Might this be the first big one? [url]http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/business/09corus.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1[/url] "...Today, developers owe Corus $4 billion, $3.7 billion of which, or 92 percent, is in condominiums. Of that, about 25 percent of them are in projects in the Miami area and 9 percent are in Las Vegas, according to regulatory filings. More than $2.15 billion of its outstanding loans are due by the end of this year. Nationwide, the number of condos completed this year will be up 45 percent ? 232,933 vs. 160,239 ? from 2006, according to data tracked by Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, a real estate investment brokerage based in Encino, Calif. ..." And what about these guys, struggling to shore-up the rather opaque "conduits," "Structured Investment Vehicles" and other off-balance-sheet crap that they created: [url]http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=al1pBplw2gaU&refer=home[/url] "Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are leading a group of banks that are in talks with the U.S. Treasury about a plan to revive the asset-backed commercial paper market. ..." and this comment: "...Treasury is playing a ``a facilitator's role,'' said Joseph Mason, an associate professor of business at Drexel University in Philadelphia and a former financial economist at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.." "facilitator's role?" How does tax money figure into that? Are we heading towards this again?: [ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resolution_Trust_Corporation[/ame] Evidently we did not learn much the first time around. "We learn from history that we learn nothing from history" (George Bernard Shaw) This might make some interesting reading for the bored: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Florida-Land-Boom-Speculation-Money/dp/1567200133"]Amazon.com: The Florida Land Boom: Speculation, Money, and the Banks: William Frazer, John J. Guthrie: Books[/ame] Pretty pricey for an -out-of-print book, but then maybe some see present-day relevance in a story 80 years old. Looking for opportunities, I imagine.
