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Drawing lines
The Reaction — ... is a step too far and should be rejected without a second thought. As Calculated Risk points out: "How many jobs will be lost if the ownership of an office building or mall changes? Very few." If at all. Enough is enough. ...

To the rich go the spoils
Newshoggers.com — ... Meanwhile, consumer spending is dropping like a stone as the great unwashed who actually drive the larger economy and build products of real value continue to get short shrift in Washington. If a recovery is to come, it will be through the middle class, as it always has been, and that is where the stimulus funding should be directed, but it remains to be seen if that will actually happen. Yesterday, a new group was looking for a bailout; commercial real estate investors. As the folks at Calculated Risk note: Although the headline says "developers" this ...

No Dice
Talking Points Memo — Calculated Risk sees no justification for bailing out commercial real estate owners. Let me quote the gist of his argument, which strikes me as unassailable ... Although the headline says "developers" this is really about property investors who bought commercial buildings at the price peak and are now underwater. But say the owners default and the properties are transferred to the bondholders - what is the risk to the economy? None. There's a tendency in cases where we reject pleas for a bailout to lard it with a few 'nice ...

A Line Grows at Treasury
Agitprop: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Propaganda — ... millionaires created by Bernard Madoff. And now the Donald Trump contingent wants in: From the NY Times: A Wish List for Commercial Real Estate Commercial real estate groups have been meeting with members of Congress, the Federal Reserve, the Treasury, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as well as Mr. Obama’s transition team, to press their case. And they say they have a compelling one. CR was exactly right about this last week, and he remains exactly right: ...