Monday morning headlines

Credit markets tightening: They actually had been loosening up for a while, but with the recession continuing to get worse the WSJ reports new concerns. Part of the problem is that investors are still waiting for details about the government's plans to bolster banks.

This time around, the economy is slipping deeper into a recession, and bond investors worry the government's repeated modifications to its financial-rescue packages are undermining the very foundations of bond investing: the right of creditors to claim their assets first if a borrower defaults. Without this assurance, bonds of even the most stalwart institutions are much riskier to own.

Muddling through not enough: NYT columnist Paul Krugman wonders whether Obama is already out of touch, pointing to the president's interview with the Times in which he dismisses calls for decisive action on the banking front "as coming from blogs."

As I read it, this dismissal — together with the continuing failure to announce any broad plans for bank restructuring — means that the White House has decided to muddle through on the financial front, relying on economic recovery to rescue the banks rather than the other way around. And with the stimulus plan too small to deliver an economic recovery ... well, you get the picture.

Buffett: "Economy has fallen off a cliff": He tells CNBC this morning that the recovery "won't happen fast" and that he expects unemployment to climb a lot higher. Buffett also doesn't regret writing an oped last fall encouraging people to buy U.S. stocks, though he wishes he had waited a while to publish the piece (the Dow has since fallen more than 2000 points). (AP)

Media as watchdog: NPR's David Folkenflik wonders whether the business press could have done more to raise concerns about the possibility of financial troubles – before the meltdown.

I found the weight of coverage fixated on executive suite intrigue and outsize corporate personalities, especially in the magazines' cover stories. In addition, news outlets, like the rest of the country, often focused on the vagaries of the stock market, as hedge funds and retirement funds seemed to soar in unison. Dissonant voices about the vulnerabilities of the system were heard on CNBC and in print, but they were largely swept aside as part of a greater conversation about how to keep investing. "So, as long as the stock market is going up, people don't really pay attention to a lot of other things," says Gretchen Morgenson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning business columnist for The New York Times.

CNBC vs. Obama: Reporter Rick Santelli was just one example of how politicized the financial network has become. From the NYT:

In recent weeks some have perceived the network to be leading the campaign against President Obama’s economic agenda. Mr. Cramer, who calls himself a lifelong Democrat, said last week that the administration’s agenda was “destroying the life savings of millions of Americans.” One week earlier [Larry] Kudlow declared that Mr. Obama was “declaring war on investors, entrepreneurs, small businesses, large corporations, and private equity and venture capital funds.” Those investors and businessmen, of course, are CNBC’s core audience. What some critics have characterized as a “war on wealth” could affect the network’s brand because the moneyed class makes up much of its core audience.

Median price keeps falling: L.A. County saw prices fall last month to $310,000, down 3 percent from the previous January and 33.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the Business Journal. Sales were up sharply.

Time to party: State Democratic lawmakers were treated to a wine country getaway, courtesy of trial lawyers and the unions representing firefighters and carpenters, the day after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a fiscal emergency. From the LAT:

At the time of the retreat, the carpenters were lobbying for a greater role for private contractors in state construction and to expedite the building of certain roads and other transportation projects. Firefighters were seeking to protect funding for fire safety programs. The trial lawyers had joined labor unions to battle a push by Schwarzenegger and GOP lawmakers to roll back some labor rules. Each group largely accomplished its goals in the budget package passed in February.

CIM relents on signs: The real estate company has agreed to take down five unpermitted supergraphics from the sides of its buildings in Hollywood. It took long enough: As reported by the LAT, CIM Group had failed to follow through on a promise to remove two rooftop billboards from a building at 1800 N. Highland Ave. - and had actually added three unpermitted supergraphics.

CIM Group has quickly become a symbol of the city's inability to get a handle on its unpermitted signs, even those placed on buildings whose owners have received millions of dollars in taxpayer support. The multistory images have gone up even as CIM Group seeks permission to erect 11 new supergraphic advertisements at a shopping center on Pico Boulevard in Mid-City. Faced with a growing backlash, CIM Group wrote Council President Eric Garcetti on Feb. 27 agreeing to take down the supergraphics. The company said it believed in "good faith" that the images were legal when they were installed.

Backchanneling SAG talks: Variety reports that the guild and the media companies are looking for a compromise to end the months-long labor impasse. Formal talks broke off last month over the issue of when SAG’s contract would expire (the guild is pushing for a two-year deal and the studios and networks want a three-year term).