2008

After stars like Evander Holyfield and Jose Canseco defaulted on their mortgages, who is immune: lawmakers? Think again. The Charlotte Observer has a story out today reporting that Julia Boseman, a North Carolina State Senator has fallen…

McClatchy has an article out today showing that the credit crunch is hitting all sorts of consumer credit now. The crisis that began as one 'contained' to subprime, now has branched out into auto loans, credit card debt, student loans,…

This is what the recently released retail sales data look like over a longer time-frame.

Michael Panzner has a good post on his site about regional banks being the next front in the Credit Crisis. He mentions home equity lines (HELOCs) as a crucial piece there, referring to an article in the Financial Times. His blog entry…

The Telegraph reported that UBS, the giant Swiss Bank, had its shares suspended twice yesterday as it tried to mount a share rights issue while its shares plummeted to a 52-week low. UBS is trying to raise 16 billion Swiss Francs (about $16…

So the Federal Housing Administration is the latest victim of the housing bust. If they weren't a government agency, they might actually be bust.The projected loss is the highest in the home loan program since 2004, and officials said the…

It has been my assertion for some time that writedowns and the attendant unraveling of the financial system is the most troubling problem during this credit crisis. This process is deflationary by its very nature because credit contracts.…

My blog title comes from the title of an article, "Bank failures to surge in coming years" by MarketWatch on 23 May 2008. I highly recommend reading the full article. It mentions that only 3 banks have actually failed so far in…

This is what consumer inflation has looked like in the United States.

Why does the media report month to month statistics like they mean anything? It's the year-on-year trend that is important. Note the headline in this item versus the reality. April pending home sales rise as prices tumble The…