Without a doubt, our economy is facing a confidence crisis.  As the historic plummet of the markets last week demonstrated, Wall Street has little confidence in recovery right now.  And, as I hear from constituents every day, so has the public. Though 92% of mortgage holders continue to pay their ...

Last week, I offered to wager a friend that, “In the next three years, Fannie Mae will be engaged in a variety of business activities which are market sensitive. …” Old Doom friend Bill Maloni often has unique insight, but this time he’s brought us something special. He’...

And then grab a stage break Nobody can be right all the time, but Dr. Nouriel Roubini has come pretty darn close so far. That does not, however, preclude being correct into perpetuity. Dr. Roubini has now grasped near constant media attention, and I believe the media’s insatiable desire for co...

Watch CBS Videos Online 60 Minutes had a good segment this Sunday called Your Bank Has Failed: What Happens Next? which was perfect timing because a number of people seem to be worried about their own banks failing. I bank at one of the national firms in the headlines and, while the thought has cros...

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One common theme starting to percolate through the electorate is the resistance to any plans to bail out homeowners who got in over their heads (or worse, lied on their applications) before doing anything for those who have been responsible and keeping up with their mortgage payments. As I proposed ...

Larry Gagosian’s hard-charging art empire is facing new challenges in the downturn, but also opportunity....

Scotiabank chopped its 10-year rate today from 7.15% to 5.25%. It’s hard to remember a time when the 10-year was this low. Scotia managing director, Charles Lambert, calls it “the......

Yesterday afternoon I stopped by a bar just outside Casa Grande . Atypically all the guys were glued to the TV. No-- they were not interested in whether James Carville punked Limbaugh and the Republicans. Nor was it Wednesday's dead cat bounce on Wall Street. But they were talking about the presiden...

We used to ignore bubbles, explaining them away because they were scary. Now we see them as a clearer conduit to clarity when illustrating a point related to mortgages. Not housing. Remember, we experienced a mortgage bubble from 2003-2007, not a housing bubble. Housing was merely a way to keep scor...