Odds ‘n Sods:

Thanks to RBS for sending this: U.S. Home Foreclosures Soar in August, Up 36 Percent From July, and Prepare for prolonged turmoil, says US Treasury Secretary. A comment from RBS: “Once again, we have to go aboard to get any [substantive] economic news.”

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Chuck, Joe, and Nathaniel all forwarded us this one: Fears of dollar collapse as Saudis take fright. The article begins: “Saudi Arabia has refused to cut interest rates in lockstep with the US Federal Reserve for the first time, signaling that the oil-rich Gulf kingdom is preparing to break the dollar currency peg in a move that risks setting off a stampede out of the dollar across the Middle East”

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From eFinance.com (by way of SHTF Daily): National Association of Realtors Admits to Initiating Bush’s Mortgage Bailout Plan

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Countrytek recommended this set of web posts from someone that housed 30 refugees in the days following Hurricane Katrina. It has some interesting “lessons learned.”