The United States and the World: Where Are We Headed? - … This bubble is only about 60 percent deflated, and that assumes that there is no overshoot in the other direction at the bottom. The arithmetic is fairly straightforward3: from 1996 to 2006, U.S. home prices rose by about 70 percent above [...]

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To Our Clients, Colleagues and Friends, · Boy, were we wrong.  We got letters from people who remembered when there were fees for rate locks.  And a big round of applause for Citigroup for instituting rate-lock fees for those with inadequate pull-through levels. And for paying extra to those with superior pull-through rates.  · The [...]

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   Greetings It seems like I’ve known Bill Coppedge forever. I’m not sure when we met, but think that it may have been around the turn of the century. Possibly at about the time that I first figured out how to buyout more than $ 250 MM of GNMA rolling 30’s without attracting any notice. [...]

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One has to be careful about what is out there in the web. I received this urgent notice yesterday: Email Warning! If you get an e-mail with “Nude Photos of Sarah Palin” in the subject line, do not open it. It might contain a virus. If you get an e-mail with “Nude Photos of Hillary [...]

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  .   Circular letters announce news, policy, and guidance from the Board of Governors.  1.  Statement by Chairman Bernanke on Agreement by the Congress and the Administration 2. Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Ready to Provide Liquidity in Wachovia Transition 3.  Federal Reserve and Other Central Banks Announce Further Coordinated Actions to Expand Significantly [...]

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Forget all the news about the bailout, and about Citi/Wachovia! More importantly, Heather Locklear was arrested! Rumors of thousands of men lined up to post bail are probably exaggerated.  Obviously this mortgage crisis is proving too much for her. Why stay put when you can “clean your hands” of this whole mess? Here is what’s [...]

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  Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K.   Draft: Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008  - by CalculatedRisk - … On suspending Mark-to-Market … And on allowing banks to earn interest and maintain a “zero reserve ratio” - lots more at Calculated Risk ———— 3 by David Merkel: 1.  What A Fine Mess You Have [...]

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To Our Clients, Colleagues and Friends, · One of our readers pointed out to us that the senior Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives also received immunity and indemnification from the Feds.  Sweet.   For them. · We had a huge number of nominations for your favorite high school coming-of-age movies, with the top ten listed [...]

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   Waiting for bailout resolution ….. 1.  ISDA Mid-Year 2008 Market Survey Shows Credit Derivatives at $54.6 Trillion - The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) yesterday announced the results of its Mid-Year 2008 Market Survey of privately negotiated derivatives. - riskcenter.com free reg. 2.  Credit Derivatives Market Shrinks 12% as Dealers Reduce Trades [...]

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   DO 08-36 - FDIC Appointed as Receiver - Washington Mutual Bank - Henderson, NV - PDF File of Receivership letter at OTS Website ———— Highlights of JPMorgan’s purchase of WaMu’s bank unit - Los Angeles Times ———— WaMu is largest U.S. bank failure - Elinor Comlay and Jonathan Stempel - Reuters ———— JPMorgan Buys [...]

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