Letter to Editor - The Roots of the Housing Crisis - New York Times

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FDIC Publishes Report On What To Know About Reverse Mortgages - John Yedinak - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation recently published Reverse Mortgages: What Consumers and Lenders Should Know. The report goes over the the history of reverse mortgages and why the aging population presents such an opportunity to banks. While there is big opportunity in catering to the aging demographic, the report notes that financial institutions have … - Reverse Mortgage Daily

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A Daily Snapshot Of Market Moving Developments - by David A. Rosenberg - on deflation and rates - John Mauldin’s Outside the Box E-Letter 

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Take Advantage of “Junk” Thinking  -  This article is a follow-up to my last article about fixed income investments. In that article, I discussed how fixed income investments were a key missing piece in many investors’ portfolios. In that article, I also discussed a specific area of fixed income investments – Treasury Inflation Protected Securities or TIPS – which I believe are totally mis-priced. - Oxbury Publishing

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Sacramento housing hits seasonal slowdown - Tim Plaehn - Existing home sales in the Sacramento region started the traditional winter slowdown in November. Sales for the month were 24% lower than October but 76% higher than in November 2007. Pending sales decreased 10% from October to November. Available inventory is 32% lower than November of 2007 - Investing Thoughts Blog  

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Why Are Mortgage Rates So High? - Michael Steinberg - Click Broker

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Can jumbos join the party? - The Associated Press - The average rate on a traditional fixed 30-year mortgage is at its lowest level in more than three decades. But if you need a larger home loan, you may be out of luck. - Seattle Times 
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from FHFA:  U.S. MONTHLY HOUSE PRICE INDEX ESTIMATES 1.1 PERCENT PRICE DECLINE FROM SEPTEMBER TO OCTOBER
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Regulator Let IndyMac Bank Falsify Report - By Binyamin Appelbaum and Ellen Nakashima - Agency Didn’t Enforce Its Rules, Inquiry Finds - … The same regulatory agency, the Office of Thrift Supervision, allowed similar legerdemain by other banks, according to a letter sent yesterday to members of Congress by the Treasury Department’s inspector general, Eric Thorson. The letter did not provide details about the other incidents.  …  - Washington Post
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Life In A Recession - Brian S. Wesbury and Robert Stein - Our society is unused to economic pain. - Forbes

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   IRA ARTMAN SECTION - thanks Ira: 

Housing crisis worsens as economy weakens - Kim Dixon and Kevin Drawbaugh - on Loan Mods and more … - Reuters

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The Story So Far - The economic downturn is routinely billed as the most perilous since the Great Depression. What exactly does that mean?  What is most likely to happen next?  As it happens, fundamental aspects of the situation lend themselves to portraiture.  Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words. Have a look at this history of American economic growth and business cycles over the last 135 years. - Economic Principals
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Let the Banks Fail: Why a Few of the Financial Giants Should Crash - By Joshua Holland, AlterNet 

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FHFA ANNOUNCES HOME VALUATION CODE OF CONDUCT -

NEWS RELEASE         Link to HVCC Code 

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Video at John Burns RE Consulting:  Unlocking the Housing Market Recovery -  Strategic Building Market Intelligence™    -  has powerpoint, whitepaper, and webinar.

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Sandbagging the Sandlers in NYT - Once Trusted Mortgage Pioneers, Now Pariahs - By MICHAEL MOSS and GERALDINE FABRIKANT - NY Times
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Welcome to GMAC LLC Bank! - Federal Reserve grants GM a stronger shot at surviving cash crisis - Detroit Free Press        FRB Press release about this 

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Learn from History:  MeritorPSFS Shareholders Association, Inc.  - This is about the government changing rules and scr*wing honest businesses retroactively.  TARP people beware. - PSFS was a venerated old savings bank.  They tried to do the right thing and help the government.  They are now out of business.  This site chronicles the whole thing.     FOLLOW THE MONEY:  WHAT HAPPENED TO PSFS AND WHY