Foreclosed dreams.
The foreclosure crisis facing three million Americans and swamping the entire economy right now is the direct result of foolish free market policies. The solution to the crisis cannot be left to that same flawed market. ...

Report: D&O financial services pricing up 18 percent in fourth quarter of 2007: mortgage market and subprime collapse blamed for price spike.
Directors and officers pricing for the financial services sector rose by more than 18 percent in the fourth quarter over the same period in 2006 due to troubles related to the mortgage market and subprime lending, according to a new study. It was the first time in...

Oval obtuseness.
We've long known that George W. is not the quickest bunny in the litter, but lately we've also seen his grip on reality go all slippery on him. He's had three recent public eruptions of cluelessness....

Bond raters warn U.S. social programs.
Having failed to foresee the subprime mortgage fiasco, the influential bond rating services, Moody's and S & P, are demanding the United State's plan to privatize Social Security & Medicare. Otherwise, they threaten to reduce the rating of U.S. government bonds, the Wall Street Journal reports. Lower ratings mean...

Sovereign wealth funds.
SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUNDS in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are closely this year at the prospect of investing yet more funds in western financial institutions, particularly those that have been adversely affected by the US sub-prime mortgage crisis and the ensuing credit squeeze in the...

Treasurer's report.
Despite some turbulence in the financial markets, most notably the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the Melville Society had a respectable year in 2007. The Murray Endowment has posted a positive YTD return of 3.4%, the Cohen Fund has posted a 7.0% YTD return, and the Society's autumn solicitation of membership...

Exposing the triple-A game.
In the playoffs, basketball stars are expected to bring their Agame to the court. In the bond ratings game, corporations are desperate to bring their A-game, their triple-A game in fact, before umpires named Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Fitch ... and what a sordid game it is. ...

Gaining acceptance: the insurance-linked securities marketplace is now seen as an accepted class of risk.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Summary * Insurance-linked securities in such forms as the catastrophe bond are considered cutting-edge in the industry today. * Specific triggers narrow the terms under which the losses are repaid under a CAT bond. * The size of the...

Peso gains further, on the verge of entering the P40:$ 1 territory.
Byline: FIL C. SIONIL The peso is in the verge of hitting the P40 level against the US dollar, ending the trading week for the new year at an intra-day high of P41 and closing at P41.01 due the general weakness of the dollar as concerns that...

Not ready for sub-prime players: borrowing's fine; debt's a national crisis.
EVEN CAVE-DWELLING, 15-year-fixed-rate-paying troglodytes were close to hysteria this spring, spooked by speculation that the debacle in the sub-prime mortgage industry, which had already sunk industry leaders like Ownit and AmeriQuest, was on the verge of torpedoing the entire American economy. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) proposed...