Median price for Bay Area homes down 44 percent from year ago - Eve Mitchell  - San Jose Mercury News ------------ 1.  Fed: Dodging Deflation - Forsaking interest-rate targets, the Fed is focusing on cutting borrowing costs and kick-starting demand - by James Cooper - ... Deflation is the inflation process in reverse ... - BusinessWeek 2.  Fed's Fierce Battle Plan - Peter Coy - In dropping rates to zero, Bernanke is attacking the recession head-on. And his approach may well lead to a recovery by late 2009 - BusinessWeek  ------------ Obama Names Insider to Commodities Post - By EDMUND L. ANDREWS - Nine years ago, Gary Gensler played a central role in fending off tough regulation for exotic financial instruments for hedging against risk. On Thursday, President-elect Barack Obama picked him for a central role in cleaning up the wreckage that some of those instruments caused. - NY Times ------------ If You Ever See a Chart Like This, Run Away Fast - We've all heard how Bernie Madoff's returns sounded too smooth and consistent to be true. - Bespoke Investment Group  ------------      6 interesting charts - House Price Bubble Deflated? - Zubin Jelveh - Interesting set of charts from a presentation by Columbia's real estate guru Chris Mayer showing house prices relative to 50-year trends - portfolio.com ------------ Felix Salmon is: Against Lower Mortgage Rates - Glenn Hubbard and Charlie Mayer have a WSJ op-ed saying, in the clear words of their headline, that "Low-Interest Mortgages Are the Answer"; Brad DeLong agrees, and yes, he's more astonished than anybody else that he's siding with Hubbard. I, however, find the argument unconvincing. - has reasons - portfolio.com ------------ A 1-Year Analysis of Lumber Prices Vs. Timber ETFs - The accompanying table [click to enlarge] includes a 1-year analysis for near-month CME Random Length Lumber Futures (LB), Claymore/Clear Global Timber ETF (CUT), iShares S&P Global Timber & Forestry ETF (WOOD), and the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) ... The declines were similar for all four - ETF Innovators, LLP ------------    Desperate? ... Roger Kubarych, chief economist of UnicreditGroup, an Italian bank, and a Council on Foreign Relations fellow. "They must be really scared." ... The Federal Reserve is taking "extraordinary steps to defend an economy that is falling off a cliff," Robert Lenzner writes in a Federal Reserve commentary. - Forbes ------------ very good article on refi's - The 4.5% mortgage myth? - Perspective: Borrowing into trouble easier than borrowing out - By Lou Barnes - Inman News ------------ December 2008 - PMI Housing and Mortgage Market Review - has The Outlook By David W. Berson, Ph.D. and Special Topic: Real House Price Declines - By LaVaughn M. Henry, Ph.D.  ------------ 2 different views of CRA:   and    EDITORIALS & OPINION - The Subprime Lending Bias -  INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY  vs. interesting interview at US News:  Barney Frank’s 2009 Congressional Playbook - Luke Mullins - I spoke with House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, a Democrat from Massachusetts, on Thursday about the issues he'll be working on in 2009. (Note: This interview took place before Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson said that lawmakers would need to release the rest of the $700 billion bailout funds.)