Housing

U.S. home prices seen stagnating this year – Reuters

Mitt Romney Talks With Florida Foreclosure Victims – HuffPo

Credit Suisse Says Mortgage Principal Cuts Don’t Help Homeowners – BusinessWeek

Investors eagerly eye U.S. foreclosure rental plan – MarketWatch

He says he’s not alone. “There is a large chunk of capital, billions of dollars, sitting on the sidelines waiting to see what kind of program the government comes up with,” Martin said.

Mortgage Settlement

Simon Johnson on the Proposed Foreclosure Fraud Settlement: “This is a law enforcement issue.” - FireDogLake

What Do You Call a “Cornhusker Kickback” for California? – EmptyWheel

Part of the problem is that the settlement remains far too small. Even assuming CA got to provide that $10 billion to homeowners, the underwater homeowners Harris mentions would each get less than $5,000 of modification. That’s not chump change, but it’s also not nearly enough to get many of those homeowners above water again, meaning they’d still be at risk of defaulting.

Political Push Moves a Deal on Mortgages Inches Closer – NY Times

Economy/Europe

The Greek debt talks fall apart – Felix Salmon

Goldman Says U.S. Data May Look Better Than They Are: Economy – Bloomberg

On the Collapse of the Shanghai Composite – Credit Writedowns

Why Isn’t Illinois A Bigger Story Than Greece? - Dollar Collapse

It’s more or less the same size as Greece, its finances are in the same generally catastrophic shape, and its leaders are just as feckless and dishonest. It owes tens of billions of dollars to various investors and stakeholders and will clearly have to stiff many of them at some point.

IMF Chief Warns Europe Must Fuel Growth – WSJ

Misc.

Deconstructing Gingrich – Zero Hedge

This is neither here nor there, but is, for all intents and purposes, the best take down of the utter and complete hypocrisy that now reigns supreme in the GOP primary process. Thank you Jon Stewart for doing the thinking that so many other Americans seem utterly incapable of any longer.

Where Did Dragons Come From? - Smithsonian

How Much Do We Spend On Dating? - Andrew Sullivan

[Researchers] note that in America, cities with more men have higher consumer debt: “as men become more abundant in populations, American consumers desire access to immediate rewards.” In China, the opposite appears to be true — places with a big surplus of men also have higher savings rates.

The Battle Over Brokers’ Duty to Their Clients Reaches a Standstill – WSJ

I’m worse off than my parents - CNN

I followed “the plan” to achieve the American dream and now I feel like I’m caught in a stagnant nightmare.

My husband now works for the Navy as a civilian and I am a high school teacher. We bought our two-bedroom townhouse nearly at the peak of the housing boom for $196,500. We’re underwater on our mortgage with a high interest rate. I’m looking at having to stick with this house for eight, nine, 10 years.

I really would like to have two or three children, but I just don’t think it’s feasible to have that many children in this house. It’s too small to have a family and it’s not what I envisioned for myself when I followed the rules.

When my mom was my age, she was already living in a house where she would raise me and my three sisters. She had already achieved her American dream and I’m not able to do that.

All I want is to move forward and build a life like my parents had. Right now — that is profoundly out of reach.