Friday October 26 Housing and Economic stories

RECOMMENDED READING:

Foreclosure Suicide (chron.com)
This is the 2nd or 3rd Foreclosure suicide story I have seen in recent weeks.

Ameriquest in Shambles; Wealthy Founder Parties as U.S. Ambassador (blogs.abcnews.com)
Roland Arnall is the U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands and billionaire owner of Ameriquest, which was once one of the United States's leading wholesale sub-prime lenders. In early 2006, the company announced a $325 million settlement with state attorneys general and law enforcement agencies and financial regulators in 49 states and the District of Columbia over allegations of predatory lending practices. Ameriquest faced allegations that, among other things, it misled and overcharged borrowers, and falsified loan applications. In the 2003-2005 period, Arnall and his wife raised more than $12 million for George W. Bush's political efforts, including $5 million for the Progress for America Voter Fund, a self-proclaimed "conservative issue advocacy organization dedicated to keeping the issue record straight."
Mrs. Arnall also served as a co-chair for the 2004 Republican Convention and hosted a $1 million Bush-Cheney fund-raiser at the couple's 10-acre home in Holmby Hills, California. After Bush was reelected, The Arnalls contributed another $750,000 for inaugural balls in January 2005.
On August 1, 2005, Bush nominated Arnall to become the U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands. The senate approved his nomination on February 9, 2006.

Who owns and controls the Federal Reserve Bank – (http://www.usagold.com/federalreserve.html)
Nothing shocking here, but is there anyone who doubts why Paulsen (Ex-CEO of Goldman Sachs and current Treasury Secretary) and Helicopter Pilot Ben Bernanke (Fed Chairman) could care less about the housing crisis until it started affecting the big Wall Street banks?
Each of the twelve Federal Reserve Banks is organized into a corporation whose shares are sold to the commercial banks and thrifts operating within the Bank's district. Shareholders elect six of the nine the board of directors for their regional Federal Reserve Bank as well as its president. Mullins reported that the top eight stockholders of the New York Fed were, in order from largest to smallest as of 1983, Citibank, Chase Manhatten, Morgan Guaranty Trust, Chemical Bank, Manufacturers Hanover Trust, Bankers Trust Company, National Bank of North America, and the Bank of New York (Mullins, p. 179). Together, these banks owned about 63 percent of the New York Fed's outstanding stock. Mullins then showed that many of these banks are owned by about a dozen European banking organizations, mostly British, and most notably the Rothschild banking dynasty. Through their American agents they are able to select the board of directors for the New York Fed and to direct U.S. monetary policy. Mullins explained,
"The day the Federal Reserve Act was passed (in 1913 during xmas recess), "the Constitution ceased to be the governing covenant of the American people, and our liberties were handed over to a small group of international bankers" Eustace Mullins (1983)

Paulson 'handcuffed' by White House – (ft.com)
Prevented from further subprime intervention

Subprime anxiety hits top index – (ft.com)
Writedown fears sends ABX sliding

TOP STORIES:
(from www.prudentbear.com )
New-home sales rise 4.8% in September - Market Watch from Dow Jones (10/25/2007 10:11 AM)
or is it J - depends on who is spinning the story
Home sales plunge in September - SF Gate (10/25/2007 05:53 AM)
New US home sales at historic lows – (ft.com)
Sales rise after earlier downward revision
Mortgage rates fall to lowest level in six weeks– (usatoday.com)
Roots of credit crisis laid at Fed's door - Market Watch from Dow Jones (10/25/2007 05:42 AM)
Reports Suggest Broader Losses From Mortgages - NY Times (10/25/2007 05:27 AM)
Floyd Norris: When risk becomes a shell game - IHT (10/25/2007 05:48 AM)
Investors blinded by derivatives boom - TheStreet.com , Kass, (10/24/2007 09:04 AM)
Buffett Sees Subprime Woes Lingering - Chicago Tribune (10/25/2007 05:00 AM)
Lenders Curb New Mortgages In Weaker Areas - WSJ ($) (10/25/2007 05:16 AM)
Pioneer Helped Merrill Move Into CDOs - WSJ ($) (10/25/2007 05:19 AM)
Buffett sees dollar weakness - Reuters (10/25/2007 05:37 AM)
Merrill writedowns may signal broader risk problems - Reuters (10/25/2007 05:40 AM)
Subprime Foreclosures to Hit 2 Million, Schumer Says - Bloomberg (10/25/2007 02:20 PM)
Subprime anxiety hits top index - FT (10/25/2007 08:59 PM)
4,800 subprime Bay Area loans at risk of foreclosure by 2008 - SF Gate (10/25/2007 05:50 AM
Fresh fall in loan approvals for home buying - FT (10/25/2007 09:15 PM)
German Business Confidence Declines to 20-Month Low - Bloomberg (10/25/2007 05:20 AM)
'We are headed for billions in lost wealth' - UK Guardian (10/25/2007 02:16 PM)
Ken, We've ALL Had Too Much Investment Bank `Fun': Mark Gilbert - Bloomberg (10/25/2007 05:25 AM)

Housing Crash News (from http://patrick.net/housing/crash.html )

Fri Oct 26 2007House sales plunge in September (sfgate.com)
Where Was The Bubble: Houses, Rates or Credit? (seekingalpha.com)
House Sales Fall More Than 20 Percent, Prices Plummet (efinancedirectory.com)
Why we need a recession -- soon (articles.moneycentral.msn.com)
The Way to Paradise? (counterpunch.com)
Subprime Blame Game: Where Were the Realtors? (knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu)
Problems at Countrywide Deepen (seekingalpha.com)
How Dumb Is Your Bank? (time.com)
Bank of America quits wholesale mortgage business (news.yahoo.com)
Buffett: Subprime to cause pain for up to 2 years (money.cnn.com)
REITs See Biggest Drop Since 1998 as U.S. Rout Grows (bloomberg.com)
Reports Suggest Broader Losses From Mortgages (nytimes.com)
Economist: Home prices haven't 'come down enough' (audio - marketwatch.com)