More on Frontline’s Astonishing Whitewash of the Crisis
As readers may know, a recent post, “Frontline’s Astonishing Whitewash of the Crisis,”discussed the first half of the Frontline series, “Money, Power & Wall Street.” Producers Mike Wiser and Martin Smith sent a letter taking issue with this review, and I made an exception to my usual practice and posted their missive.
The...
Is Global Real Estate Still in a Bubble?
Société Générale’s Albert Edwards discusses global housing prices and the ongoing economic recovery in light of coordinated central bank activity. I like the preface to his discussion: • We have regularly explained that there are two types of market and economic commentator: those who will, if a trend persists long enough, embrace it and extrapolate the...
Yet Another Mortgage Settlement Gimmie: Conflicting Servicing Standards Play into Hands of Banks
It's bad enough that the overhyped mortgage settlement was a big victory for the banks at the expense of homeowners and the rule of law. It let servicers out of considerable liability at very low real cost, and even that is offset by the transfer from pension funds and savers to the banks by letting...
Is Wells Fargo a Lehman in the Making?
Banking maven Chris Whalen has a must-read piece on the reckless real estate risk taking underway at Wells Fargo, the sanctimonious #4 bank.
Is Wells Fargo a Lehman in the Making?
Banking maven Chris Whalen has a must-read piece on the reckless real estate risk taking underway at Wells Fargo, the sanctimonious #4 bank.
In Retrospect, It Was No Joke
Rosenberg, exactly 5 years ago today in May 2007: > click for full report > Invictus here. In my Barron’s Big Money post, I mentioned attending a small dinner in October 2007 at which David Rosenberg was the speaker. In comments, Hamann asked if I could provide any additional insight into what he had shared...
Do Homebuilders Lead the Market?
...evidence from a simple analysis of historical stock prices does not support a belief that homebuilder stocks are early warning indicators for equities in general.
Bad Dope: “But Case Shiller Data is 2 Months Old”
I have been hearing this tired line since 2006. Its time to retire it as a misleading foolish bit of money-losing misdirection. Lets take a look at the full price index — 1987 to 2012 — and I have boxed off the section I want to focus on: > > If we were to zoom...
Top Experts Diss Housing Market Bullishness, Foresee Protracted Headwinds
The housing bulls seem unable to contain themselves. Today, in a prominently featured Bloomberg story, "Sales of New U.S. Homes Exceeded Estimates in March," experts cheerily discuss a "firming" housing market and call for a bottom this year. Funny how these predictions for a real estate recovery seem to be a moving target....
The Ministry of Truth Speaks: American Prospect Tries to Pass Off Mortgage Turncoat Schneiderman as Hero
I'm not looking forward to months of pre-election image-burnishing fabrication. The nausea-inducing offering of the day, The Man the Banks Fear Most from the American Prospect, gives us an idea of what we have in store.
The good news is that this revisionist history on the craven sellout by Eric Schneiderman on the mortgage settlement...
Michael Olenick: Rentals Gone Wild
Banks are manipulating the housing supply in an attempt to reignite a bubble to hide their losses, a strategy that’s temporarily working.
