Thursday AM Linkfest

Housing & Mortgage

Foreclosure Properties Fall to 20% of Home Buys – Bloomberg

The number of repeat home buyers from 25-44 has collapsed – NAR

Bank of America Settlements Impede Fraud Probe, Arizona Says – BusinessWeek

Six Questions on Obama’s Mortgage Refinance Proposal – WSJ

More Caution and Skepticism About Federal Mortgage “Investigation” - Naked Capitalism

Citigroup sued for fraud over $1 billion of CDOs – Yahoo

2011 New Home Sales Fall To Record Low, Median New Home Price At Lowest Since October 2010 – Zero Hedge

Why Home Prices Have Much Further To Fall – Street Talk

Economy

Bernanke Goes All In - Bruce Krasting

Don’t Count on Housing Market to Lead Recovery – Bloomerg

The best that can be said about the current market is that it offers abundant affordability and that the broader economic recovery doesn’t depend on a big housing rebound.

Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims increase to 377,000 - CR

Fed Signals That a Full Recovery Is Years Away – NYT

The Fed’s Complete Predictions for the Economy Until 2014, in 5 Graphs – The Atlantic

‘Fool in the Shower’ to Give Fed a Good Scalding – Caroline Baum

What the Fed is saying, in essence, is that as the economy improves, it’s appropriate to provide as much stimulus, or support, as it did in late 2008, when the economy was contracting and the financial system was imploding.

This is a dramatic shift. Given the long and variable lags with which monetary policy operates, past Fed officials at least paid lip service to the notion of acting preemptively: withdrawing excess stimulus — a fancy way of saying they will raise interest rates – as the economy improved.

Not so the current committee, which is tilted toward doves after the annual rotation of voting members. This group seems to think it should “continue to ease as long as there is economic slack,” said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Pierpont Securities LLC in Stamford, Connecticut. “It’s a classic, elemental mistake,” he said, one described by the late Nobel economist Milton Friedman as the “fool in the shower.”

The fool turns on the water in the shower, steps in and finds that it’s still cold. So he turns the knob all the way to hot, only to get scalded when the water heats up with a predictable lag.

Why Europe’s crisis can’t be averted – Felix Salmon

Misc.

How to Get More Clicks on Twitter - TBP

Calculated your taxes with the Mitt Romney Tax Calculator (HT Patrick)

New Urbanists Release Principles for Sustainable Street Networks – DC StreetsBlog

New York v. S.F., via Minimalist Transit Maps – SF List