not that i understand finance, or Dubai, but this seems big:
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
In a complex set of transactions, Dubai is moving to acquire 19.9 percent of the Nasdaq in New York, placing the Arab government in an ownership position of the key U.S. stock exchange and raising concerns in Congress.
As a result of the transaction, Dubai also will acquire 28 percent of the London Stock Exchange, one of the oldest and largest in the world.
The transaction is being made through Borse Dubai, a holding company 100-percent owned by the government of the Emirate of Dubai and controlled by Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the head of the Dubai ruling family.
According to its website, Borse Dubai was created Aug. 6 as the holding company for Dubai Financial Market and Dubai International Financial Exchange in a move to consolidate the Dubai government's two stock exchanges "as well as current investments in other exchanges, expanding Dubai's position as a global capital market hub."
The announcement set off a firestorm of criticism in Washington, prompting President Bush to comment today in a news conference, "We're going to take a good look at it, as to whether or not it has any national security implications involved in the transaction. I'm comfortable with the process to go forward."
On July 26, Bush signed into law the Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007, a law passed after last year's controversy over the effort by Dubai Ports World to acquire London-based Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation, an international ports operating firm that would have given Dubai control of operations in up to 22 U.S. ports.
The Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007 was passed to strengthen the examination requirements of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, a highly secretive bureaucratic panel constituted by the Treasury Department to pass verdict on the national security implications of foreign investments in the U.S.
In a letter today, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., urged Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson to conduct the Borse Dubai CFIUS review under the standards imposed by the Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007, even though most of the requirements of the new law do not take effect until later this fall.
Schumer chairs the Joint Economic Committee, composed of 10 members each from the Senate and House of Representatives.
"Nasdaq is not just any exchange, but one of the world's largest," Schumer wrote Paulson. "With approximately 3,200 companies, it lists more companies and, on average, trades more shares per day than any other U.S. market."
Schumer's letter posed five specific questions for Paulson:
What national security concerns are raised by allowing a foreign government to own U.S. financial exchanges?
Specifically, with respect to Dubai, are there national security concerns about this particular country's influence or control over a U.S. exchange?
U.S. exchanges are a critical asset to our national economic infrastructure. What implications would foreign government control or influence have on our economic security?
U.S. economic security depends on continued competitiveness in a global financial market. What impact will this transaction have on U.S. financial competitiveness?
If national and economic security concerns can be satisfied, should restrictions be placed on this transaction to limit Dubai's control and influence over U.S. exchanges?
The Department of the Treasury could not be reached for immediate comment.
The Sub-Prime Blowout And The Con Man Exodus
92The problem with making them fixed morgages is that a lot of these folks wanted to resell or remortgage to get the difference in increased value in a year. What about those people who got fixed morgages and took the increased intrest penality.
I have a friend in the investment busness a researcher and I asked what she thought was up. She said in all the time she has worked on wall street (since the late 80's) there is usally one problem or another that can mess things up and like a video game the street and fed stear arround it. "This is bad" she said in a meeting one of the head guys described it as that the fans were now in place all arround them and you could not determine where the first shovel full of shit was going to come from.
I have a friend in the investment busness a researcher and I asked what she thought was up. She said in all the time she has worked on wall street (since the late 80's) there is usally one problem or another that can mess things up and like a video game the street and fed stear arround it. "This is bad" she said in a meeting one of the head guys described it as that the fans were now in place all arround them and you could not determine where the first shovel full of shit was going to come from.
The Sub-Prime Blowout And The Con Man Exodus
93Rick Reuben wrote:Big John wrote:The problem with making them fixed morgages is that a lot of these folks wanted to resell or remortgage to get the difference in increased value in a year.
True true. The gift of a fixed rate is only a big deal if you're trying to keep your house. Not so much if you're sitting on property that is losing value each month and your whole business plan was based on you flipping it.
This also doesn't refill the dried-up home equity well for a lot of these people on ARM's.
TLC and A&E are safe tho as they are "shifting the focus" of their reality house flip shoes from the easy profits, to the "personalities" of the flipppers.
I could make $150k if I flipped my house right now... the problem is in my area houses that are not updated since the 60s on my same block just sold for $160k more than what I paid for this house last year....
Its an impossible situation. My home has increased in value, only because I bought it on the cheap through a lucky set of circumstances, and even tho prices are not rising in CA, in my super small subsection of a neighborhood, prices have rose mostly due to location.
I'm just glad I'm not homeless and don't have an ARM loan
The Sub-Prime Blowout And The Con Man Exodus
94There was some kind of area of california that was on NPR a couple weeks ago where something like1 out of 8 houses is in defalt! You are lucky that you found a great place and 60's houses are swinging. I guess my feeling is that a house is a place to live and if you are lucky it will go up in value or at least keep even with inflation. Since americans don't save a lot most of their savings has traditonaly gone into their homes (I think in other countries there is some difference like most people live in apartiments and rent and have higher savings).
I have a some good friends who bought in Silver Lake in the early 90's and their houses are worth a lot. I also have a cartoonist friend who moved to Passadina into a "Craftsman" style house in the late 90's and that has gone way up in value too.
I have to say if you have a house and a BBQ you are living large in California. Are you near any of those "buy a bucket of artichoke" places those are good.
I have a some good friends who bought in Silver Lake in the early 90's and their houses are worth a lot. I also have a cartoonist friend who moved to Passadina into a "Craftsman" style house in the late 90's and that has gone way up in value too.
I have to say if you have a house and a BBQ you are living large in California. Are you near any of those "buy a bucket of artichoke" places those are good.
The Sub-Prime Blowout And The Con Man Exodus
95Big John wrote:There was some kind of area of california that was on NPR a couple weeks ago where something like1 out of 8 houses is in defalt! You are lucky that you found a great place and 60's houses are swinging. I guess my feeling is that a house is a place to live and if you are lucky it will go up in value or at least keep even with inflation. Since americans don't save a lot most of their savings has traditonaly gone into their homes (I think in other countries there is some difference like most people live in apartiments and rent and have higher savings).
I have a some good friends who bought in Silver Lake in the early 90's and their houses are worth a lot. I also have a cartoonist friend who moved to Passadina into a "Craftsman" style house in the late 90's and that has gone way up in value too.
I have to say if you have a house and a BBQ you are living large in California. Are you near any of those "buy a bucket of artichoke" places those are good.
Dunno what those places are but it sounds delicious...
Even tho we "lucked out" w/ this gigantic fixed rate mortgage, at least we put 20% down so we almost sort of own some of it already. Its no MTV cribs, nor does it compare to the giant victorians in the northeast, but in the screwed up bay area market it compares well w/ 2300 sq ft being sizable for us. It was updated in the 80s it seems, although most of the 80s updates are actually not bad.. they did smart things like open up kitchen/dining room. tts a very modest home, designed in the 60s for middle class family, thankfully updated smartly.
Where they screwed up was the bathrooms
they merged 2 shower/toilets into a L shaped bathroom w/ a kitty cornered hot tub and put fake gold trim along the walls, w/ a tiny SF style shower and even have a phone outlet. That will need to be totally redone as a kitty cornered hot tub hogs up all the bathroom space and the shower is designed for tiny asian women.
I guess the true luck falls into the divorced couple who sold us the house, they more than doubled their money. it shows how screwed up the bay area market is. This house we have is modest. If it were texas it would be considered a small house, prolly go for $130k. No pool. No central air. No stainless steel fridge...
We could sell it tomorrow w/o even cleaning it and get a lil under a million. But we'd either be homeless or have to pay $2400 month rent for a similar apartment.
After the housing market got raped, it trickled down to the rental market in this area, so already over priced rents have climbed back up.
The dot bomb hit the rental market hard in 2001, it lasted a couple of years but landlords had already gotten fat and bloated off dot commers paying anything for rent... so a year of vacancy is nothing to them.
Its a no win situation. If we didnt get this house last year, I dont even want to think about our 2nd/3rd choices. We thankfully lost on a bid we put in on this house I hated. It had wood paneling and was totally not updated from the 70s. We got out bid by over $60k! WOOD PANELING! GRAY WOOD PANELING over an inch thick it seemed.
I remember touring the house and having trouble squeezing through the hallway because of the wood paneling bulging off the sides...yuck
The Sub-Prime Blowout And The Con Man Exodus
96Rick Reuben wrote:Credit card debt spiking as home equity loans dry up.This extra debt wasn't going into cash registers:reuters 10-10-07 wrote:The automated teller for home loans is empty and Americans are relying increasingly on credit cards to pay their living costs, indicating tough hurdles ahead for U.S. consumer spending and markets.
Federal Reserve data released on Friday showed U.S. consumer borrowing rising by $12.18 billion in August, more than 20 percent more than economists had forecast.
Most striking was an 8.1 percent increase in borrowing on revolving credit lines, mostly credit cards, to a record $909 billion.
Credit card borrowings rose at the sharpest rate since early 2002.Retail sales rose just 0.3 percent in August, and when motor vehicles and parts were stripped out, sales fell 0.4 percent, the sharpest drop since September 2006.
Obviously, people are borrowing on their credit cards to hang onto their mortgages. This does not bode well.
Yeah there is no way you can win that way. Selling crack is actually less risky than borrowing a high % loan to pay off a high % loan
The Sub-Prime Blowout And The Con Man Exodus
97I had a friend avoid foreclosure on his house/condo in Oaktown. he bought it while married and then his marriage became a divorce waiting to happen days after they signed papers.
He was able to sell his condo back to the back for the price = what he still owed. Sounds like he lucked out in a way , avoiding foreclosure and penalties of course he lost downpayment/fees/taxes so he is still out a shitload of money
He was able to sell his condo back to the back for the price = what he still owed. Sounds like he lucked out in a way , avoiding foreclosure and penalties of course he lost downpayment/fees/taxes so he is still out a shitload of money
Bay Area home foreclosures triple in September
Chronicle Staff and News Services
Friday, October 12, 2007
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Eleven of 40 properties at the eastern end of Catanzaro W... Foreclosures on the rise. Chronicle Graphic
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Foreclosure filings across the United States nearly doubled last month compared with September 2006, as financially strapped homeowners already behind on mortgage payments defaulted on their loans or came closer to losing their homes to foreclosure, a real estate information company said Thursday.
A total of 223,538 foreclosure filings were reported in September, up from 112,210 in the same month a year ago, according to RealtyTrac Inc. The September figure represents the second-highest total for filings in a single month since the company began tracking monthly filings two years ago.
Foreclosure filings in the Bay Area tripled in September compared with a year ago. The most dramatic spike was in the number of bank-owned properties, which rose more than tenfold to 1,017 in the nine counties, compared with 95 at the same time last year.
Around the Bay Area, 4,974 households were sent notices of default, indicating they were behind on their mortgage payments. Last year, 1,962 Bay Area households received the notices in September. Not all defaults become foreclosures, but they are an early warning sign.
Another 1,635 Bay Area households were notified that their properties were scheduled for foreclosure auctions, compared with 357 at the same time last year. Auctions can be postponed or canceled at the last minute, but the notices show the homeowners are already at least six months delinquent.
Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano continue to be the local counties hardest hit by foreclosures. In Contra Costa, 1,839 households received notices that they were behind on mortgage payments, up from 591 last September. Another 935 Contra Costa households were notified that a foreclosure auction was scheduled for their property, up from 96 last year. And the number of properties that had been repossessed by lenders in Contra Costa was 524, up from 19 last year.
The filings include default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions. Some properties might have received more than one notice if the owners have multiple mortgages.
Typically, borrowers must be 60 to 90 days past due on their mortgage payments before their lender will consider them in default, the first stage of the foreclosure process. If a homeowner can't find a way to get current on payments, the home is then often put up for auction, and if it doesn't sell, it eventually goes back to the bank.
In all, 39 states saw a decline in foreclosure filings, the firm said.
The number of U.S. filings in September was down 8 percent from August's 243,947, the firm said.
"August was an extraordinarily high month for foreclosure activity, so some falloff was almost predictable," said Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac's vice president for marketing.
It's likely that the sequential decline in foreclosure activity between August and September was just a blip, not a bellwether of lessening foreclosure filings, Sharga said.
The U.S. housing market has seen sales decline and home prices fall or remain flat, making it harder for homeowners who can't afford to make mortgage payments to sell their homes or seek refinancing.
Many of those troubled homeowners were among those who took on adjustable-rate mortgages that are now adjusting to a higher interest rate, translating into payments they cannot afford to make.
The rising delinquencies and foreclosures this year have led the mortgage industry to tighten lending standards, further narrowing options for homeowners struggling to pay their mortgage.
Nevada, Florida and California had the highest foreclosure rates in the country last month, the firm said.
Nevada reported 1 foreclosure filing for every 185 households, earning the state the highest foreclosure rate in the nation for the ninth month in a row. The state had 5,504 filings in September, down 11.1 percent from August and more than triple the number in September 2006.
Florida had 1 foreclosure filing for every 248 households. The state reported 33,354 foreclosure filings in September, down just less than 2 percent from August, but more than three times greater than September 2006's total.
California's foreclosure rate was 1 filing for every 253 households. The state reported the most foreclosure filings of any state, with 51,259, down 11 percent from August but a fourfold increase from September of last year.
Rounding out the states with the top 10 foreclosure rates last month were Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, Ohio, Colorado, Texas and Indiana.
The Sub-Prime Blowout And The Con Man Exodus
98Any decent informed speculation out there as to how this situation might be resolved? I'm assuming some sort of federal aid bilge pump...public taxation supporting private financial entities...
The Sub-Prime Blowout And The Con Man Exodus
99another Bay Area CA article... I skimmed it while shitting, same story... only diff spin this time is the reason Bay Area prices are still rising despite the rest of the country, the obvious foreign cash buys.
Great news! USA is selling off its land to China ! w00t thats why we fought the cold war and the Korean war isnt it! So china could own CA tax free w00t!
Great news! USA is selling off its land to China ! w00t thats why we fought the cold war and the Korean war isnt it! So china could own CA tax free w00t!
The Sub-Prime Blowout And The Con Man Exodus
100Hexpane wrote:another Bay Area CA article... I skimmed it while shitting, same story... only diff spin this time is the reason Bay Area prices are still rising despite the rest of the country, the obvious foreign cash buys.
Great news! USA is selling off its land to China ! w00t thats why we fought the cold war and the Korean war isnt it! So china could own CA tax free w00t!
The Bay Area has just been PWN'd by China.