The following article is similar to the Chicago Tribune article last week, Corus Bankshares Inc. on cusp of crisis , but adds a little local color in Florida. From the Miami Herald: Soured loans on South Florida condos sinking Corus Bankshares Heavy with $182 million in construction loans, the long-awaited…
Professor Arthur C. Nelson, Director of the Metropolitan Research Center at the University of Utah, has kindly sent me his new paper: “The New Urbanity: The Rise of a New America” (no link). Nelson sees a dramatic shift in American cities: “[T]he period from 2010 to 2030 will see the…
Dr. Brad Setser, author of the blog ” Follow the Money “, has taken a new job with the National Economic Council. Unfortunately this means no more blogging for Brad. Here is an excerpt from Brad’s farewell post: All great things have to end Fundamentally this blog was about an…
One of the biggest economic and political stories of this decade has been China’s emergence as the world’s biggest creditor country. At least in a ‘flow” sense. China’s current account surplus is now the world’s largest – and its government easily tops a “reserve and sovereign wealth fund” growth…
This article provides a history of brokered deposits, and discusses the potential dangers, and the inability of regulators to limit the practice. From Eric Lipton and Andrew Martin at the NY Times: For Banks, Wads of Cash and Loads of Trouble [B]rokered deposits … is one of the primary factors…
It isn’t quite a yield curve mambo , but Paul Swartz and I did pull together a few Google motion charts to help illustrate the origins — at least in our view — of the financial crisis of 2007-08. Click on motion charts after following this link . What’s…
If I had to pick a single graph to explain the evolution of the United States’ balance of payments – and thus, indirectly, the entire story of the world’s macroeconomic “imbalances” – this would be it. All data is in dollar billions, and is presented as a rolling four…
For a long time, large US trade and current account deficits didn’t push up the total amount the United States owed to the world, at least not if the market value of US investment abroad was netted against the market value of foreign investment in the US. The net…
Foreclosure filings have been going up incrementally in the United States since the year 2006. There has been an increase of more than one hundred percent since this year, in the number of filings for foreclosure. RealtyTrac released a Foreclosure market report recently in January of 2009 where it…
On March 4, 2009, the United States Treasury announced their partnership with financial institutions to reduce monthly mortgage payments for borrowers. The New Home Affordable Modification Guidelines makes over 9,000,000 homeowners eligible to modify the terms of their existing mortgage, even if they are current on their payments. Homeowners…