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Date Posted: 12:36:19 11/16/07 Fri
Author: part 1
Subject: November 16, 2007

ICLC BRIEFING INTERNATIONAL VERSION

[A7-46-5/BFG001]:BFG:L: [07/11/15][06:1 ]AM BRIEFING
STAND:[1.1.00/ ][0.1.00/ ][ . . / ] [21: ]ECO-FIN
SUBJT:[5.0.00/ ][4.0.00/ ][3.0.00/ ] [23: ]AREA SECTOR INTEL
TOPIC:[292.221 :ECONOMIC COLLAPSE ]
SUB-T:[061.000 :AM BRIEFING, ENGLISH ]
TITLE:[AM BRIEFING FRIDAY NOV 16 2007 ] 1 of Pages
SYNOPSIS:
TO:ALL POINTS BY: PAUL GALLAGHER/ssu
RE:MORNING BRIEFING FRIDAY, NOV. 16, 2007.
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| |
| MORNING BRIEFING |
| |
| Friday, November 16, 2007 |
| |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+

- LAROUCHE'S SOLUTIONS TO THE CRASH, -
- TO STOP PERPETUAL WAR, -
- KEEP THEM FRONT AND CENTER -

On a day when the Federal Reserve pumped $47 billion more
cash into the banks -- equalled by only one previous day of near
free-fall collapse right after 9/11 -- Lyndon LaRouche said,
"It's Weimar, free-fall money printing. It's is the crashing of
the whole system. This is an echo of the desperate money-printing
efforts of the Reichsbank, in the year of hyperinflation, 1923.
"Only an idiot still claims this is cyclical, still denies
that the whole financial system is coming down. Only an idiot
denies that this financial system has to be replaced with a new
credit system. My legislation, my solution, is central to this --
don't anyone say, `Here's an objective account of what's
happening, and we'll discuss the solution in another location.'
Without the solution, you're not presenting any `objective'
situation."
LaRouche's first step for Congress -- the HBPA "firewall" --
was being aggressively organized yesterday, and the result was a
lot more support: from the NJ State Senate president and eight
other officials at a municipal conference; from the Flint City
Council; and at the New Orleans League of Cities conference,
mayors and city councilmen "were lining up to sign for it." None
of the various wrong-way and sideways little proposals in
Congress have any serious public support around the country. As
one committee aide put it, speaking of the HBPA, "We can't even
get anywhere with our nickel-and-dime proposal!" Because it
solves nothing! It's a denial of the banking collapse.
We have below a lot of reports of our organizing's impact,
in moving major national and world developments: in Mexico, in
Colombia -- because of the process of "big project solutions"
which began in Moscow and Kiedrich -- in Denmark, in the United
States. Even the People's Bank of China statement whose report
briefly stopped the dollar plunge yesterday, was made because of
a question from EIR.
The strategic situation is extraordinarily dangerous --
leading Saudi figures yesterday told Le Figaro, essentially, "We
know an Iran attack is on," and developments in Russia and
Pakistan were hardly less foreboding for the potential dark age
the crumbling Cheney-Bush White House may be setting off.
LaRouche's solution -- now insisted on by him for four years --
is widely recognized as the only possible one: Impeach Cheney, or
the Iran war and further spread of war is unstoppable.
"Nancy Pelosi will be blamed" when that new war starts, if
it does, LaRouche emphasized yesterday. She has blocked the only
action that could block an Iran war. The Democratic leadership of
Congress is really between the pit and the pendulum now because
of Pelosi's and Hoyer's keeping every serious solution "off the
table" in service to Rohatyn, Shultz, et al. We have,
particularly with the mass leafletting of the 300,000 "dollar
crash" leaflets, the means of a breakthrough "from below," from
the states to burn the Congress and make them move, as Lyn laid
out the HBPA mobilization.

NEWS SUMMARY

- NEWS SUMMARIES -

- LaRouche -

NJ MUNI LEAGUE CONFERENCE SUPPORT FOR HBPA INCLUDES STATE
SENATE PRESIDENT, MANY OTHER ELECTED OFFICIALS (see Ops).

ABOUT 40 ELECTED OFFICIALS SIGN HBPA PETITION AT NATIONAL
LEAGUE OF CITIES CONFERENCE; city councilmen "lining up to sign
for it."

AFTER LAROUCHE CONFERENCE, MEXICAN CONGRESS APPROVES FIRST
FINANCING FOR PLHINO FEASIBILTY STUDY. Sonoran dailies carried
8-column front-page headlines Nov. 14, that Mexico's Congress
earmarked 30 million pesos for the PLHINO in the National Water
Committee's budget in 2008. Congressman Gustavo Mendivil A.,
from the Chamber of Deputies' Water Resources Committee, told the
press that the approval was the result of committments made at
the Nov. 9 forum on Water, Energy, Food and the PLHINO in Ciudad
Obregon, Sonora--which LaRouche's people organized.. The
allocation marks a first step towards a project with a vision for
the future, he said. Another Congressman, from the PRD, told the
Pro-PLHINO Committee leaders that although the amount is not as
much as they had sought, he views the 30 million as a floor, not
a ceiling for the PLHINO.

- Economics -

FED RESERVE IMITATES, UNDER DIFFERENT CONDITIONS, WEIMAR
MONEY PRINTING OF 1923, LAROUCHE SAYS. (see slug)

PEOPLE'S BANK OF CHINA RESPONDS TO EIR: DOLLAR IS OUR MAIN
RESERVE CURRENCY. (See slug)

DOUBLE WHAMMY: MORTGAGE CRISIS CUTS LOCAL REAL ESTATE TAX
RECEIPTS, AND EVAPORATES THE MONEY ON HAND. (See slug.)

FEDERAL JUDGE TO DEUTSCHE BANK: YOU CAN'T FORECLOSE ON
PROPERTIES YOU DON'T OWN. (See slug.)

GREEK MYTHOLOGY'S FURIES REVENGE THEMSELVES ON HEDGE FUND
CERBERUS (see slug).

THE HOUSING MARKET IS THE WORST SINCE THE GREAT DEPRESSION,
AND HOME-EQUITY LOSSES ARE LIKELY TO INCREASE IN THE 4TH QUARTER
AND WILL REMAIN "ELEVATED" THROUGH 2008, said Wells Fargo & Co.
CEO John Stumpf. Wells Fargo is the second-largest U.S. mortgage
lender. (Bloomberg.com)

CALIFORNIA HOME SALES LAST MONTH WERE AT THE LOWEST LEVEL
FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER IN MORE THAN 20 YEARS, according to real
estate research firm DataQuick Information Systems. Further,
October 2007 was the 25th consecutive month in which statewide
sales fell compared to the same month the previous year. One of
the key problems is that lenders have cut back on so-called
"jumbo loans" (greater than $417,000), since in the California
market, "homes are often valued in excess of $417,000"; according
to DataQuick, California home sales financed by jumbo loans
declined in October by more than half (compared with July) in
several of the state's biggest housing markets. (AP)

- United States -

WHO IS `BUZZY' KRONGARD? LIZ SYMONS ALLY IN HOAX AGAINST
LAROUCHE POPS UP AT CENTER OF BLACKWATER SCANDAL IN HOUSE HEARING
(see slug.

NEW STUDY: VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES CAUSE AGGRESSION (See slug)

HOUSE PANEL TOLD ATTACKING IRAN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS, BUT NOT
TOLD TO IMPEACH CHENEY TO PREVENT IT (see slug).

U.S. OFFICERS: WE HAVE TO REVIEW IRAQ STRATEGY (see slug).

- Ibero-America -

COLOMBIA'S POLITICIANS TRIP OVER THEMSELVES TO PROVE WHO IS
MORE FOR BUILDING INFRASTRUCTURE AFTER VOTER MANDATE FOR IT (See
slug).

- West Europe -

COVERAGE CONTINUES OF LAROUCHE SCHILLER INSTITUTE CANDIDATES
AFTER DANISH ELECTION (See slug).

IAEA ISSUES POSITIVE REPORT ON IRAN, BUT WITH ONE POISON
PILL THAT THE MEDIA IS ALREADY SPINNING (see slug).

THE SPREAD OF THE FRENCH STRIKES HAS FORCED SARKOZY TO
NEGOTIATE (see slug).

ONE GERMAN RAIL UNION STRIKES; ANOTHER TURNS AGAINST
PRIVATIZATION (See slug).

NON-INVESTMENTS COST ITALY 14.2 BILLION EURO (See slug).

- East Europe -

RUSSIAN AND BELARUSIAN OFFICERS ARE TALKING ABOUT PUTTING
SHORT-RANGE NUCLEAR MISSILES IN BELARUS, IN RESPONSE TO U.S. ABM
PLANS (see slug).

- Southwest Asia -

CONFIRMATION FROM SAUDI FIGURES--IRAN ATTACK BY CHENEY/BUSH
IS ON; LAROUCHE SAYS, `PELOSI WILL BE BLAMED' (See slug).

- Other Asia -

ALARMING PENTAGON STATEMENT POINTS TO WORSENING OF PAKISTAN
DESTABILIZATION (see slug).

PAKISTAN ARMY CRITICIZES U.S., REJECTS MILITARY SOLUTION OF
THE CRISIS IN THE TRIBAL AREAS (see slug).

LEADING DEVELOPMENTS

CONFIRMATION FROM SAUDI FIGURES--IRAN ATTACK BY CHENEY/BUSH IS
ON; LAROUCHE SAYS, `PELOSI WILL BE BLAMED'

Nov. 15, 2007 (LPAC)--Extraordinary comments from some leading
Saudi figures reported today in the French newspaper {Le Figaro}
indicate that these figures, including Saudi Prince Bandar, know
that an attack on Iran by the Cheney/Bush Administration is "on."
U.S. leaders Lyndon LaRouche, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, and
intelligence veteran Ray McGovern have all warned in recent days
that such an attack can be prevented only by impeachment action
against Vice President Cheney. LaRouche said today, in reference
to the {Le Figaro} report, "When an Iran War starts, Nancy Pelosi
will be blamed, because that attack is unstoppable without
impeachment against Cheney, and Pelosi has blocked impeachment
action."
"Riyadh Worried About an American Attack Against Iran," is
the title of a half page article in Le Figaro with the following
kicker: "Fearing retaliation from Teheran on its oil
installations, Saudi Arabia has made a rapprochement towards
Moscow, whom the Iranians listen to in this nuclear crisis."
After having supported dialogue, the Saudi officials seem
""resigned to the inevitability of the American war against
Iran," writes Le Figaro special envoy to Riyadh. ""We are coming
closer and closer to a confrontation," Abdel Mohsen Hakas, the
Saudi Minister of Social Affairs told Le Figaro. ""The tone of
George Bush makes us think that he has decided what he wanted to
do," says Prince Bandar's right-hand man, Rihad Massoud.
While the monarchy is officially opposed to a new conflict,
it will tacitly support it if it happens, because they fear the
growing Iranian influence, and especially because they fear the
Iranians would retaliate against their oil installations. ""If
the Iranians want to hurt the US, they will seek to block our oil
provision lines by attacking the terminal of Abqaia or the Ras Al
Tannoura refinery. "It is those fears which apparently have lead
to the extreme prudence of Saudi diplomacy on Iran. Even though
the French and the British are pressuring the Saudis to join
their move for increased sanctions against Teheran, the Iranians
are rather insisting on a possible success of the Russian
mediation. After Putin's visit, Prince Bandar went to Moscow and
bought a hundred helicopters.
"But," concludes this article citing Rihad Massoud, "the
Russians told us that the ambience in Teheran reminded them
strangely of the atmosphere in Baghdad in the months that
preceded the 2003 war." [pbg]

In Asymmetric Response to U.S. Missile-Defense Escalation, Russia
Talks About Placing Cruise Missiles in Belarus

Nov. 15, 2007 (LPAC)--Russian and Belarusian military commanders
have warned in the past two days that emplacement of Russian
short-range nuclear missiles, the 500-km "Iskander", could be an
asymmetric response to the U.S. forging ahead with anti-missile
(ABM) systems in Poland and the Czech Republic. Gen. Col.
Vladimir Zaritsky, commander of missile and artillery in Russia's
Ground Forces, said yesterday that such a deployment would be an
appropriate reaction to the U.S. moves, adding, "What the
Motherland needs will be done." In a separate statement, Gen.
Mikhail Puzikau, who holds the equivalent post in the Belarusian
Armed Forces, said that Minsk intends to purchase the Iskander in
its shorter-range export version, in any event.
As {Executive Intelligence Review} reported on June 15,
forward deployment of the Iskander has been under study for some
time, as a response to the strategic threat to Russia from the
planned systems in Eastern Europe. Russian President Vladimir
Putin, in coordination with former President George H.W. Bush,
former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and others, moved
earlier this year in negotiations at the Kennebunkport to shift
the ABM agenda away from such a showdown, towards joint
Russian-American cooperation on missile defense.
These statements from military men came as Russian Chief of
the General Staff Yuri Baluyevsky was in Brussels for discussions
with NATO chiefs of staff, on the ABM issue. And, last week,
several Russian Foreign Ministry officials warned that the United
States had not followed through in writing, on verbal proposals
made by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary
Robert Gates in Moscow last month, regarding the ABM issue. "We
have not received any clear explanations from our U.S. partners,"
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Nov. 7. The next day,
Russian Foreign Ministry North American Department chief Igor
Neverov said that Moscow wanted to see written proposals, before
the next working group meeting on BMD, late this month. A Russian
diplomatic source told {Nezavisimaya Gazeta} (Nov. 12 issue)
about concerns that "innovative and bold ideas" Gates and Rice
had shared, in furtherance of the Kennenbunkport process, would
be thrown out by others in Washington, who don't agree with them.
Lavrov and Deputy Premier Sergei Ivanov each had a meeting
with Kissinger in Moscow last week, where he was attending a
conference on the 200th anniversary of Russian-American
diplomatic relations. Kissinger also spoke by phone with Putin.
[RBD]

WHO IS `BUZZY' KRONGARD? WHAT'S UNREPORTED IS THE KEY TO THE
BLACKWATER/STATE DEPARTMENT SCANDAL

Nov. 15, 2007 (LPAC)--State Department Inspector General Howard
Krongard, supposedly in charge of overseeing Blackwater's
contracts and its private military contractors' conduct in Iraq,
was forced to admit to bipartisan outrage at the House Oversight
Committee yesterday, that his brother, A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard, is
a member of Blackwater's advisory board. Far more interesting, is
what the many press accounts of Howard Krongard's downfall, do
not include: Who is "Buzzy" Krongard?
A.B. Krongard, more than an advisory board member to
Blackwater, launched it into big-time private-war contracting.
"Buzzy" Krongard is now a principle of DLA Piper, the
London-based law firm closely associated with House of Lords
Baroness Liz Symons. Symons, Tony Blair's special Mideast
representative, was the key figure in concocting a long-running
hoax against U.S. economist and Democratic figure Lyndon
LaRouche, attempting to hype investigations or prosecutions
against LaRouche in Germany and Britain. That hoax has now
collapsed.
Before DLA Piper, "Buzzy" Krongard was a high CIA official
during DIA George Tenet's tenure, and from that position, "Buzzy"
Krongard launched Blackwater into its current status, arranging
its first major private security contract on the Iraq war. He had
also played a central role in the still-running arms-deals
scandal of the British BAE Systems, since he brought the Carlyle
Group together with BAE, thus inserting BAE into U.S. military
contracting on a very large scale.
State Department IG Howard Krongard came into yesterday's
hearing claiming he was "unaware" of any financial interest his
brother may have had in Blackwater, and "I do not believe it is
true that he is a member of the advisory board" as committee
chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) had asserted in his opening
statement. Even after being confronted with e-mails from
Blackwater chief Eric Prince inviting Buzzy Krongard onto the
board and later welcoming him to the board, Krongard said, "There
is nothing that suggests that my brother accepted" the
invitation.
The break came when Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) told
Krongard that his brother was, at that very moment, participating
in a conference in Williamsburg, Va., of Blackwater's advisory
board and that the committee staff had confirmed with the hotel
hosting the conference that he was, indeed, registered there.
After the committee returned from a recess for floor votes,
Krongard announced that he had called his brother, learned that
he had been at the Blackwater advisory board meeting, and
announced "I hereby recuse myself from any matters having to do
with Blackwater."
Amid general outrage, Rep. Steve Lynch (D-MA), whose
questioning of Krongard immediately followed, proposed that the
committee subpoena the more important Krongard in the scandal,
"Buzzy," to get him to testify on his conduct. [cjo]

MORE BANK PANIC: FED PUMPS $47 BILLION INTO BANKING SYSTEM TODAY

Nov. 15, 2007 (LPAC)--With the most recent big credit write-downs
and losses among the big banks coming from HSBC and Barclays, and
Citigroup now having to pay 2% above the Treasury interest rate
in order to borrow, the Federal Reserve made another huge
injection of short-term money into the banking system today. Once
again, the attempts in financial press to claim that "the worst
bank losses may be behind us," were swept away by the signs of
urgent need for Fed money-pumping.
"This a `free-fall' level of money printing," economist
Lyndon LaRouche commented of the Fed's actions. "This is an echo,
though under different circumstances, of the desperate
money-printing efforts of the Reichsbank in Weimar Germany,
during the hyperinflationary blow-out year of 1923."
According to Reuters, the Fed's $47.25 billion bail-out
injection today was the biggest since Sept. 19, 2001, after the
terror attacks, when markets were nearly in free-fall and
short-term lending rates were shooting upwards. Reuters reported
that overnight lending rates were rising again in recent days up
in both the United States and Europe. Citicorp had to pay the
highest interest rate in its history to issue a bond, 6.125%.
Big banks continued to report big losses. City of London
giant Barclays Bank took a write-down of $2.7 billion in
mortgage-based assets for the third quarter. HSBC, the biggest
bank in Europe, is writing off $38 million every day on average!
And the U.S. commercial paper market shrank again, for the
third consecutive week. [pbg]

ECONOMICS

PEOPLE'S BANK OF CHINA OFFICIAL RESPONDS TO EIR: DOLLAR IS OUR
MAIN RESERVE CURRENCY

Nov. 15, 2007 (LPAC)--In response to a question from EIR News
Service at a Nov. 14 Washington forum, regarding if and how the
drastic fall of the dollar was influencing the decisions of the
People's Bank of China (PBOC), PBOC assistant governor Yi Gang
reasserted the Bank's confidence in the dollar.
Yi Gang was speaking at a conference on "Monetary
Arrangements in the 21st Century" sponsored by the Friedmanite
Cato Institute, at which Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke had spoken
earlier in the day. Yi Gang said the dollar had to continue as a
key component of the country's $1.4 trillion reserves, because it
was "the largest currency that we use" in terms of trade and
foreign direct investment, as well as financial clearances and
settlements. "It is also a very firm policy for China that the
U.S. dollar will be the major currency in our reserves and that
policy is very firm."
Yi Gang also referred, without naming him, to the
much-publicized comments of National People's Congress Standing
Committee Chairman, Cheng Siwei, to the contrary by saying,
"There is some discussion or comment from, maybe, scholars, maybe
other persons in China in terms of `There is a huge amount of
adjustment of reserves.' I think that probably is opinion.... If
they want to express their opinion, that will be fine, we
consider it, we listen (to) it, but that does not change our
policy."
Yi did, however, say that the Bank would continue to
diversify to other currencies' holdings. "The point is, the
principle for our diversification and the principle that guides
us for these reserves, is that it should be proportional to our
real economic transactions--meaning trade, FDI (foreign direct
investment) and clearance and settlement."
Since the dollar issue, which had not previously been
touched upon in Yi Gang's own comments, was really the elephant
in the room at this conference which devoted much time to the
issue of the renminbi, it was picked up widely by the Chinese and
international press. [WCJ]

1929 `FLORIDA LAND BUBBLE' RETURNS: REAL ESTATE REVENUES FALL,
NOW OPERATING FUNDS BEING LOST IN THE HEDGES

Nov. 15, 2007 (LPAC)--{EIR} magazine reports in a forthcoming
feature article, that the collapse of the mortgage and housing
markets is depriving U.S. counties and municipalities of a major
source of income which funds public services. A second impact on
the counties and municipalities was reported today by
Bloomberg.com: The value of short-term investments which the
government units have made in mortgage-backed securities, is
rapidly evaporating.
Bloomberg, preparing an article on a number of states for
its magazine, reports that the Florida State Board of
Administration, which manages about $50 billion of short-term
investments for the state, school districts, and local
governments, holds $2.2 billion of debt that has been cut below
investment grade to junk. (Florida rules require the state's
short-term investments to only be top-rated, liquid securities,
so taxpayer funds aren't placed at risk.) The funds had been
invested in hedge-fund and similar vehicles issuing
mortgage-backed securities and related toxic issues of the
collapsing mortgage bubble.
Among the state's investments which have been downgraded
are: $400 million of Axon Financial Funding LLC debt, cut to junk
status by Standard & Poor's on Nov. 9; $850 million of KKR
Atlantic Funding Trust, cut to default by Fitch last month; $577
million of KKR Pacific Funding Trust debt, cut by Fitch to
default last month; and $319 million of debt issued by Ottimo
Funding Ltd., cut to default by S&P on Nov. 9.
Part of the $50 billion in Florida government-unit
investments, is a $27.3 billion Local Government Investment Pool,
suffering "client outflows" or withdrawals. Drexel University
finance professor Joseph Mason, formerly an economist at
Treasury, is quoted by Bloomberg that the nearly 1,000 Florida
school districts, cities, and counties invested in the LGIP fund,
now informed of its downgraded debt, will be tempted to pull
money out, and "This sets up the danger for a run on the bank."
Florida is not alone in this problem. Bloomberg's magazine
article is to report on the purchase of subprime-tainted debt by
public money managers in Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Montana,
and Washington. Two examples given today are Washington state's
King County (where Seattle is located), which Fitch Ratings last
month said may have its rating lowered on $1.5 billion of bonds
because of debt investments affected by rising defaults on U.S.
home mortgages; and Connecticut, where a state fund that invests
cash for more than 300 state agencies and municipalities was
holding $100 million of defaulted debt sold by a structured
investment vehicle as of last month, according to an official
there. (GRC)


Federal Judge to Deutsche Bank: You Can't Foreclose Properties
You Don't Own

Nov. 15, 2007 (LPAC)--Cleveland Federal judge Christopher A.
Boyko on Oct. 31 dismissed 14 home-foreclosure cases brought by
Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. on behalf of mortgage investors
for whom the bank is the trustee for mortgage-securitization
pools. The judge ruled that the investors had failed to prove
that they owned the properties they were trying to seize, the
{New York Times} reported.
The problem, Judge Boyko says in his ruling, is that in each
complaint initiating the foreclosure lawsuit, "the named
Plaintiff alleges it is the holder and owner of the Note and
Mortgage," but the attached Note and Mortgage identify the
mortgage-creditor as "the original lending institution--one other
than the named Plaintiff." Further, the Plaintiff is not listed
in the "recorded chain of title/interest" maintained by local
government about properties. The ruling notes that Ohio law
requires contracts and transactions concerning real estate to be
in writing, and that when a mortgage is assigned (transferred to
a new owner), the assignment is subject to recording
requirements.
Lawyers for Deutsche Bank supplied documents showing only an
intent to convey the rights in the mortgages, rather than proof
of ownership as of the date they moved to seize the home.
As the {New York Times} article explains, "The process of
putting together a mortgage pool begins when a home loan is
originated by a bank or mortgage lender. That loan is typically
sold to a Wall Street firm that pools it with thousands of
others. Once a pool is packaged, it is sold to investors in
different slices, based on risk. A trustee bank oversees the
pool's operations, ensuring that payments made by borrowers go to
the appropriate investors." However, "When a loan goes into a
securitization, the mortgage note is not sent to the trust.
Instead, it shows up as a data transfer with the physical note
being kept at a separate document repository company. Such
practices keep the process fast and cheap."
Thousands of foreclosures may be implicated in this
important case. Deutsche Bank is one of the nation's top real
estate subprime lenders and foreclosers. A survey released by New
York State Sen. Jeffrey D. Klein on Aug. 27 showed Deutsche Bank
to be one of the top three banks which hold the subprime mortgage
notes on foreclosed properties in New York City, and during the
13 months of July 2006 through July 2007, it filed 2999
foreclosure actions.
And a Nov. 5 report by the BBC on Cleveland as the subprime
capital of the U.S., where "one in ten homes in the city is now
vacant, and whole neighborhoods have been blighted by foreclosed,
vandalized, and boarded-up homes," many of which are now owned by
banks and investment pools, said that "the company making the
most foreclosures in Cleveland is Deutsche Bank Trust, which acts
on behalf of the investment pools." An interactive graphic on the
article available on BBC's website (at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7070935.stm) shows the
locations in Cleveland of (a) black residents, (b) sub-prime
lending on properties, (c) foreclosures, and (d) Deutsche Bank
properties. All four parameters show a heavy concentration in an
arc in the eastern part of the city; the subprime, foreclosures,
and Deutsche Bank factors also coincide in the southwest portion
of the city.
The lack of physical possession of the mortgage notes, as
several attorneys point out in the {Times} article, raises the
issue of who really owns the note which lies behind the
securities, and whether the note has {really} been transferred
and assigned to the securitization trust. Another issue, with
staggering implications, is raised by a mortgage securities
specialist at a New York research firm: "I have heard of
instances where the same loan is in two or three pools." (grc)

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