Thursday November 22 Housing and Economic stories

It isThanksgiving day so I will keep this site short :-)

I think there are a few very important stories that came off the presses on Wednesday and Thursday so I will present these below:

Europe Suspends Mortgage Bond Trading Between Banks (www.bloomberg.com) - as my brother pointed out, they are basically trying to prevent level 2 pricing of the assets from getting out.
Credit "heart attack" engulfs China and Korea (www.telegraph.co.uk)
Red lights flash on US economy (www.theaustralian.news.com.au)
Banks bail out bond insurer CIFG - FT (11/22/2007 05:46 AM)
More Japan investors are 'quitting America' - IHT (11/22/2007 03:20 PM)


Thanks to Ron Kirby for the following quotes from Ron Paul: I direct your attention to none other than rep. Ron Paul (R), currently running for the nomination to be the Republican Party’s candidate for President of the United States of America (from a speech delivered in the House of Representatives on July 9, 2002):

• “It is now commonplace and politically correct to blame what is referred to as the excesses of capitalism for the economic problems we face, and especially for the Wall Street fraud that dominates the business news. Politicians are having a field day with demagoguing the issue while, of course, failing to address the fraud and deceit found in the budgetary shenanigans of the federal government – for which they are directly responsible. Instead, it gives the Keynesian crowd that run the show a chance to attack free markets and ignore the issue of sound money.
  
  “Capitalism should not be condemned, since we haven’t had capitalism. A system of capitalism presumes sound money, not fiat money manipulated by a central bank. Capitalism cherishes voluntary contracts and interest rates that are determined by savings, not credit creation by a central bank. It’s not capitalism when the system is plagued with incomprehensible rules regarding mergers, acquisitions, and stock sales, along with wage controls, price controls, protectionism, corporate subsidies, international management of trade, complex and punishing corporate taxes, privileged government contracts to the military-industrial complex, and a foreign policy controlled by corporate interests and overseas investments. Add to this centralized federal mismanagement of farming, education, medicine, insurance, banking and welfare. This is not capitalism!”