• What Profits and Revenues Have to Say About Economic Recovery — John Lounsbury
• Knock-on effects | The Economist (China will NOT yield to American and European lobbying on the FX front. Asians have a better chance because of shared consequences. The fall back, of course, is protectionism.)
• Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis: Small Business Owner Confidence Plunges (Of course it has. Small banks are closing every week. Lending for big business is back to normal, but not for households and small business.)
• Housing starts may drop to 48-year low | The Japan Times Online
• Bill Fleckenstein – Why the Fed loves inflation – MSN Money
• Geithner Assails Huge Wall Street Bonuses – DealBook Blog – NYTimes.com(Geithner and his team did NOT expect Wall Street to take his and Paulson’s bailout gifts and reward themselves so soon and so blatantly. This is now a political liability for Obama. They erred in not attaching more strings. Now they are going to over-regulate compensation to make up for their failings. This is all politics and not economics.)
• Geithner: Can shift substantial bailout funds to jobs | Reuters (Taking a page out of Larry Summers’ book and the Tequila Crisis Mexico bailout. This is an end-run around Congress and the need for approval for stimulus.)
• Geithner Rejects Goldman Sachs Assertion It Didn’t Need U.S. Help – Bloomberg.com
• Your Money – Foreclosures Can Offer Deals, but Buyer Beware – NYTimes.com
• Regulators Pull Plug on Bank – WSJ.com (This article on AmTrust is behind a pay wall.)
• Ireland not likely to seek cash bailout, says IMF – Independent.ie
• Why Loan Mods Fail | The Big Picture
• Every Dog Has Its Day, Even Citigroup – Yves Smith
• macroblog: Jobs and the potential commercial real estate problem: Still keeping us up at night
• FDIC: Failed Bank Information – Bank Closing Information for Greater Atlantic Bank, Reston, Virginia
• FDIC: Failed Bank Information – Bank Closing Information for Benchmark Bank, Aurora, IL
• BBC News – North Korea currency reform sparks anger
• Why Did Bank of America Pay Back the Money? – James Kwak
• Obama Won’t Seek Second Major Economic Stimulus – Bloomberg.com (If the President can create jobs without a stimulus bill, then this is the approach most Americans would want.)
• Morgan Stanley – Japanese Recovery Losing Steam – December Tankan Preview

Distraction of the Day: Clueless robber takes picture with stolen camera

(video embedded above)