Starbucks Pushing Landlords for 25% Cut in Cafe Rents – Bloomberg
Geithner insists Chinese dollar assets are safe – The Telegraph
In his first official visit to China since becoming Treasury Secretary, Mr Geithner told politicians and academics in Beijing that he still supports a strong US dollar, and insisted that the trillions of dollars of Chinese investments would not be unduly damaged by the economic crisis. Speaking at Peking University, Mr Geithner said: "Chinese assets are very safe."
The comment provoked loud laughter from the audience of students.
State's unemployment fund short by billions – The San Francisco Chronicle
GM's Inglorious Conclusion – Mish
The first critical issue is fairness. And by that measure bondholders were robbed. The next critical issue is the taxpayer investment of $50 billion into GM that will never be repaid.
Mortgage Meltdown, More Pain To Come – Mish
Cocaine Dealers Demand To Be Paid In Gold – Clusterstock
Hyperventilating Over Hyperinflation – Clusterstock
Niall Ferguson: Paul Krugman Is Wrong, U.S. Borrowing Will Be Devastating – Clusterstock
How Much Cash Do You Really Need to Buy a House? – Irvine Housing Blog
California Eyes Statewide Mortgage Reform – Housingwire
The legislation, if enacted, will create a fiduciary duty standard for mortgage brokers, eliminate compensation incentives that encourage the steering of borrower into risky loans, and establish regulations on prepayment penalties. The overall goal is to eliminate subprime lending, a leading cause of the state’s foreclosure woes.
The Future of Manufacturing, GM, and American Workers – Robert Reich
Dollar Torn Apart By Bears – Minyanville, Mish
House of Sand – Minyanville, Mr. Practical
When you borrow money to invest in non-productive assets, you get short-term gain at the expense of long-term loss. The crowding-out effect will make sure that we don't have capital to invest when we really need it to invest in real production.
Foreclosures: No End in Sight – The New York Times
With joblessness rising, lower monthly payments could quickly become unaffordable for many Americans. In a recent report, researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston argued that unemployment is driving foreclosures and to make a difference, anti-foreclosure policy should focus on helping unemployed homeowners. The report suggests a temporary program of loans or grants to help them pay their mortgages while they look for another job.
Just When You Thought It Was Over – Minyanville, Kevin Depew
Today I ran across a well respected strategist calling an end to the credit crisis. It's not an arbitrary market call, it's rooted in what the credit market itself is saying; namely, after reaching deeply depressed levels, credit buyers are returning to the market even as debt continues to be destroyed, replaced by equity issuance in a massive ongoing balance sheet restructuring.
I agree. But, as I've maintained all along, this is a debt crisis, not a credit crisis. And even as debt is being destroyed on a massive scale, the root of the crisis - a decade spent over-leveraging our households, businesses and government - must be fully unwound.
What we are seeing is the cyclical recognition that the market will survive. The structural point of recognition and adjustment lies ahead. Just when we thought it was over, it was really only beginning.
Commercial Real Estate — the Economy's Anvil – Time Magazine
Richard Parkus, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, said he thought two-thirds of all commercial real estate loans due in the next few years — hundreds of billions of dollars' worth — could go bust. Jeffrey DeBoer, president of trade group the Real Estate Roundtable, fretted that problems in the lending business could cost the nation thousands more construction and real estate jobs. Next up, Congressman Jerrold Nadler of New York expressed worry that the country was headed for a lost decade of economic stagnation.
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