Forbes reports that yesterday “Fannie Mae executives told analysts that 43.0%, or $946 million, of the $2.2 billion in losses incurred during the first quarter involved Alt-A loans. They also said that the company’s ‘Alt-A book will continue to drive an outsize portion of our overall credit losses.’

Alt-A loans appeal to lenders because they yield higher rates on prime classified mortgages and are backed by borrowers with stronger credit ratings than subprime borrowers. But they carry extra risk for lenders due a lack of documentation–including limited proof of the borrower’s income.

“The US housing finance system needs replacing,” says Martin Hutchinson.

“The mortgage broker’s incentive is to maximize loan volume — pretty much regardless of whether or not the borrower can afford the loan. Falsification of documents, suborning of appraisers, and other similarly reprehensible machinations becomes a normal course of action in such a situation, as does turbo-charging the housing market to valuation and sales levels it cannot sustain. A system in which prices are forced up to unsustainable levels and fraud is rampant is broken, and needs to be replaced with something better.”

And Rick Pendergraft sees Google continuing it’s search and advertising dominance online even against the possible combination of Yahoo and Microsoft. He says, “Microsoft and Yahoo! would create a virtual monopoly in instant messaging and would put them in a more dominant position in email service and the on-line news arena. But what else would the merger bring to the table?

Legislators are jockeying to voice their opinion on the potential merger. Most of them are concerned about potential unfair advantages for the merged company.

I don’t see it.

As I stated above, the combined entity of Microsoft and Yahoo! would not be dominant anywhere they aren’t already. Google would still be dominant in the search engine and ad revenue areas. I understand the posturing by Google and their CEO, but I for one don’t see the need for concern.”

Wachovia, one of the largest banks in the US, reported a $.20 per share loss in the first quarter, versus forecasted gains of $.40 share… Quite a reverse of fortunes…

Andrew Snyder says, “You do not think the credit crisis is over just like that? A few weeks of ups and downs, some presses releases, and some rule changes and the economy is fixed. Get real. This mess is just getting started.

For proof, just take a look at one of the nation’s strongest bellwethers, General Electric. To say its earnings announcement this morning was disappointing is an understatement. It is a disaster. When a company with as much economic breadth as GE takes such a surprising hit, it becomes obvious this crisis is impacting more than a handful of banks with shoddy loan practices… The worst is yet to come.”