MORNING YAPS

*IMF says recession is over. This is same IMF that said we weren't in a recession until a year later. Ijiots!

*Taxpayers are paying heavily, you just don't know it
Treasury selects 9 fund managers for PPIP
BlackRock, Marathon Asset Management, Oaktree Capital Management and six other fund managers were chosen by the Treasury to participate in its Public-Private Investment Program. While the government will invest as much as $30 billion in the program to buy banks' troubled securities, the fund managers each must raise $500 million to qualify for state financing. Pimco is noticeably absent from the list. The company said it withdrew from the running in early June. The Washington Post (7/9)

Ability of PPIP to establish market prices in doubt: The Treasury's Public-Private Investment Program has officially launched, although the government pared it down some. While "price discovery" for troubled assets is a major point, officials are concerned with the program's ability to establish useful prices for illiquid assets. The Treasury has yet to decide whether to disclose prices paid for the assets, a senior official said. BusinessWeek/Money & Politics blog (7/8)

*Failure finally pays, of course it's the lawyers who get all of the money
Lehman advisers could get record $906M in fees, expert says
Accountants, bankers and lawyers could end up collecting a record $906 million in court-approved fees by the time bankruptcy proceedings for Lehman Brothers and its affiliates are over, said Lynn LoPucki, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. The failed investment bank paid advisers $262.6 million for work during the nine months ending in June, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Bloomberg (09 Jul.)

*Trickle down economics
Canada's joblessness likely at 11-year high, economists say
Economists surveyed by Reuters predicted that unemployment in Canada hit 8.7% last month, the highest since January 1998. The country is expected to lose an additional 100,000 jobs during the summer, said Kevin Page, the parliamentary budget officer. Financial Post (Canada)/Reuters (08 Jul.)

*Surprisingly?
Prices of British homes surprisingly slip
House prices in the U.K. unexpectedly declined 0.5% last month, the lender Halifax said, after a 2.6% increase in May. "Further relapses in house prices remain highly likely, and they could yet fall by another 10% from current levels," said Howard Archer, an economist at IHS Global Insight. Bloomberg (08 Jul.)