May 2008
May 31, 2008 –
From the WSJ: [more]
May 30, 2008 –
I give you... the Vietnamese stock market index.
May 30, 2008 –
This is pretty funny. [more]
May 29, 2008 –
Ask folks in the know about the entire mortgage backed securities Ponzi scheme, and they'll tell you that a prime cause was the bogus ratings applied to these un-knowable, unfamiliar securities by the ratings agencies. The mirage that fooled investors the world over into buying these things ("triple-A = safe") not only spawned the industry, it made instant riches for banks, ratings agencies, monoline insures, lenders, hedge fund managers and HELOC-dependent U.S. consumers. [more]
May 29, 2008 –
I just sent this to one of the Times business writers, the guy who typically reports on housing numbers from the government without putting them into the right context, or bothering to mention their relative reliability. (Something we discussed here.) [more]
May 29, 2008 –
Great discussion at Calculated Risk of a recent ruling that sets a disturbing precedent (at least if you hold HELOCs or MBSs based on them.) [more]
May 28, 2008 –
So pay no attention to stuff like this: [more]
May 27, 2008 –
Pretty familiar story: pour $30 more billion into other people's bad financial decisions. Either don't pay for it at all, or tax the people who didn't make the stupid decisions (what, 98% of the rest of us?) [more]
May 27, 2008 –
[more]
May 26, 2008 –
No big deal by California standards. She only defaulted on a measly three homes. [more]
May 26, 2008 –
Think the housing bubble only happened in places where they "ain't making more land?" [more]
May 23, 2008 –
Here's another one of those stories that suggests even the rapidly dropping home prices are overstated. As at the height of the bubble, people are offering big incentives, like these folks who offered their car (not so original, and in this case, not so great... a 2000 Mustang?). Of course, the price of these givebacks doesn't appear in he home price, but they're certainly a factor, meaning wherever they're used and not netted out, the home price is inflated. [more]
May 22, 2008 –
PolicyMap - Killer tool for real estate [more]
Stolen straight from Blown Mortgage.
Sj
May 21, 2008 –
Here are some interesting numbers I get once a month.
May 19, 2008 –
[more]
May 19, 2008 –
This story is all too familiar. "Investment managers" who can talk the talk extracting large sums from groups of faithful, pay out some of the later takings to early "investors" a la Ponzi, then, well, you know the rest. [more]
May 16, 2008 –
because the housing ATM is not only out of money, it's getting unplugged, machine by machine.
Chase Wholesale Eliminates 2nd Mortgages [more]
Sj
May 16, 2008 –
Put on the hip waders today, folks, because the ignorant and/or intentionally untruthful (is it possible to be this dense?) are going to be saying this all day: "Surprising increase in housing starts." [more]
May 15, 2008 –
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RELATED TICKERS: AMZN
, NFLX
This is a pretty smart blog item about the ridiculous position taken by outfits like Amazon.com regarding sales tax: that it's too tough to figure out what to charge, and how. [more]
May 15, 2008 –
The FHA is the agency -- originally created to guarantee loans for low-income earner housing -- that the boneheaded Barney Franks (and Ben Bernankes) of the world want to bail out bubble-blowers by forcing taxpayers to back billions of extra dollars worth of lousy mortgage loans and bankrolling overpriced housing. (What this would actually represent is a major, publicly-funded gift to banks, who would get more for their lousy CDOs than they'd otherwise receive, while locking homedebtors into mortgages they'd be better of ditching...) [more]
May 15, 2008 –
Hey! Is that a cow's butt down yonder? Waaaay down there, about 2 miles out? Huh, looks like the whole herd, maybe.
Well, then I'd better shut this door right now!
Bernanke: Banks need to bolster risk-management- AP
Sj
May 14, 2008 –
Thanks a ton, Benny and the Inkjets. [more]
May 12, 2008 –
Convince yourself that your leveraged beta is great "alpha" and continue making overly risky bets with only a sliver of equity to absorb the losses. Oh yeah, and pass the blame when the bankers finally wise up and pull the plug on your margin. [more]
May 12, 2008 –
[more]
May 12, 2008 –
[more]
May 11, 2008 –
[more]
May 09, 2008 –
just testing the capabilities of a new beta browser for windows mobile smartphone. works Way better than IE for smartphone, displays pages in original form and everything.
May 07, 2008 –
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RELATED TICKERS: MSFT
, YHOO
Don't make me come out there and smack your round head, Steve. [more]
May 07, 2008 –
President Bush is doing something somewhat courageous, and quite right: telling bleeding-heart political opportunists like Barney Frank and Chuck Schumer where they can stuff their latest, short-sighted bailout plans. [more]
May 07, 2008 –
Lawrence Yun, the discredited but still vocal mouthpiece for the National Association of Realtors, demands that congress provide yet more market-warping tax-giveaways so that he and his audience of six-percenters at the NAR can get their commission checks. [more]
May 07, 2008 –
Go figure:
Pending Home Sales Hit Record Low in March- CNNMoney.com
The number of homes under contract for sale fell in March, hitting a record low for the second consecutive month, according to a report released Wednesday.
May 07, 2008 –
Or not. [more]
May 07, 2008 –
So, first this guy talks millions of people into buying far more home than they can afford. Then, when that scam falls apart, he leaves the National Association of Realtors and skedaddles for some Web outfit. Now he's advising Wall Street on how to clean up investing in the wreckage of the disaster he created. [more]
May 07, 2008 –
Owner Of Multimillion-Dollar Home In Northwest EvictedWRC-TVupdated 10:25 a.m. ET, Tues., May. 6, 2008
WASHINGTON - The owner of a multimillion-dollar home on Foxhall Road in northwest D.C. was evicted on Monday. [more]
May 06, 2008 –
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RELATED TICKERS: YHOO
, MSFT
, GOOG
Rather than try to eat its prey while it's warm and tough, (Microsoft is) dragging it down to the bottom of the river, sticking it under a rock and eating it later when it's cold and soft...
--Todd Dagres of Spark Capital...
May 06, 2008 –
Stocks Lift Even as Oil Prices Soar- AP
Stocks reversed early losses to trade modestly higher Tuesday, as investors monitored the movements of record-high oil prices but still laid bets that the economy and companies are in recovery mode. [more]
May 06, 2008 –
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RELATED TICKERS: FNMA
Simplicity itself. [more]
May 06, 2008 –
Just when you think he can't get any more conflicted, NAR chief economic stooge, Lawrence Yun, cries about what the numbers are saying about home price declines. [more]
May 06, 2008 –
Mortgage loan calculator
Found this morgage calculating widget via BlownMortgage. Pretty cool.
May 05, 2008 –
[more]
May 05, 2008 –
I asked someone in the lobbying game who it is that's pushing congress for all these mortgage workouts and bailouts. I got a two-word answer: hedge funds.
Raise your hand if you think you know why.
May 03, 2008 –
[more]
May 03, 2008 –
Full Size Here
May 03, 2008 –
Might as well start the rumors here.
Let me just say (and Bill Mann agrees) that this lady is truly stunning.
May 02, 2008 –
Spending some quality time in Omaha, so I might have to blog about something other than the sorry state of housing, or total scams. Maybe the story of the dude on the plane who asked for "bloody Mary mix, and milk." Or shall we, no, let's not discuss the cattle-like stench that permeated the airplane. I blame the vinyl seats, and I'll say no more. [more]
May 02, 2008 –
LR-20550May 1, 2008GlobeTel Communications Corp., Timothy J. Huff, Thomas Y. Jimenez and Lawrence E. Lynch
See also: Complaint in this matter
Who would have thought this? Oh yeah, this guy. [more]
May 01, 2008 –
Back in March, Pat Jordan hilariously wrote of his attempt to interview infamous ballplayer Jose Canseco. As noted above, Mr. Canseco seemed to be having some money problems. Today, Reuters reported that Mr. Canseco is walking away from one problem. The former baseball star and author of “Juiced,” the controversial 2005 expose of steroid use in Major League Baseball, said Thursday that he lost his California mansion to foreclosure. [more]
May 01, 2008 –
Great post at Blown Mortgage on the slippery slope of principal reductions at Bagholders of America, and what it means industry wide. [more]
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