Consider_this

Housing Indexes - When Will the Fed Get Smart?

" but is it reluctant to publicize the result, due to the implications this would have for bank equity and solvency"

Bingo!

How could the Fed release a true Z1, if that number shows that the *COUNTRY* is bankrupt? Nope, will never happen. We cannot make it too obvious that the loss is greater than our country's income (and climbing), we must make it much harder to see that the "Emperor has no clothes". So we use smoke and mirrors like what you described.

What would you do if you're in their shoes? Tell the truth and cause the demise in the country? Very few of us, even shorts and pragmatists, are willing to take that step. I blame them, but I also understand their very human response.

It just saddens me that more and more evidence is showing that this crisis has already reached a scale that cannot be solved. I keep hoping everyday that I'm wrong, but every action taken by people in power speaks volume about what the scale really is if you think through their actions.