Yes, yes, I know.  It's the end of the world.  Bread lines, Okies trekking West, 25% unemployment and droughts are all coming back. 

Which is why REITs have gotten insane again, only this time on the downside.  The Real Estate iShares, ticker IYR, closed today at $25.

From Bloomberg

Berkshire Hathaway's stock has been hammered on the soaring price of credit default swaps on Berkshire's debt.

Amusing article at Deal Journal.  I especially liked

Start-up costs

Piracy: Gun, boats, a handful of men, rocket-propelled grenades.

Private equity: Office on Park Avenue.

Jargon

Private equity: “Internal rate of return,” called IRR.

Today, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, aka the SOX, took out its 1998 low of 182, closing at 177 this afternoon. 

Good article by John Hussman.

From Vince Farrell at RealMoney.

Great graph at VIX and More.

Fifty day volatility dropped yesterday.  That has signaled a bottom in stocks over the past 20 years.

There is a fairly simple relationship in long-term investing - the lower price you pay for an asset, the higher your expected return.  The lower the price/earnings ratio of the market, the higher the long-term return from stocks.

From Greg Mankiw.

I haven't written much about commercial real estate lately.  CMBS spreads are off the charts.

From The Wall Street Journal