Archive for June 8th, 2009

Elizabeth Warren And The Limits Of Her Responsibility

The Congressional TARP oversight panel chaired by Elizabeth Warren is out with its latest missive. She is scheduled to testify on the contents tomorrow. Generally, they find little to criticize but they do suggest that the stress tests be redone if the economy worsens. Overall it’s pretty bland but Warren seems intent on stretching the […]

Winners And Losers In The GM Bankruptcy

Here is one of those trades that will set some people’s teeth to gnashing. A couple savy investor types made a bundle speculating on GM bonds and bank loans. From Bloomberg: Investors that bought General Motors Corp. loans and speculated on declines in its bonds may be in line for “one of the greatest payoffs in the […]

Realistic Appraisals Deliver Angst

Now for a little bit of good news. A lot of people are ticked off because appraisals are coming in lower than expected. In other words, the appraisers are actually appraising homes again. It was no secret during the boom that a little bit of shopping around would get you the appraisal you needed to […]

Should We Have One Regulator Or Many?

Everyone seems to have an opinion about whether reregulation of the financial institutions should vest control in one super-regulator or a sharing of responsibilities among a handful, so I’ll throw my two cents worth into the pot. Though inefficient it is, I would prefer to see some sort of a power sharing regime. Here, in […]

Hotel Jingle Mail

This is a minor story about the foreclosure of a hotel in San Diego but it says a lot about the state of commercial real estate right now. Sunstone Hotel Investors, LLC, a publicly held California REIT has said it will surrender its ownership in the W Hotel San Diego after attempts to restructure its […]

Saved Jobs Alert

Pardon me while I bellyache about the saved jobs spin once more. The administration is apparently planning to ramp up stimulus spending and is once again tossing out their “save or create” jobs meme. From MarketWatch: At a Cabinet meeting on Monday, Vice President Joe Biden is presenting President Barack Obama with a plan for […]