KeNo's Housing and Economic Portal: Thursday November 10 Housing and Economic stories

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TOP STORIES:

EU Banks Warn of Credit Drought Amid Push to Raise Capital - (www.bloomberg.com) A top lobbyist for France’s largest bank says European lawmakers will have only themselves to blame if pressure to bolster capital too quickly results in more Boeing Co. planes at the expense of European rival Airbus SAS. “In the case of the French banks, activities where they were leaders like aircraft leasing or shipping financing will be partly taken over by U.S. or Chinese banks,” Dominique Graber, co-head of BNP Paribas SA’s public and prudential affairs, told the European parliament’s committee on economic and monetary affairs in Brussels on Oct. 11. “One will also not be surprised if later on more Boeings than Airbuses get funded.” European banks say they have to cut assets to help satisfy a government push to boost capital faster than planned to insulate them against the sovereign debt crisis. That may trigger a credit crunch for companies and consumers throughout the 17-nation euro zone, helping to push its economy into recession, say Citigroup Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG analysts.

Europe Struggles for Crisis Remedy - (www.bloomberg.com) European leaders “have risen to the challenge,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. French President Nicolas Sarkozy proclaimed their July 21 summit a “historic turning point” and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean- Claude Juncker called it the “final package, of course,” to extinguish the debt inferno. Then they went on vacation. Before they returned to work, the deal fizzled. The euro’s stewards are back in Brussels today for an emergency summit struggling to heed the world’s calls to once and for all eradicate what U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner called the “catastrophic risk” of the debt crisis. A potential Greek default threatens shockwaves that could engulf Italy and France, jolt the banking system and spell havoc for the global economy. “Buck up, this crisis is going to be with us still for a while,” Barry Eichengreen, an economics professor at the University of California at Berkeley, said on “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene and Ken Prewitt. “I fear they’re not going to take the kind of steps to resolve it.”

Why Politicians Dont Want to Touch the Housing Crisis - (www.theatlantic.com) Barack Obama would have you believe that Mitt Romney is a heartless zillionaire who doesn't think the government should do anything about Americans losing their homes to foreclosure. Romney would have you believe that the foreclosure problem is yet more evidence of Obama's failure to heal the economy. Meanwhile, when the GOP candidates were asked about housing in last week's debate, they all basically dodged the question. And Obama's plan, announced Monday in Las Vegas, is being criticized as too little, too late, by some Democrats. The housing issue, it seems, is a political hot potato -- one every candidate can't wait to toss to the next guy before it burns him up. It's one of those issues that confounds partisan equations and eludes easy messaging, because voters basically want to hear politicians say two contradictory things. They want the government to act to stem the tide of foreclosures. But they don't want their money going to help those they see as irresponsible.

Living 'La Vita Bella': Italians Leave Fears of Debt Crisis to Others - (www.spiegel.de) "We currently pay more in interest than we spend on our schools," says Matteo Renzi, who makes the Palazzo Vecchio his home as the mayor of Florence. Renzi, only 36, was voted into office on the strength of his reputation as a "bulldozer" -- and his pledge to finally clean house in Florence. He is the youthful face of his party, the center-left Democratic Party (PD), a mayor who wears jeans and has Apple stickers on his oak desk. "Our fathers walked into the restaurant, and we inherited the bill." The bill -- at least for his city of Florence -- currently amounts to €518 million. Many see Florence as the embodiment of the euro-zone nightmare, with massive government debt, close to zero growth and a government led by a man who has been charged with tax evasion. No other European country, except Greece, is as deeply indebted as Italy. The country's debt level has reached 120.3 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP). At the same time, Italy has one of the lowest birth rates in the Western world, which means that there will be fewer and fewer people to pay off its debts in the future.

Occupy DC Emphasizes Corporate Money in Politics - (www.opensecrets.org) Though the locales and agendas of the Occupy movement have widened, its origins in the financial district of New York City suggest a central theme: the undue influence of Wall Street corporations. To influence Washington, corporations have to spend money. And Occupy protesters say, what better place to organize against corporate money's sway over Washington lawmakers than on K Street, home to many of Washington's lobbyists, and, as of October 7, the Occupy DC organization. "On Wall Street, it's about banks, but those decisions on who to bail out go through here," Kelly, a 25-year-old Virginian, told OpenSecrets Blog. (He did not give his last name to avoid negative consequences from prospective employers.)

OTHER STORIES:

EU Talks With Banks on Greek Bondholder Losses Are Said to Be Deadlocked - (www.bloomberg.com)

German Bundestag passes EFSF motion with large majority - (www.reuters.com)

Conclusive deal on euro zone crisis looks elusive - (www.reuters.com)

Merkel Puts Rescue Fund to German Vote - (www.bloomberg.com)

Latin America’s Most Volatile Currency Erodes Cetes Demand: Mexico Credit - (www.bloomberg.com)

Italy Sells 10.5 Billion Euros of Debt as Borrowing Costs Rise in Auction - (www.bloomberg.com)

China’s Wen Fuels Easing Speculation - (www.bloomberg.com)

China Boom-to-Bust Concerns Revealed in Agricultural Bank Slide Since IPO - (www.bloomberg.com)

Berlusconi’s Fraying Coalition Fuels Demands for Early Elections in Italy - (www.bloomberg.com)

Italy keeps Europe on tenterhooks over reform - (www.reuters.com)

Turkey More Than Doubles Banks’ Overnight Borrowing Cost to Curb Inflation - (www.bloomberg.com)