Wednesday morning links

TOP STORIES
• World economy in severe recession, IMF says - Reuters
• AP Exclusive: Fed tests harder on regional banks - AP
• Yahoo profit tumbles, restructuring continues - MarketWatch
• Fannie, Freddie Defaults Rise - Bloomberg
• Housing Bubble Smackdown: Bigger Crash Ahead - InfoWars
• We Fought A.I.G. and A.I.G. Won - NY Times
• Freddie Mac CFO found dead - CNN/Money
• The business of water - Fortune

MARKETS/INVESTING
• Oil hovers under $49 ahead of US inventory report - AP
• Inflows to gold ETFs hits all-time high in Q1: WGC - Reuters
• Banks' Quarterly Earnings Are Misleading - Huffington Post
• Jim Rogers Bares Secrets of Investing - Bloomberg
• Gold's confusing behavior - MarketWatch
• Commodities Boom and Bust - Metal Miner

ECONOMY
• How economics lost sight of real world - Financial Times
• Soaring U.S. Budget Deficit Will Mean Billions in Bond Sales - Bloomberg
• Why the ‘green shoots’ of recovery could yet wither - Financial Times
• Gold Standard and the Definition of Price Stability - Seeking Alpha
• Call This Deflation? - 24h Gold

INTERNATIONAL
• China's economic outlook brightens - CNN/Money
• Budget 2009: Rich face 50% top tax rate above £150,000 - Guardian
• Budget 2009: IMF contradicts Darling's growth claim - Guardian
• Japan's March trade surplus decimated by exports - MarketWatch
• Steinbrueck May Offer $1.1 Trillion Toxic-Asset Plan - Bloomberg
• Central bank darkens view of recession - Globe & Mail
• Canada Cuts Rate to 0.25%, May Keep It There for Year - Bloomberg
• Sweden cuts rates to record low of 0.5% - Financial Times

HOUSING
• Las Vegas tops foreclosure list - CNN/Money
• An Effort to Save a City by Shrinking It - NY Times
• Mortgage rates likely to stay down all year - MarketWatch
• For Housing Crisis, the End Probably Isn’t Near - NY Times

FED/TREASURY/BANKING
• Big bank profits are bogus! Massive public deception! - Money and Markets
• 'Cult of finance' still protecting failed banks, economist says - MarketWatch
• Regarding Wall Street's REIT Bait-And-Switch - Zero Hedge
• Fed's Hoenig: Let insolvent financial firms fail - Reuters

INTERESTING
• More Wii Warriors Are Playing Hurt - NY Times
• South Korea's 'seal men' suffer in downturn - LA Times
• World's major rivers 'drying up' - BBC

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