Awesome post - Buffett, in His Own Words - Kevin LaCroix - D&O Diary

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As ARMs reset, little of the expected chaos is coming to fruition - You’re not hearing much about this ARM reset problem today because it has been ameliorated - at least for now - by the Federal Reserve’s steep interest rate …  - San Francisco Chronicle

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across the US - Unfinished homes wait for builders - Chicago Tribune 

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Let’s Think Long and Hard about Extending Those Bush Tax Cuts - Menzie Chinn - One real possibility entails the satiation of global investors’ appetite for U.S. Treasury securities, combined with an endless vista of government budget deficits. After several years of large losses on dollar assets due to depreciation, they then demand a substantial premium for holding dollar-denominated assets; either the dollar must weaken so as to make Treasury securities cheap, or yields must rise relative to those on other assets. -  Econbrowser 

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Foreclosure Patterns - Courtesy of Matthew Yglesias - Brad DeLong

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RE: Countrywide - Author: truehollywood - Topic Replies: 97 According to my sources, BofA is laying off all divisions except servicing and retail loan officers that produce $2 million or more on BofA pay -not CW pay …  Implode-Explode Forums
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A jumbo jungle - Subprime mortgage fallout is putting the credit squeeze on high-end borrowers - BRENDAN M. CASE - DALLAS MORNING NEWS

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Volatile rates make locking a must - If lender won’t honor rate, broker may be true culprit - Jack Guttentag -    Inman News

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First Horizon National Corp. Announces Public Offering of Common Stock - PRNewswire - yahoo

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Lender says new fees may hurt La. - Kate Moran - A local mortgage lender has fashioned himself into a tornado of lobbyist in recent weeks, buttonholing lawmakers from Baton Rouge to Washington about a new set of mortgage fees that he says could stifle the housing market in Louisiana - The Times-Picayune

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Coping with soaring prices for the basics - LA Times

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Moody’s Places SIV Capital Notes on Review for Downgrade - In another sign of the demise of special investment vehicles, Moody’s today placed the ratings of six European SIV capital note programs on review for downgrade, affecting $3 billion of debt securities. - Research Recap

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Raised in boom times, many Gen-X and Yers see their dreams go bust - Few can remember a time when jobs weren’t plentiful and life wasn’t one big shopping trip. Now they are out of work and drowning in debt. - LA Times

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IRA ARTMAN SECTION - thanks Ira:

1.  Wall Street, Run Amok - BEN STEIN - How did all of the mechanisms operated by the mind-bogglingly well-paid men and women of the Street go so wrong that we saw a major investment bank…essentially disappear? How did Wall Street firms of ancient lineage take such immense losses that they made banks clam up on lending at great risk to the economy? - NY Times 
2.  Blog Reference to Einhorn
3.  Copy of Einhorn’s Remarks on Blog
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The Subprime Three — Rubin, Summers & Greenspan - Institutional Risk Analyst

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ResCap’s indie directors flee, spurring ratings cut (by Moodys) - Wrinkle in company’s operating agreement with parent GMAC is key to credit raters’ decisions. - Financial Week

posted by Bill Coppedge