Wednesday morning links

TOP STORIES
• China’s Investment Surges 26.5% as Exports Plunge - Bloomberg
• Madoff Will Plead Guilty; Faces Life for Vast Swindle - NY Times
• The Fed Didn't Cause the Housing Bubble - Greenspan, WSJ
• It'll Take More Than Money to Fix This Crisis - Wash. Post
• Betting the U.S. Government Won't Pay Its Debts - 24/7 Wall Street
• Banks Counted on Looting America’s Coffers - NY Times
• Regulators Who Won’t Regulate - Butler, Investment Rarities
• Difficult to make case that new bull market began Tuesday - MarketWatch

MARKETS/INVESTING
• Oil Falls as U.S. Supplies May Have Gained - Bloomberg
• Bullion market hit as gold, silver imports plunge - Commodity Online
• MLPs: Profit In The Pipelines? - Hard Assets Investor
• It only appears that nothing has happened in gold market - MarketWatch
• Contango smashing - FT Alphaville
• Investors Treasure Gold For Diversity, Risk Management - Private Wealth

ECONOMY
• U.S. consumers feel won't be better off until 2010 - Reuters
• What is a depression? - Calculated Risk
• Senate Approves $410B Bill to Fund Government - Wash. Post
• Pelosi open to another stimulus if necessary - MarketWatch
• Credit card delinquencies hit index record - CNN/Money

INTERNATIONAL
• China Trade Surplus Plunges as Exports Fall - Bloomberg
• Brazil economy shrinks at fastest rate since 1996 - Reuters
• A deflationary dragon with excess capacity - FT Alphaville
• BOE's Bond Purchases Set New Policy Front - Bloomberg
• Europe markets fall despite Asian gains - IHT
• 45 percent of world's wealth destroyed - Reuters
• In China, Would-Be Protesters Pay a Price - Wash. Post
• Norway Oil Fund Shrank 23% Last Year on Stock Plunge - Bloomberg

HOUSING
• Tailspin Continues for Housing Market - 3.5% Drop in January - MSNBC
• When did you buy your house? - Inman News
• How California loan 'workouts' are working out - LA Land
• 6 of 10 buyers think homes overpriced - OC Register

FED/TREASURY/BANKING
• Libor’s Creep Shows Credit Markets at Risk of Seizure - Bloomberg
• What Does It Mean to “Bury” a Bank? - The New Yorker
• Geithner: We'll fix the nation's 'deep mess' - CNN/Money
• Fed will take away the punch bowl next time - MarketWatch

INTERESTING
• Exclusive: Jim Cramer set to appear on 'The Daily Show' Thursday - Showtracker
• DNA testing ends mystery surrounding Czar Nicholas II children - LA Times
• Russia’s Company Towns Suffer as Demand Plummets, Jobs Vanish - Bloomberg

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