Orange County Register - "Couched by housing" (2-24-08)

"Home-slump-weary shoppers are hammering the furniture and furnishing business with their absence. That's put several big name retailers either into bankruptcy or out of business."

Los Angeles Times - "Taking a cut from consumers" (2-24-08)

"A policy change by mortgage investor Freddie Mac sheds new light on issues of much broader concern for consumers: Do you really understand where the money is going when you take out a mortgage and pay thousands of dollars in fees at the close of escrow? Is anyone required to explain to you what's really going on inside your home loan, how it works and whether it could morph into something very different? And could any of this soon be improved?"

The Miami Herald - "Subprime collapse was years in making" (2-24-08)

"Subprime lenders have always existed. They are, simply, lenders to people with impaired credit. But while this sector historically had an unseemly reputation -- a little above pawn shops, quite a bit below commercial banks -- regulatory changes gave it new powers, and new credibility, in recent years. As the financial industry was deregulated, nontraditional organizations like subprime lenders were allowed to expand in a big way."