Wednesday morning links

TOP STORIES
• G8 sees economy still in peril, falters on climate - Reuters
• Pickens Calls Off Plans For Vast Texas Wind Farm - Wash. Post
• State lawmakers back bill to make IOUs legal tender - Signs on San Diego
• What’s in store for the U.S – 1990s Japan or 2002 Argentina? - StockHouse
• Google vs. Microsoft: Net giant readies own operating system - USA Today
• ‘Ghostboxes’ haunt communities across U.S. - MSNBC
• Inflation, the least of your worries - Automatic Earth
• The Man Who Crashed the World - Vanity Fair

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MARKETS/INVESTING
• Oil falls near $62 on recovery doubts - AP
• Breaking the market's neck - MarketWatch
• 'Profit margins of gold stocks and mines to explode' - Commodity Online
• Energy Department sees smaller drop in global oil demand - MarketWatch
• CFTC - Futures Position Limits on Energy? - The Oil Drum
• Oil prices: is there a spike on the horizon? - Telegraph

ECONOMY
• Power of Stimulus Slow to Take Hold - Wash. Post
• Apartment Vacancies Reach 22-Year High - Bloomberg
• More help needed for "sicker" U.S. economy - SF Gate
• U.S. must be open to second economic stimulus: Hoyer - Reuters
• Local Office Vacancies Soar, Driving Down Rent - Wash. Post

INTERNATIONAL
• Yuan Deposes Dollar on China Border in Sign of Future - Bloomberg
• Swiss Vow to Block UBS From Providing Data to U.S. - NY Times
• Alistair Darling pledges to rebuild financial system - Telegraph
• Bank of Korea Likely to Buy Gold for 1st Time in 11 Years - Donga
• China’s Military Tackles Mobs in 3rd Day of Violence - Bloomberg
• Expanding global trade still an Obama economic priority - USA Today
• Japan Machine Orders Fall, Current Account Narrows - Bloomberg
• Will gold replace dollar as global reserve currency? - Commodity Online

HOUSING
• U.S. Housing Market Is Cursed by Brain Freeze - Bloomberg
• Why did people think house prices can’t fall? - PopMatters
• Bob Shiller didn't kill the housing market - CNN/Money
• U.S. Home Prices to Fall Through 2011’s First Quarter - Bloomberg

FED/TREASURY/BANKING
• Treasury Works on 'Plan C' To Fend Off Lingering Threats - Wash. Post
• Goldman Trading-Code Investment Put at Risk by Theft - Bloomberg
• ABA: Consumers delinquent on loans rises to record level - MarketWatch
• CFTC: Corrupt Foxes Tending Chickens - West, GoldSeek

INTERESTING
• Investors eye California IOUs - SF Gate
• Federal Web sites knocked out by cyber attack - AP
• CVC apologises for Bernie Ecclestone's Hitler gaffe - Telegraph
• Democrats wave Franken as trophy over limping GOP - AP

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