HPD flagged a sobering article from The Market Ticker: What’s Dead (Short Answer: All Of It) It is amazing seeing something like this coming from a relatively mainstream blogger like Karl Denninger: “Civil unrest will break out before the end of the year. The [active component] Military and [National] Guard will be called up to try to stop it. They won’t be able to. Big cities are at risk of becoming a free-fire death zone. If you live in one, figure out how you can get out and live somewhere else if you detect signs that yours is starting to go “feral”; witness New Orleans after Katrina for how fast, and how bad, it can get.” (It sounds like Karl must have read my novel.)
Hawaiian K. flagged this piece of possibly good news: What Stimulated the Gun and Ammo Market? Prices will fall, if supply catches up to demand. The $64 Dollar question is: Will that happen before a new ban is enacted? That is anybody’s guess…
Mojopie recommended a Wired article by Felix Salmon: Recipe for Disaster: The Formula That Killed Wall Street. Mojopie’s comment: “This articulates very well how and why CDOs and CDS derivatives caused this mess our economy is in.”
Thanks to Steven L. for spotting this: Second Liens Forgiven: Are You Kidding Me? “But I can’t tell you how many homeowners I’ve interviewed who took out home equity lines to put in a pool or buy a fancy car or put an addition on the house that includes a fancy new kitchen with a Viking six-burner. And I’m supposed to pay for all that?”
Items from The Economatrix:
Roubini: US Financial System Effectively Insolvent
Citigroup Shares Tumble Below $1
GM Auditors Raise the Specter of Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Dow Drops Another 200 on Worries Over Banks, GM
Europe’s Banks Face $2 Trillion Shortage
US Private Sector Cuts 697,000 Jobs in February
JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, BofA Face Ratings Cut
Now as the “Much Greater Depression” Progresses
8.3 Million US Mortgages Upside Down
GM Europe: 300,000 Jobs at Risk
More US Consumers, Businesses File for Bankruptcy
As Projects Grind to a Halt, Homesites Turn to Wasteland
Critics See Understaffed, Overwhelmed Treasury
Taxpayers Have Lost Billions on Citigroup Bailout