Thursday Links

Real Estate

• Falkenstein: "The government guarantees 90% of mortgages today, which only prolongs the inevitable, and is a major reason why we aren't out of our slump, because people are not being reallocated to their sustainable patterns of trade and consumption."

China

• Another Chinese stock halted. This time, Sino-Forest Corp, listed on the Toronto Exchange, fell 20% before being halted. According to Zero Hedge, John Paulson's fund is the largest holder and may have lost hundreds of millions.
• Bloomberg has an awesome Chinese Reverse Mergers Index - it's been obliterated!

Overrated Institutions

• How honest Wall Street research analysts are punished.
• Silly, groupthink hiring practices at "elite professional service employers".
• "QE2 didn’t really do anything except cause a great deal of confusion and generate an enormous amount of speculation in financial markets that now appears to be contributing to turmoil and strife around the globe."