Another Great Depression? - By Thomas Sowell - With both Barack Obama’s supporters and the media looking forward to the new administration’s policies being similar to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s policies during the 1930s depression, it may be useful to look at just what those policies were and- more important- what their consequences were. - Capitalism Magazine
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Companies buy back debt at depressed prices - Companies with access to cash are increasingly taking advantage of depressed bond prices to buy back their debt at deep discounts. Morgan Stanley recently bought back $12.3 billion in open-market transactions, while a long list of companies have made below-par debt tender offers to bondholders. - Reuters
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has interesting math - Rent vs. Buy: Buying Becomes More Attractive by Felix Salmon - portfolio.com 

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Freddie’s Portfolio Expands by $42 Billion to Record - Jody Shenn - Freddie Mac’s portfolio of mortgage assets grew at a 66 percent annualized rate last month, its fastest pace ever, as regulators pushed the government-run company to aid the U.S. housing market.  - Bloomberg

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Great Piece - It’s A Wonderful Mortgage Crisis - Andrew M. Rosenfield -  What the classic holiday movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” can teach us about the mortgage industry meltdown. - Newsweek

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VIDEO - Rates coming down will not help Option Arms Holders - The truth about pay options arms, with CNBC’s David Faber -  with data provided by MR Mortgage , Mark Hansen - thanks Mark

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**  Insider’s Practical View of what it will take and cost to fix the mess- Financing The MBS Fix: The 800 Pound Gorilla - by Scott J. Wilson and Anthony M. Freed  - Since the United States Government has decided to go into the MBS business (Mortgage Backed Securities), I have noticed in all of the debate and coverage that there is a serious lack of knowledge on the part of our congressional membership and in the news media regarding the mechanics of such a plan, and no one has even come close to outlining the actual costs that will be incurred. -  Your Mortgage or Your Life
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Gap Widens Between Prime, Subprime Borrowers - By PAUL JACKSON - a lot about loan mods - good piece -  housingwire
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How to Get the Money Moving - By BRUCE BARTLETT - …Above all, policymakers need to understand that the economy’s fundamental problem is the decline in aggregate spending, which is pulling down both prices and output and rendering the Fed’s usual tools for increasing liquidity useless. To restore the economy to health will require new policies that increase aggregate spending. … - NY Times Op-Ed 

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receive more payment and pay more interest? - Reverse Mortgage Rates – John Yedinak - The 10-year Constant Maturity Treasury and LIBOR swap rates keep falling to record lows. We’re in territory where the Principal Limit is maxed out, and the SFSA and tenure conversion factors are the only things moving with rates. Lower rates mean less money since lower rates give higher SFSA’s. -  Reverse Mortgage Daily

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What About Bank Capital? - 3 possible lines of thought - The Baseline Scenario

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AIG’s rescue has a long way to go - When will the government’s long and costly bailout of the deeply distressed insurance giant be over? Don’t expect it to be anytime soon. - By Carol J. Loomis - Fortune

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Treasury adds to investments in U.S. banks The Treasury Department announced on Tuesday that it completed a $2.8 billion equity investment in 49 banks on Friday and invested in 43 more on Tuesday. … - Reuters Yahoo 

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Pay Option ARMs - The Implosion Is Still Coming Despite Low Rates -  key point … Pay Options Have a Floor Rate That Always Results in a Payment Spike - MR Mortgage