According to a wonderfully dizzying article on AL.com -- All Alabama, the southern state is facing some roadblocks to the recovery of its housing market. According to words used in the article's headline, "foreclosures are crippling the state's housing market, despite a national trend."

Ready to have some fun? Here goes...

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How bitcoin exchanges fall under U.S. federal and state law had been somewhat in question. But in March, FinCEN issued guidance specific to virtual currencies, stating that exchanges are required to register but users are exempt.

Which apparently makes them retroactively in violation...

It's too big, with over $3.3 trillion in assets, it's too leveraged at 60 to 1, it's extremely short-funded and it's "a frequent contributor through its interest rate and money-printing action of gigantic systemic risk."

"Therefore, it follows pretty clearly from the same logic that we should break up the Fed," said Pollock... [who] noted that when Congress was setting the foundation for the modern Federal Reserve in 1913, lawmakers "thought they were creating a 'federal' structure of 12 regional 'reserve banks,' not a monolithic central bank."

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The IMF also confirmed earlier work by the Bank that warned of large losses on central bank balance sheets. In a shock scenario, under which rates would need to rise by six percentage points, losses on the current £375bn QE programme in the UK could reach 4.5pc of GDP -- or £70bn. Even under a "likely case" scenario where rates rose by four percentage points, the loss would be £50bn.

One company, Invitation Homes, funded by the hedge fund Blackstone, has over the past year spent $4.5 billion to purchase about 25,000 homes in formerly distressed housing markets, including 4,000 properties here in the Phoenix area. ''

Last year, Bank of America agreed to pay some borrowers between $1,000 and $5,000 for what the Justice Department called lending discrimination. The agency said the bank illegally asked some would-be home buyers who relied on disability income to provide a doctor's letter verifying the severity of their ailment. But it's still unclear how many people will ultimately be paid. There isn't a full list of the victims.''

According to the Center for Responsible Lending, "Predatory lending describes unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent practices of lenders during the loan origination process." So, when we talk about predatory loans, we're talking about loans originated with any or all of the following being involved...''

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How high will it go? Try this: The College-Industrial Complex says that degrees are still worth it because those with B.A. degrees will earn a lot more over the course of their lifetimes, and should pay for that. They point to U.S. Census data showing those with bachelor's degrees earning on average $26,000 a year more than those with just a high-school diploma.

Using that logic, they could justify charges approaching $500,000 for a college degree.