Interesting Personal Debt News Links (March 23, 2009)

* George Will: Immigration policy has been hijacked (Gatehouse Media, State Journal-Register)

PHOENIX Police Chief Jack Harris, a solid block of a man with a shock of thick gray hair, is stolid and patient but there are limits.

* As bankruptcy filings mount, attention turns again to reform (USA Today)

Cash-strapped families are seeking bankruptcy protection at nearly the same rate and in the same manner as they did before the much-debated 2005 bankruptcy law reform, a trend critics say proves the reform was a failure.

* Bart Cannon: The difference between recession and depression (Cleburne Times-Review)

Every day we hear a fresh batch of bad news regarding the economic crisis. Our confidence in the financial markets plummets with new revelations about layoffs, sell-offs, and made-offsas in the guy who made off with billions of innocent peoples retirement money.

* Yao case set pace for fiscal scandals (News Journal)

Years before anyone uttered the phase “mortgage meltdown” or heard of rogue financier Bernard Madoff, there was Andrew N. Yao.

* Economic freefall more frightening with each passing day (Greater Media Papers)

We are living in the worst financial times since the Great Depression; the big picture is becoming more frightening with each passing day, as the downward financial spiral continues. Even more frightening is the fact that no one knows what to do in order to stop the freefall, and nobody knows when it will end. If the downward financial spiral continues any further, we may fall through the safet…

* Dollar weak against rivals (Ben Rooney, Money)

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The dollar was mixed against rival currencies Monday after the U.S. government officially announced plans to buy troubled assets to help stabilize the banking system.

* Mortgage rates tumble (Carol Hazard, News & Advance)

A day after the Federal Reserve announced a new stimulus plan for housing, local mortgage bankers said they could hardly keep up with calls from customers shopping for new mortgage loans or looking to refinance their mortgages.

* Payday loans hurt Texans (San Marcos Daily Record)

As more businesses close and unemployment lines lengthen, a virtually unregulated sector of the Texas economy continues to rake in huge profits by providing high-cost payday and auto title loan services that often drag desperate families deeper into financial crisis.

* Big Ponzi scheme and ‘miniMadoffs’ in Britain (Matthew Moore, Telegraph)

Mr Alderman said that he expected a number of alleged investment crimes that may have defrauded thousands of people to reach court this year.

* Behind the AIG fury? Simple truths (Bloomberg News)

NEW YORK: Last September the U.S. government began to dole out the first of $173 billion to American International Group. A big chunk of it passed right through to banks that had bought insurance from AIG against mortgage and corporate defaults foreign banks such as Deutsche Bank and Societe Generale but also some domestic ones, such as Goldman Sachs and Bank of America.