The housing crisis/implosion is starting to come off the rails. Lots of local banks are holding loans against said houses, and those loans are starting to have all the credit quality of a loan to a third world country.
The three big banks in LA that do this stuff are Washington Mutual, Downey Savings, and First Federal. The stock of all three are plummeting, but First Federal has the least cash and has not yet announced its earnings.
