The San Diego Union Tribune - "Most banks have cushion of capital" (8-9-08)

"Is your bank safe? For the first time in years, that question is being asked by depositors as the decaying housing market continues to take its toll on financial institutions. Lines of angry customers outside failed Pasadena thrift IndyMac Bancorp, as well as staggering second-quarter losses by big banks such as Washington Mutual and Wachovia, hark back to the savings-and-loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s."

Bloomberg - "Paulson Says No Plans to Add Cash to Fannie, Freddie" (8-10-08)

"U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said there are no plans to use his new authority to inject capital into mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which both posted worse-than-expected earnings last week."

The Observer - "How Arnie's California dreaming turned sour" (8-10-08)

"Stockton has become known as Foreclosure Town, USA. With one in 25 houses in foreclosure, there are more properties with mortgages in default here than anywhere else in the country. And it is not as if there isn't some stiff competition for Stockton's dubious accolade in other corners of California, and indeed the rest of America."

San Francisco Chronicle - "Real estate brokers settle Calif. kickbacks suit" (8-9-08)

"Hundreds of thousands of Californians would be eligible for a refund on their property hazard report fee under a class-action settlement awaiting final approval by a federal judge in Los Angeles. The lawsuit accuses some of the nation's largest real estate brokers of taking kickbacks from Property I.D. Corp., a Los Angeles-based company that provides hazard reports for properties in areas with high risks of fire, floods, earthquakes and landslides."