KINDA FUNNY

A "bright" spot among the sub-prime gloom:

At Subprime Event Too Early to Tell Who'll Survive (Update1)
By Lisa Kassenaar

Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- They dubbed it ``The Survivors' Conference.'' In early November, 2,000 people who handle asset- backed securities for a living crowded into a ballroom at the JW Marriott hotel in Orlando, Florida, just 3 miles from Disney World, to hear speaker after speaker explain why 2008 may be their worst year ever.

Bose George, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. attending the conference for the first time, has an equally glum outlook on the already slowing U.S. economy. He says a decline in home equity loans will curtail consumer spending.

``Credit is a huge driver of growth, and it's hard to see how this isn't going to have an impact on the economy,'' George says. ``Things are going to get worse.''

There's one bright spot for George: He'll have more time for research. Six of the 15 companies he used to cover, including American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. and New Century Financial Corp., have gone out of business.