Mar 31 2008 12:48PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |
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A quick roundup of some of the news and analysis from the last few days that you may have missed:

• The Calculated Risk blog comments on John Mauldin's take on when we'll hit the bottom of the current downturn.
• Bloomberg columnist John Berry writes that the expected sub-prime ARM bomb this year may not be as bad as expected.
• The Washington Post reported this weekend that the Bush administration is working on a plan that would use public funds to help homeowners refinance their mortgages. The program would apply to those who owe the bank more than their homes are worth. Nearly 9 million homeowners currently have negative equity, according to the article.
• And one of the ways we ended up in this mess is giving loans to people who shouldn't have them. Here's an intriguing article from The Oregonian that talks about a JPMorgan Chase memo that told employees how to get past the computerized checks and balances to finance people who didn't qualify.
• According to this Wall Street Journal post, more than half of homes in foreclosure have significant damage as departing homeowners are trashing and stripping the houses on the way out the door.
• And speaking of trashed houses, this is a little off subject, but fascinating. Here's the tale of a homeowner whose home was stripped of most of its possessions because somebody posted on Craigslist that his stuff was free for the taking. It's at least the second time this has happened.