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NEW -> Contingent Buyer Assistance Program
<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN2923580820071129">Rodney King suffers non-fatal shotgun wound, still no word on Cheney's whereabouts at time of shooting</a>
 
Re: Bernake's talk a couple of minutes ago where he used fedspeak to say he was going to lower the fed funds rate.<p>

What if the fed throws some money out there to lend and no one comes to borrow?
 
<img height="597" alt="Tightening Business?s Financial Lifeline" width="450" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/11/29/business/1129-biz-webLEND.jpg" />
 
<p>Florida Halts Withdrawals From Local Investment Fund (Update3) </p>

<p>http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601170&refer=home&sid=aDdJ4GDZ6eao</p>
 
<p>OFHEO data out. For local results</p>

<p>1. Go to <a href="http://www.ofheo.gov/hpi_city.aspx">http://www.ofheo.gov/hpi_city.aspx</a></p>

<p>2. In the first drop down, scroll down to Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine</p>

<p>3. Click Start Search</p>

<p>Then you can see the changes by quarter, including the latest change for Q3 2007</p>
 
<p>When it rains, it pours (and yes, it just happens to be raining - like actual Seattle downpour type rain - in Irvine today).</p>

<p>Housing Slump's Third Year to Be `Deepest' Since WWII (Update1) </p>

<p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=ah1avXfvpNak&refer=home">http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=ah1avXfvpNak&refer=home</a></p>
 
<p>Short gold in '08, Goldman says</p>

<p>http://www.reportonbusiness.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071129.wgoldman1129/BNStory/SpecialEvents2/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20071129.wgoldman1129</p>
 
GS is already short gold as they have been for some time. They are presently losing their keester on Tocom gold shorts, as is JPM. They need a sell off.
 
<p>Just a clarification, but having lived in both Seattle and Irvine I need to correct a mis-conception: There are no downpours that can be typified as "Seattle-like". It rains quite a bit here, but the great majority of it comes like the mist from an outdoor patio cooling system. Occasionally we'll get a real storm that actually includes raindrops, but for the most part it's like living under a spray bottle 358 days a year.</p>

<p>Carry on.</p>
 
That is true, but I meant it was what a Seattlite would call heavy rain, not what an Irvine person usually calls heavy rain (which the Seattlites call a little sprinkle).
 
<p><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.gainesvillesun.com/article/20071130/NEWS/711300317/1002/NEWS">Gainesville Sun: Crist freezes state investment fund</a></p>

<p><a href="http://www.gainesvillesun.com/article/20071130/NEWS/711300317/1002/NEWS">http://www.gainesvillesun.com/article/20071130/NEWS/711300317/1002/NEWS</a></p>

<p>"Those people who got their $3.5 billion today are darned lucky. Is that fair?'' she said. "What happens to the people who have the last $2 billion in the pool? They get zero.''


</p>
 
<p> South County ZIPs feeling housing’s pain</p>

<p><a href="http://lansner.freedomblogging.com/2007/11/30/south-county-zips-feeling-housings-pain/">http://lansner.freedomblogging.com/2007/11/30/south-county-zips-feeling-housings-pain/</a></p>

<p>What’s noteworthy to me in the latest DataQuick count, for the 22 business days ended Nov. 14, is that three South County ZIPs appear in the top 10 rankings of neighborhoods with the worst yearly declines in sales activity in O.C. …</p>

<p>• Irvine 92620, sales down 76.0%


• Ladera Ranch 92694, down 73.8%


• Irvine 92602, down 67.5%</p>

<p>ZIP data is notoriously volatile, but these numbers offer up a strong hint that the market’s harshest weakness — once a financial plague in the county’s less-wealthy mid-section — is spreading to deeper-pocketed communities. For example: In mid-September, there were no South County ZIPs in the Bottom 10.</p>
 
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/2rw9tz">Anatomy of a Turn Around</a>.





<em>Also, thus far "the commercial side has held up relatively well," said Josh Zegen, managing partner at Madison Realty Capital. "Still, there's not a lot of transparency in the market on future write-offs, and lenders aren't stepping in like they used to." If the market for commercial properties such as offices and apartments worsens, it could crimp any improvement in residential housing.





</em>I think that Calculated Risk should be required reading for anyone in a financially related job. This would make for a more cautious quote about commercial RE, and would reference the giant surge in commercial RE credit spreads.


<img alt="" src="http://markit.com/cache/curves/91d1364953b4286ec72040b6461.png" />
 
<a href="http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10215040">The Economist: The panic about the dollar</a>.





<img src="http://www.economist.com/images/20071201/4807LD1.jpg" alt="" />
 
We have fantasy sports, so why not <a href="http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=348876&story_id=10225023">have fantasy housing</a>?





<em> AS MANY as 18m American adults play fantasy sports leagues. Movie buffs play Fantasy Mogul and anyone who thinks politics is not already surreal enough can play Fantasy Congress. The latest online game is “fantasy real estate”, run by <a target="_blank" href="http://www.realius.com/" title=" (opens in a new window) ">Realius.com</a>, which emerged in November in San Francisco and enables players to guess the price of properties on the market in the Bay area. It may sound like the daftest moment to introduce a game using the wisdom of crowds to judge the value of a home—especially when for so long popular wisdom in America has been that house prices do not fall. On the other hand, rarely have American homeowners been so in need of escapism.





</em>We Americans are just a bunch of daft wankers.
 
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