Friday April 18 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Review of Libor brought forward as closely watched rate spikes - (www.marketwatch.com)
"Who to Blame When the Next Bubble Bursts" - from 2003! - (www.commondreams.org) – Good analysis predicting Greenspan’s next bubble in 2003.
Fed Accepts Dodgy Collateral in Race to Bottom - (www.bloomberg.com)
Big Tax Breaks for Businesses in Housing Bill - (www.nytimes.com) – Yes, this story has been a top story for 3 days running, but I think it is important to know how the big business lobbying powers are making a killing here.
Vacant Homes in U.K. Prove Speculator Nightmare as Losses Mount - (www.ml-implode.com) - ``The unraveling buy-to-rent investment market contributed to a 2.5 percent drop in home prices last month, the biggest since 19...
Sinking housing market maroons homeowners - (www.ml-implode.com) - 'As America's housing market has foundered, homeowners who bought into newly rising projects at just the wrong time have found t...
FHA's Risky Business - (www.forbes.com)
The worst spring in San Diego's history! - (www.californiahousingforecast.com)
Court Case Is Lost in Cauldron of Muni Market Woes: Joe Mysak - (www.bloomberg.com)
Feds to Collect DNA from Everyone They Arrest - (news.yahoo.com) – Yes, we now live in a pseudo-police state
Libor's accuracy questioned - Fraud? - (www.theaustralian.news.com.au)
JPMorgan's Dimon Says Real Estate Is Getting Worse - (bloomberg.com)
Appraisers say WaMu cut corners - (businessvoip.tmcnet.com)
Copper Jumps to Record as Strike in Chile May Disrupt Output - (www.bloomberg.com) – Expect more copper theft in abandoned houses and industrial parks.
Walking Away: The Next Mortgage Crisis - (Mish at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com)
Art dealers brace for a bust - (money.cnn.com)
Merrill Reports Loss on $6.5 Billion of Writedowns - (www.bloomberg.com)
Sallie Mae Sounds the Alarm - (online.wsj.com)
NYT: "US Inflation Appears to Be Retreating" (What are they smoking?) - (www.nytimes.com)
Mobius: Credit Crisis Near End. Time to Buy! - (www.bloomberg.com)


Other Stories:

FBI home mortgage probe now targets 19 firms - (www.ml-implode.com)
Germany is in shock as subprime gets worse - (www.ml-implode.com)
Flashback to 2005: NAR States "Foreclosure Risk Minimal" - (www.erica.biz)
The Pentagon's $1 Trillion Problem (Where's the money?) - (www.portfolio.com)
Oil Futures Jump to Record $115 - (biz.yahoo.com)
As Australia Dries, A Global Shortage of Rice - (www.iht.com)
Sickened Pork Workers Have New Neurological Disorder - (www.reuters.com)
Retailers Get Stingy With Data - (www.nytimes.com)
Housing Starts Slide ot Lowest Level in 17 Years – (www.bloomberg.com)
Jim Willie: Liars, Wall Street and Your Gold - (www.financialsense.com)

CA Foreclosure news nobody reporting - (mrmortgage.typepad.com)
Rate of foreclosures expected to get worse - (www.usatoday.com)
Treasuries Fall as Traders Bet Fed to Cut Rates Just Once More - (www.bloomberg.com)
Rice Rises to Record in Chicago, Leading Wheat, Soybean Gains - (www.bloomberg.com)
Oil steadies after hitting record over $115 - (www.reuters.com)
Most U.S. Stocks Retreat on Earnings; Pfizer Shares Decline - (www.bloomberg.com)
Fed causes inflation above 6% for 6 months running - (patrick.net)
The Fed Undermines Democracy - (robertreich.blogspot.com)
The Madness of Ben Bernanke - (www.spiegel.de)
My Foreclosure - (foreclosuremine.blogspot.com)

Philadelphia Fed Index Declines More Than Forecast - (www.bloomberg.com)
S.F. Federal Reserve chief sees long recovery - (www.latimes.com)
Big questions on collateral for Fed loans - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Fed favors loans over dividends - (www.boston.com)
Reports Offer Grim Picture of Economy - (www.washingtonpost.com)
U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Rise 17,000 to 372,000 - (www.bloomberg.com)
US mortgage clock ticking, Dodd warns - (www.ft.com)
Net widening in FBI probe of mortgage fraud - (www.financialweek.com)
Now is not the best time to buy - (patrick.net)
O'ahu rents dipped 1% last year - (www.honoluluadvertiser.com)
San Diego median price keeps falling - (www.signonsandiego.com)
Pace of O.C. foreclosures triples 90's slump - (mortgage.freedomblogging.com)

Hedge Funds Cut Risk, Wait for Opportunities - (online.wsj.com)
Are Credit Derivatives Next? - (online.wsj.com)
Soros urges regulation for hedge funds - (www.forbes.com)
Top hedge fund managers raked in billions - (www.usatoday.com)

Where are Google's clicks? - (www.nypost.com)
Slower American sales hit prescription market - (www.ft.com)
GM plant partially halts production due to strike - (money.cnn.com)
Retailers angling for your tax rebate - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Two banks to cut $265m in credit for struggling Talbots - (www.boston.com)
Capital Spending SeenFalling in Chip Market - (online.wsj.com)
Low Liquidity Plagues More Firms - (online.wsj.com)
Banking Watchdog Barks at Poor Disclosure - (www.cfo.com)
Harley-Davidson cuts back - (money.cnn.com)
Eli Lilly looks to cut 500 jobs - (money.cnn.com)
Freddie Mac to announce agreement with lenders: report - (www.reuters.com)
SLM Has Loss as Student Loan Business Looks `Broken' - (www.bloomberg.com)
Freddie Mac to Unveil Lenders' Pact - (online.wsj.com)
Harley cuts guidance; to slash output - (www.reuters.com)

China Cuts Fertilizer Sales; Philippine Tender Flops - (www.bloomberg.com)
Weber Says ECB to Assess Whether Rates High Enough - (www.bloomberg.com)
BOE Received Most Bids in Three Months at Auction - (www.bloomberg.com)
As Australia dries, a global shortage of rice - (www.iht.com)
India's Inflation Near Three-Year High on Food Prices - (www.bloomberg.com)
Brazil Seeks to Curb Prices by Raising Rate More Than Forecast - (www.bloomberg.com)
Samsung Group chairman indicted on tax-evasion charge - (www.iht.com)
'10% of GDP' - (online.wsj.com)
Goldman's Glass Brims, Lehman's Cracks: Mark Gilbert - (www.bloomberg.com)

Monday April 14 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

http://www.netcastdaily.com/broadcast/fsn2008-0412-1.ram - Idiot politician of the week: Listen to minutes 40-43 of the clip. Congresswoman in California scolding the oil executives about high prices, but tells them she doesn’t want to hear anything about drilling (even though oil is seeping off the coast near Santa Barbara), restarting an existing oil refinery in Whittier CA, or other solutions. At the same time, others in her party are blocking wind farms off the coast in MA
Wind farm initiative off Cape clears big obstacle - The Boston Globe - (www.boston.com) - Idiot politicians #2: Ted Kennedy and Mitt Romney trying to kill wind farm off Cape Cod because it would be unsightly to the Kennedy compound and would kill the sailing lanes
Jury Says Realtor Not to Blame for Purchase Price - (www.voiceofsandiego.org) - A jury sided Thursday with Carlsbad real estate broker Mike Little in a closely watched lawsuit that pitted a local couple against the agent that helped them buy a home. The couple, Vern and Marty Ummel, claimed that Little neglected to mention recent sales in their neighborhood, leading them to overpay by about $150,000 for their home in July 2005
Maryland Foreclosure Law Changes - (www.housingwire.com) - 'The legislation significantly lengthens the foreclosure process from 15 days to approximately 150 days, by requiring a lender to wait 90 days after default before filing the foreclosure action and to send a uniform Notice of Intent to Foreclose to the homeowner 45 days prior to filing an action.'
Lehman makes move to turn unsold debt to cash - (http://www.reuters.com/)
Lehman Moved to Turn Unsold Debt to Cash: WSJ - (us.rd.yahoo.com) – Sounds like Lehman, Fed, and S&P/Moodys conspiring to dump Lehman’s bad corporate debt on the Fed and US taxpayers
Mish: The Swap-O-Rama Gets Crazier - (Mish at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com) – More on shameless Lehman.
Jury set to get case of unhappy Carlsbad homebuyers - (www.nctimes.com)
Fence Sitters Will Be Sorry - (www.voiceofsandiego.org) – More crap coming out of a realtor’s mouth
U.S. Consumer Confidence Index Falls to 26-Year Low - (www.bloomberg.com)
Foreclosures in Key West's Most Expensive Neighborhoods - (keywestchronicle.blogspot.com)
Fraud Leads To 286 Foreclosures - (www.10news.com)
Senate passes crappy foreclosure bill - (www.politicalgateway.com) – Helps homebuilders, lenders, mortgage brokers, but will it help anyone stay in their homes?
Tax breaks, boondoggles mar efforts to help homedebtors - (news.yahoo.com)
Senate Agrees to Mortgage Bailout for Bankers and Builders - (www.efinancedirectory.com)
Illegal workers paying chunk of Social Security taxes - (www.azcentral.com) – Biased story which doesn’t discuss people being paid under the table.
Fed Readies for a Reload - (www.independent.co.uk)
UPDATE - Banks may need to raise $140 bln more of capital: CS - (www.reuters.com)


Other Stories:

Citigroup's Market Value Drops Below Apple's Amid Credit Crisis - (www.ml-implode.com) - 'At the end of 2006, Citigroup Inc. was the fourth-largest company in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, with a market value of $2...
Lehman CFO Says Market Recovery May Take Until 2009 - (www.ml-implode.com)
WaMu Estimates Cut by Goldman, Short Sale Recommended - (www.ml-implode.com)
Fitch Warns on Home Builders - (www.ml-implode.com)
California Mortgage Rates Still High - (www.ml-implode.com)

Housing Prices Closely Linked to Monetary Policy - (www.seekingalpha.com)
Bank will "need" to cut interest rates further - (www.telegraph.co.uk)
Failures of the Term Auction Facility - (Mish at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com)
Fewer Options Open to Pay for Costs of College - (www.nytimes.com)
G-7 Signals Concern on Dollar's Slide, Weaker Growth - (www.bloomberg.com)
Our Financial Bailout Culture - (online.wsj.com)
Surprising Growth in the Trade Deficit - (www.nytimes.com)
Greenspan's media offensive glosses over shortcomings - (money.cnn.com)
The Bush Recession - (visitorfromtomorrow.com)
Victims and villains - (www.worldnetdaily.com)
GSEs: The Tail Wagging the Credit Market Dog? - (www.seekingalpha.com)
Economists: More Downside - (online.wsj.com)
Consumer confidence falls to new low - (www.ap.com)
U.S. import prices rise 2.8% in March - (www.marketwatch.com)
Watering ban means pollen-colored cars for dealers - (www.ajc.com)
Worst financial crisis since Depression, says IMF - (www.guardian.co.uk)
Foreclosure crisis hits rental market - (www.bankrate.com)
Cheapest Houses in the Bay Area - (www.ibabuzz.com)

Auction Market Shrinks by $51 Billion, With Failure Rate at 71% - (www.bloomberg.com)
U.S. credit crunch rocks student loan business - (www.ajc.com)
Revolvers trigger dangers for banks - (www.ft.com)
Prying Open Hedge Funds' Exit Door - (www.businessweek.com)
Gas, diesel hit new records - (www.chicagotribune.com)

GE Says Profit Fell, Citing Finance; Forecast Reduced - (www.bloomberg.com)
As Housing Boomed, Moody's Opened Up - (online.wsj.com)
How Lehman Opened the Fed's Spigot - (online.wsj.com)
GE's Results Pull Plug on Wall Street - (online.wsj.com)
Retailers report weakest March in 13 years - (www.latimes.com)
Linens 'n Things bankruptcy may come Tuesday: report - (www.reuters.com)
Exclusive Lines May Prove Risky In Cool Economy - (online.wsj.com)
Linens 'n Things Files for Bankruptcy - (www.thestreet.com)
Frontier Airlines Files for Bankruptcy Protection - (www.bloomberg.com)
Airline investors find they're always losing altitude - (www.chron.com)
Freightliner to lay off 1,500 in N.C. - (portland.bizjournals.com)

Philippines Caught in Rice Squeeze - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Dearer imports drive up UK prices - (www.ft.com)
Wage settlements suggest impact of inflation - (www.ft.com)
Saudis to phase out wheat production - (www.ft.com)
Nations in secret deals over grain supplies - (www.ft.com)
India Ends Export Incentives for Rice, Steel to Tame Inflation - (www.bloomberg.com)

Friday April 11 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Senate Passes Bill with Builder Tax Breaks - (www.ml-implode.com) - 'At a cost of $15 billion over 10 years, the Senate bill would give a $6 billion tax break to home builders by temporarily exten...
Lucrative Grim Repo Man - (clubs.ccsu.edu) – Entrepreneur takes foreclosure hunters on bus tours
Lehman Brothers Says It Liquidated Three Investment Funds - (www.bloomberg.com)
Jefferson County AL Close to Bankruptcy - Meets With Fed - (www.bloomberg.com)
Wall Street Banks May Cut 35% of Jobs - (www.bloomberg.com)
Auction Failures Force Students to Lose College Funds - (www.bloomberg.com)
Jefferson County Advisers Meet U.S. Officials as Crisis Looms - (www.bloomberg.com)
Americans with mortgages exceeding value of homes unlikely to be helped by Bush refinance plan - (www.signonsandiego.com)
Another Flavor of Bonds Threatens to Turn Sour: Mark Gilbert - (www.bloomberg.com)
GMAC's Bank Unit Has a Problem - (online.wsj.com)
Hedge Funds Make It Hard To Say Goodbye - (online.wsj.com) – Was it such a great deal to be in a hedge fund when they prevent you from withdrawing your money?
Slowdown Deals A Bad Hand to Las Vegas Casinos - (online.wsj.com)
The REO Life: Vandalism - (www.youtube.com)
Opposition to Proposed Houseowner Bailout Growing - (www.npr.org)
House committee backs additional theft of renter taxes - (www.reuters.com)


Other Stories:

White House Presents Plan To Aid Subprime Borrowers - (www.ml-implode.com) - 'The proposal was quickly criticized by consumer groups, who said it would do little to slow a mortgage meltdown that last year ...
Phoenix Foreclosures: If Not A Crisis, Pretty Close To It - (www.ml-implode.com) - "Home inventories are continuing to rise and prices are declining, so there is still some more time before the Phoenix area mark...
Scam Spam Flyer from FHA "Downpayment Assistance Firm" - (www.ml-implode.com) - We received this lovely mailer as spam to our inbox today. It quite nicely demonstrates and proves that down-payment assistance...
We only thought we were getting wealthier - (www.ml-implode.com)
Failures of the Term Auction Facility - (www.ml-implode.com)
Trouble in the Cockroach Hotels - (www.ml-implode.com)
Stress Returns to Interbank Lending - (www.ml-implode.com)
Lust helped drive the housing bust, but mass amnesia also factored - (www.ml-implode.com)

Fed Prepares for More Bank Failures In Wake of Housing Collapse - (www.marketoracle.co.uk)
Denver house prices continue to plummet - (denverpost.com)
Housing-market joy spread to England - (www.economist.com)
Lenders Giving Underwater Borrowers Cash for Keys - (www.homeguide123.com)
Drop in house values brings dip in property taxes - (www.modbee.com)

Ron Paul Questions General Petraeus Yesterday [Video] - (www.dailypaul.com)
Fed fears deep recession - (www.thestar.com)
The Fed Is Terrified - (Mish at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com)
Fed mulls options in easing credit crunch - (www.financialnews-us.com)
Volker: Is the Fed's Bear Stearns Loan Legal? - (www.bloomberg.com)
Interactive Foreclosure Map of Denver - 11,000 More Foreclosures Expected This Year - (www.usatoday.com)
Americans: Can't Get Ahead, Hard to Keep Up - (www.washingtonpost.com)
US Trade Deficit Unexpectedly Widens - (www.bloomberg.com)
Iceland Raises Benchmark Rates to 15.5% - (www.bloomberg.com)
Treasury Notes Fall as U.S. Stocks Advance, After Fed Auction - (www.bloomberg.com)
Crude Oil Falls on Signs Record Prices Will Curb U.S. Demand - (www.bloomberg.com)
Diesel price fuels US truckers’ anger - (www.ft.com)

Real Estate: A Capital Trap for National Savings - (Charles Hugh Smith)
Bob's tips on renting safely during the next few years - (www.politicalgateway.com)
Ambac, MBIA Finally Get the Rating They Deserve - (www.seekingalpha.com)
35 signs the market hasn't hit bottom - (www.marketwatch.com)
U.S. Trade Deficit Unexpectedly Widened on Imports - (www.bloomberg.com)
Inflation Is Set to Reach Decade High - (online.wsj.com)
IMF sees U.S. falling into recession - (www.chicagotribune.com)
U.S. office vacancies up as leasing ebbs - (www.latimes.com)
Volcker, ex-Fed chairman, chides Bernanke - (www.iht.com)
Fed Bashed, ECB Spared in Finger-Pointing Match - (www.cnbc.com)

Housing Bust Offers Insights - (online.wsj.com)
The Bank-Loan Haircut - (online.wsj.com)
'B-Pieces' Wield Their CMBS Clout - (online.wsj.com)
Asian currencies rise as recession fears hit dollar - (news.yahoo.com/s/afp)
Having lost fortunes, banks such as UBS have to raise money - (www.economist.com)
Soros Says Credit Crisis Will Worsen Before Improving - (www.bloomberg.com)
Are you upside down in your home? - (www.ocregister.com)
Painful shake-out seen for Asian hedge funds - (www.reuters.com)
Volatile Waters Tossed Around Hedge Funds - (online.wsj.com)
New Delays Loom as F.A.A. Expands Airliner Review - (www.nytimes.com)
Slowdown Deals A Bad Hand to Las Vegas Casinos - (online.wsj.com)
Fuel Costs Just Part of Airlines’ List of Woes - (www.nytimes.com)

Bank of England cuts key rate by quarter point - (www.marketwatch.com)
World inflation fuelled by surge in farm, energy prices - (news.yahoo.com/s/afp)
Iceland Raises Benchmark Interest Rate to 15.5% - (www.bloomberg.com)
Australia aims regulatory fire at hedge funds - (www.ft.com)
A New Poll Finds Americans Feeling a Lot More Squeezed - (www.washingtonpost.com)
What We've Learned From the Market Mess - (online.wsj.com)

Thursday April 10 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Bond insurance downgrades trigger possible bankruptcy of AL county - (www.al.com)
Glut of Unsold Housing in Santa Clara County -- Proof - (patrick.net) – Great photo with Google Maps proof that realtor signs are not faked
Goldman Sachs Level 3 Assets Jump, Exceeding Rivals' - (www.bloomberg.com)
Ex-owners trash foreclosed houses before leaving - (www.sun-sentinel.com)
Congress' latest dumb idea to fix the housing crisis - (www.slate.com)
White House says can't support Senate housing bill - (www.reuters.com)
The Great Dumbing Down of the Market - (www.ml-implode.com) - We have been talking about this for six months, but there seems to be a refusal on the part of many observers to accept that the...
Who Will Bail Out the FED? - (www.ml-implode.com) - 'The Fed bankers, whose progenitors have already bribed our Congress to un-constitutionally turn over Congress' exclusive power ...
Chances of Homeowner Relief Losing Momentum in Senate - (www.nytimes.com)
Dear Mr. Greenspan: You played a part in this mess - (www.financialweek.com)
Greenspan: Not My Fault - (biz.yahoo.com)
Citigroup, Wells Fargo May Loan Less After Downgrades - (www.bloomberg.com)
U.K. Consumer Confidence Falls to Lowest Since 2004 - (www.bloomberg.com)
Media Missed Details of WaMu Story - (www.ml-implode.com) - On Tuesday, the knights of the business keyboards rang in with thoughts on Washington Mutual's deal, singing its praises. But t...
Australian Consumer Confidence Slumps to 15-Year Low - (www.bloomberg.com)
Looming Deficit Impedes Federal Housing Agency - (www.nytimes.com)
Americans doubt ability to fund retirement - (money.cnn.com)
Economic slowdown hits Silicon Valley - (www.iht.com)


Other Stories:

The futile $100M foreclosure fix - (www.ml-implode.com)
Banks Rein in Lending Ahead of Slowdown - (www.ml-implode.com)
IMF bites the bullet as crisis deepens - (www.ml-implode.com)

Roubini Now Says House Prices to Fall 30% - (www.seekingalpha.com)
Fed Weighs Its Options in Easing Crunch - (online.wsj.com)
Bush to Expand Help on Mortgages - (online.wsj.com)
For Many, a Boom That Wasn’t - (www.nytimes.com)
Ex-Fed Chairman Chides Current One - (www.nytimes.com)
Fed looking at how to beef up lending power: report - (www.reuters.com)
Long commutes, gas prices crimping American Dream - (www.philly.com)
Fed members worried about deep recession - (www.ap.com)
Gains in Worker Productivity Slow - (online.wsj.com)
Mortgage Application Volume Rises - (www.ap.com)
Middle Class Feeling The Financial Squeeze - (www.cbsnews.com)
IPO for Apollo Management - (online.wsj.com)
NYSE Volume Drops to `08 Low as Traders `Wait and See' Profits - (www.bloomberg.com)

Boeing Delays 787 Again to Third Quarter of 2009 - (www.bloomberg.com)
UPS cuts outlook, blaming fuel - (money.cnn.com)
CBS layoffs signal a financial squeeze on TV stations - (www.latimes.com)
Retailers' Struggles Mean Lean Times at the Mall - (online.wsj.com)
GE consumer finance unit gives up on U.S. consumer - (www.financialweek.com)
For Pilots, Dreams Run Into Reality - (www.nytimes.com)
American Airlines cancels 1,000 flights - (www.ft.com)
Off-balance sheet rules 'irretrievably broken' - (www.ft.com)
Arctic Cat warning of diminished earnings - (www.startribune.com)
Rising currency squeezes exporters in China - (www.latimes.com)
Egypt's Soaring Food Prices Bring Bread Lines, Deficit Pressure - (www.bloomberg.com)
IMF Puts Cost of Crisis Near $1 Trillion - (www.washingtonpost.com)

Of course it's Greenspan's fault - (www.iht.com)
Used-house sales falls to record low - (biz.yahoo.com)
Credit crunch costs '$1 trillion' - (news.bbc.co.uk)
IMF: Financial crisis costs will near $1 trillion - (www.telegraph.co.uk)
Property Tax Delinquency In Central Valley - (media.modbee.com)
Track the NAR's Spin and Lies - (bp0.blogger.com)
Hooverizing the Housing Bubble - (patrick.net)
UK House Prices Plunge Over the Cliff - (www.marketoracle.co.uk)
Bigger Bubbles To Pop - (greatdepression2006.blogspot.com)

Wednesday April 9 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

HOUSING: 'Feeding frenzy' in Las Vegas - (www.ml-implode.com) - 'More than half of Las Vegas home sales in March were foreclosures or short sales, the president of Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors said Monday.'
Stockton: Ghost Town USA - (marketplace.publicradio.org)
Aging process quickly hits homes in Las Vegas - (www.latimes.com)
Big US student loan guarantor files for bankruptcy - (www.reuters.com) – Credit crisis could be affecting whether students go to college
Lenders could have verified borrower income with IRS - (www.nytimes.com) - But why would they want to do something like this, this would have cut back on their bond offerings and big bonuses J
First Marblehead Tumbles After Guarantor Files Chapter 11 - (www.bloomberg.com)
As housing falls, short sales becoming common - (www.ml-implode.com) - “... numbers suggest that 20 percent of completed home sales nationwide are short sales,”
Greenspan: Credit Crisis Worst in 50 Years - (www.bloomberg.com)
Greenspan Blames Investors For Crisis - (www.nypost.com) – Still not taking responsibility and making up reasons why the credit crisis is not his fault
Greenspan overfloweth - (www.ml-implode.com) - 'Sometimes the best defense is a good offense and that clearly seems to be the tack that former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan has ...
His Legacy Tarnished, Greenspan Goes on Defensive - (online.wsj.com)
Institutional Panic May Fuel Recession - (www.bloomberg.com)
Railcars idle as economy falters - (www.ap.com)
Rice Jumps to Record on Philippine Imports, Curbs on Exports - (www.bloomberg.com)
A Society that Punishes Savers - (www.mybudget360.com)
Foreclosures come to McMansion country - (news.yahoo.com)
Ex-insider tells how subprime lenders spun out of control - (www.dallasnews.com)
WaMu to Get $7 Billion Infusion; Bank Slashes Dividend, Posts Loss – (www.ml-implode.com) - ``Washington Mutual Inc. Tuesday unveiled a deal to receive $7 billion from an investment group led by private-equity irm TPG a...


Other Stories:

DOW P/E Reaches Insane Heights - (www.ml-implode.com)
Who Would Have Thought? - (www.ml-implode.com) - “Clearly, the recession that hasn’t begun yet is over. At least, that’s what all the folks who never saw the recession coming, then decided we are going to have one, and who now say it’s over, believe. I know because I heard them say so on TV, time and again.”
Clif Droke: Now We Know the Real Reasons For the Credit "Crisis" - (www.safehaven.com)
Today's Housing Market Is a Real Fixer-Upper - (finance.yahoo.com)
Krugman: 40% or 50% declines - (latimesblogs.latimes.com)
Bear Stearns Customers Were Not at Risk - (www.hussman.net)
Food Additives Could Be as Damaging at Leaded Gas - (www.independent.co.uk)
IMF Says Financial, Economic Losses May Swell to $945 Billion - (www.bloomberg.com)
IMF to Sell 12.5% of Gold Stake - 403 Tons! - (www.marketwatch.com)
Over the Top Fed Actions Feed Conspiracy Thinking - (www.alternet.org)
Asian Inflation Begins to Sting US Consumers - (www.nytimes.com)
Jim Rogers: The Failure of the Federal Reserve - (www.moneymorning.com)
A closer look at the ARM reset problem - (www.seekingalpha.com)
Mortgage lenders prepare for the worst - (www.independent.co.uk)
How Many Foreclosures in Palo Alto, 1 or 74? - (patrick.net)
Our housing-bubble hangover - (articles.moneycentral.msn.com)
House is where the heartache lies - (business.smh.com.au)
Corporate Distressed Debt Levels Rise to Five Year Peak - (us.ft.com)
Natural Gas Run on in Pennsylvania - (www.nytimes.com)
WSJ: Detroit Sets Bold Goal: Exporting U.S. Cars - (online.wsj.com)
How to survive the Great Depression of 2008 - 2009 - (www.politicalgateway.com)
Bernanke's solutions worse than the problem - (www.informationclearinghouse.info)
Congress' proposals favor lenders and builders more than owners - (www.buffalonews.com)
Credit bubble deregulation gone wild - (www.seekingalpha.com)

Greenspan Says Current Credit Crisis Is Worst in at Least Half a Century - (www.bloomberg.com)
Borrowing Slows Down - (www.nytimes.com)
Asian Inflation Begins to Sting U.S. Shoppers - (www.nytimes.com)
A buck that can't be passed - (www.iht.com)

Hedge funds lose more ground in March -- data - (www.reuters.com)
Distressed debt levels rise to five-year peak - (www.ft.com)
IMF Says Financial, Economic Losses May Swell to $945 Billion - (www.bloomberg.com)
Simons, Mandel Post Biggest Drop in Hedge Fund Slump - (www.bloomberg.com)
Hedge funds face tougher times - (www.iht.com)
IMF to sell 12.5% of gold stake, worth more than $13 billion - (www.marketwatch.com)

Alcoa says energy costs, weak dollar hurt profit - (www.latimes.com)
AMD to cut 10% of workforce - (www.latimes.com)
Detroit's Bold Goal: Exporting Cars - (online.wsj.com)
Audit Panels Face Reckoning In Credit Mess - (online.wsj.com)
United Rentals's ex-CFO Indicted - (www.cfo.com)

U.K. House Prices Fall the Most Since 1992, HBOS Says - (www.bloomberg.com)
New Zealand Business Confidence Plummets to 33-Year Low on Falling Sales - (www.bloomberg.com)
As Price of Lead Soars, British Churches Find Holes in Roof - (www.nytimes.com)