The Latte Era Grinds Down

http://www.newsweek.com/id/43345


Average Americans were living like the Riches, thanks to easy credit and the real-estate bubble. Now they're trading down instead of trading up.

By Daniel Gross NEWSWEEK
Oct 22, 2007 Issue

Subprime: Let the finger-pointing begin!

The crisis brought on by worries about shaky subprime mortgages continues to rattle Wall Street. Even as the storm rages, the blame game has begun.
By Peter Eavis, Fortune writer

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0709/gallery.subprime_blame.fortune//index.html?cnn=yes

Financials Gone Wild

http://www.minyanville.com/articles/BAC-CFC-GS-JPM-C-WB/index/a/13838


Fil Zucchi Aug 23, 2007 10:13 am

Are we seriously supposed to believe that the banks' discount-window escapade and the BAC, CFC "investment" are two separate events that just happened to take place the same day?

I did not think I’d find myself this jaded after nearly two months of vacation, but in light of Bank of America’s (BAC) $2 bln dollar “investment” in Countrywide Financial (CFC), the made-for-Wall Street TV special of yesterday’s backslapping “man-I-haven’t-seen-you-since-that-football-game-tailgate-12-years-ago, how-u-doin’ pal?!” get-together at the discount window by JP Morgan (JPM), BAC, Citi (C), and Wachovia (WB) has suddenly morphed into a wobbling home movie of four trick-or-treaters just happening to stumble upon Boom-Boom’s doorstep and collecting $2 bln of fresh “trading crack”.

This can't be good for Countrywide

I hope they don't mean this because I'm sure the credit crisis won't be over in 3 months.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_6643472

Countrywide's troubles deepen
BY GREGORY J. WILCOX, Staff Writer

CALABASAS - Countrywide Financial Corp.'s financial trouble deepened Thursday, forcing the nation's biggest mortgage lender to tap an $11.5 billion credit line to fund operations.

Paul J. Miller, an analyst at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., said in a research report that Countrywide's survival depends on how long the mortgage crisis lasts.
"We do believe there is a scenario in which the current liquidity crises last for longer than three months and CFC is forced into bankruptcy," he wrote. "It will be ugly, but it can happen!"

Miller also predicted that if the crisis passes within a month, the company will be able to resume normal origination functions and its stock price will jump back into the $30 range.
If it persists for more than a month, he said, Countrywide might be forced to sell assets at a deep discount, putting "tremendous pressure" on its stock.

Credit Problems & High Risk Mortgages

Credit problems are too big for the feds to fix

Wall Street is hoping for a bailout of the reckless mortgage sector that violates the whole concept of capitalism. It won't work, because there's too much mess to clean up.

By Bill Fleckenstein

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/ContrarianChronicles/CreditProblemsAreTooBigForTheFedsToFix.aspx

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High-risk mortgages turning into toxic mess
Experts believe the biggest problems will emerge during next 16 months

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20216643/