A Sacramento mortgage lender's vision

General Motors is now openly seeking emergency Government assistance, saying "[it] may not have enough cash to keep operating this year and will fall ``significantly short'' of the amount needed by the end of June unless the auto market improves or it raises more capital".

Land America and Fidelity National title announced a merger today to the tune of 128 million. This deal would consolidate a combined market share of 46% of all nationwide transactions. The real estate industry greets this with a collective sigh...title and escrow orders on REO (bank owned) transactions have been slow, mistake prone and badly affected by poor customer service. One wonders if the inevitable layoffs resulting from this merger will help the situation.

Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffet's investment vehicle posted a 4th straight consecutive decline...this time a 77% decline in profits.  I mentioned earlier that Buffet has been running around making all sorts of investments...28 billion this year so far. If you consider his impressive track record this is no surprise at all...Buffet seems to thrive in down markets.Can we expect anything less from the guy who owned land when he was 11, made millionaire in his 20's and bought the Washington Post in his 30's, the paper he delivered as a child.

In other news, Barrack Obama showed some restraint by not jumping fully into the economy issue, and instead vowed to push an economic stimulus package through Congress  "immediately after'' taking office in January if lawmakers and the Bush administration can't agree on one before then. This comes on the dismal news that U.S. unemployment rate for October rose to the highest level since 1994 as companies slashed payrolls...to 6.5% from 6.1% (September). It seems that Obama has inherited quite the red headed stepchild. We need a FDR style leader to get us out of this jam- Obama has shown his charisma and political savvy, but can he lead? The jury is out....