Sub-Prime Losses and Housing Bubble Could Cost $1 Trillion…

(From Forbes.com)
The bill for securitization of credit and the meltdown of subprime mortgages and other collateralized debt obligations ratchets up to $500 billion. The end is nowhere in sight. We may be looking at a final reckoning approaching  a trillion bucks. To paraphrase the late Illinois Sen. Everett M. Dirksen, “A billion here, a billion [...]

The Calm Before The Storm?…Credit Instability Is Increasing…

(From NakedCapitalism.com)
The Fed’s decision to stay on hold with interest rates is an indirect acknowledgment, despite some brave talk otherwise, that the banking system is plenty fragile (has everyone forgotten that the Fed facilities are a form of life support?) and the concomitant economic downturn may only be in its early innings.
There have been some [...]

…Like Rosie O”Donnell Being a Bond Girl

 
(From Forbes.com, by Maurna Desmond)
One of the things that made the American subprime crisis a crisis was the availability of mortgages to borrowers with dubious credit histories. Turns out that some of the middlemen arranging the mortgages were — and still are — temporarily boosting borrowers’ credit scores, passing off risky bets as worthy investments for the [...]