… In some circumstances, a “chilling effect” on false rumors can be desirable; the goal should be to produce optimal chill, rather than no chill at all. – Cass R. Sunstein, January, 20091 Dr Sunstein first achieved fame around the blogosphere thanks to panicky reports following on his appointment to Obama’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which in part "develops and oversees the implementation of government-wide policies in the areas of information technology, information policy, privacy, and statistical policy." I am happy to report that, having just finished reading Infotopia, I am merely approaching panic.  The fatal flaw…
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NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–U.S. stocks marked their worst decline in about three months as a disappointing report on manufacturing early Thursday led to a broad sell-off for many of the companies that helped pace a surging third quarter in stocks, including JPMorgan, Caterpillar and American Express. – WSJ1 With Dow 10K receding like a toy helium balloon and equity investors looking over their shoulders at what well may have been the most astounding Bear Rally in Wall Street history, you’d think that the debt markets would be flooded with refugees from the capital markets, but they didn’t include this gang,…
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In it’s attempt to stabilize the housing market, there is an 800 pound gorilla in the room that government is not adequately addressing. What is not being addressed is the answer to this question:  "What should be our priority? Do we want to fill empty houses with "homeowners" or keep people in their homes?" It is critical to answer this question because we cannot do both. There are estimates that there is a shadow inventory of seven million units out there- that’s a lot of homes to fill.  During the boom the housing industry cranked out  more than enough homes…
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It ended up being a late night for me last night and I wasn’t up to commenting much on the latest Mortgage Metrics Report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.  I thought however that the following two charts spoke volumes about loan modifications, so I thought I’d let them speak for themselves: [Thanks L!]

Every time I see one of these stories it breaks my heart.  How sad that anyone thinks that life isn’t worth living after losing a home. Kurt Aho’s home was sold at a foreclosure auction on Tuesday.  When the new owners came by and asked him when he was going to vacate, he shot out their tires.  He had a beer with a neighbor right before the police came: Jeffrey Hobson said he shared a final beer with Aho moments before the confrontation. He said he worried when Aho told him he wanted to die. “He said, ‘When the cops…
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