Here are the top five most read stories on the Bloomberg in the last day with selected excerpts (and my comments, if any, in italics).

As of 23-Aug-2007 at 10:05:21 (Beijing time):

1. Bonuses on Wall Street Threatened by Credit Crunch

“… the subprime-mortgage collapse already has drained the punch bowl.”

Ha! Proof once again that all you need to get a “Most Read” story is putting the word “Bonuses” in the title.

2. Lehman Brothers Shuts Down Subprime Unit, Fires 1,200

“‘Market conditions have necessitated a substantial reduction in resources and capacity in the subprime space,’ the New York-based firm said today.”

How’s that for a pile of crap jargon: “conditions,” “necessitated,” “reduction in resources,” and the ever popular “space.” Translation: the market went to hell so we had to fire a bunch of people in our dumb lending to even dumber borrowers unit.

3. Builder in Spain Crashes, Founder Keeps New York Pad

“Spanish house prices have surged since the 1990s, fueled by a drop in interest rates, increasing incomes and a boom in vacation home purchases by Germans, Britons and other Northern Europeans.”

Interesting boom/bust story, especially the bit about changes in zoning laws.

4. Lehman, Accredited, HSBC Shut Offices; Crisis Spreads

“More than 20 companies have been shut out of the market for asset-backed commercial paper, or short-term debt maturing in 270 days or less, as investors balked at buying mortgage-backed debt.”

5. Bernanke’s Strategy of Increasing Liquidity Survives

“‘The markets that are under more stress are the high-yield market, non-agency mortgage markets, collateralized debt obligations and collateralized loan obligations markets and extendible asset-backed paper. Those are markets that we’re watching closely.’” — Hank Paulson

You’re not the only one watching closely, Hank.