China holds liens on American homes

Here's a must-read piece for homeowners via the omniscient eye of the BBC World Service (link here).

In the real nut graf, economist Nouriel Roubini gives this nittygritty assessment, based on the kinds of decisions capital-starved banks are having to make in the subprime backlash:

[Roubini] predicts that a reduction of credit on that scale will trigger a recession in America which could become global as the contagion spreads through the banking system worldwide.

Which is why, faced with these gaping and growing holes in their shareholders' capital, some of the biggest US banks are selling off shares to China, Singapore, or wealthy Gulf oil states, in an attempt to repair the damage.

Comforting, no?

Feds crack down on footloose lenders

Whether's it's helmet laws or seat belt laws, the increasing role of government is, of course, to save ourselves -- from ourselves.

So here we go again: The Federal Reserve today rolled out new restrictions on mortgage lending in order to keep people from getting in over their heads with subprime mortgages.

The Fed, predictably, is putting the blame on lenders. And there's little doubt that freewheeling mortgages, mostly with ARMs resetting, have knocked the economy on the jaw.

It's easy to forget that subprime mortgages have also put millions of families previously doomed to padding the pockets of landlords into homes of their own, and have, in turn, helped to revitalize "edge" neighborhoods like the ones around here. Most of those families are making it work, and are paying down their loans.

A little caution is good, and let's learn from our collective experience. But I do worry that in its haste to "protect" Americans, the Fed has also made it a lot harder for many, many families to buy a home.

And that's not necessarily a good thing.

(Graphic: Artie.com)