San Francisco Chronicle - "Fed: Households cut debt levels for first time" (12-12-08)

"U.S. households, hit by declining home values and stock market losses, have cut back on their debt levels for the first time on record as loans remain scarce amid what appears to be a deepening recession."

Bloomberg - "Fed Refuses to Disclose Recipients of $2 Trillion" (12-12-08)

"The Federal Reserve refused a request by Bloomberg News to disclose the recipients of more than $2 trillion of emergency loans from U.S. taxpayers and the assets the central bank is accepting as collateral."

Bloomberg - "Pelosi Says U.S. House Stimulus Measure May Reach $600 Billion" (12-12-08)

"Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the U.S. House is likely to act next month on a $500 billion to $600 billion economic-stimulus measure aimed at making long-term investments in renewable energy as well as providing a short- term boost for the economy."

Bloomberg - "Madoff Confessed $50 Billion Fraud Before FBI Arrest" (12-12-08)

"Bernard Madoff confessed to employees this week that his investment advisory business was 'a giant Ponzi scheme' that cost clients $50 billion before two FBI agents showed up yesterday morning at his Manhattan apartment."

Bloomberg - "Citi Doesn’t Live Here Anymore as Name Comes Off NYC Skyscraper" (12-12-08)

"Citigroup Center joins a long line of iconic midtown skyscrapers from the RCA building to the Pan Am tower that have been given new identities as their namesake companies were bought, sold or failed. In Citi’s case, the bank, which is firing 52,000 workers worldwide, hasn’t owned the 59-story building for seven years and occupies three floors, according to property data service CoStar Group Inc. It had 18 floors in 2001."

Bloomberg - "U.S. Jobless Claims Soar 58,000 to a 26-Year High" (12-12-08)

"The number of Americans filing first- time claims for unemployment benefits surged more than forecast last week to a 26-year high, a sign companies are stepping up firings as the recession deepens. Initial jobless claims increased 58,000 to 573,000 in the week ended Dec. 6, the highest level since November 1982, from a revised 515,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The number of workers staying on benefit rolls reached 4.429 million, also the most since 1982."

Orange County Register - "O.C. condo prices now $199,000 off peak" (12-12-08)

"Latest home-selling stats from DataQuick show for the 22 business days ended Nov. 21 show that O.C. homebuying runs +50.8% vs. a year ago as median selling price is -28.7% vs. a year ago. November will likely have been the fifth straight month of year-to-year sales gain after 33 months of slumping homebuying."

Orange County Register - "Chapman economists nailed the bubble" (12-12-08)

"Realtor prognosticator Gary Watts and others in the industry laughed at the Chapman forecast in 2005 for projecting a 6.1% drop in the median house price. Instead, the median price soared 16.5% that year. Now, the latest report by the A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research states that its economists were accurate after all."