NAHB - "Remodeling Activity Declines In Second Quarter, Consistent With Overall Housing Downswing" (8-6-07)

"Remodeling activity slowed slightly in the second quarter of 2007, according to the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) Remodeling Market Index (RMI). The current market conditions component slipped from 46.1 to 44.8 on a seasonally adjusted basis and the future expectations measure declined by more than two points to 44.1. The RMI measures remodeler perceptions of market demand for current and future residential remodeling projects. Any number over 50 indicates that the majority of remodelers view the market conditions as improving."

Los Angeles Times - "Cramer: 'Bernanke has no idea!'" (8-6-07)

"'Bernanke needs to open the discount window. That's how bad things are out there ... Alan Greenspan told everybody to take a teaser rate and then raised the rates 17 times! And Bernanke is being an academic! It is no time to be an academic... He has no idea how bad it is out there. He has no idea! He has no idea! ... And Bill Poole (president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis)? Has no idea what it's like out there! My people have been in this game for 25 years. And they are losing their jobs and these firms are going to go out of business, and he's nuts! They're nuts! They know nothing! ... The Fed is asleep! Bill Poole is a shame! He's shameful!! ... We have Armageddon. In the fixed income markets, we have Armageddon ... We'll spend billions in Iraq to build homes. We are gonna have thousands of people -- we have thousands of people losing their homes right now. Fourteen million people took a mortgage in the last three years. Seven million of them took teaser rates or took piggy back rates. They will lose their homes. This is crazy!'"

Real Estate Journal - "Tightening Standards May Worsen Slump" (8-6-07)

"Jittery home-mortgage lenders are cutting off credit or raising interest rates for a growing portion of Americans, extending well beyond the market for subprime loans for people with the weakest credit records. This worsening credit crunch threatens to put further pressure on the housing market, where prices are flat to declining in much of the country."