Credit Default Risk Chart - also has comments - Bespoke Investment Group

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Will Your Home Heating Bill Be Higher or Lower This Winter? - also has comments - Bespoke Investment Group 

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How much is a college degree really worth?… REASON - NCPA.org 

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scary chart - U.S. Structured Finance Newsletter - Personal Bankruptcy Filings on the Rise - thanks Susan Kulakowski - DBRS 
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Andrew Cuomo and Fannie and Freddie - How the youngest Housing and Urban Development secretary in history gave birth to the mortgage crisis - Wayne Barrett - Village Voice 

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has table - Primary Dealers and Their Loss Experience - Bob Eisenbeis, Chief Monetary Economist -  Bianco Research periodically has published a compilation of the losses that have accumulated in major banks and investment banks as a result of the so-called subprime crisis.(1)  When Chairman Bernanke hinted in his July 12, 2007 Congressional testimony that losses might reach $100 billion, this seemed alarmingly large.  But the Bianco data now show that this was a very conservative estimate indeed.  - Cumberland Advisors

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Storms On The Horizon - The Entitlement Time Bomb - FORECASTS & TRENDS E-LETTER - Gary D. Halbert - …Please sit tight while I walk you through the math of Medicare …  If you wanted to cover the unfunded liability of all three programs today, you would be stuck with an $85.6 trillion bill. That is more than six times as large as the bill for Social Security. It is more than six times the annual output of the entire U.S. economy. … - ProFutures

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Fed housing act changes capital gains tax exemption - Janet Morrissey  - Owners get socked during years their home isn’t principal abode - thanks Ira Artman - Investment News 

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Freddie Mac: An Interesting Bet? - Bill Miller has increased his stake in FRE and now owns 12.2% of the company. Besides Bill Miller, other smart managers such as Richard Pzena, Charles Brandes, David Dreman and others are long on FRE.  On the other hand, there are smart people like Bill Ackman, Whitney Tilson and others that short FRE. - Lollapalooza Investing 

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Wachovia Unloads Troubled Loans - LandCap Will Buy $40 Million of Assets Via Joint Venture  - MICHAEL CORKERY - Wall Street Journal 

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just received Aug 19 update - Office of Thrift Supervision 2007 Fact Book - A Statistical Profile of the Thrift Industry - June 2008 - 83 pages OTS 
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Next Fed Move More Likely to Be Down, Not Up - New York - Author: Hennessee Group LLC - … “We expect the Fed to keep official rates steady into next year, and if global GDP growth doesn’t pick up (especially in the U.S. and Euro Zone), we may even see a decline in U.S. rates”, said Charles Gradante. … -   riskcenter.com
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Financials and Housing: The Outlook Remains Ugly - Whitney Tilson - … Presentation on the Housing Market - We have put together an 18-page slide presentation with our latest analysis of the U.S. housing market, … - seeking alpha