Important News - Oct. 16
By Daniel at 16 October, 2009, 12:51 am
1) Who’s buying US foreclosures?
“A recent RE/MAX report on recreational property says many Canadians are capitalizing on market conditions in major American centres, particularly those known for their warm climates such as Florida, Arizona, Texas, California and Las Vegas.”
2) “The foreclosures are going to explode again,” said Webb.
Reuters - An unidentified employee of Zetabid, which organized a September 19 auction of foreclosed properties in the Chicago area, …
“CHICAGO (Reuters) - The seven-bedroom, three-bath house in this city’s West Garfield Park neighborhood had once been someone’s American Dream.
But at a recent auction of about 100 foreclosed houses and condos, it was just Property No. 20 — and drawing no bids from a roomful of buyers despite its bargain-basement price.”
3) AAR Reports Rail Traffic Remains Down Year Over Year
http://www.aar.org/NewsAndEvents/PressReleases/2009/10_WTR/101509_RailTraffic.aspx
4) Chart of Federal Reserve Assets
5) Greenspan Says U.S. Should Consider Breaking Up Large Banks
“Those banks have an implicit subsidy allowing them to borrow at lower cost because lenders believe the government will always step in to guarantee their obligations. That squeezes out competition and creates a danger to the financial system, Greenspan told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.”
6) front page of Reuters “No JOBS in CA”
that is because with a 12%+ unemployment rate, my fellow Californians had nothing else to do today:
7) “1929 And Today - Sobering Parallels Abound”
“When was the last time you saw stocks decline 54% followed by a 55% rally?
When was the last time you saw stocks, bonds, and commodities move in sync for nearly two years?
When was the last time asset allocation did not really provide the diversification and protection it was supposed to?
When was the last time, a ten year investment in the stock market delivered negative returns?
Investors that care to harken back 80 years will find that the 1929 - 1932 era is the only period of time that compares to today. In fact, the parallels between now and then are bountiful and scary.”
41 people in 4 states charged in mortgage fraud
If you see 41 charged,
There are many more who are
very scared they will be indicated, too.
NEW YORK – A mortgage fraud crackdown announced Thursday resulted in the arrests of dozens of people, including six lawyers, seven loan officers and three mortgage brokers in four states.
9) Goldman profits, but home defaults surge
“The recent share market rally on Wall Street has most economists tipping the worst of the global financial crisis might be over.
That optimism was underscored today when the big investment bank Goldman Sachs reported a surge in its third quarter profit to more than $US3 billion.
Goldman Sachs is doing so well that it is setting aside 47 per cent of its revenue to pay bonuses to staff.”
10) Lunacy in Las Vegas Housing
This is a good story on what is really happening out there in Real America
12) Banks Skipping August TARP Dividends
13) DOLLAR TO HIT 50 YEN, CEASE AS RESERVE, SUMITOMO SAYS (Bloomberg)
“The U.S. economy will deteriorate into 2011 as the effects of excess consumption and the financial bubble linger,” said Daisuke Uno at Sumitomo Mitsui, a unit of Japan’s third- biggest bank. “The dollar’s fall won’t stop until there’s a change to the global currency system.”
14) BANKS WITH 20% UNPAID LOANS AT 18-YEAR HIGH AMID RECOVERY DOUBT (Bloomberg)
Units of Frontier Financial Corp.,Towne Bancorp Inc. and Steel Partners Holdings LP are among 26 firms with more than one-fifth of their loans 90 days overdue or not accruing interest as of June 30 — a level of distress almost five times the national average — according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data compiled for Bloomberg News by SNL Financial, a bank research firm. Three reported almost half of their loans weren’t being paid.
15) CONSUMER BANKRUPTCIES SOAR IN SEPTEMBER (Reuters/USA Today)
WILMINGTON,Del. — Consumer bankruptcies soared 41% from the previous September and climbed from August, as high unemployment and the housing market crash took their toll, the American Bankruptcy Institute said Friday.
16) Cooling the global will cost jobs
17) The Ongoing Cover Up of the Truth Behind the Financial Crisis May Lead to Another Crash (Vinny A.)
William K. Black - professor of economics and the senior regulator during the S & L crisis - says that that the government’s entire strategy now - as during the S&L crisis - is to cover up how bad things are (”the entire strategy is to keep people from getting the facts”). Indeed, as I have previously documented, 7 out of the 8 giant, money center banks went bankrupt in the 1980’s during the “Latin American Crisis”, and the government’s response was to cover up their insolvency.
18) Another Day, Another Big Mortgage Scam
Last month, the FBI warned about a surge in mortgage fraud. Well, it’s happening.
It seems like every day, authorities are breaking up another ring of lawyers, real estate brokers and other white-collar crooks who are taking advantage of the distressed housing market.
19) Mark this: According to Treasury Spread Model, No Chance of a Douple-Dip Recession
The New York Fed just released its latest “Probability of U.S. Recession Predicted by Treasury Spread,” with data through September 2009, and the Fed’s recession probability forecast through September 2010 (see charts above). The NY Fed’s model uses the spread between 10-year and 3-month Treasury rates (3.28% spread in September) to calculate the probability of a recession in the United States twelve months ahead.
Just a reminder: Midnight today is the deadline for American tax-dodgers to come clean about money they’ve hidden in offshore accounts.
21) Greenspan worries about U.S. debt, not dollar slide
NEW YORK, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) — Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said he is more worried about the increasing U.S. debt than the weakening dollar during a meeting here on Thursday.
Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Greenspan said he is “not overly concerned” about the most recent decline in the dollar, which has hit a 14-month low against the euro and other major currencies.
* Zombie bank Citigroup posts miraculous quarter
* Goldman’s secret profit formula revealed
* Cramer’s “call of a lifetime” revisited
* The housing bubble is back!
* Google earnings had better be good
23) China reports $14.18 billion budget gap in Sept.
No comments yet.