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Vote, Consumer Credit Crunch, Auto Sales Sink, Consumers Stop Spending

November 4, 2008 By Bill Rice Leave a Comment
i voted

Stop Reading and Go Vote! If you haven't already voted yet: take one last peek at what your vote will mean to your mortgage market, shut the lid on your laptop, head to the polls, do your civic duty, and then get your free coffee! Consumer Credit Crunch Banks are going to turn us into a savings economy after all. Tightening would have been a lot more valuable done over time rather than an overnight choke hold. However, a good short-term belt tightening never hurt anyone in the long-run. It also … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Auto, Consumer Credit, Mortgage Rates, Politics, Savings Tagged With: auto sales, consumer demand, credit crunch, Mortgage Rates, oil prices, Politics, vote

Small Bank Bailouts, The Great Recession, JP Morgan Loan Modifications, Global ZIRP, PMI Losses, GM No Bailout Merger

November 3, 2008 By Bill Rice Leave a Comment
small bank

Small Bank Bailouts Financial market calamity was narrowly averted today as Farmers National Bank of Emlenton is expected to get a much needed capital injection from the US government. William Marsh, CEO led with this, "they were giving out free stuff"-type quote in the WSJ: "It seemed like the consensus in the industry was...go out and get this," said William Marsh, president and chief executive of Farmers National Bank of Emlenton, in Emlenton, Pa. Mr. Marsh said his bank is healthy and viable … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy, FDIC, Federal Reserve, Foreclosure, Housing Prices, Mortgage Rates, PMI, Politics, Treasury, US Banks Tagged With: bailout, gm, jp morgan, Loan Modification, PMI, recession, small banks, zirp

GDP, Mortgage Bonds, Zero Interest Policy, Renters for Obama, Stop Being Bearish

October 30, 2008 By Bill Rice Leave a Comment
googlesoupline-093x093

GDP Swings Low, Sweet ... Well it is official, we're contracting. Consumers are hoarding their cash (taking queues from the banking sector). Unlike the recession of 2001 consumers will not be borrowing their way through hard time--try to find a home equity line of credit these days. They're calling it a recession: “This is the first of a run of negative G.D.P. numbers,” said Ian Shepherdson of High Frequency Economics. “The economy is in recession.” He predicted that the economy would shrink … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy, Federal Reserve, Mortgage Notes, Mortgage Rates, Politics, Wall Street Tagged With: bear market, fed, gdp, google, mortgage bonds, Mortgage Rates, obama, recession, renters, zero interest policy

Moral Hazards, Too Small to Fail, Mark-to-Market, Bernanke and Obama, P2P Lending

October 21, 2008 By Bill Rice Leave a Comment
p2p lending

When Lenders and Investors Objectives Aren't Aligned The Big Picture does a nice summary of how disconnects between lender and investor alignments can create moral hazard on the scale of mortgage implosion and financial market meltdown. Overstructuring risk mitigation combined with dangerously low interest rates makes credit feel like cash, debt like wealth. And, here we are... Seth Godin Reminds Us There is "Too Small to Fail" A great little post about the value of being small. It doesn't imply … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Central Bank, Economy, Federal Reserve, Politics, Venture Capital Tagged With: accounting, bernanke, howard lindzon, mark-to-market, moral hazard, obama, p2p lending, seth godin, small business, social lending, Venture Capital