’08 Was a Helluva Year. Hoping ’09 is better. Happy New Year! BC
MUST READ: History Repeats Itself in Different Hues – Japan vs. United States - by Asha G. Bangalore - Several questions pertaining to the Japanese economic crisis and quantitative easing have been trickling in as unprecedented economic and financial events unfold in the U.S. This Q&A is a bird’s eye view of the trying period of Japan’s economic history and recent economic and financial developments in the U.S. economy. - Northern Trust - thanks to Prier du Plessis for pointing this out.
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Interest Rates? - many thoughtful comments and charts - Treasuries Will Disappoint — Continued - QVM Group LLC
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Obama Plays Poker With Homeowners, Taxpayers: John F. Wasik - Managing your financial affairs in this season of political transition is like being in a poker game when a stranger shows up. It’s hard to know how to play a hand until you get a sense of the new guy’s strategy. President-elect Barack Obama is now at the table, and he’s got a mountain of chips. - Bloomberg
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PIMCO’s December 2008/January 2009 Global Central Bank Focus, “All In” by Paul McCulley, is now available at PIMCO
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1. Analyst Bove: US banking sector’s outlook better than believed - Reuters
2. U.S. puts up $6 billion to support auto lender GMAC - Mark Felsenthal - … The Treasury Department said it would buy $5 billion in senior preferred equity with an 8 percent dividend from GMAC as part of an effort to ensure the solvency of a company considered crucial to GM’s survival. It also said it would lend up to $1 billion to fund GM’s purchase of equity in support of GMAC’s reorganization as a bank holding company. … - Reuters
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Video Sneak Peek: Global Economy 2009 - Paul Maidment - Fragile economies, excess money, inflation and creative destruction. - Forbes
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Area mortgage lenders getting crushed by refi applications - By BARRY SHLACHTER - Ft. Worth Star Telegram
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HUD Kills FHASecure - PAUL JACKSON - Updating an earlier report on HousingWire, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued a formal letter confirming its termination of the FHASecure troubled borrower refinancing program. The mortgagee letter, 2008-41, confirms that the program will be terminated on Dec. 31. “Maintaining the program past the original termination date would have a negative financial impact on the MMI Fund that would have to be offset by either substantial across-the-board single family program .. - housingwire
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The other Ray Romano? - Freddie Mac names chief credit officer - Mortgage giant Freddie Mac named Raymond Romano as its chief credit officer Monday. - Sacramento Business Journal
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Only Loan Investors Can Drive Recovery Efforts For The Industry - By W. Joseph Caton - good primer - Banks and other lending institutions often sell outstanding loan obligations to investors and buyers who are looking for income streams or other access to cash-flowing assets. - MortgageOrb
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IRA ARTMAN SECTION - thanks Ira:
3 Questions: James Poterba on the recession - … In this installment, James Poterba, the Mistui Professor of Economics, discusses the current economic recession and how long it might last. In addition to service as an MIT faculty member, Poterba is president and CEO of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a private group of leading economists that dates the start and the end of economic downturns. … - MIT News
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Did those people at AIG not understand anything about financial risk? - Posted by Justin Fox - Curious Capitalist @ Time.com
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Huge article: Fannie Mae’s Last Stand - Bethany McLean - Many believe the government-backed mortgage giants known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were major culprits in the economic meltdown. But, for decades, Fannie Mae had been under siege from powerful enemies, who resented its privileged status, its hard-driving C.E.O.’s, and its huge profits. Surveying Fannie’s deeply dysfunctional relationships with Congress, the White House, and Wall Street, the author tells of the long, vicious war—involving most of Washington’s top players—that helped propel one of the world’s most successful companies off a cliff. - Vanity Fair
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Dubious Statistics of the Day, Toxic Mortgage Edition - Felix Salmon - … Let’s say that a researcher in bed with some pressure group — let’s call him Samuel Bornstein — approaches a very large number of journalists with his silly research. And let’s say that the vast majority of those journalists take one look at his research and ignore it. That’s fine, until Bornstein chances upon Randall Forsyth. Next thing you know, there’s a column in Barron’s giving credence to the research, and anybody reading the article has no indication whatsoever of how weak the research really is. … - Portfolio.com
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Federal Reserve announces details of program to purchase mortgage-backed securities - Released by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
