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MERS-O-RAMA

MERS: Great explanation on how MERS works and the lawsuit - The Mortgage Machine Backfires - By GRETCHEN MORGENSON - NY Times

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Gretchen Explains MERS For You - Barry Ritholz -  Talk about burying the lead: Gretchen Morgenson does a nice job today explaining the MERS situation, though the best stuff in the article is at the end ... has relevant excerpts - The Big Picture Blog

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more on MERS Lawsuit - Could Securitization of Debt Be Unraveling on Legal Grounds?  - John Lounsbury - The Kansas Supreme Court has ruled that a company named Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems has no standing to file for foreclosures. ... The way I read this, the ruling holds that a mortgage can not be sold to a third party without the contractual endorsement of the mortgagor (homeowner). To do so otherwise means that the third party and the mortgagor do not have a legally binding agreement. Perhaps an attorney knowledgeable in contract law can clarify this point. ... - Seeking Alpha

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HSBC bids farewell to dollar supremacy - By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - The sun is setting on the US dollar as the ultra-loose monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve forces China and the vibrant economies of the emerging world to forge a new global currency order, according to a new report by HSBC. - Telegraph.co.uk 

We are entering a new age of protectionism - The 21st-century form of protectionism is no less deadly than its 1930s predecessor - just less visible, says Edmund Conway. - ... his new protectionism is a different beast from that of the early 20th century, but the result is the same. According to the Bank for International Settlements, the amount of money flowing across national borders has collapsed in a way never before witnessed. Put simply, financial globalisation, which helped power economic growth in recent years, has gone into reverse over the past year. All the more worrying is that it has done so without people noticing. ... -  Telegraph.co.uk

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CDS curves are moving to pre-crisis "normal" - Sober Look Blog

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The rally in financial markets - Liquid fuel - Investors are betting on a vibrant recovery. With returns on cash so low, they have little choice -  From The Economist print edition

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G-20 is set to replace Group of 8, U.S. says - By Don Lee and Jim Tankersley - The U.S. will seek to give China a bigger voice on global policies. - LA Times