Jason's Blog

The US subprime market isn't just spilling over, it's rippling all the way across the sea to London.  The Guardian reported today that the pound took a fall because a major bank had been forced to borrow $1.6 billion pounds to "see it through a cash-flow problem related to the US sub-prime mortga...

ATTENTION:  The Fed is taking appropriate action!  Yes, the Fed (who thought this mess would quietly blow over) is going to save the day!  This is according to Mitt Romney (Republican Presidential Candidate), the same person who thought Larry Craig would be a good Senate liaison!  (Hey, I'm from ...

I think even the Fed now agrees that we're in a bit of a jam regarding credit issues.  The subprime meltdown is no longer "contained" (was it ever...except in the Fed's fantasy world?).  This latest report shows evidence of more spillover as bankruptcy rates climb and credit card defaults grow.  ...

Here are a few stories that I thought were important.  Quotes in bold from the stories.  Other text is my own brilliant commentary.  And a surprise thrown in for good measure (a test of sorts).From Reuters 8/28 "Tighter lending standards in recent months have hurt business at two-thirds of the na...

I mentioned earlier that I was working with Wachovia on some projects.  They seem to be one of the best (and healthiest) of the lenders around today.  I was not surprised to learn that Wachovia's ability to thrive is realted to its large holdings of first lien mortgages (the safest position for a...

From the title, you might think this is a commentary on the differneces between Republicans and Democrats (or Rush Limbaugh and...um...anyone sane and balanced).  I love how they talk about "tax cuts" versus increases in funding that aren't as much as they used to be.  When I was interested in ra...

A lot of folks agree that the press oversensationalizes things, which certainly seems to be the case with their dramatic images, deep gravely voice-overs and hyperbolic slogans.  So I read with some scepticism the latest story which comes with this chilling headline:  Rising defaults and heavy de...

CNNMoney.com has a new tag line.  It's called "Mortgage Meltdown 2007".  Catchy title, isn't it?  Makes me wonder why they insist on sensationalizing things like this...but then I remember, they're in the ratings and revenue business and that's all part of the game.So the real news is that home s...

I've read from several folks that the thought of Countrywide going "under" is as likely as the sun not rising tomorrow (but don't ask Al Gore his opinion on that one).I know the likelihood of Countrywide taking a bath is on the less-likely side of things, but reality is it could happen.  I was ju...

Great piece by the NY Times.  The point to the article (which is worth reading) is that legislation to help protect borrowers from the dangers of subprime financing is too late to help.  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/24/business/24states.html?_r=3&ref=business&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin...