by Calculated Risk on 3/30/2009 05:02:00 PM

For your reading enjoyment ... here is an article about a software programmer who wrote some of the software for securitizing mortgages.

From Michael Osinski in New York Magazine: My Manhattan Project How I helped build the bomb that blew up Wall Street

I have been called the devil by strangers and “the Facilitator” by friends. It’s not uncommon for people, when I tell them what I used to do, to ask if I feel guilty. I do, somewhat, and it nags at me. When I put it out of mind, it inevitably resurfaces, like a shipwreck at low tide. It’s been eight years since I compiled a program, but the last one lived on, becoming the industry standard that seeded itself into every investment bank in the world.

I wrote the software that turned mortgages into bonds

Because of the news, you probably know more about this than you ever wanted to. The packaging of heterogeneous home mortgages into uniform securities that can be accurately priced and exchanged has been singled out by many critics as one of the root causes of the mess we’re in. I don’t completely disagree. But in my view, and of course I’m inescapably biased, there’s nothing inherently flawed about securitization. Done correctly and conservatively, it increases the efficiency with which banks can loan money and tailor risks to the needs of investors. Once upon a time, this seemed like a very good idea, and it might well again, provided banks don’t resume writing mortgages to people who can’t afford them. Here’s one thing that’s definitely true: The software proved to be more sophisticated than the people who used it, and that has caused the whole world a lot of problems.

by Calculated Risk on 3/30/2009 04:00:00 PM

These swings are wild ...

DOW down 3.3% (254 points)

S&P 500 down 3.5% (28 points)

NASDAQ down 2.8% (43 points)

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

The first graph is from Doug Short of dshort.com (financial planner): "Four Bad Bears".

This is the 2nd worst S&P 500 / DOW bear market in the U.S. in 100 years.

Note that the Great Depression crash is based on the DOW; the three others are for the S&P 500.

The second graph compares four significant bear markets: the Dow during the Great Depression, the NASDAQ, the Nikkei, and the current S&P 500.

See Doug's: "The Mega-Bear Quartet and L-Shaped Recoveries".

And since I haven't posted this for awhile, here are a few credit crisis indicators ...

The British Bankers' Association reported that the three-month dollar Libor rates were fixed at 1.2075%, down from Friday's 1.22%. The dollar LIBOR was at 1.31% just 10 days ago - so this is some improvement.

The LIBOR peaked at 4.81875% on Oct. 10th, and hit a cycle low of 1.0825% on Jan. 14th.

There has been improvement in the A2P2 spread. This has declined to 0.92. This is far below the record (for this cycle) of 5.86 after Thanksgiving, but still above the normal spread.

This is the spread between high and low quality 30 day nonfinancial commercial paper.

Meanwhile the TED spread is holding steady at 108.7. This is the difference between the interbank rate for three month loans and the three month Treasury. The peak was 463 on Oct 10th and a normal spread is around 50 bps. The TED spread has been relatively flat for months (and is being impacted by the Fed and other Central Banks).

by Calculated Risk on 3/30/2009 02:52:00 PM

Zach Fox at the North County Times brings us another Deal of the Week: Riding the waves in Oceanside

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

The featured 2 BR 2 BA condo sold for just under $100 thousand new in 1990. It went into foreclosure during the early '90s California housing bust, and was resold in 1995 for $33,000.

By 2000 the condo was above the original selling price. And then "rode the bubble" to an outrageous price. The condo went through foreclosure last year and sold in February for less than the original price in 1990! Adjust that return for inflation ...

by Calculated Risk on 3/30/2009 12:16:00 PM

Update2: From MarketWatch: Corrected: Chrysler, Cerberus agree to Fiat deal framework

Update: The government is also backing warranties for GM and Chrysler. That is a key step towards bankruptcy. US backs warranties for GM, Chrysler (ht Stephen)

The US government Monday said it is guaranteeing the warranties of new vehicles bought from General Motors and Chrysler in a bid to boost consumer confidence and auto sales.

The Treasury Department said it had taken the temporary step to allay consumer worries about buying new cars from the two nearly bankrupt manufacturers that are on government life support. The new plan addresses fears that the new car warranties would be worthless if the companies collapse.

From the WSJ: Obama Outlines Plans for GM, Chrysler

Warning that they can't depend on unending taxpayer dollars, President Barack Obama on Monday gave General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC a brief window to craft plans that would justify fresh government loans.
...
The administration says a "surgical" structured bankruptcy may be the only way forward for GM and Chrysler, and President Obama held out that prospect Monday.

"I know that when people even hear the word 'bankruptcy,' it can be a bit unsettling, so let me explain what I mean," he said. "What I am talking about is using our existing legal structure as a tool that, with the backing of the U.S. government, can make it easier for General Motors and Chrysler to quickly clear away old debts that are weighing them down so they can get back on their feet and onto a path to success; a tool that we can use, even as workers are staying on the job building cars that are being sold."

MarketWatch has the Key White House findings Excerpt:

Viability of Existing Plans:

The plans submitted by GM and Chrysler on February 17, 2009 did not establish a credible path to viability. In their current form, they are not sufficient to justify a substantial new investment of taxpayer resources. Each will have a set period of time and an adequate amount of working capital to establish a new strategy for long-term economic viability.

General Motors:

While GM's current plan is not viable, the administration is confident that with a more fundamental restructuring, GM will emerge from this process as a stronger more competitive business. This process will include leadership changes at GM and an increased effort by the U.S. Treasury and outside advisors to assist with the company's restructuring effort. Rick Wagoner is stepping aside as Chairman and CEO. In this context, the Administration will provide GM with working capital for 60 days to develop a more aggressive restructuring plan and a credible strategy to implement such a plan. The Administration will stand behind GM's restructuring effort.

Chrysler:

After extensive consultation with financial and industry experts, the Administration has reluctantly concluded that Chrysler is not viable as a stand-alone company. However, Chrysler has reached an understanding with Fiat that could be the basis of a path to viability. Fiat is prepared to transfer valuable technology to Chrysler and, after extensive consultation with the Administration, has committed to building new fuel efficient cars and engines in U.S. factories. At the same time, however, there are substantial hurdles to overcome before this deal can become a reality. Therefore, the Administration will provide Chrysler with working capital for 30 days to conclude a definitive agreement with Fiat and secure the support of necessary stakeholders. If successful, the government will consider investing up to the additional $6 billion requested by Chrysler to help this partnership succeed. If an agreement is not reached, the government will not invest any additional taxpayer funds in Chrysler.emphasis added

by Calculated Risk on 3/30/2009 10:57:00 AM

From Bloomberg: Boston’s John Hancock Tower May Be Sold for Half of 2006 Price (ht Brian)

Boston’s John Hancock Tower, the tallest skyscraper in New England, may be sold to lenders led by Normandy Real Estate Partners for about half the $1.3 billion paid in 2006 by Broadway Partners, which defaulted on its loan.

This auction will give a good idea of how far commercial real estate prices have fallen.

Meanwhile, rents are falling too. From Bloomberg: Job cuts mean more office space available in Manhattan

The amount of Manhattan office space available for rent in the first quarter rose to 12 percent and rents fell as companies fired workers, FirstService Williams said.

The share of empty space plus occupied offices available for lease climbed from 10.9 percent at the end of 2008 ... The average rent sought by landlords fell to $65.18 a square foot from $74.49 in the fourth quarter, the company said.

So much for those $100 per sq ft pro forma projections ...

by Calculated Risk on 3/30/2009 09:23:00 AM

From the WSJ: Mortgage Defaults, Delinquencies Rise

... A spokesman for the FHA said 7.5% of FHA loans were "seriously delinquent" at the end of February, up from 6.2% a year earlier. Seriously delinquent includes loans that are 90 days or more overdue, in the foreclosure process or in bankruptcy.
...
The FHA's share of the U.S. mortgage market soared to nearly a third of loans originated in last year's fourth quarter from about 2% in 2006 as a whole, according to Inside Mortgage Finance, a trade publication. That is increasing the risk to taxpayers if the FHA's reserves prove inadequate to cover default losses.

by Calculated Risk on 3/30/2009 01:11:00 AM

From the WSJ: Government Forces Out Wagoner at GM

The administration's auto team announced the departure of [General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Rick Wagoner] on Sunday. In a summary of its findings, the task force added that it doesn't believe Chrysler is viable as a stand-alone company, and suggested that the best chance for success for both GM and Chrysler "may well require utilizing the bankruptcy code in a quick and surgical way."

On Chrysler:

The government said it would provide Chrysler with capital for 30 days to cut a workable arrangement with Fiat SpA, the Italian auto maker that has a tentative alliance with Chrysler.
...
If the two reach a definitive alliance agreement, the government would consider investing up to $6 billion more in Chrysler. If the talks fail, the company would be allowed to collapse.

From the NY Times: U.S. Moves to Overhaul Ailing Carmakers

President Obama is scheduled to announce details of the auto package at the White House on Monday, but two senior officials, offering a preview on condition of anonymity, made clear that some form of bankruptcy — a quick, court-supervised restructuring, as they described it — could still be an option for one or both companies.

On GM:

G.M., on the other hand, has made considerable progress in developing new energy-efficient cars and could survive if it can cut costs sharply, the task force reported. The administration is giving G.M. 60 days to present a cost-cutting plan and will provide taxpayer assistance to keep it afloat during that time.

As expected, it sounds especially grim for Chrysler.

by Calculated Risk on 3/29/2009 11:59:00 PM

Here is an open thread for discussion. I'm out for a few hours (if there is breaking news) ...

Bloomberg Futures.

CBOT mini-sized Dow

CME Globex Flash Quotes

Futures from barchart.com

And the Asian markets.

And a graph of the Asian markets.

Best to all.

by Calculated Risk on 3/29/2009 08:25:00 PM

From Bloomberg: Spain Rescues Caja Castilla With EU9 Billion in Funds (ht Carlomagno, Bob_in_MA)

The Spanish government said it will provide as much as 9 billion euros ($12 billion) to Caja Castilla-La Mancha to shore up the regional lender’s finances and protect depositors in the first bank rescue since 1993.
...
Loan defaults in Spain have tripled since the global financial crisis began in 2007, ending the country’s real estate boom and boosting unemployment to a European-Union high of 14 percent. The economy is in the grip of its worst recession in half a century with the government forecasting a contraction of 1.6 percent this year.

To understand a "Caja", here is a Financial Times article on the Spanish banking system from last October: Cajas in the balance

... Half of Spain's financial system consists of 45 unlisted mutuals owned by local governments, called cajas. They are entirely domestically focused, therefore highly exposed to property, and also - because they cannot raise equity - potentially short of capital.

An estimated 70 per cent of cajas' combined €900bn loan portfolio is in real estate. Bad debts doubled last year and Credit Suisse expects them to double again to 5 per cent, twice the current European average. Add in the odd bankruptcy - such as property developer Martinsa Fedesa's recent collapse - and this could eliminate the cajas' provisioning cushions. That presents a problem. ...

... Rescue deals for some of the smaller, more opaque banks look inevitable. The financial fuse on Spain's property bomb is burning slowly. But the bang could still be big.

The Pain in Spain happens mainly in the - uh - Cajas.

by Calculated Risk on 3/29/2009 06:08:00 PM

From Bloomberg: General Motors Chief Rick Wagoner Said to Step Down

General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner will step down after more than eight years running the largest U.S. automaker ...

The departure of Wagoner comes as President Barack Obama prepares an address tomorrow morning on his plans for the future of the U.S. auto industry. GM is surviving on $13.4 billion in U.S. loans and is asking for as much as $16.6 billion in additional aid to survive.

It sounds like the next round of the auto bailout will be announced Monday.

by Calculated Risk on 3/29/2009 03:42:00 PM

Much has been made about the personal saving rate falling to zero during the housing bubble, and rising sharply in recent months. This decline in the saving rate was probably related to homeowner's borrowing against their homes.

During the housing bubble there was a huge surge in home equity borrowing or cash-out refinancing - commonly called mortgage equity withdrawal (MEW) - that led many people to spend more than their usually defined disposable personal income (DPI). (ht Professor Martha Olney)

However this didn't capture MEW. The following two graphs show the impact of MEW. Note: I used 50% of MEW, because that appears to be the amount consumed.

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

The first graph shows disposal personal income (blue), disposal personal income plus MEW (green) and personal outlays (red). Note: Graph doesn't start at zero to better show the change.

The BEA defines personal saving as the difference between the blue and red lines:

Personal Savings = Disposable Personal Income - Personal Outlays

However many people acted as if MEW was income, and that would mean personal saving was the difference between the green and red lines.

The second graph shows the same data except as a saving rate.

As Professor Olney mentioned to me, the aggregate saving rate captures the behavior of both savers (who probably didn't change their behavior) and "dissavers" (who borrowed heavily). The saving rate declined to zero, probably because the dissavers were using MEW as income.

Now that the Home ATM is closed, the saving rate is rising because of less borrowing - as dissavers are forced to live within their incomes.

by Calculated Risk on 3/29/2009 01:16:00 PM

Evan Thomas writes in Newsweek: Obama’s Nobel Headache. An excerpt:

If you are of the establishment persuasion (and I am), reading Krugman makes you uneasy. You hope he's wrong, and you sense he's being a little harsh (especially about Geithner), but you have a creeping feeling that he knows something that others cannot, or will not, see. By definition, establishments believe in propping up the existing order. Members of the ruling class have a vested interest in keeping things pretty much the way they are. Safeguarding the status quo, protecting traditional institutions, can be healthy and useful, stabilizing and reassuring. But sometimes, beneath the pleasant murmur and tinkle of cocktails, the old guard cannot hear the sound of ice cracking. The in crowd of any age can be deceived by self-confidence, as Liaquat Ahamed has shown in "Lords of Finance," his new book about the folly of central bankers before the Great Depression, and David Halberstam revealed in his Vietnam War classic, "The Best and the Brightest." Krugman may be exaggerating the decay of the financial system or the devotion of Obama's team to preserving it. But what if he's right, or part right? What if President Obama is squandering his only chance to step in and nationalize—well, maybe not nationalize, that loaded word—but restructure the banks before they collapse altogether?
emphasis added

Krugman is making the establishment nervous! Probably because they all missed the housing bubble - and Krugman called it correctly.

Krugman foreshadowed the Newsweek article yesterday: The magazine cover effect

I’ve long been a believer in the magazine cover indicator: when you see a corporate chieftain on the cover of a glossy magazine, short the stock. Or as I once put it (I’d actually forgotten I’d said that), “Whom the Gods would destroy, they first put on the cover of Business Week.”

There’s even empirical evidence supporting the proposition that celebrity ruins the performance of previously good chief executives.

Presumably the same effect applies to, say, economists.

You have been warned.

by Calculated Risk on 3/29/2009 10:37:00 AM

From the Seattle Times: Washington's banks under stress (ht Lyle)

Ailing financial giants such as Citigroup, Bank of America and AIG have drawn most of the attention as the worst banking crisis since the Great Depression grinds on.

But several of Washington's community banks also are clearly straining under the weight of the crisis, a Seattle Times analysis shows.

At least a dozen of the 52 Washington-based banks examined are carrying heavy loads of past-due loans, defaults and foreclosed properties relative to their financial resources. ...

While banks big and small have been kneecapped by the collapse of the housing bubble, the crisis has played out differently for the big "money center" banks and the thousands of regional and community banks sprinkled across the country.

The main problem for the big banks and investment firms has been exotic instruments such as collateralized mortgage obligations, structured investment vehicles and credit-default swaps — all tied, one way or another, to pools of residential mortgages that were bought, sold, sliced up and repackaged like so much salami.
...
But at most community banks, residential mortgages were a relatively small part of their business. Instead, their troubles are tied directly to their heavy dependence on real-estate loans — mainly loans to local builders and developers.

"Many community banks found that (construction and development loans) was an area in which they could compete effectively against the big banks," Frontier's Fahey said.

At Frontier Bank, for example, construction and development loans made up 44.5 percent of all assets at year's end. City Bank had 53.3 percent of its assets in such loans, and at Seattle Bank (until recently Seattle Savings Bank), they constituted a full 54.2 percent of total assets.
...
Regulators can act to bring wobbly banks back into balance, short of seizing them outright. Four Washington banks — Horizon, Frontier, Westsound and Bank Reale of Pasco — are operating under FDIC "corrective action plans" that place tight restrictions on their lending practices, management and overall operations.

But sometimes, such plans just delay the inevitable. Last year, for instance, the FDIC imposed corrective action plans on Pinnacle Bank and Silver Falls Bank, both of Oregon; in February, both were seized.

This article makes a couple of key points that we've been discussing: many community and regional banks sidestepped the residential mortgage debacle, and focused on local commercial real estate (CRE) and construction & development (C&D) lending. Now, with rapidly increasing defaults on C&D and CRE loans, the high concentrations of CRE and C&D loans at these banks will lead to many bank failures. And unlike the "too big to fail" banks, these community banks will just be seized by the FDIC.

by Calculated Risk on 3/28/2009 10:32:00 PM

From the WSJ: US Treasury: $134.5 Billion Left in TARP

The U.S. Treasury Department estimates that it has about $134.5 billion left in its financial-rescue fund, which would mean that about 81% of the $700 billion program has been committed.

In its estimate, the Treasury projects that it will receive about $25 billion from banks that have participated in the department's Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.

If you need a bailout, you'd better get in line soon!

by Calculated Risk on 3/28/2009 06:31:00 PM

From the WaPo: Obama Signals Flexibility Ahead of G-20 Summit

The Obama administration on Saturday appeared to back away from calls for other nations to mirror the United States in combating the financial crisis with ramped up government spending ...

U.S. officials yesterday dismissed any notion of a rift, saying they would not press nations to adopt specific spending targets. "Nobody is asking any country to come to London to commit to do more right now," said Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs, Michael Froman. ...

Experts say the U.S. stance may reflect a recognition that the White House may simply not be able to convince their European counterparts to spend more. Some said it may herald a modest outcome for the summit.

Those expecting anything of substance from the G-20 meeting will probably be disappointed ...

by Calculated Risk on 3/28/2009 03:30:00 PM

The following is a section on housing from John Mauldin's newsletter: Why Bother With Bonds?. I'd like to correct a few mistakes, not to embarrass Mr. Mauldin - we all make mistakes - but hopefully to illustrate a few points about the housing data.

From Mauldin:

Housing Sales Improve? Not Hardly

I opened the Wall Street Journal and read that new home sales were up in February. Bloomberg reported that sales were "unexpectedly" up by 4.7%. I was intrigued, so I went to the data. As it turns out, sales were down 41% year over year, but up slightly from January.

But if you look at the data series, there was nothing unexpected about it. For years on end, February sales are up over January. It seems we like to buy homes in the spring and summer and then sales fall off in the fall and winter. It is a very seasonal thing.

Uh, the numbers from the Census Bureau are seasonally adjusted. From the Census Bureau report:

Sales of new one-family houses in February 2009 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 337,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 4.7 percent (±18.3%)* above the revised January rate of 322,000, but is 41.1 percent (±7.9%) below the February 2008 estimate of 572,000.
emphasis added

Mauldin continues with the error:

If you use the seasonally adjusted numbers, you find sales were down 2.9% instead of up 4.7%. But the media reports the positive number. Interestingly, they report the seasonally adjusted numbers for initial claims, which have been a lot better than the actual numbers. Not that they are looking to just report positive news, you understand.

As best I can tell, Mauldin is using the decline in inventory (from 340 thousand to 330 thousand) as the Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) sales numbers. That shows a decline of 2.9%, but that is inventory - not sales.

The Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA) monthly sales number are 27 thousand in February, compared to 23 thousand in January. An increase of 17.4%! If Mauldin is looking for an example of the media cherry picking SA vs. NSA, this isn't it.

Back to Mauldin:

Plus, as my friend Barry Ritholtz points out, the 4.7% rise was "plus or minus 18.3%". That means sales could have risen as much as 23% or dropped 13%. We won't know for awhile until we get real numbers and not estimates. Hanging your outlook for the economy or the housing market on one-month estimates is an exercise in futility, and could come back to embarrass you.

Barry is correct - this is the 90% confidence interval from the Census Bureau. And I agree we should always be cautious with just one month of data.

More Mauldin:

But that brings up my final point tonight, and that is how data gets revised by the various government agencies. Typically with these government statistics, you get a preliminary number, which is a guess based on past trends, and then as time goes along that data is revised. In recessions like we are in now the revisions are almost always negative.

There is no conspiracy here. The people who work in the government offices have to create a model to make estimates. Each data series, whether new home sales, employment, or durable goods sales, etc., has its own unique sets of characteristics. The estimates are based on past historical performance. There is really no other way to do it.

So, past performance in a recession suggests higher estimates than what really happens. Then, the numbers in the following months are revised downward as actual numbers are obtained. But the estimates in the current months are still too high. That makes the comparisons generally favorable, at least for one month. And the media and the bulls leap all over the "data," and some silly economist goes on TV or in the press and says something like, "This is a sign that things are stabilizing." It drives me nuts.

First, the preliminary estimate is not a "guess"; the esimate is based on a sample. As more data is received, the estimate is refined, and the confidence interval narrows - but it is always an estimate (it is never "real numbers" or a "guess").

Mauldin is correct about new home sales revisions being negative during the housing bust (something I've written about many times).

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

This graph shows the change from the preliminary release to the most recent release. Usually the revisions can be either positive or negative, but during the housing bust almost all the revisions were negative. For the two most recent months, the revisions have been positive, but there are more revisions to come.

Mauldin's conclusion is:

Ignore month-to-month estimated data. The key thing to look for is the direction of the revisions. If they are down, as they have been for over a year, then that is a bad sign. Further, one month's estimates are just noise. Look at the year-over-year numbers. When the direction of the revisions is positive and the year-over-year numbers are starting to stabilize, then we will know things are starting to turn around.

I agree with his comment on revisions, although it takes several months to know if the data is being revised up or down.

Looking at year-over-year numbers is useful, but I think we can also look cautiously at the monthly numbers too. We needn't do this in a vacuum. Here is what I wrote early this year: Looking for the Sun

New home sales is a little more difficult because of the huge overhang of excess inventory that needs to be worked off. But some people will always buy new homes, and we can be pretty sure that sales won't fall another 270 thousand in 2009 (like in 2008), because that would put sales at 60 thousand SAAR in December 2009. That is not going to happen.

So, at the least, the pace of decline in new home sales will slow in 2009. More likely sales will find a bottom - to the surprise of many.

And here was my take on the recent report: New Home Sales: Is this the bottom?. An excerpt:

This graph shows the February "rebound".

You have to look closely - this is an eyesight test - and you will see the increase in sales (if you expand the graph).

Not only was this the worst February in the Census Bureau records, but this was the 2nd worst month ever on a seasonally adjusted annual rate basis (only January was worse).

Note: Once again, I'm not trying to embarrass Mr. Mauldin, but hopefully this helps in looking at the housing data.

by Calculated Risk on 3/28/2009 11:44:00 AM

By popular request, here is a graph comparing four significant bear markets: the Dow during the Great Depression, the NASDAQ, the Nikkei, and the current S&P 500.

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

This graph is from Doug Short of dshort.com (financial planner):

"The Mega-Bear Quartet and L-Shaped Recoveries".

Note: updated today.

by Calculated Risk on 3/28/2009 09:54:00 AM

From the LA Times: FDIC orders changes at six California banks

[T]he Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. disclosed Friday that it had ordered six more California banks to clean up their acts in February after the agency examined their books and operations.
...
The number of such regulatory actions has been increasing rapidly.
...
By the end of 2009, two-thirds of the state's banks will be operating under cease-and-desist orders or other regulatory actions, Anaheim-based banking consultant Gary S. Findley predicts.
...
Most banks targeted in such actions eventually tighten up operations and continue in business or merge with stronger institutions, but regulators are preparing for a major wave of failures.
...
In addition to public cease-and-desist orders, banks are subject to a variety of regulatory sanctions, including so-called memorandums of understanding, which are informal directives to correct problems. Regulators don't release those memos, but banks sometimes disclose them to shareholders.

So far 21 FDIC insured banks have failed this year, and 3 in California. There will probably be many more ...

by Calculated Risk on 3/27/2009 10:18:00 PM

From the NY Times: U.S. Expected to Give More Financing to Automakers

The Obama administration will probably extend more short-term aid to General Motors and Chrysler on Monday ...

The administration is expected to set a short deadline — weeks rather than months — to compel the automakers, their lenders and the U.A.W. to reach agreement.

Both G.M. and Chrysler are close to exhausting the loans they received since December. ...

G.M.’s request for up to $16.6 billion more in federal loans will be treated separately from Chrysler’s request for an additional $5 billion ...

The announcement on Monday will usher in a more intensive period of oversight by the government of G.M. and Chrysler ...

Another week, another bailout.

by Calculated Risk on 3/27/2009 07:20:00 PM

Just some quick words of advice from Jon Stewart (Dec 13, 2000): (ht Martin)