The FRB has just published its Beige Book which provides reports from each of the 12 Federal Reserve Districts. The FRB Open Market Committee uses the Beige Book as one of its primary sources of ecnomic analysis for making decisions affecting monetary policy. The reports "suggest that economic activity continued to be weak going into the summer, but most Districts indicated that the pace of decline has moderated since the last report or that activity has begun to stabilize, albeit at a a low level." It also noted that laber markets were extremely soft....and we all know that any recovery has to be built on job growth and job security....so, while the economy may technically be stabilizing and getting ready to turn the corner - most people will not feel the recovery any time soon - and for those of us in commercial real estate which lags the general economy, we are no where near seeing the light at the end of the tunnel....demand for our products needs to return and we have a lot of issues to resolve to bring capital back to refinance our maturing loans...Still, this is good bedtime reading....It is available at: http://www.federalreserve.gov/FOMC/BeigeBook/2009/20090729/fullreport20090729.pdf

Last Thursday, the Chair of the FDIC, Sheila Bair, testified before the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs on "Establishing a Framework for Systemic Risk Regulation." The status of the FDIC in this economic recession and the role it will play in the recovery are key elements to understand when managing a property or portfolio and looking ahead to how the mortgage finance business will be operated. In this speach, Ms. Bair makes the case for significantly expanded authority of a new "Financial Services Oversight Council" and that no entity should be "too large to fail." In contrast with the Administration's penchant for buying time and procrastinating on the true resolution of "toxic" legacy assets, she concludes with"Perhaps the greatest benefit of hte FDIC's process is the quick reallocation of resources. It is a process that can be painful to shareholders, creditors and bank employees, but history has shown that early recognition of losses with closure and sale of non-viable institutions is the fastest path back to economic health." Hear, hear

For full text of the statement of Chair Sheila Bair, go to: http://fdic.gov/news/speeches/chairman/spjuly2309.html