From ivory towers Bankers sneer at citizens: Our loss,… your burden. February rain. March green shoots did not flower These banks push daisies. by Soylent Green is People From the FDIC : Heartland Bank and Trust Company, Bloomington, Illinois, Assumes … Read More

Winter grips our land Huddled masses cry “Relief!” Cash burn warms bankers. by Soylent Green is People From the FDIC : First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company, Raleigh, North Carolina Assumes All of the Deposits of Sun American Bank, Boca Raton, … Read More

This is an update on a great series by Kelly Bennett of Voice of San Diego. First a little background: According to Kelly, in 2008 - after the bubble burst - James McConville bought distressed condos from developers in bulk, … Read More

Earlier today, I did a lengthy interview with Dean Voelker on his Improving Your Financial Health radio show. Dean’s very much into preparation, so I actually wound up doing a substantial amount of prep work for the interview. Since I … Read More

UPDATE: From CNBC: Frank Denies Saying No Guarantee on Fannie, Freddie From Zachary Goldfarb at the WaPo: Rep. Frank questions safety of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac investments “People who own Fannie and Freddie debt are not in the same legal … Read More

First - David Leonhardt at the NY Times Economix asks: Is the Recovery Losing Steam? How you view today’s jobs report depends on snow. … If the storms indeed had a big effect — if they cut even 100,000 jobs … Read More

Here are a few more graphs based on the employment report … Employment-Population Ratio The Employment-Population ratio ticked up slightly to 58.5% in February, after plunging since the start of the recession. This is about the same level as in … Read More

Over the last few days, I’ve had several interactions with readers who are heavily concerned about the healthiness of their food and other chemical items they bring into their home. In general, these people subscribe to the “five ingredients or … Read More

Here’s how foreclosures in Orange County compare from Q4 of 2009 with the previous quarter and the previous year, according to an analysis by DataQuick. Countywide, foreclosures are up 0.1% from the previous quarter and  5.1% year over year.  ZIP codes are ranked in … Read More

While everyone is thinking snow and (un)employment … this is just a reminder that the weather is nice in Puerto Rico. It is very possible that the FDIC will close a bank there tomorrow, see: Reports on Possible Imminent Bank … Read More