Saturday September 20 Housing and Economic stories

TOP STORIES:

US NO LONGER A FREE MARKET: US GOVERNMENT AND FED ATTEMPTING TO MANAGE ECONOMY LIKE SOVIET UNION, PAKISTAN, AND CHINA:
· US Launches Broad Rescue Of Financial Markets - (www.cnbc.com) The U.S. launched several multibillion-dollar programs to rescue financial markets while developing a more sweeping plan to mop up toxic
· SEC Halts Short-Selling in 799 Financial Stocks - (www.cnbc.com) See Who's On The List
· Kudlow: Short-Selling Ban a 'Terrible' Idea - (www.cnbc.com)
· SEC Plans to Temporarily Ban Short-Selling and Take Extraordinary Step of Interfering with Market’s Regular Functioning - (www.cnbc.com) SEC Chairman Christopher Cox briefed Congress late Thursday of the agency's plans to take the extraordinary step of interfering with the market's regular functioning. Short-selling is a trading strategy of selling borrowed stock in hopes it falls and can be repurchased at a lower price.
· US Weighing Plan to Set Up Facility to Hold Bad Debts - (www.cnbc.com) US citizens should be completely outraged that Paulson (net worth $900M and prior CEO of Goldman)is trying to bailout all the crooks on Wall Street, who happen to be his buddies. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is working on a plan that would set up a government facility to take on bad debts from financial institutions, preventing a worsening of the global credit crisis, Wall Street sources have told CNBC.
· Bad Debt Plan May Cost Taxpayers Up to Half a Trillion Dollars - (www.cnbc.com) The plan to create a massive facility to buy mortgage-backed securities could cost as much as a half-trillion-dollars and would involve the purchase of both private-label and government-guaranteed mortgages
· Cramer: Financial Terrorism in the Shorts? - (www.cnbc.com)
· House passes anti-speculation bill - (money.cnn.com) Ignoring a presidential veto threat, the House on Thursday approved measures aimed at curbing speculation in oil and other commodity markets. It said federal regulators now don't have the tools or manpower to track trading abuses. The bill, passed by a vote of 283-133 and sent to the Senate, is aimed at certain hedge-fund and large institutional investors as well as electronic trading through overseas entities that avoid U.S. government scrutiny.


MEASURES TRIED IN UK, PAKISTAN, CHINA, AND RUSSIA:
· Trading suspended on Russian stock exchanges - (business.timesonline.co.uk) Russia's stock exchanges suspended trading yesterday as panic selling sent the value of shares plummeting. The rouble-denominated Micex fell almost 18 per cent to 888.17 points, its largest percentage decline since the meltdown triggered by Russia's financial default in 1998. Officials suspended trading for an hour in an attempt to halt the crash, but selling resumed as soon as the market reopened. The dollar-denominated RTS index also suspended trading for an hour. It ended the day down by 11.47 per cent at 1,131.12, its lowest for two years. Interbank lending rates shot up to11 per cent, their highest since 2004, compared with 8 per cent on Monday and 4.5 per cent before last month's conflict with Georgia.
· Russian Exchanges Remain Closed a Second Day - (www.nytimes.com) Russia Will Buy Stocks to Combat Market Slide. President Dmitri A. Medvedev pledged to inject almost $20 billion into financial markets to stem a plummet in share prices and quash fears of a repeat of the country’s 1998 financial collapse. The Russian government will inject up to $20 billion into domestic stocks in an effort to halt the free fall of the Russian stock markets, President Dmitri A. Medvedev said Thursday, in the most direct effort yet to use oil profits to ease a deepening stock market crisis here. The two main Russian stock exchanges remained closed Thursday after authorities halted trading Wednesday afternoon. By that time, they had each lost about 57 percent since their peaks in May — the steepest fall of any major stock market since the current financial crisis erupted from Wall Street.
· China to purchase stocks, 'backstop' market – (www.marketwatch.com) State-owned enterprises will also be encouraged to buy back their own ... China will also cancel the 0.1% tax on stock purchases, effective immediately. The government said a unit of its sovereign wealth fund will purchase shares in three of its largest banks, according to the state-run Xinhua News. State-owned enterprises will also be encouraged to buy back their own shares, and the current levy on stock purchases will be eliminated.
· China to Scrap Tax on Stock Purchases, Xinhua Says - (www.bloomberg.com)
· Pakistan’s stock market meltdown – Pakistan places floor on main index – (www.reuters.com) Pakistan's main index ended lower on Thursday in thin turnover and dealers said the index had not priced in the global financial crisis because of a floor imposed last month. The Karachi Stock Exchange placed a floor on the main index on Aug. 28 to prevent it from dropping below 9,144 points. The KSE board will review the floor on Sept. 25. The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) benchmark 100-share index ended 0.15 percent, or 13.92 points, lower at 9,202.31 points. Volume was 4.5 million shares. The market saw its lowest ever trading volume of 3.53 million shares on Wednesday. "Global financial turmoil has not and cannot affect Pakistan, thanks to the floor which is in place," said Asad Iqbal, managing director at Ismail Iqbal Securities Ltd.
· UK Slaps Ban on Short-Selling Financial Stocks - (www.cnbc.com) UK regulators imposed a temporary ban on shorting financial stocks, in a bid to prevent further instability in the sector. We have taken this decisive action, after careful consideration, to protect the fundamental integrity and quality of markets and to guard against further instability in the financial sector," FSA Chief Executive Hector Sants said in a statement. The move came after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday introduced rules under which short sellers and their broker-dealers must deliver securities by the close of business on the settlement date, three days after the sale. Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling welcomed the FSA ban. "I believe it is the right thing to do in the current market conditions and in the interests of financial stability," he said in a statement. The FSA said the ban will remain in force until Jan. 16 next year and will be subject to an initial review after thirty days. In addition, investors with an existing short position of more than 0.25 percent of a financial company's share capital must disclose their holdings every day from Sept. 23, the FSA said.

PHENOMENOM OF US TENT CITIES:
· Tent Cities Rising Amid Hard Times - (www.foxnews.com) City agencies say foreclosure crisis has sparked the most visible rise in 'tent cities' in a generation. The phenomenon of encampments has caught advocacy groups somewhat by surprise, largely because of how quickly they have sprung up. "What you're seeing is encampments that I haven't seen since the 80s," said Paul Boden, executive director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project, an umbrella group for homeless advocacy organizations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Calif., Portland, Ore. and Seattle. The relatively tony city of Santa Barbara has given over a parking lot to people who sleep in cars and vans. The city of Fresno, Calif., is trying to manage several proliferating tent cities, including an encampment where people have made shelters out of scrap wood. In Portland, Ore., and Seattle, homeless advocacy groups have paired with nonprofits or faith-based groups to manage tent cities as outdoor shelters. Other cities where tent cities have either appeared or expanded include include Chattanooga, Tenn., San Diego, and Columbus, Ohio.
· Tent cities spring up in LA - (www.youtube.com) Issue caused by crisis in US economy. Tent cities have sprung up outside Los Angeles as people lose their homes in the mortgage crisis.
· Southern California Shanty Town / Tent City - (www.youtube.com) Here are some videos of a tent city / shanty town that has popped up in the suburbs of Southern California. I've never seen anything like this in America since the great depression. At first it seems as though many of the residents had lost their houses due to the mortgage crisis, and I am sure some had, but it seems rather that most here have just fell on hard times due to the economy in Souther California in general. The tent city has been removed by the city and no longer exists to my knowledge. We only went there a few times, as our major work is in Los Angeles with the homeless on Skid Row.


OTHER STORIES:

Peak Insanity: SEC Plans to Temporarily Ban Short-Selling - (Mish at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com) - The Securities and Exchange Commission took its most aggressive assault against bearish stock bets by stating its intention to issue a temporary ban on short-selling. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox briefed Congress late Thursday of the agency's intention to take the extraordinary step of interfering with the market's regular functioning. Short-selling is a trading strategy of selling borrowed stock in hopes it falls and can be repurchased at a lower price. Interfering with the market's regular functioning always means things are improving...

Stock Market Cheers Fiscal Insanity - (Mish at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com) - The biggest stock market rallies occur in bear markets. Today we witnessed one of the biggest bear market rallies in history on ``Plans To Shore Up Banks.'' Yay for mystery plans promising to "fix" everything, even though they are bound to be dilutive for existing shareholders, if they are anything... I am really sick of regulators acting like the stock market's response to the crisis is the problem. The stock market has been badly lagging in discounting the problems for years, since the official cheerleading squad known as the press and the government have actually succeeded in brainwashing (or at least providing rhetorical cover for) the financial world.

McCain Says He Would Fire SEC's Cox If President - (www.bloomberg.com) - The Arizona senator, while not naming Cox, said the SEC ``kept in place trading rules that let speculators and hedge funds turn our markets into a casino.'' I hope by "speculators" he means "banks"
Stocks surge on report of entity for bad debt - (www.ml-implode.com) - ``CNBC said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is considering creation of an entity like the Resolution Trust Corp. that was forme...
Buffett’s buying, but not financials - (www.ml-implode.com) - It’s good news that Buffett sees value somewhere in this market. (Not sure I agree. I still think the financial carnage has a ...
Britain Bans Short-Selling Citing 'Extreme' Market Climate - (www.ml-implode.com)
A rising tide of write downs - (www.ml-implode.com)
Bets on "Too Big To Fail" Finally Fail - (www.ml-implode.com) Bill Gross and PIMCO made a couple bets too many on the concept of "Too Big To Fail". While scoring big on a bet on Fannie and Freddie, Gross gave it back and just a bit more with bets on Lehman (LEH), and AIG. The PIMCO Total Return Falls the Most in Three Years."
China, Russia Intervene In Equity Markets - (www.ml-implode.com) On the heels of Central Banks announcing Global Coordinated Liquidity Measures, China and Russia have both announced plans to intervene directly in the equity markets
Wall Street vs. Main Street - (www.ml-implode.com)
House Financial Services Committee Approves Markup of HR 6694 - (www.ml-implode.com)
Final Phonie/Fraudie Thoughts Before Market Decides Fate P - (www.ml-implode.com)
Agency MBS Hammered - PIMCO Begging For ANOTHER Bailout! - (www.ml-implode.com)
Wall Street — Meet “Avenue Q” - (www.ml-implode.com)
The Financial Re-Regulatory Agenda - (www.ml-implode.com)

Silicon Valley's rich Santa Clara County down more than 20% per year - (www.dqnews.com)
Sales up, prices down as foreclosures flood Southern CA - (www.latimes.com)
Rewind: SoCal prices down 34%, back to '03 levels - (latimesblogs.latimes.com)
The Housing Slump Rolls On - (www.seekingalpha.com)
Federal Reserve and other central banks announce further measures - (www.federalreserve.gov)
Housing problems not solved by bailouts - (money.cnn.com)
U.S. should prevent a financial crisis chain reaction - (mdn.mainichi.jp)
The New Boomer Retirement Plan: Crash Pads? - (www.marketwatch.com)
Stick-figure book explains housing crisis - (www.amazon.com)
Worst is yet to come, investment strategist warns - (www.marketwatch.com)
U.S. Credit Rating Could Be In Jeopardy - (www.nuwireinvestor.com)
Panic Sweeping Wall Street May Leave No One Standing - (www.usnews.com)
Wall Street's bad dream - (www.economist.com)
Wall Street's Just Deserts - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Need a Job? $17,000 an Hour. No Success Required. - (www.nytimes.com)
Scrambling to Clean Up After A Category 4 Financial Storm - (www.washingtonpost.com)