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warning : we're heading to a recession

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
41,186
13,337
Portland, OR
Things is tough all over.

2007 Street of dreams still for sale

The street was supposed to be the stuff of dreams.

Along South Grasle Road outside Oregon City, six supersize Street of Dreams homes built in 2007 back up to ribbons of Doug fir and a glazed Mount Hood peak.

The builders came to attract future customers, and they were optimistic about selling the show houses that stretched to $3 million. Normally, two or three homes sell during the show and most are sold within a year.

But nine months after the Street of Dreams show, none has sold.
 

narlus

Eastcoast Softcore
Staff member
Nov 7, 2001
24,658
63
behind the viewfinder
Lehman makes move to turn unsold debt to cash: report
Fri Apr 11, 2008 6:27am EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc repackaged unsold debt and used the Federal Reserve's new borrowing facility to convert loans that investors mostly rejected into cash to finance its business, the Wall Street Journal reported.

According to the Journal, Lehman transferred $2.8 billion in loans that included some risky leveraged buyout debt into a new investment entity called Freedom.

Freedom then issued debt securities backed by the loans, and $2.26 billion of the securities got investment-grade credit rankings from Moody's and Standard & Poor's, according to the report.

The bank used some of those securities as collateral for a low-interest, short-term cash loan from the Federal Reserve, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

The move was meant as a test to see what the Federal Reserve would accept, and the size of the loan was not material, the Journal added, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Lehman representatives and the Federal Reserve could not be reached immediately for comment.

how this work out for those guys?
 

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,613
7,271
Colorado
Recession? Yes.
Reasoning being the Fed? No.
This is the collapse of a massive credit bubble. Too many businesses and people living on credit.