There’s a lot of interesting things popping up today. Here’s a quick compendium of some that you might find worth pursuing.
Barney Frank & Mark-To-Market
Not content to just get rid of MTM and trust the banks to tell us the truth from now on, Congressman Frank now thinks it might be a good idea to go back and reverse all of those unnecessary write-offs that were caused by MTM accounting.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., told the ABA that he will take their concerns about reversing retroactive losses to the SEC and Congress. “They [bankers] ought to be able to go back and say they took that loss on an asset that is being held to maturity and recoup that loss,” Frank said.
- Cousins financing with 5% initial downpayment
- Monthly payment based on 4% interest + HOA Dues + taxes
- Cousins financing term lasts for up to three years. If you no longer wish to own your home at any time, you can move without any further mortgage obligation
- If your home appraises for less than your purchase price after three years and you wish to move, we will refund your equity
- Ask about our downpayment option which allows you to move now and make no payments for the first year while you sell your home
- Each home comes with a five year extended warranty, further protecting the value of your home
- ACT NOW! This program is being offered for a limited number of units
Pretty clever, don’t you think? This is the sort of creativity that will get us out of this. Link-here.
Fed President Sees Second Half Recovery
It’s pretty hard to find anyone with credibility who subscribes to my notion that we could see things improving in the second half. It therefore makes my day when a guy like Gary Stern, President of the Minneapolis Fed, comes out and jumps on that bandwagon. He expects some improvement beginning in the third quarter but isn’t calling for rapid growth. Where we part company is on the subject of a double dip recession. He doesn’t think it will happen, I do.
Stern also had an interesting take on comparisons of this episode to the Great Depression.
To be sure, “these are in my judgment historic times in the financial sector,” Stern said. Noting that there used to be five major, standalone investment banks in the U.S., Stern said, “if you had told me 13 months ago we were going to have zero at the end of March, I’d have said no way.”
On the other hand, “I wouldn’t rush to the Depression when it comes to the economy for comparisons,” Stern said.
“For those of us who were around for ‘80-’82 and ‘73-’75, what’s happening in the economy and a lot of the rhetoric that goes with it rings more familiar,” he said.
Glad to hear that. The severity of the current recession has been overstated but the risks it poses have not. Link-here.
There aren’t many dull days anymore.
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