Here’s come the MSM grownups, trying very hard to keep a straight face.

“Morgan Stanley to Advise U.S. on Fannie and Freddie”, by Louise Story, New York Times, August 5, 2008.

The United States Treasury has hired Morgan Stanley to provide advice on the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a government spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The Treasury is evaluating how and whether to use its authority over the two government-backed mortgage giants. Congress included a provision in a housing bill last month allowing the department to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to rescue the mortgage giants if they reach the brink of collapse. The Treasury can purchase equity in the troubled companies or lend to them, if needed.
…

“As we’ve said before, we have no plans to utilize the temporary authorities,” Ms. McLaughlin said. “That has not changed. This action should be interpreted as a prudent preparedness measure, and nothing more.”

I remember Mayor Goodman complaining in 2006 about permitted projects on the Strip that weren’t started- he wanted to punish developers that didn’t get their projects going.

LV’s “build it and they will come” assumption is coming back to bite them.

“It’s not over until the fat lady sings”- and a condo isn’t sold until it has closed. I’ve thought for awhile that a number of those “sold” condos wouldn’t make it all the way to closing.

The developers haven’t been forthcoming about their vacancies, but it’s got to be fairly high.

L sent me a link on that, and I about choked.

Their CEO John Mack said last April that “The collapse of the subprime market in the United States has reached its eighth inning or maybe the “top of the ninth.”

I guess the game has gone into extra innings.

I know Igor- I’m “annoyed” too.

Never fear, our financial services industry is busy fighting inflation this evening!!

Or in the words of the Long Johns, “no price is too high …”

“Morgan Stanley Gets $95K to Restructure Fannie and Freddie”, Heidi N. Moore, Wall Street Journal / Deal Journal blog, August 5, 2008.

My understanding of this song is that Boston didn’t want to raise the 10 cent fare- so they charged 10 cents to get on- and another 5 cents to get off. Charlie didn’t have the nickel. : )

John-

The storm shouldn’t really hit for a couple of hours.  Right now the worst of it is that I put my little bantams in cages in the basement, including the rooster, to keep them out of the weather.  Consequently, the rooster has decided to crow about every 15 minutes, and it’s getting old!

When the market behaves like it did today, I always think of this classic "Long John" piece from last summer.  They have a wonderful explanation of "market sentiment".

Gloom is in short supply today. Bernanke has everyone eating out of his hand, and the Dow, led by the financials(!) closed up 261 points.

My “agency debt” search brought up an off-topic story, “T warns of fare hike if agency is not rescued,” but I can’t even get excited about that. This story goes back a very long time. The following YouTube is by a guy who grew up just around the corner from where I was. Besides the fact we both think we can sing, we also share the characteristic that we both have brothers who are really serious professional artists. Brian’s brother Ted has a series of beautifully illustrated books.

So, a classic, lighthearted look at inflation on a slow summer’s day (hope there’s not too much excitement about the tropical storm headed your way!)

I believe [And someone please correct me if I'm wrong] a condo-tel contract is different than a normal purchase.

I went to the City Center sales office in Las Vegas and talked to a salesperson about purchasing one of these units.

You cannot personalize your unit at all, [At least at City Center] as your condo is a hotel room when you aren’t there. You get a closet you can lock when you’re gone, but everything from the art to the silverware is dictated by City Center. They also have daily maid service. [optional]

So for all practical purposes, you are purchasing a hotel suite rather than a condo, although there are no guarantees on how often [or if ever] your unit will be rented out by the management. Consequently, there’s a case to be made that you are investing in a hotel, rather than buying a condo- even if you never manage to rent out your unit. I believe this is what they are referring to.

We’re going to need a much, much bigger coop!

“… the chickens are coming home to roost …” [about 7:55 on the YouTube]

Must be getting crowded at the Twists’ new coop.

Meanwhile, over in Florida …

“Condo Meltdown: Condo with Trump name sued over marketing practices”, by Terri Sheridan, Daily Business Review, August 8, 2008.

A Boston restaurateur who banked on the allure of Donald Trump’s name in deciding to buy a Fort Lauderdale condominium-hotel unit alleges in a lawsuit that he is the victim of misleading marketing.

In the lawsuit filed Monday in Broward Circuit Court, John Taglieri also contends the developer of the project violated state securities and condo laws.

SB Hotel Associates LLC failed to register Taglieri’s unit at the beachfront Trump International Hotel & Tower as a security, though it was marketed as an investment opportunity, and wrongly promoted the project as a Trump development, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims marketing material indicated the units would be worth 36 percent more with the Trump name.