November 30, 2007 (LPAC)--On hearing the results of the bankers' pow-wow with Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson yesterday, Lyndon LaRouche commented, "They never learn." Paulson met with Citigroup, Wells Fargo and other bankers, according to the Wall St. Journal, to negotiate a "temporary freeze" of interest rate increases on "certain troubled loans."

Wayne Abernathy of the American Bankers Association said of the meeting, "One of the roles of Treasury is to say 'come on, let's get together and see what we can do.'" LaRouche asked, "Who's holding the pistol to his temple?"

Yesterday the city council of Philadelphia joined with a dozen other cities in endorsing the only solution on the table, LaRouche's Homeowners and Bank Protection Act, the HBPA. Scurrying for some solution of their own, the banks are scared to death of widespread "reverse leveraging". Whenever even one foreclosure appears on any residential block, the home values of the entire surrounding neighborhood begin to collapse.

According to RealtyTrac, foreclosures rose sharply to about 55,000 in October, up 35% over September, and triple those of October, 2006.