merits of CalPERS' claim. But he ruled the lawsuit is "legally sufficient" to go forward. The case stems from a huge CalPERS investment loss. In 2006, when the financial markets were booming, the pension fund poured $1 billion into a series of three deals known as "structured investment vehicles." Such vehicles are generally a blend of mortgage-backed securities, car loans and other assets. CalPERS later said it knew very little about the specifics of the deals – except that they were given the "highest credit ratings" by Moody's, S&P and Fitch Ratings.
Italy and Spain call for eurozone rescue fund booster - (www.telegraph.co.uk) Political leaders in Italy and Spain have called for a massive boost to the EU rescue fund and a blast of monetary stimulus by the European Central Bank (ECB), putting them on a collision course with Germany over the handling of the eurozone crisis. taly's premier Mario Monti has told Berlin that the new European Stability Mechanism (ESM) must be doubled to €1 trillion (£828bn) to restore investor confidence in southern European debt, according to Der Spiegel. The move comes days after Mr Monti warned German Chancellor Angela Merkel that austerity fatigue is growing in the debtor states and there will be a "powerful backlash" unless the creditor powers led by Germany do more to correct North-South imbalances and lower borrowing for the whole eurozone. In what appears to be a coordinated move by the Latin bloc, Spanish foreign minister José Manuel García-Margallo y Marfil backed the plan for a bigger rescue fund. He called for an EMU debt union and sweeping changes to the structure of the eurozone.
Spanish central bank predicts big drop in economy - (finance.yahoo.com) Spain faces more unemployment misery and needs serious labor market reforms, the country's central bank warned Monday as it slashed its economic forecasts for this year. The Bank of Spain predicted the country's economy will contract 1.5 percent this year, rather than expand by that same amount as per its forecast until now. In a report, the bank said that since last summer the eurozone debt crisis has sapped business confidence and choked off bank credit. This has caused a major drop in domestic demand, only partially offset by strong exports. In 2012, household spending will contract because of euro15 billion ($19 billion) in tax hikes and spending cuts already enacted by the new conservative government to chip away at the budget deficit, it said. The economy will expand in 2013, but only by 0.2 percent, the central bank forecast.
SF Bay Area prices fall again; San Mateo County falls most - (www.contracostatimes.com) December real estate activity in the Bay Area mirrored the rest of the year's activity -- sales slowly gained while prices dropped. Home sales increased 4.4 percent from December of 2010, market researcher DataQuick reported Wednesday, marking the sixth consecutive month Bay Area home sales rose on a year-over-year basis. In the same period, the median price declined 6.3 percent, falling to $351,500. The loss of value in Bay Area homes has been a developing trend since the mortgage crisis struck in 2007. From the beginning of that year to the end of 2011, the loss in home value in five Bay Area counties was $387 billion, a 33 percent decline. That figure -- calculated by DataQuick for the Bay Area News Group based on the average price per square foot paid for housing -- is necessarily an estimate, because it's based on the value of houses sold, and the types of homes sold in both periods.
Ron Paul Clearly Won the Debate, Fox News Caught Excluding Ron Paul - (www.prisonplanet.com) After huge volume of complaints, Fox reporter was forced to do-over post debate breakdown revealing that Ron Paul blitzed the debate in every category. The dirty tricks campaign against GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul reached new heights during the South Carolina debate last night, with virtual exclusion from the first 40 minutes of the program, poisonous questions in the second half, and a cringe inducing situation during the post debate analysis where Fox pundits were forced to admit that Paul had completely wiped the floor with the other candidates. During the post debate commentary, Fox reporter John Roberts blatantly excluded Paul from the charts and graphs he presented representing feedback from viewers.
Why buy a house now? Buy later for 65% less - ( www.patrick.net)
Fed Begins an Effort to Remove Doubt About What it's Doing - (www.nytimes.com)
Premature obituaries for the dollar - (www.safehaven.com)
Quelle Surprise! The Fed knew about the housing bubble in 2004. - (www.nakedcapitalism.com)
Foreclosures: America's hardest hit neighborhoods - (money.cnn.com)
Stock Market Rally Still Missing One Thing: A Crowd - (www.cnbc.com)
Hazard insurance with its own perils - (www.nytimes.com)
UC eyes plan to eliminate tuition altogether - (www.sfgate.com)
Senators change course on SOPA after protests - (www.nytimes.com)
Southern California house sales, prices fell in December - (www.latimes.com)
High-end sales down 8% last year in Chicago area - (www.chicagorealestatedaily.com)
Obama sued over indefinite detention and torture of Americans act - (www.rt.com)
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