Afternoon Linkfest

Let’s revisit the old linkfest days:

• U.S. Is Said to Prepare Filing for Chrysler Bankruptcy (New York Times) See also Who killed Chrysler? (Fortune)

•  Mr. Geithner Flexes Muscles: The Treasury Secretary Tells Investment Banks Government Is in Charge That was seen Tuesday in his disabusing the Street’s investment banks from the idea that they get to decide when they can pay the government back on funds received through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. The final call on that, Mr. Geithner made it clear (Wall Street Journal)

• Fed’s Bear Losses Dominated by Commercial Real Estate (Bloomberg)   The Federal Reserve released its most detailed breakdown to date on the types of assets it accepted from Bear Stearns a year ago and the cause of losses on the portfolio. The biggest losses in the $25.7 billion portfolio of Bear Stearns assets as of the end of last year came from commercial and residential mortgages, according to a report released by the Fed in Washington today.

• U.S. mass layoffs rise to highest on record: Large-scale U.S. layoffs rose again in March, according to Labor Department data on Thursday, as the economy struggles with what many expect will be the country’s worst post-World War II recession. (Reuters)

• The Goldman Conspiracy: 10 reasons why Wall Street has absolute power over America’s democracy   (Marketwatch)

• Thievery Under TARP: We are being robbed big-time, but you can’t say we haven’t been warned. Not after the release Tuesday of a scathing report by the Treasury Department’s special inspector general, who charged that the aptly named Troubled Asset Relief Fund bailout program is rife with mismanagement and potential for fraud.  (The Nation)

•  Gold: Inflows into ETFs up by more than 300% Figures from the World Gold Council show that investors appetite for gold showed no sign of abating with record inflows in to gold exchange traded funds. (The Telegraph)

• Bloomberg Housing 3-fer:

1. –Rising Home Vacancies Give Bernanke Extra Time to Withdraw Cash
2. –Mortgage Bondholders Form Battle Lines Over Obama Housing Plan
3. –Hamptons Home Prices Plummet 23% as Summer Home Demand Cools

• What’s a Global Recession? The International Monetary Fund was slow to apply the word “recession” to the current global downturn, partly because it didn’t have a good definition (and partly because it didn’t want to spook markets and IMF members). (Real Time Economics)

• Stress Tests Flash a Lot More Red: Federal bank regulators are expected on Friday to start sharing preliminary results of stress tests with the banks that have been scrutinized since February. The findings are expected to be made public next week. (Wall Street Journal)

• Banking credit catch-22 in action? (FT Alphaville)

• 60% Say Government Has Too Much Power, Too Much Money Just nine percent (9%) say the government has too little power and money. Twenty-four percent (24%) believe the government has about the right amount of both  (Rasmussen)

• Top Ten Tech Cocktail-Party Questions: I can’t help noticing that the same questions tend to come up over and over again. Here they are, then: the Top Ten Pogue Cocktail-Party Questions (and Their Answers).  (David Pogue)