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 28-Sep-2007 at 10:14:26 (Beijing time):

1. Chuck Norris’s Tears Might Solve Credit Crunch

Long string of Chuck Norris jokes, the best one is probably: “Chuck Norris doesn’t mark-to-market. The market marks to Chuck Norris.”

2. Housing Slump to Last Beyond 2008, Fannie’s Mudd Says

“Congress created Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to expand home ownership and promote mortgage-market stability. The companies, which increase mortgage financing by purchasing home loans from lenders, own or guarantee about 40 percent of the $11.5 trillion U.S. home loan market.”

Buffett has said that one of his greatest “errors of omission” was never buying Fannie back in the 80’s.

3. U.S. Economy: New-Home Sales Decline 8.3 Percent

“‘We see no signs that the housing market is stabilizing and believe it will be some time before a recovery begins,’ Jeffrey Mezger, chief executive officer of Los Angeles-based KB Home, said today in a statement.”

No signs, “some time,” and Mezger probably has a good handle on the market.

4. `Greedy Bastard’ Moulton Mocks Buyout Firms’ U.K. Tax Dodging

“‘We had to get [Moulton] out of accounting. He’s very straightforward, very quick and a lot of fun to have around.’”

Did this line make any other accountants laugh out loud?

5. ECB Lends 3.9 Billion Euros to Banks, Most Since 2004

“The three-month London inter-bank offered rate for euros rose to 4.79 percent today, a six-year high, from 4.73 percent, according to the British Bankers’ Association. The increase shows that the fallout from losses on subprime mortgages is still making banks reluctant to lend to each other.”

Vicious cycle as banks that are in trouble don’t want to appear to be in trouble by borrowing at the penalty rate thus prolonging their troubles.