Ten links inside.
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Bernanke, You Stupid Bastard - Karl Denninger
Especially you, Bernanke. There's dumb and then there's really dumb. Let's take a short walk back down history lane. You were sure there was no housing bubble. Then you were sure it wouldn't pop. Then you were sure when the subprime problem hit, that it wouldn't cause a recession. Then you were sure you had it under control with Bear Stearns' hedge funds. Then you were sure you had it under control with Bear Stearns itself. Then you were sure it was under control with Lehman, even though you had to know Citibank and others were refusing their collateral in the repo market.
You were sure QE would support higher bond prices - and lower yields. The exact opposite thing happened. You were sure QE2 would suppress long end yields. The exact opposite thing happened. Oh yeah, you made excuses both times, but in fact you publicly said that in both cases the exact opposite thing would happen that did.
Now let's look at what happened just today.
Oil went up almost $7 today for the WTI contract. For each dollar that crude oil rises, we transfer roughly $95 billion (estimates vary from $90-100) outside of the United States. That's a direct hit to GDP. In ONE DAY the entire impact of your so-called "QE2" was ERASED.
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J.P. Morgan Said Lehman Left It 'Goat Poo Collateral' - Bloomberg
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. tricked JPMorgan Chase & Co. into holding onto collateral that the bankrupt investment firm internally described as “goat poo,” according to a court filing by JPMorgan.
JPMorgan was stuck with Lehman’s worst securities backing $25 billion of loans as Lehman was sold to Barclays Plc in September 2008, JPMorgan said in its filing yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. Lehman described the collateral as “toxic crap” and “goat poo” to be scattered “in other people’s backyards,” JPMorgan said.
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Shock - NAR Realty Group Overstated Housing Sales
The housing crash may have been more severe than initial estimates have shown.
The National Association of Realtors, which produces a widely watched monthly estimate of sales of previously owned homes, is examining the possibility that it over-counted U.S. home sales dating back as far as 2007.
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Emile Haddad, a former Lennar Corp. executive, sold 12,000 acres in California for a $277 million profit at the housing market’s peak four years ago. He and his partners then reacquired it at half the price in 2009. Now, Haddad says, it’s time to build.
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Barney Frank Screams Repeatedly at Paulson 'Fuck You'
Barney Frank muscled his way past Harry Reid and started yelling. “F— you, Hank! F— you! Blow up this deal? We didn’t blow up this deal! Your guys blew up the deal! You better tell [GOP Rep. Spencer] Bacchus and the rest of them to get their s— together!” When Paulson tried to
http://washingtonindependent.com/83904/out-of-the-bailout-bedlam-obama-emerged-on-top
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A few more links...
Banks Find Loophole on Capital Rule - WSJ
Japan Cut to Negaitve by Moody's - BBC
When WalMart is in trouble, you know the economy sucks
Harvard Student writes in defense of Ron Paul
Dylan Ratigan - Glenn Greenwald targeted in Wikileaks attack