Links

Posted by Rick for Don Cephus, here's a good list of housing crash links from patrick.net: More high-end properties sitting on the market (sfgate.com) Multimillion Dollar House Price Cuts (finance.yahoo.com) No sign of foreclosures slowing (nctimes.com) Silicon Valley Foreclosures To Accelerate (viewfromsiliconvalley.com) Las Vegas house prices plummet toward ZIP (lasvegassun.com) Mass auctions of foreclosed houses not as successful as billed (tampabay.com) Deep Property Depreciation Still Ahead (seekingalpha.com) States like California, Arizona and Florida still have far to fall (businesswire.com) Worst Is Yet To Come (finance.yahoo.com) Personal Credit Crisis Of NY Times Economics Reporter (nytimes.com) Who, Me? Yes You, Greenspan! (lewrockwell.com) $8000 tax credit not actually for downpayment (boston.com) Real Estate Developer Sues Banks That Loaned It Money (businessinsider.com) Mortgage modifications make housing dead asset class for years (fieldcheckgroup.com) TARP is a "sham" and a ripoff to taxpayers (huffingtonpost.com) 99 Years in Prison for Mortgage Fraud. Not a Typo (nationalmortgagenews.com) America Forgot Lessons It Taught China (nytimes.com) China's yuan 'set to usurp US dollar' as world reserve currency (telegraph.co.uk) Anatomy of an economic meltdown (sfgate.com) Jeff Walser, FDIC Economist, Charged With Attempted Bank Robbery (huffingtonpost.com) If you come across other good housing stories, please mail the link to p@patrick.net.

The June contract is taking its sweet time getting to a ____ target that should have been a piece of cake. Still, there are no troubling sign of weakness, and so we should continue to presume in favor of the bulls. If this tiresome consolidation eventually develops enough thrust to reach the _____ pivot, there would

Slamming the barn door shut after all the horses have escaped, the Federal Government has put the screws to the cozy arrangement that until a week ago obtained between lenders and appraisers.  The following comes from my Realtor, Scott Young: “The latest financial news to affect lenders, realtors, appraisers and ultimately consumers is the implementation of the Home Valuation Code of Conduct. Known as the HVCC, this rule was implemented May 1st 2009 and requires that all lenders and brokers use an appraiser from an Appraisal Management Company. “This ruling is of the utmost concern for it changes the entire appraisal process. Lenders and brokers no longer have a choice in who they get to use as an appraiser, and there can be no contact between appraiser and broker before a physical appraisal is given. Appraisal Management Companies will now be taking a portion of the cost of the appraisal, which means appraisers are now getting paid a portion of what they were paid before, for the same work, resulting in high quality appraisers simply leaving the industry. The AMC's choose the appraiser, and the appraiser could be from a neighboring city. That's tough for sensitive markets like Boulder where different neighborhood pockets get very different values, and knowing your neighborhood is very important in producing the best appraisal. “The HVCC was originally created to help stop banks from pressuring appraisers into inflating home values, but the reality is this rule is hurting all parties in the mortgage and housing industry. Ultimately, it's the homeowner that suffers the most. It's the homeowner that pays for the appraisal and it's their home that's under scrutiny. I think everyone would agree that homeowners would like their home to be valued by the most qualified appraisers, appraisers who are paid a fair wage

Jerusalem Post columnist Caroline Glick is the hardest of the hard-liners where Israel's security is concerned. However, in the two essays linked below, her perspective is global and concerns 1) the long-term implications of President Obama's recent Apology Tour; and 2) the implicit go-ahead that Mr. Obama has given to Islamists who would make war to restore the caliphate. Here are the links:  http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1238562949505&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1239710831634&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

(Following are the trenchant thoughts of one David Kaiser, forwarded to me for comment by talk show radio host Al Korelin.  Dr. Kaiser thinks the U.S. is headed toward political and economic catastrophe under President Obama.  Please note, however, that the quote attributed to Mr. Obama was actually part of a parody that appeared in an essay by National Review polemicist Mark Steyn.  RA) Interesting thoughts from David Kaiser This is long, but enlightening. Lest you think it was written by some right-wing kook, David Kaiser is a respected historian whose published works have covered a broad range of topics, from European Warfare to American League Baseball. Born in 1947, the son of a diplomat, Kaiser spent his childhood in three capital cities: Washington D.C., Albany, New York, and Dakar, Senegal. He attended Harvard University, graduating there in 1969 with a B.A. in history. He then spent several years more at Harvard, gaining a PhD in history, which he obtained in 1976. He served in the Army Reserve from 1970 to 1976. He is a professor in the Strategy and Policy Department of the United StaStates Navalr College and has previously taught at Carnegie Mellon, Williams College and Harvard University. Kaiser's latest book, The Road to Dallas, about the Kennedy assassination, was just published by Harvard University Press. Dr. David Kaiser writes: "My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it." - Barack Obama History Unfolding I am a student of history. Professionally, I have written 15 books on history that have been published in six languages, and I have studied history all my life. I have come to think there is something monumentally large afoot, and I do not believe it is simply a

The earnings that banks have been reporting lately are about as honest as the numbers disseminated by Bernie Madoff’s accountant. Since blatant lies about the health of the banks are sustaining the bear rally that began in early March, it’s important that we understand what is really going on.  Here’s a good place to start – an article by Trace Mayer that fleshes out some egregious deceptions being foisted on the public.  Click on the link below to access his report: http://www.runtogold.com/2009/04/bankrupt-banks/

We keep asking our inflationist colleagues when and where those big price increases they've been predicting for the last ten years will first emerge, but the answer, evidently, is not in Spain -- or even in euroland. Here’s the New York Times link to the story, ‘Spain’s Falling Prices Fuel Deflation Fears in Europe’ .

Recommended reading: Goldman Sachs Backlash is Picking Up Steam

In the article linked below, Mises Institute’s Frank Shostak has exposed the toxic asset cleanup for the brazen fraud that it is. Either out of Krugman-like ignorance, or cynicism, or a combination of both, the plan’s authors have failed to distinguish between savings and credit as the source of new lending. Once again, Shostak has pointed out to his benighted colleagues that the Emperor is wearing no clothes. Link: Would Cleansing Banks' Balance Sheets Kick-start the US Economy?