VIDEO:  Should Washington Mutual Fire CEO Kerry Killinger? - Analysis and Discussion with with David Dreman of Dreman Value Management - Bloomberg and Clip Syndicate  

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Research Zeitgeist: The end of the monoline? - The death rattle of the monoline bond insurance business as we have known it could be heard loud and clear this week, with Moody’s whacking in what looks like the final nail in the business model with its downgrades of Ambac (NYSE: ABK) and MBIA (NYSE: ABK). -  Research Recap

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Fears of foreclosure keep credit counselors busy - … software program to help homeowners who are in the early stages of late-payment trouble. Suzanne Boas, president of the organization, said the software “will help us save the homes of many Americans.” … - Atlanta Journal Constitution

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Sure, Land Is Cheaper. So Is It Time to Buy? - NY Times

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MR Mortgage - S&P Slashes BofA to a Sell - Thanks Countrywide! - Only abut 6 months after I told clients “there is no way in hell without a bailout that BofA will take on all Countrywde’s toxins” and a couple of months after I put out the story below on the subject, S&P slashes BofA to a sell reducing their price target to $24. They cite “worries over the mortgage portfolio the bank will inherit” and “take unfavorable note of the large Countrywide option-adjustable rate mortgage portfolio that Bank of America will inherit.” … - MR Mortgage

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Can a $100 Million Home be an Investment? - Felix Salmon - Donald Trump’s Palm Beach mansion has been sold for $100 million to “little-known Russian fertilizer billionaire, Dmitry Rybolovlev”…   - portfolio.com 
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Why Is Oil So High? Pick a View - NY Times 

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FBI eyes big business in mortgage fraud probe - Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington and Hal Weitzman in Chicago - FT.com 

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If the Fed Is So Easy, Why Is the Growth in Money and Credit Aggregates So Weak? -   Paul Kasriel - Northern Trust 

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Can the Fed Answer All the Alarms? - Ben Stein - NY Times 

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IRA ARTMAN SECTION:  thanks Ira -

An End To The Credit Crisis - Orie Dudley - Northern Trust Perspective
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Rise in Renters Erasing Gains for Ownership - RACHEL L. SWARNS - … The percentage of households headed by homeowners, which soared to a record 69.1 percent in 2005, fell to 67.8 percent this year, the sharpest decline in 20 years … - NY Times
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Upturn in Housing Starts Stops - Dean Baker - … As noted before, the sharp downturn in starts is actually good news. There is a huge excess supply of housing at the moment, which just keeps expanding due to the flood of foreclosures. This inventory will most quickly be eroded if builders stop building new units. The sharper the downturn in construction, the quicker the inventory of homes on the market moves back to normal levels.  … - CEPR.net

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The Sharp Housing Downturn Continues to Pressure the Economy - Harvard Releases the 2008 State of the Nation’s Housing Report - Press Release JCHS Harvard

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Which housing markets will bounce back first? - Janet Morrissey  - Atlanta, Charlotte and major Texas cities could be leaders, analysts say, but not until late ‘09 - Investment News 
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S&P: 16-Month Recession Not Over Yet - Colleen O’Connor-Grant -  … S&P analysts suggested that the next shoe to drop in the banking sector would be Option Adjustable Rate Mortgages, or “Option ARMs.”  … Financial Planning 

posted by Bill Coppedge