October 18

this basically reflects what I opined in my last post, but much more amusingly:
Through the looking glass again. Ultimi Barbarorum.

if anyone tells you they have a clear view on what is going to happen to the econo-world from here, walk away briskly. As Ed Hyman of ISI puts it, with the now imminent onset of QE2 we are in “scary times”, a world of “unintended consequences”. The only intellectually honest position to take at this point, it seems, is to admit we haven’t a clue.

he goes on to discuss many of the factors in play
The Recklessness of Quantitative Easing. John Hussman.
Hussman says that QE didn't save us from the crisis --- lying about asset prices did --- but, unfortunately, the benefits about this "suspension of truthful disclosure" don't solve the underlying solvency problems

Presently, the U.S. financial sector is essentially opacity masquerading as solvency. As Meredith Whitney has observed, the "recovery" of the U.S. financial sector has been a two stage process - massive writeups of troubled assets on balance sheets, followed by large reductions in loan loss reserves on income statements. This activity has not only driven the improvement in operating earnings reported by banks, but has been one of the primary contributors to the recovery in the aggregate earnings of the S&P 500 Index. It is not a process that should be extrapolated.

Why foreclosure fraud is so dangerous to property rights. Barry Ritholtz.

The foreclosure mess. David Kotok.

Bank restructurings likely as foreclosures overwhelm big banks. video of Chris Whalen at AEI.

more video of Whalen on panel at AEI here, with Roubini and others; Whalen starts at 1:07 (fast forward to one-hour, seven-minute mark)