One of the bright lights of the U.S. economy has been the steadily rising value of homes. However, one thing driving the boom has been cheap, high-risk credit, and that particular chicken is coming home to roost. This NYT story is about how Cleveland and some other hard-hit U.S. cities are trying to stave off blight and real estate panic.

From the Guardian:

Smirking at the jury in Conrad Black's racketeering trial, Eric Sussman, the youthful American prosecutor, stumbled and stuttered on his words.

"Ca... col... cal... I don't know how to say that. Can anyone pronounce it for us?" he asked, gesturing theatrically to a word in one of the former Telegraph owner's typically verbose emails.

Lord Black's defence counsel, Ed Genson, had a stab at it in his gruff midwestern drawl before turning to his client with a weary sigh and asking: "Conrad?" The peer, showing no sign of appreciating the mirth around him, sourly replied: "Calumnies."

In bombastic, long-winded emails, Lord Black's words have come back to haunt him. The US government portrays him as a man of limitless arrogance who believed that Hollinger, the media empire he built, was a personal fiefdom. ...

Acknowledging that their client will never be a man of the people, Lord Black's lawyers have admitted that his attitude can be "arrogant" and "snotty".

Musings

"He goes a little too much for rhetorical musings," Mr Genson told the jury, conceding that the peer could be unpleasant in emails written late at night - and sometimes, he joked, in those composed the rest of the day too. "I wish you didn't have to hear them."

Harry Dean Stanton's character Bud, after doing a nasal upload of speed: Look at those assholes over there. Ordinary fuckin' people. I hate 'em.

Emilio Estevez's character Otto: Me too.

Bud: Whadoyou know? You see, an ordinary person spends his life avoiding tense situations. A repo man spends his life getting in to tense situations. Assholes. Let's go get a drink.