Friday, November 18, 2011

Saturday November 19 Housing and Economic stories

KeNosHousingPortal.blogspot.com

TOP STORIES:

Federal Reserve To Force Yet More Bad Private Debt Onto The Public - (www.bloomberg.com) Federal Reserve officials are probably engineering a third round of large-scale asset purchases, while they are unlikely to announce a decision today, according to economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Sixty-nine percent of those surveyed say Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will embark on a third round of quantitative easing, or QE3, with a plurality of 36 percent predicting the move in the first quarter of next year, according to the poll of 42 economists from Oct. 26-31. “We are becoming increasingly persuaded that QE3 is coming, this time focused on purchases of mortgage-backed securities,” said Dana Saporta, U.S. economist at Credit Suisse in New York. “The best guess is at this meeting they’ll try to build some consensus around the idea and lay the groundwork for eventual purchases.”

Greek vote sets off pandemonium, engulfs Italy - (www.telegraph.co.uk) Greece's startling decision to call a referendum on last week's EU summit deal has set off wild tremors across the eurozone, pushing Italy to the brink of a perilous downward spiral. The country's ruling Pasok party appeared to be splintering on Tuesdsay night, leaving it unclear whether the governent of premier George Papandreou can survive a parliamentary vote of confidence on Friday. Signs that the EU's pain-stakingly negotiated Grand Plan is unravelling within days has been a profound shock to confidence. A frantic search for safe havens led to the second biggest one-day fall ever recorded in Europe's AAA bond yields. Ten-year German Bund yields tumbled 25 basis points to 1.77pc, with similar moves in non-EMU Swedish and Danish debt. British Gilt yields fell to 2.2pc.

The clock is ticking, Europe - (www.telegraph.co.uk) At the same time the G20 nations met for yet more political argument, but all of it was overshadowed by the actions of the European Central Bank (ECB). As his first action, the new ECB president, Mario Draghi, has decided to cut rates as the threat of recession in Europe looms ever larger. It was Draghi's assessment of "slow growth heading toward mild recession" that should be uppermost in the minds of Europe's leaders gathered in Cannes. That's the backdrop to their efforts to stabilise the eurozone. The clock is ticking. Throughout Europe's two-year sovereign debt crisis, eurozone leaders have failed to appreciate that time has been against them. They have allowed the crisis to grow and escalate. Each emergency summit and rescue plan has been followed by wasted time and lost opportunities. That's what we're risking still. Except we are two years closer to recession and if our second biggest trading partner starts going backwards then the UK stands little or no chance of being able to avoid the same fate. The single currency may yet be saved but at what cost to its economies and those that trade with it?

Dozens of arrests at Occupy Oakland - (www.mercurynews.com) As many as 40 people were arrested in downtown Oakland early Thursday after what was mostly a peaceful day during the general strike Wednesday turned heated. Late in the evening, protesters temporarily took over a vacant building, started fires in downtown and used homemade bomb launchers to fire M80s at police. At 1 a.m. police had used tear-gas and flashbang grenades in attempts to clear the crowd from downtown streets. Some protesters tried to calm the situation by chanting "Don't throw (crap)" and yelling "Stand still the world is watching" but others continued to stand off with police and refused to leave despite police calling an "unlawful assembly" at midnight. Shortly after 1:30 a.m. police were ready to move in on the Occupy Oakland camp at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza and announced that arrests would be made. At least 100 tents are housing hundreds of people there. Interim Police Chief Howard Jordan said there are about 70 people "determined to cause trouble and instigate a confrontation with police." They plan to release their photos at some point. Jordan said officers intended to separate the troublemakers from the rest of the campers. He said around 2 a.m. that between 30 and 40 had been arrested, although he could not confirm the exact number.

Guy pretends to be illegal Mexican to avoid US jail - (www.sltrib.com) A 27-year-old man told a judge he was in the country illegally so he could avoid prison. The man was arrested on Feb. 24, 2010, for distribution of a controlled substance. He told police his name was Saul Quiroz, court document say. While at a hearing before a District Court judge, the man said he was from Mexico and he was in the country illegally. He pleaded guilty. The court then allowed him to report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and he was deported to Mexico, court document say. In February 2011, the man was arrested on a warrant in relation to his previous case in Salt Lake County. This time he told a judge that his name was not Saul Quiroz and that he had lied about being in the country illegally and was "in fact a United States citizen," court documents say.

OTHER STORIES:

Greeks Warned if Austerity Plan Fails - (www.telegraph.co.uk)

October jobs report: Unemployment rate dips - (money.cnn.com)

Only 80,000 New Jobs Added in October - (www.nytimes.com)

Why not give Greeks their say? - (www.nytimes.com)

Slouching toward the 1930s - (www.americanthinker.com)

Jobless claims fall 9,000 in latest week - (www.reuters.com)

Economy driving more Americans to extreme poverty - (www.bloomberg.com)

Europe's financial crisis deepens, as Greek government teeters - (www.bloomberg.com)

Eurodammerung - (www.nytimes.com)

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