Since, s-Corp revenue is generated via service of the sole shareholders, you will highly unlikely that you will save on SE taxes. 

But, I'm also not sure what to make of the business model at this point:$45M losses on 414 houses sold before the pending downturn would certainly make me nervous as a shareholder (I am not a shareholder and don't plan to be...ever)I wonder what they attribute losses to - poor market, poor developer choices, both, other?

Basically, you are a shareholder of the trust, not a gold holder.As such, GLD shares represent a paper claim on gold, not gold itself.

To what extent will the parties be free to carry on other businesseswhile the joint venture subsistsif one party pulls outIs it intended that spouses/partners should also be shareholders, to allow for tax advantages from a broader split of dividends?

Meanwhile the borrower games the system, collects rent without paying the loan, and the "loss" is suffered by the shareholders of the lending institution, and ultimately by the tax payers who are responsible for the FDIC bailing out the banks, or the larger bailouts of 2009.

S-Corp financials are no different than those of a C-Corp.There are some "internal" schedules that need to be maintained in order to track the shareholders' basis, but this does not affect the reporting to external users of the reports.

., finding value in undervalued issues that return capital to shareholders).

It makes little sense to tax the corporation on profits and then tax the shareholders when that profit is distributed.

S-Corps do not allow foreign shareholders.

There is waste in the private sector clients as well, but that waste is self correcting, all it takes is a manager who is also a shareholder to see inefficient, and redundant systems costing them out of their annual dividends and the problem is corrected.