Lou Barnes

Contributor

After five years as Marketing Manager of a mountaineering clothing and equipment manufacturer and retailer (a great way to enjoy your 20s), Lou Barnes built 45-broker, two-office Spruce Real Estate in Colorado from 1978-83, spending most of his time guiding the firm through extremely high interest rates. The world of money was more fun for him than real estate, and Barnes sold Spruce and joined investment banking ranks for five years as Managing Partner of RCM Government Securities, a broker-dealer working on the early flow of mortgages to Wall Street and their related derivatives. Two of those years involved work on the heart of the savings and loan meltdown -- one of the "consultants" commuting to Texas, Arkansas and other Southwestern garden spots (fortunately, he spoke the language: his family were Okies), he was asked to figure out how deep the hole was going to be. He wrote one of the earliest accurate estimates of the ultimate cost in 1986, and was one of the first to address the necessary asset workouts. Some people thrive in a career on airplanes, and Barnes was not one of them. In 1988 the homebody began another career as a mortgage banker in Boulder, just in time to catch the terrible peak of foreclosures afflicting the greater "Oil Patch" and "Savings and Loan Belt." The firm, Boulder West, survived and thrived as a small mortgage bank -- very old-fashioned, strictly "A" paper, and based on long-term relationships with Realtors and past clients. Even with that strength, Boulder West closed in 2009, and Lou and many of his colleagues joined far-larger Premier Mortgage Group. As a marketing tool and for sanity, Lou has written a weekly column on the financial markets every Friday for 20 years.

Money can buy end to 'spiral'

Commentary: Decadence will give way to anger

Nov 21

Economy needs full $700 billion, and more

Commentary: Financial emergency calls for more credit

Nov 14

Banks must resume lending

Commentary: Borrowers shouldn't take no for an answer

Nov 7

Chase away media goblins

Commentary: With LIBOR, down is good

Oct 31

Standing up the dominoes

Commentary: Margin-call cascade must play itself out

Oct 24

Rescue sidesteps economic 'black hole'

Commentary: Credit is the only cure

Oct 17

The Great Run of '08

Commentary: Fed's 'nuclear' fireworks fizzle

Oct 10

Panic misses Main Street

Commentary: Don't expect fast action on rescue package

Oct 3

Bailout incites 'grassroots rage'

Commentary: A mismatch of politics and economics

Sep 26

Mark this day: The worst is over

Perspective: The medal winners and booby prizes

Sep 19

The politics of bailout: a waiting game

Commentary: 'Truly extraordinary measures are required'

Sep 12

Is the Fed out of options?

Commentary: Bailout proposals will be 'free-fire zone'

Sep 5

Fed gets it: Credit crisis trumps inflation

Commentary: Economic troubles can't wait until election

Aug 29

Fannie-Freddie deathwatch begins

Commentary: No end in sight to credit starvation

Aug 22

Feds, don't forget Ginnie, the other GSE

Commentary: Fannie, Freddie could learn lesson from Ginnie Mae

Aug 15

'The Crunch' is on the loose

Global financial scene changes rapidly

Aug 8

'Walkaways' go mainstream

Commentary: Watch out for credit starvation and 'HoHo' humiliation

Aug 1

'Bazooka Backstop' targets mortgage mess

Commentary: Proposed fix makes trouble for jumbo loans

Jul 25

'Falling oil trumps a sinking globe'

Commentary: Financial companies' downsizing stresses system

Jul 18

Fannie-Freddie: public policy mangled

Commentary: Renewed panic spreading to stocks, Treasurys

Jul 11

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