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 Good morning! Here's what you need to know: 1. From the FT: "The S&P/Case-Shiller house price index fell by 4.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2011, breaking through a 2009 low to hit its weakest level since 2002. US house prices are in a double dip that has erased all of their bounce since the recession and threatens to derail a stuttering economic recovery." 2. From the NYT: "For real estate, some economists say, an end to the seemingly endless decline in housing values might be in sight." The Case-Shiller index is down 33% from its July 2006 peak. 3. Who was responsible for the massive mortgage fraud that nearly ruined the US and the world economy? One man (pictured) stands accused: Fabrice Tourre, a mid-level investment banker at Goldman Sachs. It seems absurd because it is in fact completely absurd. 4. A new rescue package for Greece is being worked on. Billions of euros in new loans would be exchanged for stepped-up privatization and much more "stringent" tax collection. The issue of "restructuring" would be put off (again). 5. Martin Wolf is again singing the blues about the eurozone, which he says flatly has "failed." He ends with this: "The eurozone confronts a choice between two intolerable options: either default and partial dissolution or open-ended official support. The existence of this choice proves that an enduring union will at the very least need deeper financial integration and greater fiscal support than was originally envisaged. How will the politics of these choices now play out? I truly have no idea. I wonder whether anybody does." 6. The US House of Representatives last night voted down a bill that would have raised the nation’s current debt limit of $14.3 trillion. Republicans said enabling legislation that raised the debt ceiling would never pass unless it was coupled with major spending cuts. 7. President Obama announced yesterday that he would appoint former Edison International CEO John Bryson as the next US Secretary of Commerce. Mr. Bryson is a well-known and much-respected corporate leader in California. 8. The Washington Post reports: "Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday issued a general amnesty for prisoners that includes those deemed to have committed political crimes, as pressure built from a 10-week-old uprising that his government has failed to quell with overwhelming military force." The NYT reports: "Human rights activists say (Syrian) security forces have killed more than 1,000 protesters and arrested more than 10,000 people since the demonstrations began in mid-March." 9. Fighting continues in Yemen's capital city. At least 41 people are dead. There were growing signs of disarray in beleaguered President Ali Abdullah Saleh's military. Yemen is on the verge of a complete breakdown in social order. 10. Mitt Romney leads the money chase. Sarah Palin leads the media race. Rick Perry is all tied up in Texas. Newt Gingrich lacks "positive intensity." Michele Bachman was in New Hampshire. Gov, Chris Christie told a gaggle of visiting Iowans: "thanks, but no thanks." For the latest in politics, visit Politics. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook. | 
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