.   Quick Takes (Bankstocks.com Daily Blog)  - Matt Stichnoth   - JOHN BERRY: HOMEBUYING BINGE TAKING PLACE ON EAST COAST, TOO - John Berry notes that in Prince William County, Virginia, which has been especially hard-hit by the housing meltdown, more homes sold last month than ...  ------------ Seattle-area house prices decline - Seattle's annual home-price decline now exceeds that of many other major cities — including New York, Chicago, Portland, Boston, Dallas, Denver and even hard-pressed Detroit — putting to rest the idea that Seattle might have been immune to the national slump. - By Elizabeth Rhodes - Seattle Times business reporter  ------------ What's so great about bonds? They aren't stocks - John Waggoner -  USA Today  ------------ Lower Oil Prices and Tax Cuts Will Boost the Economy - Vahan Janjigian - ... High oil prices were largely the result of a weak dollar. They had less to do with strong demand or too little supply. Perhaps it took longer than it should have, but high oil prices finally caused the demand destruction we have been expecting. In reality, this destruction has been going on for months, but it become noticeable only recently.  ... -   MoneyMasters with Vahan Janjigian  ------------ But Have We Learned Enough? - N. GREGORY MANKIW - LIKE most economists, those at the International Monetary Fund are lowering their growth forecasts. The financial turmoil gripping Wall Street will probably spill over onto every other street in America. Most likely, current job losses are only the tip of an ugly iceberg. ... But when Olivier Blanchard, the I.M.F.’s chief economist, was asked about the possibility of the world sinking into another Great Depression, he reassuringly replied that the chance was “nearly nil.” He added, “We’ve learned a few things in 80 years ... - NY Times  ------------ Bundle up for a deep credit freeze - Think paralysis in the credit markets hurts only big investors? Wait 'til this deadlock costs even more jobs and keeps you from tapping your mutual funds. - Jon Markman - MSN Money ------------ lots of charts - Adjusted Monetary Base - Barry Ritholz - The Big Picture ------------ Bargain-Hunters Trickle Back to Housing Market - Bill Austin  -  If you believe the media hype, there are millions of homes for sale in America and not a buyer in sight. - www.600wrec.com ------------ What Is Liquidity Risk? -  FRBSF Economic Letter - Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco ------------    Greenspan: The Art of Spinning - John Crudele -  NY Post ------------ Self-Employed Forecaster Tops Big Banks With U.S. Housing Call - Bob Willis - Joel Naroff was visiting Arizona in September 2005 when he had an epiphany. Phoenix-area realtors were looking for home prices in the metropolitan area to surge about 40 percent for a second year. ``That was an indication to me that the market had gotten out of control,'' he recalls.  - Bloomberg   ------------ "Under water" mortgages are growing threat to U.S. - Tom Brown - Reuters ------------ New Federal Home Loan Bank Program Provides Liquidity For Reverse Mortgages - John Yedinak - The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco announced its new Homeownership Preservation Advance (HPA) program which offers member financial institutions discounted credit to restructure loans for eligible low- and moderate-income homeowners.  The HPA program can also be used to enable elderly residents to preserve homeownership by obtaining a reverse mortgage. - Reverse Mortgage Daily ------------ For true equality, we need one tax rate for all--and no deductions - With a flat tax rate of 15 percent, Franklin Rains, the ex-Fannie Mae chairman, would have paid $15 million in taxes on the $100 million in bonuses that he ... The Free Lance-Star - Fredericksburg,VA