HUGE CHART – In Parts of U.S., Foreclosures Top Sales -  Floyd Norris  – NYT 

————
1.  Cuomo settles appraisal case with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac – …  He said mortgage lenders that own appraisal companies – such as Wells Fargo & Co. and Countrywide Financial Corp. – may have to spin off those divisions …     Times Herald-Record

2.  New standards for home appraisers -  Wells Fargo and Countrywide Financial, two of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders, operate appraisal units … – San Diego Union Tribune

3.  OFHEO, NY ATTORNEY GENERAL, FANNIE MAE AND FREDDIE MAC SIGN AGREEMENTS TO COMBAT APPRAISAL FRAUD -  OFHEO 

————
Leveraged Losses: Lessons from the Mortgage Market Meltdown- US Monetary Policy Forum Conference Draft – … Our best (very uncertain) guess is that the losses will total about $400 billion, with about half being borne by leveraged U.S. financial institutions … – thanks Ira Artman for finding the research paper – 47 pages Brandeis U.

————
OCC Releases Handbook on Leveraged Lending Risk Management. -    OCC

————

U.S. housing boom now officially over – Clear evidence that the U.S. housing boom is now officially over appeared in bold type in this story at CNN/Money – Say good-bye to granite countertops. It almost sounds un-American to print such a thing, but there it was …     themessthatgreenspanmade 

————
Subprime Prophet -  an interview with Gary Shilling -  thanks Ira Artman – ResearchMag.com 

————
Fannie Mae Portfolio Falls to $721B – Associated Press Houston Chronicle

————

Commodities Gone Wild – 3 Charts you need to see – Traderfeed 

————
Wheat Boom an Indicator of Inflation – … This Monday (2/25) was historical for grain trading. The March 08 wheat futures soared to $25 a bushel … compared to about $5 a year ago. …-  Thomas Tan -  seeking alpha

————
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Seek to Preserve Capital – … “We’re treating capital a little bit like a scuba diver treats oxygen,” Freddie Mac chief executive Richard F. Syron told investors last week.  …  -  Washington Post 

————
Sacrificing Fannie And Freddie – Andrew Horowitz, The Disciplined Investor – Lifting restrictions on the borrowing abilities of these quasi-government entities may prove to be an awful idea. – Forbes

————

NYC Foreclosures on the Rise  – Here’s the latest slice of legislative brilliance: A one year moratorium on foreclosures  … Not to be too harsh, but I fail to see how preventing enforcement of contracts and property rights is going to help this situation. …  The Big Picture

————
Housing Crisis is Rooted in the Asset Markets, Not the GDP Accounts. That’s Where We Have to Fix It (half way down the page) – Dr. John Rutledge 
————
worth reading – No True Sale: Interview with Joseph Mason – … we interview Professor Joseph Mason of Drexel University about the origns of and solutions to the subprime crisis. … -  Institutional Risk Analyst

————

quite thoughtful – Munis Should Form Cooperative Entity to Self-Insure – … Please take a look at my latest post which suggests a new scheme for  providing insurance to municipal bonds in lieu of the trouble with most monolines  … The Prince of Wall Street

————
US: Consumers under siege – thanks Ira Artman – DanskeBank  has great research