Monday May 26 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

A Congressional Speculator? - (calculatedrisk.blogspot.com) - This is an update to post below on Rep. Linda Richardson's foreclosure woes. Gene Maddaus of the Daily Breeze kindly forwarded today's additions to the saga. There are not two, but three homes owned by Richardson in foreclosure. And yes, she appears to have cashed out her primary residence back in 2006 to fund her campaign for State Assembly. So it looks like a pattern."
City of Vallejo, California files for bankruptcy - (www.reuters.com) - The city of Vallejo, California, filed for bankruptcy on Friday, a move signaled by its city council earlier this month as it struggles to avoid running out of money amid steep city personnel costs and sliding revenues from a housing slump. Vallejo, with more than 100,000 residents, is the first sizable city in California to file for bankruptcy.
Report says Moody's, others shifted analysts at banks' request - (www.financialweek.com) – Yes, the same companies that rated mortgage securities as AAA and rated Enron highly before they went into bankruptcy are showing their conflicts of interest.
Limits Weighed for Commodities Investors - (www.nytimes.com) Patients are now running the asylum. Instead of addressing root case, moron Joseph Lieberman, chairman of a Senate oversight committee, said Tuesday that he was considering legislation limiting large institutional investors in commodities markets. The legislation would be aimed at speculators and other investors who use commodities like oil as a way to hedge against swings in other investment instruments, like stocks and the American dollar.
Toughest Summer Job Is Finding One - (www.nytimes.com) - As the forces of economic downturn ripple widely across the United States, the job market of 2008 is shaping up as the weakest in more than half a century for teenagers looking for summer work, according to labor economists, government data and companies that hire young people.
Home price index posts largest drop in history - (www.ap.com) - A home-price index considered to be the most comprehensive reading of the U.S. market posted the sharpest decline (3.1% in 1Q2008) in its 17-year history, & analysts say housing has yet to bottom out.
Mesa Air may file for bankruptcy - (www.arizonarepublic.com)
Fingerprint Registry in Housing Bill!!! – (www.openmarket.org) – You wonder why Congress’ approval ratings are lower than Bush, because they are standing around giving away all our rights. Earlier this week, a measure creating a federal fingerprint registry totally unrelated to national security passed a U.S. Senate committee almost without notice. The legislation would require thousands of individuals working even tangentially in the mortgage and real estate industries — and not suspected of anything — to send their prints to the feds. The database and fingerprint mandates were tucked into housing and foreclosure assistance bills that on Tuesday passed the Senate Banking Committee by a vote of 19-2
New Vanguard CEO declares Media Blackout - (www.ml-implode.com) - New CEO Joe Nocito Jr. warns his "employees" of "DISCIPLINARY ACTION" if they talk to the media. "There is to be NO communication with ANY members of the media."
Woman loses job, burns down house for money - (blogs.tampabay.com)
Citigroup's CDO Shows Enron Accounting - (www.bloomberg.com)
Florida Pension Fund Is Suing AIG - (www.nytimes.com)
Moody's Plunges for Second Day After Cover-Up Probe - (www.bloomberg.com)



Other Stories:

Housing's False Bottom - (Charles Hugh Smith at www.oftwominds.com)
Loan failures rise for 37th straight month, extending record - (www.signonsandiego.com)
FDIC's Bair: Foreclosure Aid Is 'Train Wreck' - (blogs.wsj.com)
How Is the Klan Like a Group of Real-Estate Agents? - (www.freakonomicsbook.com)

Canadian Housing Market Also Subject To Housing “Physics” And Is Going Down - (www.ml-implode.com) - "Alas, what goes up, must come down- even in Canada. After months of the MSM reporting that the Canadian housing market would n...
Bribery, Kickbacks, Indictments, Ratergate - (www.ml-implode.com) - "Fraud, greed, and market tops go hand in hand like clockwork. We saw that in housing, we are seeing it other places as well suc...
David Einhorn’s ‘Must-Read’ Speech Exposing Lehman’s Lies - (www.ml-implode.com) - ``After an in-depth and informative intro, [Einhorn] dives right into Lehman with research that is quite damning.'' Here is a n...
Historical Housing Graphs: Months of Supply, Sales and Inventory - (www.ml-implode.com)
Fraud Probe At Moody's - (www.ml-implode.com)
Merrill Suspends Trader, Finds Overvalued Derivatives - (www.ml-implode.com)
Ranieri Pursuing $1 Billion Distressed Mortgage Fund - (www.ml-implode.com)
As I see it, 32 commercial banks and thrifts may see the feces hit the fan blades - (www.ml-implode.com)
Comptroller Dugan on "Unprecedented Home Equity Loan Losses" - (www.ml-implode.com)
Existing Home Sales Match All-Time Low in April; Inventory Swells - (www.ml-implode.com)
Builders STILL Tout No-Money Down, Adjustable Mortgages - (money.cnn.com)
Fannie Still Runs Amok: Didn't We Learn Anything? - (www.seekingalpha.com)
Freddie Mac Suffers Bout of "Temporary" Insanity - (www.bloomberg.com)
US House Prices Tumble 3.1% in First Quarter - (www.bloomberg.com)
Gov't house price index posts largest drop in 17-year history - (www.breitbart.com)
Trouble ahead for global house prices - (www.economist.com)
More Questions Are Raised About Moody's Ratings - (www.nytimes.com)
Pimco's Gross Says U.S. Underestimating Inflation - (www.bloomberg.com)

An inquiry into interbank loan rate - (www.iht.com)
Bad Oil Bets Haunt Speculators - (online.wsj.com)
Prices of Credit Derivatives Take a Drift - (online.wsj.com)
Foreclosure forecast grim - (www.signonsandiego.com)
If $4 Gas Is Bad, Just Wait - (online.wsj.com)

Retailers face uncertain second half of 2008 - (www.signonsandiego.com)
Builders Tout Incentives In Bid to Sell Homes - (online.wsj.com)
Moody's Cuts AIG's Senior Unsecured Credit Rating After Loss - (www.bloomberg.com)
Hybrid sales are zooming - (www.latimes.com)
McDonald's dollar menu to stay, executives say - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Housing slump, fuel prices squeeze moving firms - (www.latimes.com)

New Find Fuels Speculation Brazil Will Be a Power in Oil - (online.wsj.com)
U.K. Economy Grows the Least Since 2005 on Investment - (www.bloomberg.com)
European Services, Manufacturing Growth Slowed in May - (www.bloomberg.com)
Mexico prospering despite U.S. slowdown - (www.latimes.com)
Gauging the Big Bets of a Hot Hand - (www.nytimes.com)
FBI: Mortgage fraud cases on upswing - (www.chicagotribune.com)

Thursday May 15 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

How does State of California deal with $20B deficit? Of course, by borrowing against future lottery profits. Again, the politicians in CA are bankrupting the future so they can get re-elected in the present.
Guv Defends Lottery Plan - (www.sfgate.com) – Obviously, the steroids have shrunken the gov’s cohones as he obviously has none. He has given in to all the special interest groups. Schwarzenegger says using future lottery profits to pay off the $15B deficit is necessary because cuts alone will not balance the budget.
Vallejo Schools Feel The Pain - (www.sfgate.com) – Feel free to blame your city unions (fire department and police department) as they are sucking up 75% of the city budget. City's decision to declare bankruptcy has adversely affected the district, which is a separate governmental entity.
Congress Votes to Stop Stockpiling Oil - (www.nytimes.com) – Yes, both republicans and democrats are buying votes for this fall, even though everyone agrees it will do little except reduce prices by a few pennies. This is not a long-term solution to the underlying problem.
House OKs $290B Farm Bill – (www.sfgate.com). More vote buying by our cohones-less politicians. Veto-proof legislation includes an unprecedented $3 billion to support California fruit and vegetables.
As Condo Dues Dry Up, The Neighbors Pay - (online.wsj.com) – Good reason why you shouldn’t own a condo or townhouse in this market. Even if you are financially stable, you never know about your neighbors. The association at Monaco Place, a community of single-family homes and condominiums in Denver, is short $250,000 of its $9.3 million annual operating budget. It can't pay for needed roof and siding repairs to homes. Potholes in the streets haven't been filled in order to save money to keep electricity running in common areas, says Dee Tyler, CEO of Colorado Association Services, which manages the association. Monaco Place was already suffering from a high rate of foreclosures before the credit crunch hit. In the past three years, about a third of its 193 units have been foreclosed on.
1,000 Foreclosure auctions per day in California - (latimesblogs.latimes.com) - California's foreclosure crisis passed another ominous milestone in April, when more than 1,000 foreclosed homes were auctioned off every weekday at courthouses across the state, the auction tracking firm ForeclosureRadar reported today. The April total of foreclosure sales at auction -- 22,838 for the state -- represents a jump of 44% over March totals and the highest level ever in California, ForeclosureRadar reports
Deflating house prices leave little equity to borrow against - (biz.yahoo.com) – What a concept, people will actually have to save money for the purchases.
FHA Chief Criticizes Bailout Plan - (www.usnews.com) - As one colleague described it, it is "on steroids" because it throws sound underwriting out the window. It moves us toward a federalization of the mortgage market, forces taxpayers to pay for bad loans, and doubles FHA's portfolio, adding hundreds of thousands of risky loans in a Byzantine process that will take years to sort out and create a regulatory nightmare.
Get ready for more bank failures - (money.cnn.com)
Lawsuit targets mortgage brokers - (www.lvrj.com) - An attorney representing a homeowner has filed the first local lawsuit in what could be a wave of litigation targeting mortgage companies and other real estate professionals.
Robert Cottle, a partner in the Las Vegas law firm Mainor Eglet Cottle, filed the lawsuit May 1 in Clark County District Court on behalf of homeowner Brad Cohen, who refinanced his southeast Las Vegas home with an adjustable-rate mortgage in 2005 and can no longer afford his monthly housing payment. In the lawsuit, Cohen accuses eight defendants of fraud, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, negligent misrepresentation, intentional misrepresentation, and breach of covenant good faith and fair dealing. Named in the lawsuit are Countrywide Financial Corp.; Countrywide Home Loans; HSBC Mortgage Corp.; Direct Equity Mortgage Corp.; Alex Burke, an employee of Direct Equity Mortgage; Countrywide Tax Service; Rob's Tax Service; and National Title Co.
Honest Appraisal Regulations Opposed - (www.latimes.com) - Who's not happy? Major financial and banking trade groups, for starters. In a joint letter, eight groups, including the American Bankers Assn., Mortgage Bankers Assn. and the Consumer Mortgage Coalition, called the whole idea "bad policy" and demanded that Fannie's and Freddie's federal regulator withdraw its support for the agreement, effectively killing it.
The Latest Twist in Student Loans - (www.businessweek.com)
Brunswick cites economy in decision to close boat factory - (www.chicagotribune.com) - Because its big-ticket pleasure boats are a "discretionary' purchase which consumers can easily defer, Brunswick's results are sensitive to the economy's cycle. "The U.S. marine industry has been in a prolonged slowdown since late 2005," noted Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dustan McCoy.


Other Stories:

Latest CA Foreclosures Stats - (mrmortgage.ml-implode.com)
Libor Credibility Doubted; Real Interest Rates Much Higher - (www.bloomberg.com)
What Will Happen to Your Money When Your Bank Fails - (www.homeguide123.com)
Ron Paul on the Housing Bubble - (www.pressmediawire.com)
Housing Bailout Backlash - (Mish)
Call Senator Shelby - (patrick.net)
Incomes predict 40% further decline in San Diego - (www.californiahousingforecast.com)
Foreclosures looming for the Hamptons' poshest pads - (www.nypost.com)
The Housing Bust: Worst yet to Come - (Charles Hugh Smith at www.oftwominds.com)
NAR's Lawrence Yun Continues to Lie - (www.seekingalpha.com)
The cheaper housing option in Bangalore, India - (bangalore.craigslist.co.in)
About exponential growth - (www.chrismartenson.com)

Volcker Warns of Precedent Set by Fed Moves - (online.wsj.com)
Volcker Says Fed Interventions Risk Political Battles - (www.bloomberg.com)
Condo Life: Foreclosures, Higher Fees and Mowing the Lawn - (www.nytimes.com)
Most Americans don't expect the economy to improve soon, poll finds - (www.latimes.com)
Consumer Credit Crisis Showing up in the Cards - (www.nypost.com)
Survey: 1 in 10 boomers borrowing for everyday expenses - (www.ajc.com)
Opposition Builds to $300 Billion Government Mortgage Bail Out - (www.forbes.com)
State foreclosure sales hit record high - (www.mercurynews.com)
Away from the Strip, Vegas land values plunge - (www.lvbusinesspress.com)

Banks turned markets into "monster": German president - (www.reuters.com)
Home prices fall across the country in first quarter - (www.latimes.com)
FBI warns of escalating mortgage fraud - (www.usatoday.com)

Bank analyst pans Citi turn around plan - (www.nypost.com)
Freddie Mac Posts Loss, Plans to Raise $5.5 Billion - (www.bloomberg.com)
Toll Brothers preliminary 2Q sales fall 30 percent - (www.chicagotribune.com)
GM May Look to Raise Additional Cash - (online.wsj.com)
More Companies Sell Off Assets - (online.wsj.com)
Fannie and Freddie capital alert - (www.ft.com)
Deere 2Q profit rises, but warns of cost trouble ahead - (www.forbes.com)
Fewer fliers for summer, packed planes persist - (www.azcentral.com)
UK inflation woe 'set to worsen' - (news.bbc.co.uk)
Economic woes begin to hit UK jobs - (www.ft.com)

The great asset price controversy - (www.ft.com)
The Water-Industrial Complex - (www.forbes.com)