names names - How The Smart Money Turned Dumb in 2008 - Rick Newman Flow Chart at U.S. News & World Report ------------ Is the Jobs Panic Justified? - Peter Coy  - BusinessWeek asked economists from Wall Street to academia. Their job forecasts all depend on when they think the credit markets will start working again - text and video at BusinessWeek  ------------ has charts - Back to Normal? - Zubin Yelveh - The Fed released the Q3 Flow of Funds report this afternoon, and the news was not altogether surprising: Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. household wealth fell in the third quarter by the most on record as property values and stock prices tumbled, highlighting the tattered state of consumer finances even before the most recent slump in lending. - portfolio.com  ------------ Long Term Housing Stability Based On Strong Borrowers - Mortgaged Future, Insights into an overleveraged world - Mortgaged Future ------------ Market Prices: The Great Chasm - Seth Chalnick  - What many folks are missing today is the huge disconnect between high-end properties that haven't even corrected YET, and low-end properties that are selling at rock bottom anyway you slice it. ... For homes currently valued between $750k and $2m:  The correction has not even begun in earnest. A huge percentage of these homeowners have ARMs. None have reset yet. They will. Its not the interest rate adjustment that will push them over the edge… since their fully indexed rate will still be low, at least for now... but rather, the fact that some of these loan programs force principal and interest payment re-amortization over the remaining 25 years. - Seth Estate ------------    Without AZ, CA, FL, NV and MI, November 2008 Foreclosures Were Down By -1.10% vs. Last Year - Mark Perry  - Carpe Diem ------------ Obama team interested in Treasury plan to boost home buying - The economic team of President-elect Barack Obama is asking for details about the Treasury Department's plan to use Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reduce rates on 30-year fixed mortgages to about 4.5%. "This proposal is all about putting out the fire. There is nothing else on the table that even has the possibility of preventing a large, further decline in house prices," said Christopher Mayer of Columbia Business School and a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Mayer helped develop the plan. - Bloomberg ------------ Los Angeles Times: Debt held by U.S. households shrinks for first time -  Economists don't know whether consumers are bringing down their debt voluntarily or whether it's being imposed on them through foreclosures or the denial of credit. ...   by Maura Reynolds and Mark Medina ------------ Why home values may take decades to recover - Dennis Cauchon - USA TODAY  ------------ Home, Saccharine Home - Susan Lee - Over-investment in housing has slowed our economic growth. - Forbes ------------ Forbes Says Devalue Dollar - In undoubtedly the worst article I've ever read on Forbes.com (and there have been many candidates), writer Frank Beck suggests the world should instantaneously devalue all currencies by 30%, thereby increasing the dollar value of all assets. Debts then become manageable, and we all move forward with cleaner, leaner balance sheets. Right? Wrong! - Barel Karsan  ------------ worth reading - Jumbo Prime: ‘Walk Away’ Loans - More Downgrades Coming - MR Mortgage ------------ Why AIG Gets Billions While GM Gets Scorn by Rick Newman - Flowchart US News  ------------ Thornburg Mortgage Announces Resolution with Counterparties to Override Agreement - Amended and Restated Override Agreement Allows Company to Pay Interest Due on 8% Senior Notes on December 12, 2008 - BusinessWire - MarketWatch