Despite the media's attempts to convince us that the financial crisis is over, this week saw the following developments:

• The bankruptcy of Australia's 7^th largest hedge fund, Basis Capital's Yield Alpha Fund. Losses exceed 80%.
• The troubled Bank of Adelaide raising interest rates further than the official Reserve bank rise; it is reported they have been reducing low-documentation loans from 35% of their loan book down to 25%.
• Australia's Absolute warning that losses at their two suspended hedge funds will be larger than expected.
• The resignations of key managers and traders at the Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays. The Bank of England pouring $3.2 billion into Barclays to help it bail out one of its hedge funds.
• The Wall Street Journal screaming about the possibility of a New Bretton Woods involving Russia, China and India, amongst other nations.
• Moody's warning another big hedge fund is about to collapse.
• Standard & Poors warning that profits of the big Wall Street and City of London investment banks will collapse by 70% in the second half of the year if the credit crunch continues.
• Two major German "conduit" funds announcing they will soon shut down.
• U.S. Fed chief, Bernanke, announcing the Fed is ready to intervene again, to save the markets, if necessary.
• The U.S. National Association of Homebuyers reporting that the average rate of sales decline in the past three months is 62%. Many cancellations and delays of sales were caused by banks failing to deliver pre-approved mortgage financing.
• The suspension of the German constitution last weekend, in order to sell the troubled Sachsen LB bank. The bank would not have survived until Monday when the parliament could okay the sale.
• The Bush family-linked Carlyle Group warning that the liquidity crisis is significantly worse than 1998 when the LTCM hedge fund collapsed.
• London-based hedge fund, Cheyne Finance PLC, reporting a loss of $92 million; it may be forced to liquidate some of its $20 billion assets.
• Foreclosures in Manhattan are reported as up 1000% over the last five months.
• Several banks across the world are reported as having trouble due to their massive holdings of Asset Backed Commercial Paper (ABCP).
• Warnings emerge that the U.K. housing bubble, worse than that of the U.S., is going to burst.

LaRouche's Homeowners and Bank Protection Act is rapidly gaining support across the United States. It is absolutely conceivable that this could pass at not only the state, but also the federal level, very soon. LaRouche sees this legislation as the foot in the door to his approach of putting people ahead of the banks as the system crashes, and hence the stepping stone to a New Bretton Woods.

We need you to circulate the flyer detailing this legislation, and why Australia desperately needs it too, to all local officials and elected representatives, in conjunction with the latest Sept-Oct New Citizen. Please click on the link below to obtain a PDF for printing so you can make copies, or call the CEC on 1800 636 432 to order copies if you are not able to do so.

http://cec.cecaust.com.au/hbpa