If you’ve been out of the loop the last 48 hours or so, the big finance-related news is the political firestorm precipitated by AIG’s bonuses, and the Fed’s decision to create $1 trillion in new money (by buying mortgages and mortgage-backed securities). On the blogosphere, there is a quick consensus emerging that the the public,...Read More
Confused by the Crisis? Watch ThisBarry Ritholtz’s blog, “The Big Picture,” features a video — “The Crisis of Credit Visualized” — that provides one of the single best explanations of today’s market melt-down/credit crisis I’ve seen yet. (The video is also available on YouTube in two installments). It identifies all the players and pieces, puts...Read More
Rebutting Ritholtz on “Housing Affordability” The [Housing Affordability Index] as presently constructed is utterly worthless. It provides little or no insight into how affordable US Housing actually is. Further, what is omitted from the index is especially relevant to the problems occurring in the housing market today. The Index fails to account for — or...Read More
Is Barry Ritholtz Right About Realtors? “$#@%&realtors . . .%&*!! NAR . . !!#%@!! . . David Lereah . . .$#%&! . . . NAR . . . %&!!@realtors . . .%&*!! NAR.” –“Former NAR Economist David Lereah is a Jackass,” Barry Ritholtz; The Big Picture blog (1/6/09)As a real estate agent active in the...Read More
