08/03/2009 - The Leaner Baby Boomer Economy - The downturn is putting a crimp on baby boomers' free-spending ways, and the likes of Mercedes and Starwood Hotels are scrambling to keep up - www.businessweek.com

07/31/2009 - 1 In 59 Chicago Area Homes In Foreclosure - Foreclosure activity was up 15 percent in the Rockford area and 40 percent in the metro area that includes Rock Island and Moline and Davenport, Iowa. - www.huffingtonpost.com

07/31/2009 - Lucrative Fees May Deter Efforts to Alter Loans - Even when borrowers stop paying, mortgage companies that service the loans collect fees out of the proceeds when homes are ultimately sold in foreclosure. So the longer borrowers remain delinquent, the greater the opportunities for these mortgage companies to extract revenue - fees for insurance, appraisals, title searches and legal services. - www.nytimes.com

07/31/2009 - Homeowners and Investors May Lose, but the Bank Wins - Mr. Crawford, who moved out of the home two years ago, has found three buyers for the property in an effort to get out from under the problem. Each time, Bank of America has blocked the sale, refusing to accept less than it is owed - www.nytimes.com

07/31/2009 - Mortgage Servicers Get Big Fees From Foreclosures - Mortgage Servicers' Perverse Incentives. While they pay lip service to the idea of modifying mortgages, they actually make more money by being recalcitrant and obstructive and unhelpful. - www.seekingalpha.com

07/31/2009 - Boomers and Housing: A Symbiotic Relationship Unravels - When the housing market was soaring, many baby boomers thought of their homes as piggy-banks that could be cracked open in retirement to finance retirement. - www.huffingtonpost.com

07/31/2009 - Fannie, Freddie Unlikely to Return Aid - it was unlikely that the federal government would ever be paid back the entire $85 billion spent so far on bailing out the firms -- and added that the cost was going to rise as additional funds are drawn. - www.washingtonpost.com

07/31/2009 - TARP Bank Bonuses: Who Cashed In Last Year? - Andrew Cuomo released a detailed report on last year's bonus season for bailed-out banks. Called "NO RHYME OR REASON: The Heads I Win, Tails You Lose I Bank Bonus Culture, - www.businessweek.com- SLIDE SHOW -

07/31/2009 - Bank Of America Workers Organize Against Closures As Execs Get Big Bonuses - On Friday, the Service Employees International Union sent an email to Bank of America workers asking them to sign a letter to company CEO Ken Lewis demanding answers about potential branch closures. - www.huffingtonpost.com

07/31/2009 - Wells Fargo Sued By Illinois For Discriminatory Lending - The suit alleges that Wells Fargo sold the minorities high-cost subprime mortgage loans while white borrowers with similar incomes received lower-cost loans. - www.huffingtonpost.com

07/31/2009 - After Rescue, New Weakness Seen at A.I.G. - The dozens of insurance companies that make up the American International Group show signs of considerable weakness even after their corporate parent got the biggest bailout in history, a review of state regulatory filings shows. - www.nytimes.com

07/31/2009 - House Votes To Restrict Wall Street Pay - banks that took government bailout money rewarded thousands of their employees with bonuses topping $1 million each. - www.huffingtonpost.com

07/30/2009 - Foreclosure Rates Stay High in the Sun Belt - while filings related to rising unemployment rates may be growing, according to a midyear foreclosure rate report by online foreclosure marketplace RealtyTrac. - www.foxbusiness.com

07/30/2009 - No profits? Here's a fat bonus! - Citi and Merrill Lynch paid big bonuses despite losing money last year while fellow TARP recipients Goldman and JPMorgan paid more than they earned. - www.cnn.com

07/30/2009 - SBA's 'rescue' loans have big problems - banks are doing what is in their own self-interest. It is "not a valid resource for small businesses looking for help meeting their financial obligations." - www.heraldtribune.com

07/30/2009 - Lost jobs pushing homes back to banks - Foreclosures, driven by rising unemployment, have begun to crop up in areas of the country not previously considered foreclosure hot spots. - www.heraldtribune.com

07/30/2009 - Newsweek: - The Recession Is Over - Now what we need is a new kind of recovery. The Great Recession, is most likely over. Home sales, while still far below the levels of a year ago, have risen for three straight months-a first since 2004. - www.newsweek.com

07/30/2009 - Who Is To Blame? - Profiles of 7 Key People Most Responsible for the Economic Crisis. - www.businessweek.com- PICTURE GALLERY -

07/30/2009 - Senate Probes Goldman, Deutsche Bank For Mortgage Meltdown Fraud - A Senate panel has subpoenaed financial institutions seeking evidence of fraud in last year's mortgage-market meltdown, according to people familiar with the situation. - www.businessweek.com

07/29/2009 - Treasury finally getting tough on banks PART 1 - A $340 million warrant repurchase from credit card giant AmEx shows the Treasury, under pressure from Congress, is holding big banks' feet to the fire. www.cnn.com - VIDEO -

07/29/2009 - Does regulation work? PART 1 - of our discussion with Eliot Spitzer, Sallie Krawcheck and Allan Sloan on the legacy of the financial crisis. www.fortunesmallbusiness.com - VIDEO -

07/29/2009 - Protecting consumers from banks PART 2 - of our discussion with Eliot Spitzer, Sallie Krawcheck and Allan Sloan on Obama's plan to make banking products safer. www.fortunesmallbusiness.com - VIDEO -

07/29/2009 - Can the Fed be trusted? PART 3 - of our discussion with Eliot Spitzer, Sallie Krawcheck and Allan Sloan on whether the Fed should be allowed to regulate banks. www.fortunesmallbusiness.com - VIDEO -

07/28/2009 - Watchdog criticizes Obama mortgage plan - Government Accountability Office says Treasury's estimates of 3 to 4 million people being helped may be too rosy. Also says administration should monitor servicers better. www.fortunesmallbusiness.com - VIDEO -

07/29/2009 - Mortgage Applications Drop as Refinancing Loses Steam - As refinancing loses steam, home loan applications fell for the first time in four week. - www.foxbusiness.com

07/28/2009 - Retirement home deals - Some desirable retirement locales have seen price drops of up to 50%. But is buying now the right move? - www.cnn.com

07/28/2009 - Obama wants 500,000 mortgages fixed by Nov. - U.S. to mortgage firms: Pick up the pace. Pummeled by complaints from borrowers, loan servicers commit to more mortgage modifications. - www.cnn.com

07/28/2009 - Still Too Many Foreclosures - Administration Tries Again to Stanch Foreclosure Tide - Administration officials met with mortgage servicers to address the rate of foreclosures. - www.foxbusiness.com

07/28/2009 - What You Need to Know About Foreclosures - We break down the truth behind the numbers and what you need to know before buying a foreclosed home. www.foxbusiness.com - VIDEO -

07/28/2009 - Home Prices Up, First in 34 Months - Case Shiller - In the 10-city index, housing prices nationwide rose by 0.4% compared to April, the index committee reported. www.foxbusiness.com - VIDEO -

07/28/2009 - Banking on Time - The exchange of hours, rather than money, is a growing trend that could benefit small business. - www.foxbusiness.com

07/28/2009 - Small Business Bankruptcies Rate Doubles This Year: Report - The transportation, construction, and manufacturing industries buckle under bankruptcies. - www.inc.com

07/28/2009 - Buyers' Market For Suburban Mansions - Luxury prices keep falling Mansions priced at $1 million-plus are harder to sell, so owners ask for less -- and add perks. - www.chicagotribune.com

07/28/2009 - Foreclosures Often More Profitable For Lenders Than Loan Modifications - Policymakers often say it's a good deal for lenders to cut borrowers a break on mortgage payments to keep them in their homes. But, according to researchers and industry experts, foreclosing can be more profitable. - www.washingtonpost.com

07/28/2009 - A Foreclosure Aid Boost - The White House is urging mortgage-servicing companies to step up the pace of modifications to prevent more home foreclosures. - www.foxbusiness.com

07/28/2009 - Administration Belatedly Pushing Banks To Slow Foreclosures - The administration summoned 25 executives from the mortgage-service industry to Washington Tuesday to push for more generous terms for a greater number of delinquent and at-risk homeowners. - www.huffingtonpost.com

07/28/2009 - From under TARP, banks add lobbying - After a decline in lobbying during the first quarter, major TARP recipients have stepped up their spending. - www.politico.com

07/28/2009 - Is Obama's foreclosure rescue plan working? - Homeowners in trouble are having mixed results applying for President Obama's foreclosure prevention plan.
www.cnn.com - VIEW 8 STORIES -

07/28/2009 - Round 3: More help for homeowners - The administration meets with loan servicers on Tuesday to find out why mortgage modifications are delayed. Plus, they float new measures to keep the jobless in their homes. - www.cnn.com

07/27/2009 - Fund to Let the Public Buy Assets in Distress - Here is the latest pitch from Wall Street: those troubled assets at the banks could turn out to be gold for you. - www.nytimes.com

07/27/2009 - Get ready for banking's next headache - A weak economy and frozen financing markets could spell trouble for regional banks with big commercial loan portfolios. - www.cnn.com

07/27/2009 - Goldman Sachs Using Taxpayer Money To Put Financial System At Risk, Reps. Charge - Goldman applied to the Federal Reserve for an exemption to the rules, saying that it takes time to alter a business model. The exemption was granted in February -- and Goldman went on to take even greater risks. - www.huffingtonpost.com

07/27/2009 - New U.S. Home Sales Rose by 11 Percent in June - The government says new U.S. home sales rose by the largest amount in nearly nine years last month, in another sign the housing market is finally bouncing back from the worst downturn in decades. - www.foxnews.com

07/27/2009 - SBA's 'rescue' loans have big problems - funds that Congress allocated are limited. Lenders say that the processing is too complex and they cannot afford to make ARC loans that small with all the work involved. Additionally, the loan underwriting instructions are ambiguous. Consequently, banks are reserving ARC to keep their own borrowers afloat. - www.heraldtribune.com

07/27/2009 - Bernanke: "I Had To Hold My Nose" Over Bailouts - but argued that the action had to be taken to avoid a major meltdown of the U.S. financial system and the broader economy. - www.huffingtonpost.com

07/27/2009 - Report: U.S. May Push Bailed-Out Firms to Rework Pay - U.S. Treasury official overseeing compensation at firms that got big federal bailouts may renegotiate pay packages. - www.foxbusiness.com

07/27/2009 - The Hidden Reason for All Those Mortgage Defaults - One out of four homeowners defaulting on their mortgage today is doing so, even though they can afford to make their monthly payments. decades. - www.foxbusiness.com

07/25/2009 - "One Percenters" Enjoy Unprecedented Protection - The rich have never had it so good. According to government figures, 1-percenters' share of America's total income is the highest it's been since 1929, and their tax rates are the lowest they've faced in two decades. - www.salon.com

07/25/2009 - Newsweek: The Recession Is Over But Not For You, Yet - The Great Recession, which rolled over our financial lives like one of P.J. Keating's giant pavers, is most likely over. Home sales, while still far below the levels of a year ago, have risen for three straight months—a first since 2004. - www.newsweek.com

07/25/2009 - Are banks skewing South Florida real estate market? - South Florida home and condo prices appear to be bottoming out. Some say that banks are controlling the release of foreclosures -- the lowest-priced homes -- to the market as a way to shore up prices. - www.miamiherald.com

07/25/2009 - Banks offer little incentive for savers - Thrift is in, but consumers will have to look high and low to earn an attractive rate on their cash if they want to keep their money in a bank. - www.cnn.com

07/25/2009 - Avoid Foreclosure. Your Lender Must Produce The Note! - 40% of people could KEEP their homes because their lenders have lost the legal note to their property. - www.bestforeclosurenews.com

07/25/2009 - Welcome to Foreclosure Inn - Luxury hotels are defaulting on their loans as the economy kills off business travel. But what is ailing the hotel industry is good for consumers as room rates fall.
www.cnn.com - VIEW PHOTOS 8 INNS -

07/25/2009 - Foreclosure inn: Luxury hotels default - Missed loans payments are on the rise, but what is hurting hotels is good for consumers as owners slash room rates by as much as 12%. - www.cnn.com

07/25/2009 - Get ready for banking's next headache - A weak economy and frozen financing markets could spell trouble for regional banks with big commercial loan portfolios. - www.cnn.com

07/24/2009 - Good News From The Housing Market? - Transactions are increasing at the lower end of the housing price spectrum as bank dispositions, short sales and first-time buyers (buoyed by the Fed's $8,000 tax credit) dominate the market. - www.huffingtonpost.com

07/24/2009 - What Just Happened? Tracking The Collapse From Bear to Goldman - 11 different baks and their stories that led to collapse of the economy.
www.businessinsider.com - VIEW 11 BANKS -

07/23/2009 - 10 Myths about Subprime Mortgages - The subprime crisis was building for years before showing any signs and was fed by lending, securitization, leveraging, and housing booms. - www.clevelandfed.org

07/23/2009 - Morgan Stanley Sets Aside $3.9B For Bonuses - Morgan Stanley is setting aside a huge sum to pay out bonuses despite posting its third consecutive quarterly loss and admitting it is disappointed with key departments. - www.cnn.com

07/23/2009 - June home sales rise, but prices plummet - For the ninth straight month, home sales were below the bench mark 5 million rate. Average home price falls 15.4% from last June. - guardian.co.uk

07/23/2009 - In A First, SEC Orders Ex-CEO To Return Pay - ordered an executive to return compensation awarded during years the company misstated financial results -- even though the executive himself wasn't accused of wrongdoing. - www.wsj.com

07/23/2009 - Bailed-Out Banks Raising Pay For Execs - Wall Street's biggest banks are setting aside billions of dollars more to pay their executives. - www.washingtonpost.com

07/23/2009 - Fed moves to improve disclosures on mortgages - SThe Federal Reserve on Thursday approved proposals designed to make it easier for Americans with mortgages, or shopping for them, to better understand how the loans work. - www.miamiherald.com

07/23/2009 - Ignoring Watchdog Report, Treasury Gives Three Major Banks Sweetheart Deals - The Congressional Oversight Panel report was based on 11 transactions with small banks and concluded that taxpayers walked away with about 66 percent of what they could have gotten. - www.huffingtonpost.com

07/22/2009 - Fannie & Freddie: The most expensive bailout of all Crisis - Efforts to use the troubled mortgage finance firms to fix housing market problems are likely to push the taxpayer bill for Fannie & Freddie above $100 billion. - www.huffingtonpost.com

07/22/2009 - Commercial Real Estate: Inside The Crisis Between the recession and the financial crisis, many commercial property owners were left struggling www.huffingtonpost.com

07/21/2009 - THE REAL MISERY INDEX: How The Recession Affects Us: Introducing The Real Misery Index. Composite loan delinquencies - Foreclosures - Rate Of Auto Repossessions www.huffingtonpost.com

07/21/2009 - Low-priced foreclosures incite bidding wars - Experts say the environment is strikingly similar to what they saw at the height of the real estate bubble. - www.usatoday.com

07/21/2009 - Foreclosures jump; lenders don't - That's especially troubling given the fact that 4 percent of U.S. homeowners are in foreclosure and 8 percent are at least a month behind on their payments. - www.dailyworld.com

07/21/2009 - On Friday, lowest-wage workers get a raise - The final installment of a three-part increase in the federal minimum wage is proving to be the most controversial. - www.mcclatchydc.com

07/21/2009 - Las Vegas Middle Class Hit Hard By Recession - The city offered something almost no other place in America did: upward mobility for the working class. - www.wsj.com

07/21/2009 - Roubini: Economic Recovery to Be 'Very Ugly - the economist whose dire forecasts earned him the nickname "Doctor Doom", told CNBC Monday that the economic recovery is going to be "very ugly." - www.cnbc.com

07/21/2009 - Bailed-Out BofA, Morgan Stanley Boost Lobbying In 2Q - increased their spending on lobbying in the second quarter as Congress began to look closely at revamping the rule system for financial institutions. - www.yahoo.com

07/21/2009 - Gambling on Wall Street - the gambling addicts on Wall Street, who precipitated the largest taxpayer bailout in history, are celebrating. - www.politico.com

07/20/2009 - The Jalopy Economy - Fascinating analysis from Jeffrey Gundlach, Chief Investment Officer from TCW, titled The Jalopy Economy. Jeff places much of the blame for the nation's current woes on our addiction to credit - a "Great Debt Binge - A Tragedy in 3 Acts." - www.ritholtz.com

07/20/2009 - 1.9 MILLION FORECLOSURE FILINGS REPORTED - on more than 1.5 million U.S. properties in the first half of 2009 - www.realtytrac.com

07/20/2009 - Subprime Lenders Modify Home Loans For Government - For fees reaching $3,495, with most of the money collected upfront, they promised to negotiate with lenders to lower payments - www.ritholtz.com

07/20/2009 - 7 Reasons Why The Housing Market Hasn't Hit Bottom Yet - There are a plethora of reasons why I believe we are nowhere near a bottom in Housing prices or activity. Here are a few: - www.ritholtz.com

07/20/2009 - They're Baaack! Subprime Brokers Resurface As Dubious Loan Fixers - Despite making promises of relief to homeowners desperate to keep their homes, Federal Loan Modification Law Center (FedMod) and other profit making loan modification firms often fail to deliver Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 - www.trashoutpro.com

07/20/2009 - Chinese drywall hits health, wallets, homeowners say - "Families are being forced to make health decisions based on financial consideration, and that is fundamentally flawed," said Sherri Rojhani, a homeowner in Parkland, Florida. - www.cnn.com

07/20/2009 - Get out of house with Chinese drywall, doctor tells family - Massachi and her family are among homeowners in more than a dozen states who allege Chinese drywall has emitted corrosive gases they believe have given them health problems.
www.cnn.com - PHOTO CALLERY -

07/20/2009 - Prime Loans Going 'Seriously Delinquent' At Quickest Pace - The finding is another example of how the eroding labor market is playing a key role in driving. - www.usnews.com

07/20/2009 - Job Losses Drive Consumer Delinquencies to Record Highs - When people lose their jobs, they can't pay their bills. Delinquencies won't improve until companies start hiring again and we see a significant economic turnaround. - www.usnews.com

07/20/2009 - Panel Probing Financial Crisis Has Wall Street Ties - Some congressional observers are already predicting it could be bogged down by philosophical divides between its pro-consumer and pro-business wings. - www.wsj.com

07/20/2009 - Bailout Overseer Says Banks Misused TARP Funds - banks that got federal aid to support increased lending have instead used some of the money to make investments, repay debts or buy other banks - www.washingtonpost.com

07/17/2009 - White House's $50B foreclosure plan a bust so far - Administration officials blame the mortgage servicers charged with carrying out the mortgage modifications and refinancing under the federal program. "What's your Plan B?" - www.politico.com

07/17/2009 - Goldman Sachs bites Uncle Sam's hand - 43 percent of respondents said they used some funds to maintain capital levels required by regulators to protect against future losses. - money.cnn.com

07/17/2009 - Watchdog Refutes Treasury Claim Banks Cannot Be Asked to Account for Bailout Cash - Goldman Sachs just reported record quarterly profits - and it's preparing to hand out huge bonuses, comparable to what it was paying before the crisis. What does this contrast tell us? month. - www.nytimes.com

07/17/2009 - Krugman Slams Goldman Sachs: "Bad For America" - Goldman Sachs just reported record quarterly profits - and it's preparing to hand out huge bonuses, comparable to what it was paying before the crisis. What does this contrast tell us? month. - www.nytimes.com

07/17/2009 - Housing starts surge - Government report says initial construction of U.S. homes rose to an annual rate of 582,000 units last month. - money.cnn.com

07/16/2009 - JPMorgan Chase earns $2.7 billion - Banking giant easily surpassed Wall Street's estimates for the second quarter, as investment banking performance offset consumer-related credit losses. - money.cnn.com

07/16/2009 - Okay, This Time Matt Taibbi Nails Goldman And The Bailout - Goldman will surely deny that its risk-taking is subsidized by the taxpayer -- but then so did Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, right up to the bitter end. - www.businessinsider.com

07/16/2009 - Matt Taibbi On How Goldman Sachs Made Its Profits - One of the most hilarious lies that has been spread about Goldman of late is that, since it repaid its TARP money, it's now free and clear of any obligation to the government. - www.trueslant.com

07/16/2009 - Rising Unemployment Accelerates Foreclosure Crisis - Relentlessly rising unemployment is triggering more home foreclosures. - www.huffingtonpost.com

07/16/2009 - Obama Considers Rent Option For Late Borrowers - U.S. officials are weighing a plan to let borrowers who have fallen behind on mortgage payments avoid eviction by renting their home instead. - www.reuters.com

07/16/2009 - CIT and its borrowers in limbo - The lender appears headed for bankruptcy, but it's unclear how that will affect borrowers such as Eddie Bauer and other small businesses. - money.cnn.com

07/14/2009 - U.S. mulling mortgage aid for unemployed - It could help more people struggling with economic difficulty, but it also could create perverse incentives that distort the housing market, - www.reuters.com

07/14/2009 - How Americans Spend Now - The cell phones were canceled; so were all subscriptions and outside entertainment. We didn't go skiing this winter, and we won't be golfing over the summer.
www.time.com - SLIDE SHOW -

07/14/2009 - Goldman Execs Sold $700M Of Stock, Most Of It During Bailout - Most of the sales occurred during the period in which the investment bank enjoyed the support of $10bn from the troubled asset relief programme. - www.ft.com

07/14/2009 - Big banks try to extend winning streak - Surge in investment banking, mortgage refinancing activity could again bolster second-quarter results for lenders like Chase, BofA. - money.cnn.com

07/13/2009 - Economic crisis far from over, WTO chief says - The global economic downturn is far from over, and few countries have dismantled the dangerous protectionist barriers they imposed in. - www.reuters.net

07/13/2009 - Realtors battling blight - Some are taking names and reporting problems such as unkempt lawns and broken down cars to code enforcers and homeowners associations. - www.heraldtribune.net

07/13/2009 - Lenders' latest foreclosure strategy: waiting - Banks know that once they take empty property, it's their liability. - www.heraldtribune.net

07/13/2009 - Matt Taibbi's Goldman Sachs Story Is A Joke - So how did Goldman Sachs cause the housing bubble? It got into CDOs, the game of buying, repackaging and selling mortgages. - www.businessinsider.net

07/13/2009 - Economist: Big Banks More Powerful Than Ever - Wall Street and the City of London - the world's two major financial centres - declare it is "business as usual" again... They are hiring, poaching each other's staff and their profits are soaring. - english.aljazeera.net

07/12/2009 - Whither the McMansion? Opinions from the Wall Street Journal and the Atlantic - But don't write the obituary for McMansions just yet. - www.treehugger.com

07/12/2009 - Key official endorses student loan plan - Rep. George Miller, D-Calif. will introduce legislation next week to replace the federally subsidized student loan program with direct government lending. - www.upi.com

07/12/2009 - Banks Break Promise to Reduce Foreclosures - From Treasury to Banks, an Ultimatum on Mortgage Relief. - www.nytimes.com

07/12/2009 - Credit and Debit Cards - Articles on how to select cards and how to use them are available in this section. - www.nytimes.com

07/12/2009 - Home-price outlook dismal through 2009 - City-by-city price forecasts - Foreclosures up. Prices down. Once-stable housing markets seem like they were built on a real estate fault line. - www.bankrate.com

07/11/2009 - Housing Woes: Price Reductions Are Proliferating - Nearly a quarter of the homes listed for sale in the U.S. have had at least one price reduction, with an average discount of 10% off the original asking price. - www.time.com

07/10/2009 - Matt Taibbi Gets His Sarah Palin On - financial meltdowns don't offer villains, for the simple reason that no one person or even one group is powerful enough to take down a whole system. - meganmcardle.theatlantic.com

07/09/2009 - Mini-Madoffs: The New Breed Of Downmarket Ponzi Schemers (SLIDESHOW, VOTE) - Bernie certainly wasn't alone. As BusinessWeek recently pointed out, there's currently a "bull market for investment scams".
www.huffingtonpost.com - SLIDESHOW - VOTE -

07/09/2009 - Citigroup: AIG May Have Zero Value After Rescue - "Our valuation includes a 70 percent chance that the equity at AIG is zero," said Joshua Shanker, an analyst at Citigroup. - www.bloomberg.com

07/09/2009 - AGAIN? White House, AIG Clash Over Millions More In Bonuses - Preparing to pay millions of dollars more in bonuses to several dozen top corporate executives after an earlier round of payments four months ago set off a national furor. - www.washingtonpost.com

07/09/2009 - Treasury Names Nine Firms for Toxic-Asset Program - The Treasury Department will invest up to $30 billion in a long-awaited partnership with nine fund managers to buy toxic securities from banks that were a big cause of the financial crisis. - www.bearmarketinvestments.com

07/09/2009 - The Fall of the Toxic-Assets Plan - The plan for buying troubled assets - which was earlier announced as the central element of the administration's financial stability plan - has been recently curtailed drastically. - www.harvard.com

07/09/2009 - Too Big To Jail? Prosecutors Pass On Major Wall Street Executives - Why prosecutors won't hit Wall Street hard in the subprime scandal. The subprime-mortgage-backed securities scam-perpetuated by Wall Street. - www.newsweek.com

07/09/2009 - Dan Dorfman: Still a Shaky Foundation for Housing - We're now in the heart of a major home buying season and prices are soft practically everywhere. Just maybe you're one of the lookers. So is this a good time to buy a house? The answer: No! - www.huffingtonpost.com

07/09/2009 - Morgan Stanley Plans To Repackage Millions In Shoddy Mortgage Loans As Top-Rated Securities - Morgan Stanley Plans to Turn Downgraded Loan CDO Into AAA Bonds. New York-based Morgan Stanley is copying a financing structure known as Re-REMICs that bundle mortgage securities into new bonds. - www.bloomberg.com

07/09/2009 - Incredible: Bailout Recipients Fighting To Keep Charging Exorbitant Credit Card Fees - TARP Recipients Fighting To Keep Charging Exorbitant Credit Card Fees - www.huffingtonpost.com

07/09/2009 - They're Back! Subprime Returns As Housing-Market Woe - Subprime Resurfaces as Housing-Market Woe. In Atlanta, a Foreclosure Dichotomy Threatens Homes Values - online.wsj.com

07/08/2009 - The Simple Arithmetic of the Mortgage Crisis Debunks Right Wing Media Narratives - Over eight years, the one category that grew as rapidly as home mortgages was the size of debt owed by financial entities. - www.huffingtonpost.com

07/08/2009 - Consumers credit card woes - Consumers are falling behind on their credit card bills at a record pace.
www.reuters.com - VIDEO -

07/08/2009 - Mortgage applications rebound - Requests for home loans and refinancing activity increased last week after falling to 7-month lows the week before. - money.cnn.com

07/08/2009 - U.S. apartment vacancies near historic high-report - The vacancy rate for U.S. apartments reached its highest level in more than 20 years in the second quarter and could soon exceed record highs if the recession persists, real estate research firm Reis Inc said. - money.cnn.com

07/08/2009 - Dropping home values crunch credit lines - As home values fall, home equity credit lines -- a favorite cash source for entrepreneurs -- are vanishing. - money.cnn.com

07/08/2009 - Homeowners to Obama: Help us ASAP - Obama mortgage plan needs work. Many borrowers are not getting help under president's modification or refinancing plan. Officials don't expect problems to be fixed until the fall. - money.cnn.com

07/07/2009 - Paying It All Back - Does anyone really pay off a 30-year mortgage? NPR's National Desk Editor Steve Drummond asked Chana Joffe-Walt to find out, and after some digging, Chana found a couple that did just that. Tamar and Chris Pearsol of Seattle share the story of their mortgage.
www.npr.com - LISTEN NOW -

07/07/2009 - 'Why I'll Never Pay It Down' - I'd like to debunk the main reason folks cling to as reasons to pay down the mortgage, i.e., people say they like the piece of mind of owning their home. - www.npr.com

07/07/2009 - Pace of delinquencies rises - Soaring unemployment and a shrinking economy drove delinquencies on credit card debt and home equity loans to all-time highs in the first quarter. - www.boston.com

07/07/2009 - Outrageous: Lenders Avoiding Modifying Loans - Mortgage lenders don't try to rework most home loans held by borrowers facing foreclosure because it would probably mean losing money, a study released yesterday by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston concludes. - www.boston.com

07/07/2009 - Bob Shiller didn't kill the housing market - He just predicted its demise. Now he's seeing some tentative signs of hope.
money.cnn.com - VIDEO -

07/07/2009 - Bargain Hunters See Bottom in Some Markets - Ask a group of real estate millionaires how they made their money and most will recite some version of this axiom: "When everyone zigs, you zag." - www.realtytrac.com

07/07/2009 - 'Shadow' Inventory May Slow Housing Recovery - an untold number of houses that have yet to hit the market are waiting in the wings, the bigger that so-called shadow inventory, the further off the housing recovery might be.
www.npr.com - LISTEN NOW -

07/07/2009 - NYC Eviction Business Good As Foreclosures Persist - For the third month in a row, more than 300,000 homes went into foreclosure, throwing people out of their homes is a stressful and dangerous job.
www.npr.com - LISTEN NOW -

07/07/2009 - Economics Reporter Becomes Part Of The Story - "I couldn't afford it, but that didn't mean I couldn't buy it." And there you have it: 12 words that neatly explain the $12 trillion in wealth lost in the United States over the past two years. - www.npr.com

07/07/2009 - FBI: Mortgage Fraud Rampant And Growing - U.S. mortgage fraud reports jumped 36 percent last year as desperate homeowners and industry professionals tried to maintain their standard of living from the boom years. - www.reuters.com

07/06/2009 - Bankruptcies Higher in States That Seize Wages - States that allow debt collectors to seize consumers' wages have sharply higher bankruptcy rates than neighboring states that prohibit or strictly limit the practice, an Associated Press analysis has found. - www.yahoo.com

07/06/2009 - As Retailers Cut Back CIties Confront 'Ghostboxes' - As the recession takes its toll on big-box retailers, more communities across the country are having to confront not just the eyesore of giant empty stores, but also the loss of jobs and tax revenue that follow. - www.huffingtonpost.com

07/05/2009 - Ten Ways Banks Take Your Money - Consumers need to keep their guard up as financial institutions increasingly impose new fees and charges. - online.wsj.com

07/03/2009 - THE ZERO DOWN MIRAGE - New Evidence on the Foreclosure Crisis. Zero money down, not subprime loans, led to the mortgage meltdown. - online.wsj.com

07/02/2009 - How To Live On $0 A Day: Stylish Alternatives To Living On The Street. Lesley Stern - Just because you're totally broke doesn't mean you have to abandon the dream of living somewhere spacious, beautiful, architecturally important and very expensive. I'm talking about living under a bridge. - www.huffingtonpost.com

07/02/2009 - The Great American Bubble Machine - the Wall Street Bubble Mafia - Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi On "How Goldman Sachs Has Engineered Every Major Market Manipulation Since The Great Depression"
www.rollingstone.com       VIDEO 1      VIDEO 2     VIDEO 3     VIDEO 4     VIDEO 5

07/02/2009 - Seven banks fail, pushing 2009 tally to 52 - Regulators close six Illinois banks and one Texas bank setting the FDIC back a total of $314.3 million. - money.cnn.com

07/02/2009 - SOS: Send loans now - With bank lending to small businesses nearly frozen, these 8 entrepreneurs are among the thousands fighting for the credit lines and loans they need to keep their companies alive.
money.cnn.com - 8 STORIES -

07/02/2009 - Bank vaults slammed shut to small businesses - Small business lending falls sharply - In its first full quarter since the Recovery Act kicked in, the SBA still backed 30% fewer small business loans than it did a year ago. - money.cnn.com

07/01/2009 - Mortgage Aid Program Continues to Move Slowly - The Obama administration estimates that it's going to help as many as 4 million homeowners modify their loans. To date, "over 200,000" of these loan modifications have been offered, according to the Treasury Department. That leaves millions of homeowners waiting their turn. - www.huffingtonpost.com

07/01/2009 - Home Prices Down 18.1 From Last April: Case-Shiller - Newfound signs of stability in the housing market could still be threatened by rising foreclosures and slow efforts to stop them. - www.huffingtonpost.com

07/01/2009 - Mortgage Program Saves Homes, Push To Replicate It Nationally - As Philadelphia Mortgage Program Saves Homes From Foreclosures... Could Be A National Model... Sen. Arlen Specter. The program, overseen by the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, brings together borrowers in mortgage arrears with lenders, judges, housing advocates and attorneys who try to reach an agreement that will allow distressed homeowners to remain in their homes. - news.yahoo.com

07/01/2009 - Credit Card Issuers Getting In Their Licks Ahead Of Reform - As lawmakers worked out credit card reform legislation earlier this year, card issuers argued that tough restrictions would make credit costlier for consumers. Now that tough reform has been signed into law by President Barack Obama, some lenders are making good on those threats. - www.huffingtonpost.com

07/01/2009 - Banks torch Obama consumer plan - Battle lines over Obama consumer agency - Plan to set up watchdog is first battle in long road to regulatory reform. Industry steps up efforts in opposition as administration releases legislation. - www.ft.com

07/01/2009 - Bailed-Out Citi Raises Credit Card Interest Rates Months Before New Rules Take Effect - Citigroup has sharply increased interest rates on up to 15m US credit card accounts just months before curbs on such rises come into effect, in a move that could fuel political anger at the treatment of consumers by bailed-out banks. - www.ft.com