Bits Bucket For October 24, 2010
Post off-topic ideas, links and Craigslist finds here
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
To donate by mail, or to otherwise contact this blogger, please send emails to: thehousingbubble@gmail.com
PayPal is a secure online payment method which accepts ALL major credit cards.
Links
-
November 2024 M T W T F S S « Sep 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Photo Submission: hbbphotos@gmail.com
View the HBB Photo Gallery *updated 4/13/2008
Slipped on a log down by the river yesterday, fell
down slope about 10 feet and shattered my calcaneus
bone in my right foot. Drugs have a new meaning for
me this morning and the coffee is great. Enjoy.
Sorry to hear that.
‘President Barack Obama says consumers would lose if Republicans regain power in Congress and try to roll back his hard-won Wall Street overhaul. He says the GOP’s promised repeal of the law would mean the return of a financial system whose near-collapse led to the worst recession since the Depression…The financial overhaul law came in the wake of a $700 billion bank rescue passed in the final months of George W. Bush’s presidency. While the bailout is credited with providing stability, it’s deeply unpopular with voters angry of taxpayer money being used to help prop up huge banks.’
‘Obama’s address came less than two weeks before elections in which Republicans have a good chance of taking over the House, if not the Senate. The financial regulation measure hasn’t been a central campaign issue.’
‘Without sound oversight and commonsense protections for consumers, the whole economy is put in jeopardy,’ Obama said’
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Obama-Consumers-lose-if-apf-1043447495.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=3&asset=&ccode=
No mention of the ‘consumers’ of housing from either side, or what got us here in the first place.
“No mention of ‘consumers’ of housing from either side, or what got us here in the first palce.”
Obama’s message wasn’t meant to inform, it was meant to persuade.
This persuades me (from the article):
“The law passed despite nearly unanimous Republican opposition.
House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio has called for a repeal, as have top Senate Republicans. ”
–
So the solution is less regulation of Wall Street? Will that work as well as the repeal of Glass Steagall?
‘less regulation of Wall Street’
I’m no fan of the republican party, but let’s not pretend this ‘financial overhaul’ reined in wall street. Don’t forget that it placed MORE power at the Federal Reserve, which is owned by…
ta-da - Wall Street!
Here’s a question; certainly some laws applicable to WS were broken during the bubble. Why weren’t those people sent to jail the past couple of years? What good is regulation if it isn’t enforced? IMO, seeing a few big shots handcuffed and off to prison would have accomplished much more than this so called overhaul.
Oh yeah, The Big Short author told us it would stifle ‘innovation’ if we put criminals in jail.
My mother reports that I was very “innovative” as a child. She does not mean that it was good.
And we continue on our merry way….chastising Republicans and Democrats at every turn.
Has either party called for a reinstatement of something similar to Glass-Steagal? No. I hope you’re not surprised.
The Political Class has YOU by the short hairs, everyone. Why are you letting them get away with it?
Or is it that you are a member of that class yourself, and that’s why you’re mum?
Rich people rarely got to jail because the politicains want some of thier money.So like usual they get fines.Mr angelo was saved from a cell with bubba in the tune of 64 million.What did he actually profit?
“Oh yeah, The Big Short author told us it would stifle ‘innovation’ if we put criminals in jail.”
What kind of ‘innovation’? More sophisticated financial engineering to cover up financial fraud, I would guess…
I don’t think the financial overhaul reined in Wall Street. But it’s a step in the right direction, as opposed to lessening oversight, which is what some want to do. Thus far, lessening oversight has proven to be a disaster, no?
Why has no one gone to jail? We’re still in the early innings, so I wouldn’t rule it out. A good way for it to happen, would be for us to demand the banks show the notes on the real estate they are trying to foreclose. If they don’t hold them, then let’s investigate why and how that happened, how many were improperly foreclosed, and if any laws were broken in the process (I’ll bet many were). At the very least, they’ll get their pants sued off.
And once you get some federal and state prosecutors nosing around, you never know what you might find.
If we let them sweep it under the rug, then we’re giving them another free pass.
If we want to prosecute them, we can’t keep letting them disobey the law.
“how many were improperly foreclosed, and if any laws were broken in the process (I’ll bet many were).”
Their mis-direction/sleight of hand appears to be working.
The interesting place that we should be looking for broken laws is in the period of the CREATION of the bubble—e.g. loose underwriting, knowingly not to purported standards, sold down-river for a fee. That was criminal.
The foreclosure mess is an unfortunate side-effect of sloppy business practices, but it is a side-show.
Do not be distracted from the main event.
Their mis-direction/sleight of hand appears to be working.
So unless we allow the banksters to break the law now, we won’t be able to bust the people who broke the law earlier? The truth is just the opposite.
Remember, watergate started out as a ‘third-rate burglary’, but it brought down some big fish, once it started being investigated.
When Mozilo made around 600 million total but only paid a fine of 64 million with no jail time that tells everyone that you can buy Justice .For God Sakes Mozilo was a Kingpin of bogus loans and Pump and Dump stock games . Mozilo screwed so many people on his way out,including his own employees . His excuse was he was just trying to put people into houses .If they don’t get the Orange Man they aren’t going to get anybody high up .
For that matter Hank Paulson our ex Treasury Sec. made close to 1/2 billion in about a 10 year span of time while he
was a Kingpin at Goldmans .This is the guy,carrying a big gun, that was in charge of the Tarp bailout Plan and he
was the creator of Good Bank /Bad Bank BS ,FIRE FIRE , lets just go ahead and relieve the Banks of their Bad Bank activity
with loans .This was the biggest Obstruction of Justice move in history as well as a way to avoid “Discovery “. And our wonderful Politicians were more than willing to go along with this lack of investigation of this mess and give money without requirements while granting Paulson immunity from his acts .
Those stupid Congressional hearings were nothing but a Kangaroo Court in which they lined up CEO’s from Major Banks and Investment Houses and let them spin their defenses
that “We didn’t see it Coming “,which was just a PR campaign
to suggest that the meltdown was just some out of the blue event that had nothing to do with the way they were fleecing
the World with their money games and fraudulent way of doing business .
You got about 200 CEO’s and Kingpin Executives that are most responsible along with the chain below them that all enriched themselves with this ill-gotten gain that some like to call a outright Ponzi-scheme .
Did we get good financial reform this last round ….hell no …
the Casino is still alive and kicking and the Kingpins are out golfing while our Society is hurting badddddddddddddddd.
‘So unless we allow the banksters to break the law now, we won’t be able to bust the people who broke the law earlier?’
I just don’t follow this at all. I haven’t heard anyone in the govt. say ‘this trail of sloppy paperwork is the break we’ve been looking for in the housing bubble lending crimes.’ As a matter of fact, we’ve been introduced to a new theme by the PTB that foreclosures are the only way the housing market, and thus the economy, can possibly heal.
I do like the idea of impeachment, though. Why has the white house helped protect wall street? What are they gaining by handing regulation off to these guys, via the Federal Reserve, after everything that’s happened? Surely they know who owns the stock in the Fed.
Oh, and what about this ‘middle class’ and ‘main street’ they go on about? I remember when affordable housing was sorta desirable.
‘You got about 200 CEO’s and Kingpin Executives that are most responsible along with the chain below them that all enriched themselves with this ill-gotten gain that some like to call a outright Ponzi-scheme. Did we get good financial reform this last round ….hell no’
This is what I was pointing at, mentioning regulation and enforcement. I listen to politicians go back and forth; ‘regulation - free markets.’ Neither system works if you don’t put people in jail when they commit crimes!
Why do we even have laws? Not just to punish criminals, but to discourage similar behavior in the future. If we saw some of these super-wealthy CEOs locked up and stripped of their millions, that would do more to reform wall street than just about anything.
If Democrats wanted to reform Wall Street, they would have let the fraudsters fail. By suspending mark 2 market accounting, they are actively aiding and abetting fraud.
The Republications solution to all of this — give the fraudsters tax cuts.
Both sides suck.
The Fed sucks even more. It’s robbing pensioners to save the fraudsters. That’s after ruining millions of households using interest rates as bait and houses as traps. And its at it again — printing more money to induce households to save the fraudsters.
If the paperwork wasn’t there, and the robo-signers were hired and told to just sign it anyway- that’s a crime. Who told them to do so, and why? How high up the chain was this known? Those are some simple crimes that robo-signing brings up. Once you start sweating a white-collar criminal, they will almost invariably spill anything else they know, if it will keep them out of the pen. (These aren’t mafiosi who must fear for their lives if they ’squeal’.)
Once they start talking, who knows where it will go? The robo-signing fraud itself may go to the top. That’s how we’ll get those 200 kingpins.
Just saying they were jerks who cashed in on a bubble, and got bailed out when it popped- well, that in itself isn’t illegal. We’ve got to find what they did that was actually against the law. The robo-signing fraud seems like an awfully good way to do this. I welcome suggestions about any other actual crimes we can investigate them for, but we’ve got a nice, juicy one right here. Let’s use it.
‘I welcome suggestions about any other actual crimes we can investigate’
That’s easy; giving ’special’ loans to senators/reps, some of whom were in charge of overseeing regulators.
BTW, there were criminal investigations of Fannie Mae back in 2004, that just disappeared. We could reopen those.
I agree. Let’s investigate bribery of congressmen. And let’s investigate any crimes concerning Fannie and Freddie. Let’s investigate everybody that broke the law, and bust as many as possible.
To paraphrase the old bull talking to the young bull, “Let’s not run down there and bust a few, let’s walk down there, and bust them all”.
“If we saw some of these super-wealthy CEOs locked up and stripped of their millions, that would do more to reform wall street than just about anything.”
When… when…. when…. FAWKIN WHEN MY FRIENDS?
When will the average wage slave stop pandering for these thugs and demand this? Take it too the streets/hang them from the light pole social justice…..
But no…. they’re convinced by special interests that “we need rich people” and proceed to pander for them even though doing so results in their financial demise.
I’m no fan of the republican party, but let’s not pretend this ‘financial overhaul’ reined in wall street. Don’t forget that it placed MORE power at the Federal Reserve, which is owned by…
ta-da - Wall Street!
A Newsweek article (September 6, 2010, p28) entitled “Obama’s Old Deal”, states that financial reform is essentially toothless and even Volcker expressed dismay at it.
Volcker also talks about “financial innovation”. His position is that the only innovation that has benefitted the economy is the introduction of the ATM.
Regarding why there have been no criminal investigations, the article states this is “Nor has the Justice Department launched prosecutions as it did after the S&L crisis or during the insider-trading scandals of the ’80s when Michael Milken and Ivan Boesky were led off in handcuffs (One problem this time around, lawyers say, is that virtually everyone[emphasis theirs] was complicit in the subprime-mortgage scam).
“The Political Class has YOU by the short hairs, everyone. Why are you letting them get away with it?”
Do you have some kind of easy fix in mind? If so, please share.
FDIC and Bankrupt Bank of America. The FDIC is now at issue on how to handle the “insolvent” Bank of America. Bank of America which assumed Countrywide garbarged loans has now no where to hide. The taxpayers will back the FDIC and the games will continue.If not, does the FDIC have enough to hold this insolvency together? It’s going be tested big time now!
No one said the fix was easy, PB. In fact, the fix that was made took several decades of treachery to master.
A good start would be to disallow any lawyers from practicing law while holding public office (say from the position of governor on up).
Buying a house used to be easy as falling off a log. Which hurts more?
Talked with a couple yesterday who were in thier 70s. They said, “Obama is mesmerizing and charismatic just like Hitler was”. You could clearly see the anger which stemmed from hope and change.
So…if you’re mesmerizing and charismatic, then you’re like Hitler? Great logic. Where would Churchill, or Jesus, or Martin Luther King fit into that theory?
And if he’s so mesmerizing and charismatic, why is his approval in the dumps, and his party about to lose in the mid-term elections?
Mesmerizing?
Obama is a good public speaker and appears to be the extent of his administration.
+1
“Obama is a good public speaker”
As long as the……….. teleprompter is working……….. correctly.
The 70 years olds I talk to are all afraid that Obama is going to mess with their Medicare and Social Security. They want Obama to keep his hands out of their entitlement programs.
Most are probably Repubs, too. Gotta love the hypocrisy.
My observation over the last few years is that the people with the most patriotic stickers and flags on their car or wherever are those who are receiving some entitlement or benefit from the federal governmen.
I believe the people who are providing the tax base are too busy to wave the flag and seem to have more of a mindset of surviving and maintaining the reality of keeping the country running at least from their or their family’s role.
What is it with Americans? Every time we see a “charismatic” chummy and well spoken person, they have “leadership qualities”.
I often wondered what charisma was. What was this elusive strange ability a few folks had over others? Turns out that in large part, it is the ability to tell an outright lie and demonstrate none of the usual tells which signal the sheeple they are being lied to…
I personally want my government leaders to be educated, smart and incredibly dull speakers.
I remember a neighbor talking about Obama back when the campaign was on. They described him as a “great speaker… he was soo charismatic!”. I disliked him from the start for the same reason. Don’t worry though, I did not like the guy before or the competition. And Sarah Palin? I have heard Obama dotes on her. She is such a right wing religious nutter he just might stand a chance in the next election.
Talked with a couple today in church who were in thier 70s. They said, “Obama is mesmerizing and charismatic just like Jesus was”. You could clearly see the love which stemmed from doing the right thing for the least among us.
You could clearly see the love which stemmed from doing the right thing for the least among us.
Cheney-SAhrub Legacy #43: “Hey, don’t worry, be happy!,…here’s your $600.00 gov’t rebate…see how generous us repubican’s are to ya’all.”
Unfair to compare Obama to Hitler.
Hitler lowered unemployed in his 1st two years.
We revere Hitler here in Ga.
This is true Georgiaboy.
“No mention of the ‘consumers’ of housing from either side, or what got us here in the first place.”
I didn`t think they were consumers, I thought they were victims of the evil banksters that sold them a product they didn`t understand and now want to kick these poor families out of their homes further depressing home values.
+1
The poor banks!!! We need them! We need rich people!!
You haters are laughable. Keep hatin’…. keep hatin’.
The Obloviator needs another trip to Northern Ohio to jar him back out of reality. He can tell us again how many hundreds of thousands of jobs he saved. Right after that he can trip down memory lane and check out Steelyards Common; no more steel plants (one was shipped out to China), been replaced with Wallchina &Friends. The Ghetto Belt tour might even bring back misty eyed memories of his acorn days. He’ll find us still here, waitin’ for the next leg down in housing. Memories. Maybe these will be the good old days. Sure to be for somebody. Wish I knew who they are.
In Elizabeth Warren We Trust.
I, um, hope.
Even if she is the real deal, how is she going to exercise power under the thumb of the Fed, which in turn is under the thumb of Megabank, Inc. Good luck with that plan!
Rancher
I second Ben’s “sorry to hear that”. I hope you mend quickly and completely.
Right foot. I’m screwed…laughing
Thanks for the thoughts Wipeout and Dave
Time wounds all heels. (just kidding- hope your heel heals in a hurry)
Sorry about your mishap, and well wishes for a speedy recovery. If it is any comfort, broken bones tend to heal faster than soft tissue injuries (and I speak from experience!).
Them logs are dangerous critters. I had to be extra careful on my Friday hike crossing some streams “Robin Hood” style on downed logs. Fortunately there was no Little John coming the other way.
There was a high of around 60 deg. in Stanley when I went hiking on Friday - the last “nice” day of the season according to the forecasts.
Here’s the current “warning” for central Idaho from the national weather service.
…WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM MDT MONDAY ABOVE 7000 FEET…
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN POCATELLO HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING ABOVE 7000 FEET FOR HEAVY SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM MDT MONDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.
* SNOW ACCUMULATIONS: 8 TO 14 INCHES
* ELEVATION: ABOVE 7000 FEET.
* TIMING: SUNDAY MORNING THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT
* LOCATIONS INCLUDE: GALENA SUMMIT…SMILEY CREEK LODGE… COPPER BASIN
* WINDS: SOUTHWEST AT 30 TO 40 MPH AT RIDGE LINES
* IMPACTS: HEAVY SNOW…LOW VISIBILITY…BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW WILL RESULT IN DIFFICULT DRIVING AND HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS FOR OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES
Dang…and it’s only the end of October.
“Dang…and it’s only the end of October.”
Whoa DennisN…Not sooo cotton picking fast there!
I have an ample supply of treats for all of the tiny goblins and munchkins cause October AIN’T over until they’ve had their small downtown parade plus kid festivities and then made their evening Halloween Raid through the leaves in the neighborhood.
Sheesh, some peoples adult children forget the Great Things in Life!
I feel your pain, Rancher. I’ve been in a boot cast for the last 8 weeks, tendon repair surgery. Rent a ‘roll-about’ until you’re weight bearing again. It’s a lot easier to get around with than crutches.
Good idea and thanks, with the exception that the
thought of using a wheel chair is coming a lot earlier in life than I’d anticipated.
I don’t think it’s a wheelchair exactly…it’s a deal you rest your knee on and push around like a scooter. Not too good on a ranch, I imagine.
Sorry to hear that Rancher. Get well soon.
Sheesh, Rancher.
Some folks will do ANYTHING to get out of stacking firewood….
Heal quickly.
Very sorry to hear it, Rancher… Hope it heals quickly.
PB is right above that a break often results in faster and more complete healing that soft-tissue injuries, which sometimes never do heal up right (and yes, I know this from personal experience).
Thank you all for your kind thoughts. I can’t even
pronounce some of this junk I’m supposed to take.
For quite a long time Obama’s rhetoric was that we needed to pass health-care in order to save the economy. He dropped that sometime in the last year.
He will say anything, mostly they are just words with no coherent meaning.
I’m still dumbfounded that we voted him in based on change? Hope and change???? There’s a plan with some deep meaning.
“He will say anything, mostly they are just words with no coherent meaning.”
Whatever works.
Winning elections is everything because the winner gets all. There is no prize for second place.
Don’t expect to get the truth from a guy whose livelyhood depends on persuasion, whether he is selling a car a house a mortgage, or is selling himself.
Words are tools persuaders use and these guys spend a lot of time and money searching out the right words to use.
One of my favorite set of words is “cash out your home equity”, as if the equity is just sitting there in the house doing nothing.
“Cash out you equity and put it to work for you and get a twenty percent-or-so return. If a person’s home equity is not fully cashed out then he is not managing his money properly.”
“It was my equity I cashed out. I don’t see why I should have to give it back.”
we approve of that logic…..
“Whatever works.Winning elections is everything because the winner gets all. There is no prize for second place.Words are tools persuaders use and these guys spend a lot of time and money searching out the right words to use.”
I guess that means all of us, especially the middle class should play by these rules. Where does it end? How about the American public start taking a more active role in their future with action rather than whining like little spoiled kids.
I’m still dumbfounded that we voted him in ??
The alternative was unconscionable…
I voted for Obama because I thought along with him we were going to get Volcker.
Silly me.
A lot of people voted for obama because the thought of palin being in office scraed the sh@t out of people.I like mccain but somone really screwed up getting her on the ticket.
I wrote in Ron Paul because unlike Volcker, Ron Paul is an outsider who is an expert on Austrian economics and has consistently voted based on Austrian economics.
But I do think Obama is better than George W. Bush only on the issue of separation of church and state. I’m scared of the Christian Taliban and they have taken over the Tea Party.
The worm is turning were is the overman!
I disagree.
As horrific as McCain would’ve been, Obama was predictably worse.
There was a variety of material printed before the election in 2007 and 2008 that detailed who and what Obama really was. Alas, much of that material was printed in the Midwest - flyover country as far as anyone with any real intelligence is concerned.
You dug your own hole listening to elitists within the Political Class. If you think you are suffering unduly, blame yourself.
Pedigree does not make one intelligent, honorable or respectable. That’s artifice, not reality. Apparently, millions of Americans need to learn that lesson. Hopefully, they’ll learn it one way or another before they destroy the country.
Literally.
The nation spoke overwhelmingly in favor of Mr. Obama despite the dispicable, hateful lies of ilk like you.
Deal with it.
Correct - and look what has happened. There is much buyer remorse out there.
Deal with it. 50 million people suddenly are much more aware of the sham that is Progressivism. It’s a lesson most will remember the rest of their lives.
Nope. We 80 million liberals and progressives are in fact quite please with him.
Nice try though.
The Repubs voted against, and defeated, ending tax breaks for offshoring jobs in October. (you can Google it)
Yeah, those are the guys I want running things.
McCAin already proved himself a lapdog
Google Keating 5
Quote of the month:
“Obama is a stupid person’s idea of a smart person.”
Compared to “Mission Accomplished?”
Quote of the Month:
“Stupid people vote on personalities and undefined platitudes, smart people vote on public policy issues… and Obama speaks to those public policy issues”
Those meds have already warped your mind, Rancher.
we had a progressive democrat that didn’t want to admint his progressive agenda
vs
a progressive republican that didn’t want to admit his progressive agenda
i think we are better off with Obama because the anti-progressive sentiment that his more radical government has created a responsive movement that has made the size and cost of big intrusive govt a front burner issue.
today we are better positioned to move towards more freedom and lest govt then if Obama had lost.
created a responsive movement that has made the size and cost of big intrusive govt a front burner issue.
I have yet to hear anyone protesting that Medicare and Social Security need to be downsized.
Here you will read it instead of hearing it then.
Medicare and Social Security need to be downsized.
There.
Good point, Charlie. I stand corrected as per your comments.
Hope for change means killing the beast . Who is the beast ?
Movie Review
Inside Job
NYT Critics’ PickThis movie has been designated a Critic’s Pick by the film reviewers of The New York Times.
Sony Pictures Classics
Henry Paulson, Ben Bernanke and Timothy Geithner in the documentary “Inside Job.”
Who Maimed the Economy, and How
By A. O. SCOTT
Published: October 7, 2010
As I was watching “Inside Job,” Charles Ferguson’s meticulous and infuriating documentary about the causes and consequences of the financial crisis of 2008, an odd, archaic sentence kept popping into my head. The words come from the second chapter of “The Scarlet Letter” and are spoken in frustration and disgust by an old Puritan woman who watches Hester Prynne, publicly disgraced but without any sign of remorse, making her way from Salem’s prison to a scaffold in its market square. She “has brought shame upon us all …” the anonymous woman remarks. “Is there not law for it?”
…
Inside Job
1hr 48min - Rated PG-13 - Documentary
Director: Charles Ferguson - Cast: Matt Damon, William Ackman, Daniel Alpert, Jonathan Alpert, Sigridur Benediktsdottir
From Academy Award® nominated filmmaker, Charles Ferguson, comes “Inside Job,” the first film to expose the shocking truth behind the economic crisis of 2008. The global financial meltdown, at a cost of over $20 trillion, resulted in millions of people losing their homes and jobs more ». Through extensive research and interviews with major financial insiders, politicians and journalists, “Inside Job” traces the rise of a rogue industry and unveils the corrosive relationships which have corrupted politics, regulation and academia.
‘documentary about the causes and consequences of the financial crisis of 2008′
You know, I’m familiar with the wall street/banker greed story. I was following it a long time before this film maker. But I can see the deliberate trend in coving all this; the ‘crisis of 2008.’ What about housing prices going through the roof for years before that? What about the greed of the speculators? The realtors, the appraisers, and so forth? Everybody is a victim, except the fat cats. (We gave those evil dogs a few billions, but don’t get into details.)
This is some really crappy spin of history. Sure, these WS guys should get theirs, but lets not forget the flippers, the squirrel feeders, the loan officers, the boosters who made billions telling people to buy now or be priced out forever.
Great point! It’s always good to bear in mind that even the greediest of the Wall Street profiteers never put a gun to anyone’s head in the process of cleaning them out.
the loan officers ??
The gal that I have used over the past 25 years for any financing made over $700,000. in one year making loans at the peak with WAMU….
Loan officers, no doubt becaue of their high principles, are frequently the ones that are working with the banks on processing the foreclosures. The system that they worked so well is still paying them, just the banks are paying them now when the home buyers were paying them before. Ours, who acted like a personal friend, “helped” my wife get into her nodoc loan is the one working today, busy evicting the same people he “helped” into loan products. He kept me, the lower FICO, off title and loan because he knew how underwriters worked. He advised against paying off old debt as he knew that would somehow also jeapordize underwriting. His council got her into one of the last no-docs issued during the timeframe.
His understanding of Fannie, Freddie, underwriters, appraisals, and banks means that he has a job today. He evicts people who have stopped paying on the loans he and others wrote. He changes locks, winterizes, posts notices on toilets and front doors, etc. He is still taking his expertise to the bank. He made money on the way up and money on the way down. Its gonna feel a bit funny when he comes knocking on our door, telling us when to leave, in the employ of the bank, when he was the one who helped us get in.
He is a very well tipped doorman, (not knocking him personally for making hay while the sun shines) letting clients in and then escorting them out. I would give and ARM and a leg to have his job, as teaching students away from my family is getting old and I know there is work right here in the foreclosure biz. Heck there are so many here in Bend we have started calling them “fiveclosures”.
Mike,
With all due respect, you knew precisely what he was doing, and you let him do it.
I appreciate your honestly throughout all of this and wish you the best of luck in its resolution.
Old story, blame the munitions makers for long-forgotten war fever, purge the public conscience.
Don’t forget the town officials okaying massive developments to get more tax revenue to spend on their pet projects.
I agree with you Ben . I have never seen the story yet told correctly .
They haven’t even exposed all the fraud yet . I saw one of those spin films where they were making out the culprits to be saviors .They never view the housing boom through the lens of a market -
makers Ponzi-scheme in which millions of borrowers were gamblers and just as greedy and fraudulent as the loan makers .
When this mess broke it was all about who the bag-holders were going to be ,not what Justice might be .The objective was to save a corrupt and rotten system and transfer the pain to other parties other than the true culprits and Obstruct Justice on the liable parties including some homeowners and other parties in the chain .Will any of these homeowners admit they were greedy gamblers willing to lie on loan applications ? Will the chain of market peddlers admit that they encouraged fraud and leverage in real estate .
Will the media and regulators admit they were sleeping on the job and were unwilling to buck the power sources that were making a killing in this easy money real estate fake market ? Will the Politicians ever be sued for Treason and bribes and violations of their oath of office ?
Well Ben, there ya go! I see a very lucrative book deal in your future!
Seriously, out of all the places I visit on the Internet related to this disaster, this is still the definitive place.
You’ve done a great job.
Too Much Traffic, Too Many People?
Once population gets to a certain density, it’s game over - for liberty. I mean, for real-deal, live and let live, do-what-you-want-to (provided you’re not physically harming anyone else) liberty.
You know - what most of the founding fathers (Alexander Hamilton and his proto-Republicans excepted) had in mind.
The best analogy I’ve found is traffic.
You live in a very rural area, let’s say. Very few other cars are on the road. So, when you roll up behind some old geezer doing 33 in a 55, it’s easy to just pass the old dude - and no hard feelings either way. He’s able to trundle along at his pace without cars (and angry drivers) stacking up behind him; you’re free to drive around the old coot and continue at your speed.
No tensions; no problems.
There are very few traffic lights - and when you come to a stop sign, you’re almost always the only car around and it’s just a minor, momentary interruption of your travel.
You can pull right onto the main road from sidestreets, usually - with just a quick glance either way to be sure no one’s coming.
Usually, no one is.
If you need to park, you just pull into a spot.
And there is always an open spot.
In winter, you can usually get where you need to be without too much trouble because there’s no one else causing wrecks that block the road or interfering with your momentum.
Driving is a joy.
Contrast this scenario with the situation that’s become typical in and around every major population zone in the United States circa late 2010:
All it takes is one inept/fearful/reckless driver to gum up the entire works; everyone is stuck behind the old coot up ahead in his ‘87 Buick doing 33 in a 55 - because there’s no way you can pass with all that oncoming traffic plus you’re 12 cars behind the coot anyhow.
(Continued at the link)
http://www.ericpetersautos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15946
Exactly the reason (IMHO) that the government should immediately stop any “incentive” programs to have children (reduced tax burden being the biggest one) and start to phase in “penalty” programs for having more than 1 child per couple (increased taxes for each child beyond one, which, quite frankly, makes perfect sense).
Stop “more food stamps for more kids” programs. Stop awarding child support (entirely), do everything through alimony based on salaries.
More people is not the answer. The only reason that the government thinks it’s the answer is because their spending it totally out of control, and they equate (incorrectly, IMHO) more people with more taxes. That is, BTW, certainly true to a certain extent, but, as we’re seeing today (IMHO), at some level we have a “tipping point” when each additional person added reduces from overall productivity.
I know this isn’t going to be a popular viewpoint, and it’s one I feel pretty strongly about and am happy to defend, but please keep the conversation civil.
FWIW, Americans are reproducing at the replacement level.
We could outlaw births altogether and all that would happen is that we would be flooded with immigrants, unless we stand up to businesses and vote hunters and seal the borders and enforce our immigration laws. But that will never happen because as we all know businesses can’t possibly survive without cheap, taxpayer subsidized labor and surplus population is a must for keeping wages down.
There is the example of China; let one child live and let it be a boy.
Sustainability has not entered the minds of the monied, including those who spend other people’s money.
“There is the expample of China; let one child live and let it be a boy.”
And now there is a shortage of potential brides for the guys to choose from. Funny how that worked out.
But it’s not funny for the poor guys that live in the Chineese countryside because the rich city guys are prowling the countryside and are luring away marriagable young women and are whisking them off to the cities.
The poor country guys end up being not only poor but also very lonely.
Sounds like the kind of stuff that could start riots or push China to get rid of some of those men say in a war.
Sounds like the kind of stuff that could start riots or push China to get rid of some of those men say in a war.
or maybe they’ll invent a life-like woman robot for companionship?
” .. or push China to get rid of some of those men say in a war.”
And the group of men China will get rid of in a war will be their version of the “unwashed masses” - the poor, but rugged single ones that live in the country.
‘…start to phase in “penalty” programs for having more than 1 child per couple…’
Do you speak Chinese? Because if so, I have a great suggestion for you…
LOL. Yes, I’m well aware of the Chinese program, and, because of that, don’t really see their take on it as a solution either. But subsidizing children (the opposite approach to what has been taken in China) isn’t a path to sustainability either. I don’t think we should move to a “one child per family” law; I just think that we should stop using tax policy to encourage more children.
I actually think the goal for “more children” is selfish than for less. The reason that we want more children in this country to try to pay for the incredible subsidizes that we’ve voted ourselves; without more people, the sustainability of something like SS fails much more quickly. I’m much more a proponent of having the population pay for itself; rather than have the population paid for by their children.
Sealing the borders, while not exactly in line with the OP, is also something I would support. Uncontrolled immigration (just like uncontrolled child birth) puts a continual downward pressure on wages; which, IMHO, isn’t the path to prosperity for this nation either.
“I just think that we should stop using tax policy to encourage more children.”
Hitler had some thoughts along those lines, too. Have you ever heard of eugenics?
PB,
While I respect your comments; throwing Hitler into the mix is nothing more than inciting rage in the debate. If you’d like to discuss it, then make an argument; don’t throw a caustic name into the mix just to tie it to my line of thinking.
Hitler also had some thoughts about having turkey for dinner. Doesn’t mean that having turkey for dinner is a bad thing, just because Hitler thought of it before I did.
Yes, I have heard of eugenics, and, although a much longer conversation, I do believe that our current course of reproduction (the entire world) is going to lead us to stagnate or regress intellectually. Watch the movie “Idiocracy” (it’s a horrible film, but the concept is interesting), that’s the basic premise of the film (the educated/high IQ have fewer children than those with lower IQs; therefore, in 10,000 years, we’re all low IQ because of natural selection).
Hitler wanted to control reproduction based on certain characteristics. I’d just like the state to stop encouraging more children (as a national policy). I have no axe to grind as to WHO has the children, I just don’t want our government to subsidize those children or reward their parents at the expense of everyone else. Having children is a natural human instinct, it doesn’t need to be financially rewarded by the government.
Again Micheal, our (American) population increase is from immigration, not reproduction.
“Hitler”
That was just my (admittedly unfair) way of expressing extreme disagreement with your ‘proposal.’ The population of legal American residents are not reproducing at the replacement ratio, and you are proposing a lame policy to further reduce the reproduction rate.
If you think we have too many young people in the country, why not reduce the number of illegals who come here and take advantage of American generosity to start large families? This is a sensible place to rein in population growth if we really need such a policy, not your lame policy to penalize American citizen families who have more than one child, in the name of promoting sustainability.
What gives you the idea that America can unilaterally promote sustainability in the first place? If we fall on our swords, reproductively speaking, other populations around the planet with higher birth rates will happily replace us.
Having sifted human ash through my fingers, I find it morally repulsive. I have personally visited Dauchau, Birchenwald, Auschwitz, Majadenek, Salispils, Birkenveki. Even if I can’t spell them anymore.
It’s almost unspeakably horrible. But it should never be forgotten.
PB,
I’d certainly agree with stopping illegal immigration. But; IMHO, that might be like agreeing with “World Peace is a good thing”. Sure, it would be nice to stop; but does anyone actually have a plan for doing so? Removing subsidies for more children from the tax code is something that we could actually do, right now, that would make a difference. I would go further to remove those subsidies from welfare code as well, which may, in turn, make this country a lot less attractive for illegals.
“If we fall on our swords, reproductively speaking, other populations around the planet with higher birth rates will happily replace us.”
Let them. I think my main point is that “number of people” does not equal “power” or “wealth”. Power and wealth are achieved through more education and more skilled people who can produce things that the rest of the world wants to buy. This “race to the bottom” to see who can have the biggest population will, IMHO, turn us all into China (which, if you’ve ever been there, is certainly NOT what we want for this country).
I’m all for people having children, lots of children if they can afford it! I’m just don’t think it’s something that the government should “promote” through tax policy. I’m all for having a few Ferrari’s parked in my front yard too; but I don’t expect the government to subsidize my hobby. I don’t think that people should expect any different for children than they do for anything else, if you can’t afford it/them, don’t buy it!
Yuppies don’t have their 1.2 children because of tax breaks. Gee, I wonder who gets more money for each child, hmmm - ?
I recently read an article about white women being less happy than black women, and how white female happiness has gone down since the 70s.
I wonder if/how overall happiness is tied to reproduction.
1. Reduce LEGAL immigration. We currently have more than 1 million annually. The US historical average in the 20th century is less than 200,000 per year.
2. Crack down on illegal immigration. The various ways to do this have been discussed here, so I won’t get into that.
Most Americans are incredibly ignorant at the massive flood of LEGAL immigrants. They think it’s all about the illegals.
at some level we have a “tipping point” when each additional person added reduces from overall productivity.
I know this isn’t going to be a popular viewpoint, and it’s one I feel pretty strongly about and am happy to defend, but please keep the conversation civil.
Actually, it IS a popular viewpoint, as you can see from the comments here. It’s very easy, once you’re alive, to say that more people shouldn’t be born.
But it’s completely wrong. There’s plenty of space and fertile acreage to accommodate more people on earth. Furthermore, each additional person brings productive capacity that easily outweigh his or her carrying cost.
The problem is, when those people start worshipping government as a solution to their everyday challenges, then government adopts policies (such as interstate highways and other public works projects, centralization of power, etc.) designed to concentrate people in particular places. The frustrations and contradictions mount, and people start blaming each other and “excess population”.
As pointed out in the OP, the problems are fewer in the rural areas where government has not “invested” as much in “infrastructure.”
Lehigh,
“There’s plenty of space and fertile acreage to accommodate more people on earth.”
I agree. My counterpoint would be that food/fertile acreage isn’t the constraining characteristic anymore; it’s now more a global productivity need than a need for more land or food. We simply don’t need more people to produce more stuff; we already have way too much stuff (and capacity to produce dramatically MORE stuff) than we actually need. What we need is more people with capital to buy the stuff, and, I’d argue that the way we get “more people with capital” is not by making “more people”, it’s by having more wealth concentrated in the hands of people who want to buy stuff.
“Furthermore, each additional person brings productive capacity that easily outweigh his or her carrying cost.”
But do we need more productive capacity? Or do we have enough of it already?
On your final point, I agree. I’ve been to places in this country that are so desolate (Montana/Wyoming/etc) it makes your head hurt when you realize this is the same country where we all heard that “we’ve run out of land”! The problem with those areas is that there’s nothing that “needs to be done” in most of them (which is why few people live there). Could we move more offices/teleworkers/factories out there and make more jobs? Sure we could. But would it take from the place that the factories moved from? Yes, IMHO, it likely would.
I think our biggest workplace issue right now is that computers/robots continue to replace the work that middle-class Americans used to do. They make it so that one guy (with a keyboard and programming skills) can do the work of 1000 men. This is deflationary to the workplace as a whole; there’s simply less work that needs to be done, and it can be done by a much smaller number of people (who typically have much more training/skills). The automation of the workforce is one of the driving factors that continues to push more and more wealth to the top 10% of this country, while, at the same time, removing wealth from the bottom 50%. The services of a guy who’s a great welder are no longer needed at GM/Ford, now they need a guy who can program/run a robot. One guy as compared to the 100 welders he displaces.
there’s simply less work that needs to be done, and it can be done by a much smaller number of people (who typically have much more training/skills).
the less work that is required in one area frees up the labor to work in a more productive area. there will always be work for increasingly productive jobs.
you stand reminds me of the head of the patent office that once remarked “there’s no longer any need for the patent office. everything that needs to be invented, has been invented.”
i think you’re view is unnecessarily dark. we will always need to be more productive, even if it is just to handle the garbage.
TJ,
I’m certainly on the “darker” side of the isle on this issue, that I freely admit.
I’d never say there’s “nothing left to invent”, I think that’s a silly statement. However, I would make the statement that “The world is moving towards a model where intelligence and education matter FAR more than raw “numbers” of workers”.
Take your example of “handling the garbage”. Today we have (made up numbers) 1M garbage truck drivers. Somebody invents computer controlled garbage trucks. I company with about 5K employees churns these things out; displacing 90% of the need for garbage truck drives. The salaries of 1M drivers are now concentrated into the company with 5K employees. Sure, some of those truck drivers will be much better off, and get jobs that are more “mentally challenging”. However, a lot of them will not; they will be displaced by the machines, but the work of 1M will now be done by 5K people. And we’ll have a surplus of 900K garbage truck drivers.
Impossible? It’s already happening. Look at toll roads; many are moving to “no toll keepers at all”. I actually have worked on the toll systems and with the team that developed one of the major systems at use in this country. There were about 50 of us directly involved with the project. When we finished, 100s of tollkeepers were let go. Since then, 1000s more have been released. A team of 50 (and the system now being run by about 10 full time folks) wiped out 1000s of jobs, and concentrated all that wealth into our employers and the toll systems pockets.
This has been going on since the industrial revolution; so it’s nothing new. What’s new is how far we’re moving up the stack. While toll keepers and check out cashiers aren’t exactly “high skill” jobs, they are higher skill than many of the jobs that we wiped during the industrial revolution.
The thing that’s really scary about all this is that we’re eliminating the jobs (IMHO, at a very rapid pace) that the less educated (or uneducated) people can do. Also, we’re starting to cut into what the “skilled laborers” can do as well, pushing further and further up the scale.
It’s the concentration of power/wealth into the hands of so few that scares me about this world we continue to build.
One other quick point I wanted to bring up for discussion…
IMHO, there is a point where additional people are not a positive, but a negative to society at large.
Look at the 2 extremes…
With one person on earth, the world would be a very uninteresting place, there wouldn’t be enough people with enough skills to live the lifestyle that we live today. The world would be a much worse place than we have today.
With 1 quadrillion people on earth, there wouldn’t be enough natural resources or space for everyone, the world would be a much worse place than we currently have today.
The question is; at what point between those 2 numbers does each additional person burden society (as a whole) more than it helps. There is a point (IMHO), it’s just open for debate where that point lies.
Michael, have you ever wondered why you can hire a man to dig a ditch in a third world country much cheaper than than you can hire someone in the states?
they are both doing the exact same thing. why does the USA worker get so much more?
it’s because the value of our labor has evolved to be higher over the generations. labor has more value here (due to the net productivity of it) than in a third world country. it’s no accident. it had to be that way. unfortunately we are going the other way now. the value of our labor is eroding.
the automation that you fear actually increases the value of our labor. it filters down into the our lowest value jobs. the lower value jobs increase in value due to the higher value jobs and labor in the vicinity. that’s the reason california used to set the standard for wages. there used to be a lot of industry and high value jobs in california. you had to pay someone more to dig a ditch there than in alabama or tennessee.
don’t fear things that add value to our labor, even though they do eliminate jobs. those things that add value helps all of us to earn more money.
Lehigh, you show some uncommon ability to think. Thank you for that.
Yes, the “control the population” meme is brought to you by the same people who have theirs but don’t want to share it with you.
Rather akin to the attitudes of those who live in places like Boulder, I think. “We have ours, so let’s enact environmental Save The Bunnies laws to keep others out.”
All of you are forgetting a few simple facts about food production.
1. All the good land is already in use. If it was good for farming, it would be farmed.
2. Water is a finite resource. Don’t laugh.
Yearly rainfalls are surprisingly consistent within a narrow +/- range
3. Available water sources are tapped. The Colorado river pac used figures for the average acre feet going to the sea much higher than actual. Every drop is used and
reused. The US has a treaty with Mexico that gives them one million acre feet of water a year, but the water is so salty, the
US had to build a desalination plant to clean
up the water to keep our side of the treaty.
Cities all around the south west are putting
higher and tighter water restrictions on types of use.
Lehigh, you show some uncommon ability to think. Thank you for that.
Any time. And thank you. I’ll let you in on a secret: read Murray Rothbard’s 2-volume History of Economic Thought, and you too will find yourself thinking about some fresh and uncommon ideas.
Good news, Rancher. Both of your points can be refuted.
(1) Not all good land currently is used for farmland. Not even close. Maybe out West most of it is used, but not out East. There’s fallow land all over.
(2) Back in the 1980s, one of the Big Ten schools (Wisconsin maybe? Illinois? Iowa? One of those schools) postulated a good deal of Earth’s moisture originates elsewhere. As in from somewhere outside our planet’s lithosphere. The idea was proven correct.
It’s still surprising how few people know that much of our water is derived elsewhere.
I’ll look into it. Thanks.
It’d be nice to get some different ideas and perspectives apart from the doltish pablum typical of the MSM and Washington, D.C.
“Back in the 1980s, one of the Big Ten schools (Wisconsin maybe? Illinois? Iowa? One of those schools) postulated a good deal of Earth’s moisture originates elsewhere. As in from somewhere outside our planet’s lithosphere. The idea was proven correct.”
Per Wikipedia, our planet’s lithosphere consists of “the crust and the uppermost mantle, which constitute the hard and rigid outer layer of the Earth.” So to say that a good deal of Earth’s moisture originates elsewhere, meaning outside our planet’s lithosphere is confusing (at least to me) and not relevant in any way that I can see to the issue of whether the supply of fresh water is a significant constraint on the capacity of the Earth to support our current population.
According to an article called “Human Appropriation of the World’s Fresh Water Supply” available at the website of one of those Big Ten Universities, in the year 2000, the six billion inhabitants of the world were using about a third of the available water. It also states that “The water cycle on Earth is essentially a closed system – we always have the same amount of water.” This is consistent with what I learned in school (at one of those Big Ten universities). If someone has a cite for some reputable publication which suggests that there is some extra-terrestrial source of a significant amount of water I would love to learn about it. I would also love to have the proverbial candy-crapping unicorn living in my back yard, but I will not hold my breath waiting for either.
Better continue your search.
I went to one of those Big Ten universities, too. You might want to start your search beginning with the year 1986, at the Big Ten’s leading astronomy college - Iowa.
Furthermore, each additional person brings productive capacity that easily outweigh his or her carrying cost.
+1
“alimony” - your solution is alimony?
“…and start to phase in “penalty” programs for having more than 1 child per couple (increased taxes for each child beyond one, which, quite frankly, makes perfect sense).”
Wouldn’t it make more sense to stop illegal immigrants who are going to have more than one child at the border, than to penalize Americans who want to have more than one child?
Bravo, Michael Fink.
Palmetto, that passage describes my neck of the woods to a “T,” right down to the old coot driving well under the speed limit. I hope I never become the “old coot” that other drivers have to pass.
Have you had a chance to check out this area yet?
I think everyone that likes to drive alone on the road needs to figure out how much it costs to build that road.
Without a lot of people to spread the cost out, you would need to rent that road grader yourself and buy a couple of tons of gravel to lay down your single lane road.
Thanks, that reminds me of how I grew up. I saw it contribute to the rural/(sub)urban divide that we see now in politics, when Washington started passing laws that made sense in the populated areas but forcing the rural areas to adopt them too or lose their highway funding.
Still renting here in Central Jersey after flirting with buying at Cedar Brook Condo’s in Branchburg, NJ. In 1998 they were going for 130’s, finally put a bid in on a [real nice] one in 2004 for $218 - did not want to get “priced out” as the Realtor suggested. Cancelled it after 2 days as got cold feet … watched till they rose to $280 [asking] and felt stupid, but had money in my pocket after rent and was not stretched as so many others were at work. Now they are down to $220 with a distressed advertised at $180. Thank Goodness my parent’s raised a CAUTIOUS spender, and content renter. [wish landlord would pump up the heat some days, but at $800/month can not complain]
Glad you came out on the right side Roy…
A Housing Freeze is Necessary to Reduce Fraud in the Housing Crisis
October 20, 2010 11:54 AM
by Charing Ball
California Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee has penned an op-ed piece urging the Obama administration to issue a national moratorium on housing foreclosure. According to her piece, Lee is frustrated with the apparent rubber-stamping of foreclosure documents by mortgage lending and the alleged predatory practices happening with the government’s modifications program. Moreover, because there have been reports of widespread fraud, Lee feels that it is morally right for the administration to stop the foreclosures, while both federal and state investigations can be done.
Rep. Lee is not alone in her calls for a national moratorium. Folks like Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland), Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada.), and Congressman John Conyers (D-Mich.), join a litany of numerous political leaders demanding a stop to foreclosures in their states.
…
Stop foreclosures to bring about economic collapse. This administrations needs the excuse to grab all remaining power.
But fraud is OK?
Who do I call to get national moratorium on rent payments going to LLs that are not, and have not been making mortgage payments?
So much for liberty as the government “fixes” its malfeasance with more malfeasance.
Only in an Alice in Wonderland world is stopping fraud “malfeasance.”
Lee is a idiot….Put every foreclosure on the market immediately….Let the market clear….
So you would just let the fraud continue?
Seems like the MSM can’t get enough stories about mortgage fraud into press any more these days. A few years back, it was mainly blogs like this one where real estate fraud was discussed at length.
“These times, they are a changing.”
– Bob Dylan –
Home loan auditor is hot on the trail of mortgage fraud
Insurers, lenders and investors hire Robert Simpson’s firm to dig up falsifications of the borrower’s employment, income and debt load. It’s lucrative work: Simpson expects more than $12 million in revenue this year.
By E. Scott Reckard, Los Angeles Times
October 24, 2010
…
“Seems like the MSM cn’t get enough stories about mortgage fraud into press any more these days.”
Look for more to come. The MSM is about to dump all over many of those who were their allies.
Wait until after the elections.The incumbents who get thrown out of office immediately lose their power base; It is their power bse that keeps everybody else in line. Once the power is gone then they are left standing naked.
When these guys are thrown out of office the power shifts to whoever it is that takes their place, which in many cases - especially after a nasty election - is a bitter enemy.
Karma.
I SO-O hope you are right! The MSM should take this opportunity to consume their defunct power base in order to rebuild their tattered reputation as a news source. It sounds to me like a perfect symbiosis!
IIRC the Washingtom Post became a big time newspaper due to its Watergate coverage.
From the story.
Frauds uncovered: In addition to the usual bogus jobs and overstated incomes, deceptions included borrowers who supposedly occupied homes but really were speculative investors. “Remember when grocery checkers used to talk about owning three or four condos in Palm Springs? How do you think they got them? Who helped them?”
I think there’s going to be several levels of “pushback” in the aftermath of the RE collapse.
- The investment trusts are going to try to pushback crummy mortgages onto the originators, since the originators didn’t properly transfer title to the investment trusts. And it’s too late to transfer them now since many of the mortgages are already in default.
- The mortgage originators (or as here their insurers) are going to pushback crummy mortgages onto the fraudulent FBs. The FBs will find out they can be sued for a deficiency even in CA if they didn’t “occupy” the property. Claiming occupancy can also cause problems with the IRS if they tried to use the cap gains exemption on properties they never occupied.
Aside from the real estate emphasis, what is the difference between this “investment scheme” and any other good old fashioned Ponzi scheme?
Bend Couple Indicted on Multiple Charges From Investment Scheme
October 22, 2010 11:45 am
Bill Baker
EUGENE, OR- A Bend couple was indicted on a variety of charges from an investment scheme that caused investors to lose more than $4.4 million.
A federal grand jury sitting in Eugene, returned an indictment Thursday against Tamara Sawyer, 47, and Kevin Sawyer, 58. Charges include conspiracy, wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering.
“Real estate scams like the one alleged here helped cause the housing market to crater - with impacts far beyond the investors who lost money,” said U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton. “Holding people who ran these schemes accountable is a key part of getting back on the road to economic security.”
…
But, but, I thought is was the individual FBs?
Dang pesky facts again.
Posted on Sun, Oct. 24, 2010
Ringside: Doubts as banks resume foreclosures
But this is just the latest in a history of abuse.
By Paul Davies
Deputy Editorial Page Editor
The sloppy handling of tens of thousands of foreclosures is just the latest housing abuse by financial firms that began with sleazy predatory lenders and Wall Street banks more than a decade ago.
Federal investigators want to know if lenders committed wire or mail fraud in filing false paperwork that misled housing agencies that insure many home loans. If past is prologue, don’t hold your breath waiting for much accountability. At best, a couple of banks may pay a fine a few years down the road.
Meanwhile, Bank of America, the largest bank and servicer of U.S. mortgages, plans to resume home foreclosures after a brief review found no evidence of cases filed in error.
It’s hard to believe a detailed review of tens of thousands of homes could have been completed in a couple of weeks. If anything, it sounds like the review was done by the robo signer at GMAC Mortgage who testified that he had signed 10,000 documents in a month.
Lawyers for homeowners have found documents were lost or thrown out. No surprise since millions of mortgages have been pooled and sold as mortgage-backed securities over the years.
The lack of paperwork means banks could wrongly throw people out of homes. This is just the culmination of years of scams, frauds, and sloppy transactions.
A new book, titled The Monster: How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Wall Street Bankers Fleeced America - and Spawned a Global Crisis, traces some of the root causes that spurred the housing bubble and collapse now plaguing the economy.
Author Michael W. Hudson details how the biggest subprime lender, Ameriquest, and a major investment bank, Lehman Bros., perhaps more than any other firms, created and financed the torrent of risky mortgages that include many now in foreclosure.
…
Sloppy? It was fraud, plain and simple. The lenders were hedging their bets that if it imploded, without clear ownership, they wouldn’t be left holding the bag.
The Basics
Foreclosures: A Paperwork Fiasco
By ERIC DASH
Published: October 23, 2010
After months of horror stories, it seemed that the real estate mess could not get any worse. But now, the nation is in the middle of yet another foreclosure crisis.
Revelations that the nation’s biggest banks may have fudged crucial documents in their rush to reclaim tens of thousands of homes have the public in an uproar. Attorneys general from all 50 states announced sweeping investigations into the industry’s foreclosure practices. The nation’s top financial regulators have also ordered reviews. And Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, GMAC and other big banks announced a few weeks ago that they were halting foreclosures in much of the country.
But now, banks are slowly getting back into the foreclosure business. And on Wednesday, Shaun Donovan, the secretary of housing and urban development, tried to ease concerns by saying that none of the problems threaten the health of the financial system.
The foreclosure crisis seems to be either in meltdown or in repair. Which is it?
…
“And on Wednesday, Shaun Donovan, the secretary of housing and urban development, tried to ease concerns by saying that none of the problems threaten the health of the financial system.”
Of course they don’t if we just pretend the patient is alive and don’t take any vital measurements. By all means, we wouldn’t want to know what the banks own and what it’s really worth.
As Bill Black so eloquently put it:
“Foreclosure fraud is the only thing standing between the banks and Armageddon.”
So they have no choice but to keep on foreclosing and pretending everything is fine. The Banks know it, the FED knows it and our Congress critters know it.
What gives? The rule of law has to be scarificed in order to save Wall Street once again. What would be the consequences? We are drifting ever closer to become a true Banana Republic and the rest of the world knows it. Nobody will trust our “innovative” financial products ever again, actually they are a joke by now. House buyers will be a lot more cautious since banks can produce any paperwork they like and evict anybody they want. The burden of proof will be on the victim/home owner, not on the criminal/bank.
Uncertain property rights are the hallmark of every thrid world nation, while all western style economies have well established laws and procedures. Which way the US will chose is not clear at this juncture.
Uncertain property rights are the hallmark of every thrid world nation
so true. and you can add to that, lack of personal rights and freedoms.
“The rule of law has to be sacrificed in order to save Wall Street once again.”
Exactly. If we’re pissed off they skated by the first time, why are some arguing to give them a free pass again?
“…why are some arguing to give them a free pass again?”
My guess: Bribery (aka campaign contributions)
“The rule of law has to be scarificed in order to save Wall Street once again.
…
We are drifting ever closer to become a true Banana Republic and the rest of the world knows it.”
To avoid becoming a true Banana Republic, we sacrificed the rule of law in order to save Wall Street? Sounds like quite a conundrum!
“Which way the US will chose is not clear at this juncture.”
Right now, all 50 AGs in all 50 states have chosen rule of law. Which for some reason, seems to irk some people.
If an FB doesn’t contest a foreclosure, what can happen? It looks to me like most of the underwater debtors are walking away, literally, so most the time the lender can foreclose without hassle. Maybe that’s the gamble they’re taking.
Could an atty general or class action undo uncontested foreclosures that are already done deals?
In the outside chance that banks have been wrongfully evicting home owners who are current on mortgage payments, is there any chance that whoever oversaw the action will serve hard time for felony theft of somebody’s home?
Have Banks Wrongly Evicted Millions?
Posted by Stephen Gandel Thursday, October 21, 2010 at 12:32 pm
More bad paperwork (Lucy Nicholson/REUTERS)
Michael and Pamela Negrea, of Cleveland suburb Eastlake, Ohio, have never missed a mortgage payment. Yet their mortgage company, GMAC, has tried to foreclose on their house, not once, but three times. And GMAC is still trying to haul the couple out of their house.
It’s one of the incredible stories in the past few weeks that have come out of Foreclosure-gate that just makes you shake your head in disbelief. The question, though, that is rapidly emerging is this: Are stories like the Negreas the anecdotes that prove banks regularly kick people wrongly out of their homes, or are these just the exceptions in a clearly bungled process that still general ends up evicting the correct folk?
The reporters at the Cleveland Plain Dealer, who uncovered the Negrea’s story, seem to think that it is the former:
So have “millions” of people lost their house “in error?” Will you come home one day to a foreclosure note and changed locks? Probably not. Bank executives including JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon have said that no one has been kicked out of their house that shouldn’t have. That may still be technically true. Even the Negreas are still in their house. But it seems increasingly clear that the banks have put a lot of people in foreclosure process that didn’t deserve to be. And while that may have not cost them their house, it fighting to keep their house has certainly cost them time, money and pain.
…
“Bank executives including JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon have said that no one has been kicked out of their house that shouldn’t have.”
And how many of those lenders had the proper paperwork to legally do what they did?
And how many of those lenders had the proper paperwork to legally do what they did?
And if they didn’t have the proper paperwork, were they aware of that, and did they continue foreclosing anyway?
And who told them to do so? Who was aware that this was occurring? How high does it go?
And why don’t they have the proper paperwork? Where is the note? Is it owned by the party who thinks they own it?
I, for one, am looking forward to hearing these questions get answered. Not swept under the rug.
What makes you think any of your questions will get answered, given that the Fed has been turned into the Supercop banking regulator?
Private lawyers will be asking the questions in some of the cases. And state and federal prosecutors will be asking the questions in others. The Fed doesn’t own all legal access to the banksters.
Got popcorn?
We’re going to need the super-jumbo-max bucket at this point.
House in my ‘hood just sold after about a month on the market. Sales history:
2002–190,000
2007–267,000
2010–308,000
This is in a post-WW2, ‘inner-ring’ suburb of 1800 to 2500 sq. ft. ranches and cape cods. That sales history is pretty normal for the area.
Someone was saying the other day they thought inner-ring post-war suburbs would be hit hard. Thus far, I’m seeing the opposite around here (Lexington, KY). Outer-suburbs, particularly with McMansions, are being hit hard, as are very over-sized, recently constructed mega-houses (’real’ mansions), mostly out in the country. Close-in areas of older, reasonable sized houses (1500 to 2500 sq. ft.) are holding steady in most cases, and even climbing in some up-and-coming areas.
I wonder if the changes in attitudes and economics caused by the housing bust won’t result in a rethinking of the bigger-is-better idea, and result in an increase/holding steady of prices of more reasonably sized- and located houses (in less bubbly areas), coupled with major reductions in the prices of ridiculously oversized McMansions, especially in inconvenient outer-ring suburbs.
That’s essentially what happened during the economic crisis/real estate bust of the early 1900s ( the one that spawned the Federal Reserve). The oversized victorians of that bubble era were replaced by the much more reasonably sized craftsmen and arts-and-crafts houses that were built in the teens and 20s. Victorian houses came to be seen as absurdly oversized white elephants, that belonged to a by-gone era (which they did).
The idea of the iconic ‘haunted house’, a huge dilapidated victorian, was born during this period, when many victorians sat empty and decaying amidst neighborhoods of fully-occupied bungalows, craftsmen cottages, etc.
Will McMansions be the next century’s haunted houses?
My seaside community is passing an ordinance forbidding more than 5 non-related adults living in one residence. Seems McMansions are turning into boarding houses. hmmm. Victorians were often converted into sanitariums as well…
I’ve mentioned before that in my college days (mid/late eighties), the ‘college ghetto’ where we all lived was about twenty blocks of victorians, most split up into apts, rooms, etc. The houses themselves were rather spectacular, with giant windows (freezing in the winter), towers, high ceilings, huge porches, etc. Some were almost slum quality as far as maintenance, some were quite nice, most were ‘in-between’.
In the last 15 years, they’ve almost all been bought and nicely restored by people with apparently plenty of money to burn (although I’m sure the housing bubble helped).
So it only took about 80 years for the victorians to come back in style. Of course, they’re a lot better built, originally, than the McMansions. I wonder if McMansions will last long enough to come back into style.
Short answer: no.
lol - I agree.
Harder to break the McMansions into flats the way the Victorians were. Recalling the places I saw in San Francisco, it’s hard to believe those 3-story behemoths were ever single-family houses.
But McMansions would make great rooming houses- each bedroom usually has its own bath, and the huge foyer, great room, and kitchen would be functional as common areas. Again, the cheapness of the construction will be a problem.
More likely they’ll squeeze a tiny fridge and stove into each room and rent them as ‘efficiency’ apts. That’s what they often did in my college ghetto (a more desirable ’studio’ apt had a separate kitchen, IIRC).
Couple Seeks Class-Action Suit Against Bank Of America
Bank Part Of National Foreclosure Investigation
POSTED: 8:54 pm EDT October 19, 2010
INDIANAPOLIS — A Henry County couple is seeking class-action status for a federal lawsuit they’ve filed against Bank of America in the midst of a nationwide foreclosure investigation.
Dwayne and Melisa Davis claim the bank denied them a chance to save their home from foreclosure because it used fraudulent paperwork, 6News’ Rafael Sanchez reported.
“This case doesn’t seek to overturn the foreclosure judgments themselves, but rather money damages for homeowners thrown out of their homes too soon because the bank cut corners and used false affidavits,” said the couple’s attorney, Richard Shevitz from Indianapolis firm Cohen & Malad.
…
“Too soon” meaning “before they could live mortgage free for two years” like the other FBs?
HOUSING: The checkered past of foreclosure-busting attorney Pines
Bankruptcy, restraining orders dot lawyer’s past
By ERIC WOLFF - ewolff@nctimes.com North County Times - Californian | Posted: Saturday, October 23, 2010 9:30 pm
The Encinitas attorney who last week advised his clients to break into their foreclosed homes has had legal and financial problems of his own —- including his own bankruptcy, court documents show —- but the resulting publicity may help dig him out of the hole.
…
Here’s his self-serving website.
http://pinesandassociates.com/content/about-us
There’s no public record of discipline for him at the CA bar website. But….
The lawyer appears to be in urgent need of the accompanying revenue: Pines —- who has instructed other attorneys on the subject —- has seven properties in the process of foreclosure, a bankruptcy judge considering holding him in contempt, and a pair of temporary restraining orders.
I thought locksmiths needed some sort of proof of ownership - or a court order - before changing the locks. IIUC being a locksmith is a tightly regulated business.
How Joseph Lents Dodged Foreclosure for Eight Years and Started a Movement
By Peter Coy, Paul M. Barrett and Chad Terhune - Oct 21, 2010 10:28 AM PT
Joseph Lents hasn’t paid his mortgage since 2002. But the loan’s owner can’t foreclose–it can’t produce his paperwork.
In 2002, an accountant in Boca Raton, Florida, named Joseph Lents was accused of securities-law violations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Lents, who was chief executive officer of a now-defunct voice- recognition software company, had sold shares in the public company without filing the proper forms. Facing a little over $100,000 in fines and fees, and with his assets frozen by the SEC, Lents stopped making payments on his $1.5 million mortgage.
The loan servicer, Washington Mutual Inc., tried to foreclose on his home in 2003 but was never able to produce Lents’s promissory note, so the state circuit court for Palm Beach County dismissed the case. Next, the buyer of the loan, DLJ Mortgage Capital, stepped in with another foreclosure proceeding. DLJ claimed to have lost the promissory note in interoffice mail. Lents was dubious.
“When you say you lose a $1.5 million negotiable instrument — that doesn’t happen,” he said in an interview in Bloomberg Businessweek’s Oct. 25 issue.
…
Oooooh, If I were a crook…
I’d discover where the paperwork was kept and STEAL IT ALL!
Then I’d either sell the paperwork to the debtor or ransom it back to the people I stole it from.
Then I would become FILTHY RICH and would be able to use some wee small portion of the money I stole to buy my way out of any legal problems if I happened to get caught.
Sell it to the debtor.
Bring marshmallows to the “mortgage burning”.
Yeah, people might get “free houses”.
But when you consider how the Average Joe has been screwed around by the Banksters/Private Equity leeches over the past 30 years (leveraged buy outs, pension and insurance plans cut/eliminated, outsourcing, predatory lending) a little karma might be in order.
Our “leadership” has been using the law to weasel out of their fook-ups for years. Now it’s a crime against humanity when J6P exercises his rights under the law. How dare they gum up the plans of the “ends justifies the means” crowd.
You left out hidden fees, auto-charges, and more fees and lack of easily accessible resolution channels deliberately design to delay, confuse and frustrate J6P and create more late fees.
So yes, a little poetic justice is in order.
I’d discover where the paperwork was kept
But was it kept? Who kept a stupid piece of paper in our brave new housing bubble world? We were working in a new paradigm.
Apparently no one kept this guy’s 1.5 million dollar note.
Does an issuer of credit cards keep all the paperwork?
If a bill collector calls about a debt should he have on hand all the paperwork associated with that debt?
If a bill collector takes a person to court over a debt dispute is he required to produce the signed loan application? Just because the bill collector SAYS a debtor owes him money doesn’t PROVE he owes him money.
Oooooh, it is indeed time for some popcorn and a lawn chair.
If you could discover where it was kept, you wouldn’t have to go rogue. You could get rich with just that as a legit business!
If the FIRE industry executives are still getting oversized salaries and bonuses, if the population is getting “free” houses, and the taxpayer keeps footing the bill for TBTF losses through taxes and borrow and spend, and the politicians manage to avoid presiding over a significant drop in standards of living - what impetus is there to change?
California is not the only place in the U.S. which saw a ginormous drop off in sales in recent months — EVEN BEFORE the Foreclosure Fiasco.
Banks Slow Housing Sales
October 24, 2010 - By Dennis Phillips dphillips@post-journal.com
Housing sales decreased again in the month of August, dropping by 21 percent from July and 33 percent from last August.
The decline in August also followed a 22 percent reduction in July. The two downturns in the number of houses sold follows the June 30 expiration of the $8,000 credit for first-time buyers. The state’s housing numbers increased by 4 percent, but remained 30 percent below August 2009 totals, according to preliminary sales data accumulated by the state Association of Realtors.
“We believe that the lower than typical August sales total continues to reflect the shift in sales to the first half of the year as buyers took advantage of the federal homebuyer tax credit,” said Duncan R. MacKenzie, state Association of Realtors chief executive officer.
…
ReCon Trust seems an unfortunate choice of names for a firm caught up in the Great American Foreclosure Fiasco.
HOUSING: Foreclosure moratorium takes hold locally
By ERIC WOLFF - ewolff@nctimes.com North County Times - Californian | Posted: Friday, October 22, 2010 12:52 pm
A Bank of America foreclosure moratorium took hold last week, dramatically reducing the number of homes sold at auction or taken back by the bank in the last two weeks in North San Diego and Southwest Riverside counties, according to a North County Times analysis of data from Foreclosure Radar.
Lawyers deposing officials of Bank of America and other lenders exposed problems in their foreclosure procedures, including a pattern of officials signing hundreds of documents a day without proper review. On Oct. 8, Bank of America Corp. became the first major lender to announce a moratorium on foreclosure sales in all 50 states as it reviewed its processes, and it was joined five days later by GMAC Mortgage Corp.
In the first week of the moratorium, starting Oct. 12, the number of houses foreclosed in the region plummeted 27 percent from the previous week, to 173 foreclosure sales, according to ForeclosureRadar.
Much of the drop can be attributed to Bank of America’s subsidiary ReconTrust NA, which handled 23.7 percent of the region’s foreclosures in 2010. Bank of America became the country’s largest lender and mortgage servicer after it purchased the troubled the mortgage lender Countrywide Mortgage in 2008.
…
Forget Robosigners, in Kentucky it is show me the note! (with intact chain of transfers)….
http://www.dsnews.com/articles/kentucky-county-court-order-impacts-foreclosure-filing-complaints-2010-10-22
No note, no foreclosure. It is as simple that. God help the banks.
As I said, it looks like they’re hoisted on their own petards.
MN gubernatorial candidate refinanced home six times in eight years.
http://tinyurl.com/296abkv
DFL takes aim at Republican Emmer’s personal finances
DFLers highlighted Emmer’s home refinancing. They said that from 2002 to 2010, he refinanced six times, sometimes borrowing more than the home was worth.
By PAT DOYLE, Star Tribune
Last update: October 21, 2010 - 8:46 PM
State DFL leaders Thursday questioned the personal financial history of GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, citing a threat to foreclose on his home in 2005 and loans they claim may have exceeded the value of his property.
Emmer on Thursday said he is current on his bills and his mortgage.
“I have a mortgage. I pay my mortgage. I am current, and I will keep paying my mortgage,” he said.
As for the threat to foreclose on his home, he said, “Somebody missed something at the bank. And it was taken care of.” Emmer declined to disclose the amount currently owed or the value of his home.
Noting that Emmer has called for government to live within its means, DFL chairman Brian Melendez said, “Emmer’s slogans and the public record don’t match up.”
Wright County property records show Emmer bought his home in Delano in 2002 for $425,000 with a $300,000 mortgage, and within two years took out additional mortgages for another $557,000. Melendez said Emmer refinanced six times through 2010 with short-term mortgages, at times borrowing more than the home was worth, and used new loans to pay off some of the old ones.
In 2005, the State Bank of Loretto filed papers to foreclose on a 2004 mortgage of $250,000. Emmer satisfied that loan in early 2006.
Melendez said that despite the refinancing, Emmer’s outstanding debt could be higher than the value of the home. The home had a market value for the 2011 tax year of $391,000.
Asked about the number of refinancings, Emmer said, “You know, I am like everybody else, I have a mortgage, I do financing.
“We do what we have to do,” he said. “I manage my family, my business, I pay my mortgage and I don’t know what’s news about that.”
He characterized his financial situation as more common to Minnesotans than that of DFL gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton, a millionaire.
“I have financing that everybody in this state uses, unless they have a large trust account and don’t have to worry about that sort of thing,” he said.
Doen’t the FBI and similar groups often forbid gambling because they worry that massive gambling debt could get agents to turn. Does it work the same way for government officials. Lend them more then they could possibly pay and then call in the chips all at once. The banks just purchased a gubernatorial candidate ?
Aren’t all GOP candidates and office holders bought and paid for by some big money interest?
Maybe, but one thing IS for sure, they’re hypocrites and liars of the highest order.
Truth be known, plenty of campaign money comes from HELOC. It’s hard to get financed in lower-level races, or when you’re starting out.
We had a “successful” legislative candidate here, who pulled out all the stops to win in a close district. Recently I saw his McMansion listed in foreclosure.com, and he declined to run again after only 2 terms.
“Long road to a short sale: Struggling homeowners turn to lenders for last-chance option” — Santa Fe New Mexican
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Long-road-to–a-short-sale
“When they refinanced in 2007, the appraised value of the property had jumped to $460,000 and they thought, “Oh boy, we made a great investment. We were thrilled,” Bogaard-Hazen said.”
“Then in April, Hazen lost his job and they could no longer make their mortgage payment, which was more than $2,000 a month.”
Median Household Income, Santa Fe Co: $42,207. This is the 2nd HIGHEST in a very, very poor state.
Bah. No sympathy. Let the devil take them.
Huh? I thought everybody in Santa Fe was rich!
Only in new-age crystal pyramid karma.
Compared to the rest of New Mexico, Santa Fe County *is* rich! About twice the median household income of the poorest county. All those rich Hollywood types living in the city of Santa Fe elevate the entire county to its lofty position, but apparently some of those Santa Feans are not quite as rich as they thought they were. Welcome back to reality, biiiichz!
Around here in Boise, the putative high-end suburb of Eagle is producing its own aerie of FBs - namely the local politicians.
Former Eagle Mayor Phil Bandy and Acting Mayor Michael Huffaker have been caught in a housing crisis that’s decimating what was once the Treasure Valley’s most high-flying community.
The two are not alone.
In 2009, former Eagle Mayor Nancy Merrill, and her husband, Galen, were forced into a short sale of the two-story, four-bedroom, 4,646-square-foot home they built in 2000 in the Island Woods subdivision near Eagle Road. The house finally sold for about half its $1.2 million appraisal just two years earlier. In 2008, Councilman Norm Semanko was briefly in arrears on his mortgage as his daughter started college.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/10/24/1390688/eagles-crash-hits-top-leaders.html
A little housing bubble coverage from FOX vs PBS for evildoc
Is there value in having a news source not beholden to realtors??
Here is FOX
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2_Hmt-MKLA
This one is brilliant 3 against Schiff cutting him off
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HFNJw7xGSA
Here they call him AntiAmerican, listen to Cavuto frame his questions against Schiff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZyvnWFbR84
Listen to the objections no numbers no analysis.
Here is PBS w Thornberg
http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcriptNOW134_full.html
Here is a nice one on how accounting firms thwarted investigation even after ENRON
http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript141_full.html
Here is a bit from David Broncoccio with a loan agent
BRANCACCIO: When Mark Bomchill worked at Ameriquest, he used to call potential borrowers cold to try to sign them up to refinance their debt.
Bomchill told us in appalling detail what he saw as standard practice at the company.
MARK BOMCHILL: The managers never came out and said, “Oh, forge documents. Lie to the customer.” But they would pair you up with people who were forging documents and lying to the customers—to—to teach you the—the Ameriquest way. I saw pay stubs be made. I saw W2s get altered. And I saw mortgage histories get out altered.
BRANCACCIO: You could actually see it happen in an office? It was being done openly?
MARK BOMCHILL: Yes. It was being done openly.
BRANCACCIO: Like, you see some guy, like, making up a pay stub or whiting out bits or what was the deal?
MARK BOMCHILL: They would call it arts and crafts —where they would—cut and paste—different numbers on different forms to—to change the—the income forms. I was told quote unquote, “Say anything, do anything to close the loan.”
BRANCACCIO: Mark, why are you speaking out now?
MARK BOMCHILL: Because people were hurt. I was involved with something that wasn’t good at Ameriquest.
BRANCACCIO: After a year at Ameriquest, Bomchill had enough. He has since spoken out on what he saw there, even giving court statements.
And beyond Mr. Bomchill, forty-nine state attorneys general investigated the company for deception, fraud and other lending abuses. In 2006, ameriquest paid out 325 million dollars to the states but admitted no wrong doing. The company is now going out of business.
Ameriquest declined our request for an interview, as did its founder and owner Roland Arnall. In the past, arnall has said: “mistakes have been made” at ameriquest but the problems were “corrected”.
MARK BOMCHILL: I believe Ameriquest paved the way greatly to the sub-prime industry—more so than—than it appears ’cause // a lot of these people slimed their way out of Ameriquest and into the mainstream world and into the banks—into the lenders, the direct lenders, the major banks and continued with their Ameriquest fashion.
BRANCACCIO: How’s it been for you lately? Going up to Capital Hill. You feel you’re on the hot seat in the midst of this so-called mortgage crisis?
MR. PFOTENHAUER: Well, it’s a time when—when a lobbyist for the mortgage banking industry is—is fully employed. You know, I think our members will see our value by the end of this process.
BRANCACCIO: Just yesterday, the house passed a major mortgage reform bill that reins in some of the heavy fees charged to subprime borrowers. The bill also requires lenders to make sure borrowers have the money to pay their mortgages.
But the mortgage industry got its way in some key areas as well. Brokers get to keep a bonus system that critics say encourages them to sell the most expensive loans to consumers. And another win—the bill gives industry some protection from tougher state laws.
The bill goes to the senate next month where industry groups are mounting a further spirited defense. They want to preserve flexible credit options that they argue have helped more people get into home ownership.
brancaccio: Mortgages that explode in people’s faces after two years, some cities dotted
with closed up houses in foreclosure. How does that help the goal of home ownership?
PFOTENHAUER: Look, to be sure, there is an appropriate policy question about what’s a socially acceptable foreclosure rate. And there’s a clear reason for the government, to get involved in drawing some lines around how far this lending can go.
But keep in mind that the trade-off for that is the removal of options. It’s the removal of freedom. It’s the removal of the freedom to fail. And with that comes the removal of the freedom to succeed.
BRANCACCIO: And if the bill passes the senate, it goes to President Bush, who also has his backers from the financial services industry . Remember Roland Arnall - the founder of Ameriquest? Arnall was a particularly generous donor: giving millions to pro-Bush organizations.
The president has offered up some help for homeowners, but he has made it clear he does not want to see any radical reforms as a result of the subprime lending crisis.
But the political donor and billionaire banker from Ameriquest has landed on his feet…
ARNALL: “I am honored to appear before you today as President Bush’s nominee to be the United States Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands…”
BRANCACCIO: The president nominated and congress confirmed Roland Arnall to the post, and he is now the United States ambassador to Holland.
And back in Minneapolis, it wasn’t just the auctioneer working hard. In one room, the mortgage company Countrywide was getting rid of its stock of foreclosures. Just one door over—Countrywide’s loan officers were on hand to sell the buyers of those foreclosed properties a whole new round of mortgages.
There those pesky, pesky facts again.
How will we ever be able to blame the po’ folks with facts like this floating out?!
(not that there weren’t plenty of unscrupulous FBs, but they definitely were not the main cause of this mess)
I didn’t catch this line
It’s the removal of the freedom to fail.
See that’s just it none of the big wigs did fail.
Per Measton:
===A little housing bubble coverage from FOX vs PBS for evildoc
Is there value in having a news source not beholden to realtors??====
Glad you agree Juan was wrongly fired and that NPR should suffer for it.
But why post info on the Bubble? We were well ahead of the curve here.
heh
Just pointing out the difference between Fox and good journalism. I didn’t expect you to be able to tell the difference. PBS delivered the best coverage, FOX wasn’t even on the same map, just a yelling match with 3-4 Fox analysts yelling down and interrupting Peter Schiff. If you can post a link with better coverage from FOX I’d love to see it.
I’m off to make a donation to PBS.
That’s great measton. Would you mind if the govt gave some of your tax dollars to Fox? That’s only fair.
He already does and so do we all.
I suppose you think a news organization that is beholden to advertisers is going to present anything fair? Really?
You do know that only 6 companies own the entire MSM in this country, right? And none of them are liberals.
—
Just pointing out the difference between Fox and good journalism. I didn’t expect you to be able to tell the difference. PBS delivered the best coverage, FOX wasn’t even on the same map, just a yelling match with 3-4 Fox analysts yelling down and interrupting Peter Schiff. If you can post a link with better coverage from FOX I’d love to see it.
I’m off to make a donation to PBS.
—-
You support a racist and dysfunctional PBS. If you can tell that and still embrace it… i pity you.
heh
“Surfers are friends, not food.”
Calif. Beaches Closed After Deadly Shark Attack
by The Associated Press
October 24, 2010
A string of beaches on California’s Central Coast were shut down Saturday and there was no word on when they would reopen after a deadly attack on a bodyboarder from what some scientists said was probably a great white shark, authorities said.
The three beaches north of Santa Barbara — including Surf Beach where the attack took place — would be closed at least through the weekend and officials on Monday would decide when to reopen them, said Jeremy Eggers, spokesman for Vandenberg Air Force Base, which owns the beach property.
Eggers said he expected base officials would reopen the beaches Monday, but there was too much uncertainty and confusion surrounding the attack to say for sure.
“There’s a lot of fog and friction in these kinds of situations,” said Eggers. He said his bosses determined the shutdown “was the right thing to do as a safety precaution.”
Where is Sheriff Brody when you need him?
Jalama Beach is 10 miles south of Surf Beach and is a CA state park and campground. Wonder if it is closed cuz a fish ate? How insane, all surfers should be stopped from Baja to BC, cuz whitey exists and is hungry? Jalama brings back fond memories, where I cut my teeth as a surfer, possibly surfing there 1,000 times over the years. But officials, why jump the shark? I don’t think the shark is guilty of anything, and I heard they are tryin to hunt down that rogue fish. I say get the sea lion that either tried to mate with me or kill me, he was a bad apple. But to hunt down an evil fish with malintent who had the audacity to take a nibble of what it thought was food?? I think sharks all want to eat fish food, so kill em all or don’t allow folks in the water. Or just fuggitaboutit, stuff happens; surf on dudes!
It is but for the grace of someone bigger than I that I am allowed to be part of an FB situation when an innocent boy gets chewed out royally for innocuously cutting classes at UCSB? Lucky for me I surfed that particular swell in OR, not Lompoc! And I cut classes back in the 90s before there were sharks?
“How insane, all surfers should be stopped from Baja to BC, cuz whitey exists and is hungry?”
My thought exactly. I can’t believe that shark attacks are anywhere near as serially correlated as the movie Jaws suggests, can you?
Has anyone had experience with Williams & Williams the auction Company?
I recently bid at a “auction” that was on line and also at the property and was the highest bidder. Within an hour they contacted me to inquire if I would increase my bid. The next day they stated the bank had rejected my offer and would I increase my bid significantly
They claim there is no reserve and the bidding started at $10,000.
Why not just have the listing agent reduce the price to a low figure, get offers in and present them to the bank and by pass Williams?
Thanks for your help
‘Why not just have the listing agent reduce the price to a low figure, get offers in and present them to the bank’
You opened a can of worms there! My best guess is the auction results aren’t MLS sales, so companies like Fannie Mae can pretend they aren’t ‘hurting homeowners values.’
I stay away from ALL auctions.
These aren’t real auctions; there is no reserve and they switch companies if they don’t hit a price they like. It really is a listing, with a different way of selling (not MLS).
I’ve seen a lot of how this works and I could go into more detail if anyone is interested.
Back in the 1980s the local paper ran notices of HUD auctions of foreclosed houses..there were some good deals there, especially around 1990. I assume that went on everywhere, but why HUD?
Wonder if they’ll be doing that again?
Op-Ed Columnist
What Happened to Change We Can Believe In?
By FRANK RICH
Published: October 23, 2010
…
The reasons for his failure to reap credit for any economic accomplishments are a catechism by now: the dark cloud cast by undiminished unemployment, the relentless disinformation campaign of his political opponents, and the White House’s surprising ineptitude at selling its own achievements. But the most relentless drag on a chief executive who promised change we can believe in is even more ominous. It’s the country’s fatalistic sense that the stacked economic order that gave us the Great Recession remains not just in place but more entrenched and powerful than ever.
No matter how much Obama talks about his “tough” new financial regulatory reforms or offers rote condemnations of Wall Street greed, few believe there’s been real change. That’s not just because so many have lost their jobs, their savings and their homes. It’s also because so many know that the loftiest perpetrators of this national devastation got get-out-of-jail-free cards, that too-big-to-fail banks have grown bigger and that the rich are still the only Americans getting richer.
This intractable status quo is being rubbed in our faces daily during the pre-election sprint by revelations of the latest banking industry outrage, its disregard for the rule of law as it cut every corner to process an avalanche of foreclosures. Clearly, these financial institutions have learned nothing in the few years since their contempt for fiscal and legal niceties led them to peddle these predatory mortgages (and the reckless financial “products” concocted from them) in the first place. And why should they have learned anything? They’ve often been rewarded, not punished, for bad behavior.
…
The much acclaimed new documentary about the global economic meltdown, “Inside Job,” has it right. As its narrator, Matt Damon, intones, our country has been robbed by insiders who “destroyed their own companies and plunged the world into crisis” — and then “walked away from the wreckage with their fortunes intact.” These insiders include Dick Fuld and four other executives at Lehman Brothers who “got to keep all the money” (more than $1 billion) after Lehman went bankrupt. And of course Robert Rubin, who encouraged Citigroup to step up its investment in high-risk bets like Countrywide’s mortgage-backed securities. Rubin, now back as a rainmaker on Wall Street, collected more than $115million in compensation during roughly the same period Mozilo “earned” his half a billion. Citi, which required a $45 billion taxpayers’ bailout, recently secured its own slap-on-the-wrist S.E.C. settlement — at $75 million, less than Rubin’s earnings and less than its 2003 penalty ($101 million) for its role in hiding Enron profits.
It should pain the White House that its departing economic guru, the Rubin protégé Lawrence Summers, is an even bigger heavy in “Inside Job” than in the hit movie of election season, “The Social Network.” Summers — like the former Goldman Sachs chief executive and Bush Treasury secretary Hank Paulson — is portrayed as just the latest in a procession of policy makers who keep rotating in and out of government and the financial industry, almost always to that industry’s advantage. As the star economist Nouriel Roubini tells the filmmaker, Charles Ferguson, the financial sector on Wall Street has “step by step captured the political system” on “the Democratic and the Republican side” alike. But it would be wrong to single out Summers or any individual official for the Obama administration’s image of being lax in pursuing finance’s bad actors. This tone is set at the top.
Asked in “Inside Job” why there’s been no systematic investigation of the 2008 crash, Roubini answers: “Because then you’d find the culprits.” With the aid of the “Manhattan Madam” (and current stunt New York gubernatorial candidate) Kristin Davis, the film also asks why federal prosecutors who were “perfectly happy to use Eliot Spitzer’s personal vices to force him to resign in 2008” have not used rampant sex-and-drug trade on Wall Street as a tool for flipping witnesses to pursue the culprits behind the financial crimes that devastated the nation.
The Obama administration seems not to have a prosecutorial gene. It’s shy about calling a fraud a fraud when it occurs in high finance. This caution was exemplified most recently by the secretary of housing and urban development, Shaun Donovan, whose response to the public outcry over the banks’ foreclosure shenanigans was to take to The Huffington Post last weekend. “The notion that many of the very same institutions that helped cause this housing crisis may well be making it worse is not only frustrating — it’s shameful,” he wrote.
Well, yes! Obama couldn’t have said it more eloquently himself. But with all due respect to Secretary Donovan’s blogging finesse, he wasn’t promising action. He was just stroking the liberal base while the administration once again punted. In our new banking scandal, as in those before it, attorneys general in the states, where many pension funds were decimated by Wall Street Ponzi schemes, are pursuing the crimes Washington has not. The largest bill of reparations paid out by Bank of America for Countrywide’s deceptive mortgage practices — $8.4 billion — was to settle a suit by 11 state attorneys general on the warpath.
Since Obama has neither aggressively pursued the crash’s con men nor compellingly explained how they gamed the system, he sometimes looks as if he’s fronting for the industry even if he’s not.
…
BINGO
“Asked in “Inside Job” why there’s been no systematic investigation of the 2008 crash, Roubini answers: “Because then you’d find the culprits.”
That sums it up.
“This caution was exemplified most recently by the secretary of housing and urban development, Shaun Donovan, whose response to the public outcry over the banks’ foreclosure shenanigans was to take to The Huffington Post last weekend. “The notion that many of the very same institutions that helped cause this housing crisis may well be making it worse is not only frustrating — it’s shameful,” he wrote.”
What a choice we have. The Obama administration calls it shameful, but does nothing. The Republicans don’t think it’s shameful, and would go back to policies that made it easier to happen. There are some, on both the left and right, that don’t think this is right and would do something about it. Unfortunately, there’s no working majority there, either alone or together.
There may be a majority but no working majority. Divide and conquer rules the day.
Goldman Sachs gave Obama $1M. You’re right Frank Rich, no way possible that Obama would be fronting for them.
GS owns them all or don’t you remember who the treasury secretary was at the time of TARP.
“…that government of the banksters, by the banksters, for the banksters, shall not perish from the earth.”
One of the biggest reasons for the American Revolution was the abuse of the East India Company on the colonies.
Maybe you’ve heard of them. One the first… transnational corporations that was indistinguishable from the English government itself.
Inside Job
box office..
In Release: 17 days / 2.4 weeks
Domestic Total as of Oct. 24, 2010: $356,000
Opening Weekend - $39,649
oops.. forgot the most important part..
Director: Charles Ferguson
Producer: Charles Ferguson
Production Budget: $2 million
Breaking even at $2 million seems unlikely at this point. But Chuck may be a true patriot, and not in it for the money.
——-
“If you want to send a message, use Western Union.” — Sam Goldwyn
The movie has not been widely released, at least around San Diego.
Obama seems to congenitally driven to reach consensus. Which can result in trying to compromise, always. Which is absolutely the wrong thing to do sometimes. If a bus is coming at you, you can stand still or you can run out of the way, or split the difference and walk out of the way. But the extreme position is the correct one - running out of the way.
Obama is a very smart guy. One doesn’t become a law professor at University of Chicago or editor of the Harvard Law Review without being very smart.
But there is the concept of leadership. Bush may not have been as smart as Obama (not saying Bush was stupid at all). But Bush had strong leadership skills. Which meant doing extreme things just because he thought they were right.
I’d like to see a candidate with Obama’s brains and Bush’s leadership skills. On the other hand, such a candidate, if wrong about what to do, could be disastrous. On the other hand, walking out of the way of the bus - toothless financial reform, toothless health reform, etc - can be just as disastrous.
“Which is absolutely the wrong thing to do sometimes.”
Such as when felonies have been committed on a gargantuan scale, for example?
So, do you think the higher ethanol content gasoline and its incompatibility with older vehicles is another nice way to convince consumers to purchase a new(er) car?
Maybe. Car manufacturers and dealers will benefit, along with mechanics who will be fixing all the older cars. But the biggest beneficiary of higher methanol content is Archer Daniels Midland.
J6P gets skrewed again.
ADM.. i bought some of that last year.. not exactly a big winner so far, but I’m patient.
Big business doesn’t have to screw j6pack..
They just wait around until j6pack insists that he “wants” something, like alternative energy, which will end up costing j6pack a whole lot of money.
How new is newer?
Even a 2011 owner’s manual will say use 10% maximum of ethanol. The full effects of 15% are still unknown and debatable.
Anyone who believes weening ourselves off of oil will save consumers money is sadly mistaken. Environmentalism is an expensive luxury.
BFD. Go buy a new fuel pump and carb. A few hundred bucks, max. And a helluva lot cheaper than buying anything new. Or even slightly used, for that matter.
The good news is that ethanol blend lets you run 10/11/12.0:1 compression ratios again.
how many cars have a carb? Is that like pre-1987.
One problem is ethanol dissolves and loosens a lot of crap in the fuel system, which then circulates and clogs fuel injectors and filters. Another is alcohol attracts moisture, which promotes rust in the system.
while it’s best known to erode some rubber O-rings and seals, there’s more to it.
I searched but cannot find a comprehensive list of ethanol-related risks, and my guess is it’s because nobody who knows want’s to volunteer the information.
Filters are easy to change.
Any solution to this problem is going to be a helluva lot cheaper than buying a new (or almost new) car.
Not that I don’t agree that corn-based ethanol is a solution only Washington and farmers can love.
true, of course..
I went to the supermarket (actually Walmart) and saw the price of bacon last week. Wow.. what happened? Is this walmart?
I have a couple pounds in the freezer and didn’t buy any.
I guess the focus on more ethanol fuel pushed corn futures higher, and pork bellies followed as a result. So, there are costs we will pay which have noting to do with the car.
corn-based ethanol.. yeah.. farmers and politicians and a few other groups.
Much of the world must think it’s pretty amazing that we can afford to run our cars on food.
America: Streets are paved with
goldsweet, fat corn cobs.Well, my car is older than many that are on the road today but it does not have high mileage and I want to keep it until the wheels fall off. Seeing how mechanics around here seem to make my repair bills always hit that thousand dollar mark, I can just imagine what a new fuel pump and other retro-fitting would cost.
But what will they buy that new car with?
Just another oh sht moment things really are bad for America
NEW YORK (AFP) – NBA commissioner David Stern says the league is looking at ways to reduce costs and he thinks eliminating teams will be on the table during upcoming talks with the players union.
“It’s a sensitive subject for me because I’ve spent 27 years in this job working very hard not only to maintain all of our teams, but along the way add a few,” Stern said.
“But I think that’s a subject that will be on the table with the players as we look to see what’s the optimum way to present our game, and are there cities and teams that cannot make it in the current economic environment. I’m not spending a lot of time on it.”
Will we start seeing NFL,NHL,NBA, adn baseball teams closing up shop. Autoracing is shutting down sites as well. I wonder how many stadiums have loans coming due. Huge municiple debts that won’t be paid or that will be extracted via higher taxes and fewer services.
Works for me. Professional sports really only benefits a relatively few anyway.
I quit going a long time ago when ticket prices for the pleebe seats started costing more than my weekly grocery bill.
Ditto
I’ve been to 1 pro baseball game, 1 NHL game, 1 Pro football game and that’s it. I don’t even watch much on TV. More fun to play.
It looks as though it is still challenging to buy an election in California, even with backing from Gollum.
I personally plan to vote for Brown not because I am wild about him, but because his candidacy seems like the best prospect for preventing the world’s greatest vampire squid from getting a further death grip on the moribund California economy. Certainly Gollum can find other third world economies to serve as its parasitic hosts besides California’s?
Meg Whitman spending hits $163M
Meg Whitman spent almost $23 million in the first 16 days of October. | AP Photo Close
By ANDY BARR | 10/22/10 10:17 AM EDT Updated: 10/22/10 10:25 AM
California GOP gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman spent almost $23 million in the first 16 days of October, bringing her total to $163 million, according to a campaign finance disclosure filed Thursday.
Whitman still trails Democrat Jerry Brown by 8 percentage points, according to a Public Policy Institute of California poll released earlier this week.
Brown spent $14.6 million during the first 16 days of the month, more than half of the $25.3 million his campaign has spent in total. Heading into the last few days of the campaign, Brown has $11.6 million in cash on hand.
…
Brown has $11.6 million in cash on hand.
and Whitman has.. hmm.. way more than a thousand million..
Traditionally, politicians who have tried to buy the California governorship have failed. Perhaps it will be different with Meg, despite her illegal immigrant glitch and her past associations with the world’s greatest vampire squid.
as I watch the campaign ads, i see all the unions are against her.. they want to continue to soak us for their wasteful spending, high salaries, various bennies and the $100 billion in pensions we “owe” them.
Vote Brown if you hate money.
All the Gollum money in the world is not going to be sufficient to offset the housekeeper scandal.
New poll shows Brown opening up 8-point lead over Whitman
By Steven Harmon
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 10/20/2010 09:00:00 PM PDT
Updated: 10/21/2010 08:52:41 AM PDT
SACRAMENTO — A big surge in Latino support — in the aftermath of Meg Whitman’s housekeeper scandal — has given Democrat Jerry Brown a significant lead in the governor’s race with less than two weeks to go, according to a new poll.
The former two-time governor has stretched his lead over Republican Whitman to 8 points, 44 percent to 36 percent among likely voters — Brown’s widest margin yet — after they were tied a month ago, according to a survey by the Public Policy Institute of California.
…
Just what America needs: Another former CEO in a top leadership position.
Why Meg Whitman can’t buy the election
Mark Lacter • October 22 2010 4:00 PM
Meg_Whitman_250x.jpgYou’d think that $160 million (and counting) would be more than enough to handle the ever-loopy Jerry Brown, who didn’t really begin his campaign until after Labor Day - and who has a fraction of Whitman’s war chest. But the former CEO of eBay is discovering that money does indeed have its limits, especially if you’re stiff, insincere, lying, and manipulative.
…
yeah.. it takes more than money. You gotta have a catchy phrase or a theme…
Reagan was a young 69 when the Dems used the old-age thing against him.
Brown is 72. That’s 504, in liberal-dog years. New tricks are out of the question.
I think the more she spends now the more people turn away and start asking where did she get 160million that she can just throw at an election.
Meg Whitman lags behind Jerry Brown in Calif. governor race
Meg Whitman trails Jerry Brown in a new poll of likely California voters. The episode involving her illegal Mexican housekeeper is hurting her, especially among Latino voters.
…
Poor NutMeg….. her current associations will lose her the election. Just like all the rest of the rightwing extremists desperately attempting to regain power.
Her past associations (Gollum) may not help much, either…
Meg wants to be in charge of you, California.
Tankxs, actually the bobble-head seems to have better political complexion.
Meg / 2010
Beg / 2011
Enjoy your rent free living while it lasts!
US foreclosure pipeline slows
By Suzanne Kapner and Aline van Duyn in New York
Published: October 24 2010 22:00 | Last updated: October 24 2010 22:00
The foreclosure process in the US is slowing, enabling delinquent borrowers to stay in their homes for months after they stop making mortgage payments, according to one of the largest lenders.
Freddie Mac, one of the two government-owned entities that finance about half all US mortgages, says that homes are taking as long as eight months to work their way through its foreclosure pipeline, two months longer than was typical before the housing crisis began.
The delay is the result of more borrowers staying in their homes for months after foreclosure proceedings have begun, requiring Freddie Mac to evict them before it can put those homes back on the market.
Fannie Mae, the other government-owned mortgage finance company, declined to say how long its process took.
A record number of foreclosures is contributing to the slowdown, but so are mounting legal questions surrounding bank procedures to repossess homes from delinquent borrowers. Some 6.7m homes are either in some stage of delinquency or foreclosure, and nearly 30 per cent of all home sales are of distressed properties, according to Core Logic, a real estate data tracker. In some hard hit markets, such as Phoenix, Arizona, the number is far higher.
“People understand that it’s difficult for lenders to get them out of their homes, and so they are staying longer,” said Mark Zandi, of Moody’s economy.com. “In the past, if you got an eviction notice, you were likely to leave quickly. Now people are staying until there is a sheriff at their door.”
…
‘Freddie Mac, one of the two government-owned entities that finance about half all US mortgages, says that homes are taking as long as eight months to work their way through its foreclosure pipeline, two months longer than was typical before the housing crisis began’
A couple of years ago, these houses would sit abandoned for a year, maybe two before they would even foreclose. Now they’re counting months? And which ‘crisis’ are we talking about? The one where prices exploded further as Freddie shoveled subprime loans out the door?
‘Mark Zandi, of Moody’s economy.com…’In the past, if you got an eviction notice, you were likely to leave quickly. Now people are staying until there is a sheriff at their door.’
This guy is an uninformed idiot. Almost every single house I see has been empty so long the weeds are head high and the water has evaporated out of the traps and water closet.
And right there is the difference between the ivory tower and the field. Or the map… and the terrain.
Thanks Ben.
Heh…. that’s ok Ben… those empty shacks have trap primers you didn’t think of…… failing roof trap primers. hah!
I believe it. Most people want closure, want to move on to what ever’s next. I’m so sick of the visual the media pushes of people being “kicked out” of their “homes.” How often does that happen? I haven’t seen any photos like the inhabitants of Chavez Ravine being bodily carried out of their condemned homes so LA could build Dodger Stadium.
Foreclosure disputes hit Marin court system
By Will Jason
Marin Independent Journal
Posted: 10/24/2010 12:05:00 AM PDT
Ingrid Robinson stands in her front yard with her dog Clint on Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2010, in San Anselmo, Calif. Her bank has foreclosed her house. She says she installed a lock on the front gate to keep bank personnel from removing her belongings. (IJ photo/Frankie Frost) Frankie Frost
Ingrid Robinson stopped paying her mortgage more than two years ago, and her bank has owned her San Anselmo house since July 2009. But with the backing of a Marin County judge who ruled that her lender followed improper foreclosure procedures, Robinson is not planning to leave.
“This is my house,” Robinson said. “I want what’s fair.”
Robinson’s case is among tens of thousands of foreclosures called into question in the United States after revelations in late September that many lenders may have improperly rushed paperwork. In Marin County, the news has emboldened some troubled homeowners.
“It puts the world on notice of all of these banks and lending institutions not following through procedure,” said Patricia Hitchings, who is challenging an eviction by Lecale Investments, a firm that bought her Novato house at a foreclosure auction.
Hitchings is one of more than 300 borrowers who have joined a Marin County group called Families Fighting Foreclosure. The group is seeking a variety of remedies including loan modifications, but at least 36 homeowners have challenged their foreclosures in court.
Most of the challenges have been filed pre-foreclosure, but a dozen homeowners are fighting evictions while living in bank-owned properties, said Manny Fernandez, executive director of Marin Family Action, which oversees the group. In both types of cases, the legal actions typically come after negotiations with banks fail, Fernandez
said.
“Most of my clients are all under the impression that they are under modifications” when they receive foreclosure notices, he said.
…
Foreclosure Fiasco hits close to ground zero (Wall Street)!
Dubious signatures, missing, inaccurate paperwork halt 4,450 city foreclosures
BY Robert Gearty
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Sunday, October 24th 2010, 4:00 AM
Improper paperwork has led to the suspension of nearly 4,500 foreclosures across the city.
Thousands of foreclosures across the city are in question because paperwork used to justify the seizure of homes is riddled with flaws, a Daily News probe has found.
Banks have suspended some 4,450 foreclosures in all five boroughs because of paperwork problems like missing and inaccurate documents, dubious signatures and banks trying to foreclose on mortgages they don’t even own.
The city’s not alone. All 50 states are investigating foreclosure paperwork, evicted homeowners are hiring lawyers and buyers of foreclosed homes are fretting over the legality of their purchases.
…
“housers” = Funny spelling of ‘hosers.’
Housing Guy Apologizes For Housing Bubble
Categories: Housing
03:00 pm
October 22, 2010
by Chana Joffe-Walt and Adam Davidson
October 22, 2010
All Things Considered
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have worked for decades to help more Americans become homeowners. Now one former Freddie Mac employee has asked us for the opportunity to apologize for doing such a good job of fulfilling that mission.
Jacob Kosoff used to work as an economist for Freddie Mac’s “Mission Department.” His job was to look at the loan data each month and promote homeownership. He says his team was full of true believers who called themselves “housers.”
“I thought subprime was the best thing in the world,” he says.
It was not until the spring of 2008, just months before Freddie would be bailed out by the federal government, that Kosoff began to question his fundamental belief that owning a home was better than renting.
He mentioned his concerns in the office.
“It was a bit like announcing there was no God — like the idea that housing was like God,” he says. “Buying is always better. Listen to your mom, listen to your minister, listen to the government, listen to politicians. Everyone says it’s better.”
There’s one thing in particular that Kosoff would like to apologize for.
While at Freddie Mac, Kosoff managed an online calculator designed to help people determine whether to rent or buy a house. In fact, it’s still online — you can see it here.
You plug in the cost of rent, cost of renters insurance, and the price of an equivalent home. Then it asks you to punch in an estimated appreciation rate for the home — how much you think the home’s price will change over time. But if you plug in a negative number — if you estimate that the home will lose value — the calculator gives you an error message…
“…under the most likely scenario for home prices…”
Still forecasting ‘no price declines from now on’ at Fan and Fred.
* POLITICS
* OCTOBER 22, 2010
Fannie, Freddie Elicit Grim Forecast
By NICK TIMIRAOS
Propping up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will cost taxpayers $154 billion under the most likely scenario for home prices, the mortgage giants’ regulator said Thursday. But the bill could end up much greater—nearly double the $135 billion already spent—if grimmer projections prove true and the economy slides back into recession.
The projections, based on the results of a home-price “stress test” by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, offered the first public estimates of the final cost of the government’s rescue of the mortgage-finance firms, which is on track to become the most expensive legacy of the 2008 financial crisis.
“Today’s projections show that, in the most likely economic scenario, nearly 90% of the losses at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are already behind us,” said Jeffrey Goldstein, under-secretary for domestic finance at the Treasury Department.
…
Isn’t the Fed a quasi-public entity?
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac deep in the hole
Republicans, Democrats agree on reform, but not on solutions
By Patrice Hill
The Washington Times
8:38 p.m., Thursday, October 21, 2010
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are well on their way to becoming the biggest and most enduring black holes for taxpayers coming out of the 2008 financial crisis, with a new estimate of their bailout cost nearly doubling the tab to as high as $259 billion.
The estimate was released Thursday as the Treasury reported a profit of $11 billion on $308 billion of bank bailouts and raised hopes for the repayment of costly and unpopular rescues of insurance giant American International Group Inc. and Detroit automaker General Motors Co., enabling those controversies to fade more into the background.
“Taxpayers won’t get their money back” with Fannie and Freddie like they did with the banks, said Daniel Indiviglio, a former investment banker and blogger at TheAtlantic.com. “The moral of the story here is pretty clear. Quasi-public enterprises like Fannie and Freddie don’t work.”
…
Morning Bell: When Will Our Progressive Corporatism Nightmare End?
Posted October 22nd, 2010 at 9:39am
in Enterprise and Free Markets
$154 billion. That is the amount of taxpayer money that will be needed to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac according to a new “stress test” performed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. And that is the good news. If the economy dips into a second recession and foreclosures rise, the Fannie and Freddie bailout could nearly double in size. The agency, which oversees Fannie and Freddie, released the numbers “to inform public debate about the future of the two companies” ahead of expected Obama administration proposals slated for early next year. But if you are hoping for major policy changes from this administration, don’t hold your breath.
In August, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner hosted a meeting in the Treasury’s Cash Room with select bankers and administration cheerleaders like Keynesian economist Mark Zandi. This is how Daily Report for Executives summarized the meeting:
Just what is the record of government “experts” in preventing financial catastrophe? Well, the 3,814 employees of the Securities Exchange Commission, the 7,241 employees of the FDIC, the 3,216 employees of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the 3,204 employees of the Federal Housing Administration all failed to see, yet alone prevent, the recent financial collapse.
…
You have problem with Corporate Communist Capitalism©®™, comrade?
Progressive Corporatism….. I like it. It certainly accurately describes the republican nuts.
Covering an increasing debt
To cover losses on home loan investments, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have borrowed money from the U.S. Treasury to remain solvent. Both companies pay interest back to the government. Under several scenarios, the companies will have to borrow even more to cover losses and increasing interest.
Wonkbook: Foreclosure mess tests Dodd-Frank; WH wants global currency accord; Fannie and Freddie to require hundreds of billions more
No one thought the Dodd-Frank financial-regulation bill would get a test run so quickly. But as the potential problems in the foreclosure market grow, they’re intersecting with the few portions of the bill that are already up-and-running — and making it clear where we wish we’d had the bill long ago.
Fault Fannie, Freddie
Key roles in foreclosure mess
By STEPHEN B. MEISTER
Last Updated: 4:45 AM, October 23, 2010
Posted: 10:08 PM, October 22, 2010
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-run mortgage giants, share much of the blame for the foreclosure crisis.
Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee $5.5 trillion of mortgages — more than half of all US home mortgages. Major banks — Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase — service the loans for Fannie and Freddie for fees. And when they do, they do what Fannie and Freddie tell them to do.
…
Future political viability of “Screw the Renters” federal tax policy is in doubt:
Plans to cut the federal budget deficit could affect tax-system support for homeownership
By Kenneth R. Harney
October 24, 2010
Reporting from Washington —
Could the forthcoming report of a bipartisan presidential deficit-reduction commission — due Dec. 1 — lead to fundamental changes in the way that homeownership is treated by the federal tax system?
For decades the political rule on Capitol Hill has been that nobody messes with homeowner tax benefits — mortgage interest deductions, capital gains exclusions, property tax write-offs — even if they cost the government hundreds of billions of dollars in tax revenue a year and increase the federal deficit.
But now the sheer size of the country’s fiscal problems — a $1.3-trillion deficit for 2010 and a fast-mounting $13.6-trillion debt overall — could be slowly altering the equation. Not only are some Republicans and Democrats joining in support of plans to lower the deficit through across-the-board cuts in defense spending, social programs and tax subsidies, but even leaders in the real estate industry are speaking up.
At an opening session Oct. 14 of the annual fall meeting of the Urban Land Institute here, all five of the panelists — Democrats and Republicans — agreed that while continuing tax system support for housing is important, the current mix of tax incentives is costly and imbalanced — favoring homeownership disproportionately over rental housing alternatives.
…
Cut spending: check
Increase taxes: check
Result: Less spending cash in the hands of consumers.
Painful in the short-term, but, hey, it’s gotta be done.
(You’re going to be feeling it too, China.)
Way off topic, but it’s the kind of thing that needs to be remembered.
7:00am Manila time. October 25, 1944 (7:00pm, EST, 10/24/1944)..
“Sprague’s unit of six jeep carriers had the shortwave call sign of Taffy 3. When it was surprised, Taffy Three was 80 miles north of the entrance to Leyte Gulf, doing the donkeywork of amphibious warfare; small air strikes on enemy airfields, combat air patrol over the beachhead,anti-submarine patrol, bombing truck convoys, parachuting of supplies to Army units.
These mass-produced runt flattops were not built to fight. Nor was the screen of three destroyers and four smaller destroyer-escorts expected to do battle, except against submarines. Most of the officers and sailors of Taffy Three were reserves. A goodly number were draftees. The prima-donnas Halsey had taken north, the fleet carriers and fast battleships, were manned by the professional navy, not the likes of Taffy 3. But Taffy 3, not Halsey was in Kurita’s way as he bore down on Leyte Gulf, and so Taffy 3 had to fight him.”
Herman Wouk, “War and Rememberance”
Magnificent.
finally.. the seasons have changed, the weather has turned, and news reporters prove once again they are too stupid to come in out of the rain.
Black mascara is streaking down this one’s cheeks.. not even a hat or rain coat.
hey Dan Rather.. who’da thunk you’d start such a fad?
Unbelievably, in my town, the malls and every store in town are packed to the gills like it’s Christmas shopping season, no worries are apparent, the cash seems to be flowing, from somewhere.
The CFTC and Wendy Gramm, (the former wife of Phil Gramm, the neocon who wrote up Deregulation putting the CFTC in charge of the subprime market in place of the SEC) — both violated 18 U.S.C. 1503, obstruction of judicial proceedings.
Exc…use me, exactly how should we apply the Constitution to defend ourselves from this? Constitution thumping is rather a vague rhetoric. It worked for Obama, it doesnt’ work for the American people.
THE CRIME:
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Retiring CFTC Judge: We Covered Up Market Manipulation
NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CFTC SCANDAL: On September 17, 2010, CFTC Administrative Law Judge, George H Painter, issued a “Notice and Order” announcing his retirement from his position. In this notice Judge Painter wrote of a conspiracy at the highest levels of the CFTC (within the ENFORCEMENT DIVISION) where a long time judge of 20 years has been conspiring with past CFTC Chairs to RIG THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAW by NOT finding ANYONE guilty of market manipulation. Here are Judge Painter’s own words:
“There are two administrative law judges at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission: myself and the Honorable Bruce Levine. On Judge Levine’s first week on the job, nearly twenty years ago, he came into my office and stated that he had promised Wendy Gramm, then Chairwoman of the Commission, that we would never rule in a complainant’s favor. A review of his rulings will confirm that he has fulfilled his vow. Judge Levine, in the cynical guise of enforcing the rules, forces pro se complaints to run a hostile procedural gauntlet until they lose hope, and either withdraw their complaint or settle for a pittance, regardless of the merits of the case”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/19/AR2010101907216.html
And Phil and Wendy Gramm are proud Christians.
The question the Wall Street Journal writers might ask, but are not, is, “What might the Plunge Protection Team try next in yet another ultimately futile attempt to stop house prices from plummeting downwards from what everyone in the MSM has been wrongly assuming was a firm bottom?”
* AHEAD OF THE TAPE
* OCTOBER 25, 2010
Green Shoots for Housing Mowed Down
By DAVID REILLY
Winter usually casts a chill over housing markets. And this year, spring may be a long time coming.
Thank the foreclosure debacle for that. It is roiling housing just as some positive signs were emerging: Housing starts, architectural billings and home-builder sentiment have all recently risen.
The trouble won’t necessarily show up in housing reports this week—September existing-home sales come out Monday, Case-Shiller August home-price data on Tuesday and September new-home sales data on Wednesday. Economists expect sales to show a small uptick from August levels, while prices remain weak.
But these figures will reflect conditions mostly before banks temporarily halted foreclosures due to questionable affidavits. More telling may be recent declines in the weekly mortgage-applications survey from the Mortgage Bankers of America, which showed purchasing activity off nearly 40% from a year ago.
For their part, banks are moving to restart foreclosures and reassure buyers that markets are functioning. But the legal logjam mightn’t clear quickly, given what are expected to be renewed challenges from homeowners’ lawyers and skeptical judges.
The upshot is the level of new foreclosure sales, a key driver of current housing activity, may be damped for months. Home prices may initially benefit from having fewer foreclosures in the mix. But any rise is likely to be short-lived, especially if buyers hibernate until the fiasco gets sorted out.
Moreover, once the legal problems clear, a backlog of discounted properties will flood the market. Economists at Wells Fargo Securities noted last week that there are two million homes in the process of foreclosure and another two million with mortgages 90 days past due. They expect home prices to fall an additional 5% to 8% next year.
Falling prices and legal uncertainty, meanwhile, may lead “to even more conservative appraisals and even tighter underwriting standards,” the Wells Fargo economists reckon.
That, in turn, could blunt the benefit from superlow mortgage rates, currently around 4.2% for 30-year loans. It could also prompt the Federal Reserve to try to drive borrowing rates even lower. While a housing rebound mightn’t be a must for an economic recovery, a renewed housing downturn almost certainly will undermine one.
…
The aftermath of Cash for Clunkers is starting to show up in the form of a new car inventory pile-up.
* The Wall Street Journal
* HEARD ON THE STREET
* OCTOBER 25, 2010
The New Normal in Detroit
By LIAM DENNING
In the bad old days, Detroit, with its stubbornly high costs, churned out as much metal as the country’s army of dealers could take. If customers didn’t fully appreciate the need for a third car in the driveway, that is where jacked-up incentives came in. The resulting crash was inevitable.
So any sign that dealer lots are filling up again raises concerns. Last month, new light-vehicle inventory for the U.S. was 12.7% above what would be “normal” for this time of year, estimates Chris Ceraso, auto analyst at Credit Suisse. What’s more, there has been a pronounced upward trend since May, when the nation’s dealerships were 10.2% understocked.
…
* COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE
* OCTOBER 25, 2010
BofA Finds Foreclosure Document Errors
By DAN FITZPATRICK
Bank of America Corp. for the first time acknowledged finding some mistakes in foreclosure files as it begins to resubmit documents in 102,000 cases.
The Charlotte, N.C., lender discovered errors in 10 to 25 out of the first several hundred foreclosure cases it examined starting last Monday. The problems included improper paperwork, lack of signatures and missing files, said people familiar with the results. In certain cases, information about the property and payment history didn’t match.
Some of the defects seem relatively minor, according to the bank, and bank officials said they haven’t uncovered any evidence of wrongful foreclosures. There was an address missing one of five digits, misspellings of borrowers’ names, a transposition of a first and last name and a missing signature on one document “underlying” an affidavit, a bank spokesman said.
But the bank uncovered these mistakes while preparing less than 1% of the first foreclosure files that it intends to resubmit to the courts in 23 states. As the nation’s largest mortgage lender, the bank is under pressure to show that its mortgage process isn’t flawed amid revelations that many banks used “robo-signers” to approve large numbers of foreclosure documents without reading them closely.
State and federal agencies launched investigations into the allegations, and some officials, including Iowa’s attorney general, said they wouldn’t necessarily trust the banks’ self-assessments.
Several statements from bank officers about foreclosure practices have come under scrutiny. Wells Fargo & Co. Chief Executive John Stumpf on Oct. 20 said: “I don’t know how other companies do it, but in our company the affidavit signer and the reviewer are the same team member.” Days later a deposition emerged from a bankruptcy case indicating that Wells Fargo had in fact used a robo-signer who didn’t verify documents she approved.
A Wells Fargo spokeswoman said “we don’t believe any of those cases or depositions should be taken out of context. If we find some errors and need for improvements we will take that action.”
Bank of America in several recent public comments about the foreclosure issue hadn’t previously acknowledged even minor errors. Yet last week it uncovered a group of mistakes as it prepared to resubmit the first batch of documents and shared the information internally, according to people familiar with the matter. Executives are briefed twice daily about what was found.
…
* ECONOMY
* OCTOBER 24, 2010, 8:25 P.M. ET
Key Tax Breaks at Risk as Panel Looks at Cuts
By DAMIAN PALETTA
Sacrosanct tax breaks, including deductions on mortgage interest, remain on the table just weeks before the deficit commission issues recommendations on policies to pare back with the aim of balancing the budget by 2015.
The tax benefits are hugely popular with the public but they have drawn the panel’s focus, in part because the White House has said these and other breaks cost the government about $1 trillion a year.
At stake, in addition to the mortgage-interest deductions, are child tax credits and the ability of employees to pay their portion of their health-insurance tab with pretax dollars. Commission officials are expected to look at preserving these breaks but at a lower level, according to people familiar with the matter.
The officials are also looking at potential cuts to defense spending and a freeze on domestic discretionary spending. It is unclear if the 18-member panel will be able to reach an agreement on any of the items by a Dec. 1 deadline.
Even if they do reach an agreement, any curbs on current tax breaks would likely face tough sledding in Congress. The banking and real-estate lobbies have fiercely rebuffed efforts to rescind the mortgage-interest deduction in the past.
…
Prices and sales of homes fell in September
October 24, 2010
Due to several factors, sales and prices of homes fell in September 2010 compared to 2009.
It comes as no surprise that with the expiration of the federal tax credit, the sales of homes would drop off dramatically.
The tax credit had a tendency to “move up” homebuyers who may have been intending to buy later this year but bought earlier to take advantage of the tax credit.
John Horning, chairman of the Wisconsin Realtors Association board of directors, said, “The federal tax credit was a great incentive and drove many buyers to purchase in the spring, which resulted in lower home-sales volume during the months of July through September.”
Actual sales were off 30.9 percent from a year ago. During the same time period, median prices fell just 1.8 percent to $141,000.
Despite the drop in sales, the current market fundamentals remain strong. Historically low interest rates, large inventories and stable prices make it a good time to buy.
…
* OPINION
* OCTOBER 25, 2010
How to Privatize the Mortgage Market
Europeans manage just fine without Fannie and Freddie-type agencies.
By DWIGHT M. JAFFEE
Despite the Dodd-Frank financial reform enacted in July, the mortgage market remains frozen and effectively nationalized. Today 90% of the $14 trillion in outstanding residential mortgages is controlled by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the Department of Veterans Affairs, or Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—with the latter two under government conservatorship.
The solution? Privatize the mortgage market.
Fannie and Freddie have shown how government guarantees lead to dangerous risk- taking in which shareholders reap the profits but taxpayers pay for the losses. Even their most powerful longtime congressional patron, Barney Frank (D., Mass.), now agrees it is time to abolish these two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs).
Unfortunately, a popular fallback position is for the government to guarantee every middle-income residential mortgage directly. While that’s arguably better than guaranteeing the GSEs, the underwriting standards for government-guarantee programs will assuredly collapse under political pressure, leaving the taxpayers once again holding the mortgage losses.
Our goal today must be to allow home prices to stabilize at affordable levels and to allow mortgage rates and underwriting standards to reach safe, sustainable levels. Government interventions to lower mortgage rates or boost house prices only delay the necessary adjustment, while possibly creating the foundation for a future crash.
The evidence is strong that private markets can provide the necessary supply of credit to sustain active housing markets. Virtually every European country has well-functioning private mortgage markets without government interventions of the Fannie or Freddie sort, or direct mortgage guarantees.
Despite the world-wide financial crisis and economic downturn, moreover, private European mortgage markets today have delinquency and foreclosure rates that round to zero. European lenders, borrowers and taxpayers all recognize that high underwriting standards obviate the need for government bailouts.
We can create a sound and vigorous private mortgage market in the United States, but no private market can compete with the government-guaranteed and subsidized markets of today. So how do we get from here to there?
…
Mr. Jaffee teaches finance and real estate at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
“We can create a sound and vigorous private mortgage market in the United States, but no private market can compete with the government-guaranteed and subsidized markets of today. So how do we get from here to there?”
I wonder if Dubya could answer this today with hindsight?
The number of Britons who expect house prices to fall outnumbered those forecasting an increase for the first time since 2009 in the third quarter as concerns about the economy mounted, Rightmove Plc said.
Some 32 percent of the 25,584 people surveyed said prices will be lower in a year, the operator of Britain’s biggest property website said in a report published in London today. Thirty six percent forecast home values would be “about the same,” while 27 percent said they would be higher. A year earlier, 56 percent predicted higher prices.
As though a complete abolition of prudent lending standards had nothing to do with it…not to mention the predictable collapse of unsustainable Fed- and GSE-funded bubble era home prices.
Top 6 Mortgage Mistakes
by Mark Riddix
Sunday, October 24, 2010
During the 2007-2009 financial crisis, the United States economy crumbled because of a problem with mortgage foreclosures. Borrowers all over the nation had trouble paying their mortgages. At the time, eight out of 10 borrowers were trying to refinance their mortgages. Even high end homeowners were having trouble with foreclosures. Why were so many citizens having trouble with their mortgages?
Let’s take a look at the biggest mortgage mistakes that homeowners make.
1. Adjustable Rate Mortgages
…
2. No Down Payment
…
3. Liar Loans
…
4. Reverse Mortgages
…
5. Longer Amortization
…
6. Exotic Mortgage Products
…
The Bottom Line
As you can clearly see, the road to home ownership is riddled with many traps. If you can avoid the traps that many borrowers fell into then you can keep yourself from financial ruin.
..Why were so many citizens having trouble with their mortgages?..
None of those 6 causes problems unless you initially borrow more than you can repay, and make asset appreciation your only hope of survival.
Easy lending spelled doom for lenders, but FBs suffered thanks to their own mistakes.
“Sadly, Americans have been so repressed, even having private gold ownership outlawed for a good portion of the 20th century that they are much slower than the Malaysians, Indonesians, Chinese and others to even realize what is “real money” anymore.”
http://tinyurl.com/28hxwty
Americans, in general, will be the last to board this train.
Which means Americans will generally suffer less when gold crashes.
P.S. Best to never board than to buy at peak bubble prices…
I get the concept of hijacking an airplane, or perhaps a bus, but how do you hijack a home, given that they are fixed assets (trailers accepted)?
Homeowners: Woman Hijacks Show Home
Posted: 6:50 pm EDT October 21, 2010
Updated: 10:46 am EDT October 22, 2010
COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A Cobb County couple says their house has been hijacked by a woman who was supposed to help them sell it.
Hanna and Devin Pintozzi hired Buckhead staging company Creative Show Homes to help market their upscale Smyrna house. Their contract included a live-in resident manager to make the home look more appealing to agents and buyers while the couple lives elsewhere. The couple said resident manager Katrina “Honest” Jimmerson has barricaded herself inside.
On Thursday, Channel 2’s Diana Davis visited the $350,000 home that has been up for sale since March.
The doors were locked. The blinds were drawn. The couple’s house key didn’t work, and the realtor lock box key was missing.
“We can’t go in the home. We don’t know what she is doing in the home right now. The company did not give us any information about her before she moved in,” Devin said.
…
“…will generally suffer less when gold crashes.”
Key word, when.
Is it the same “when” as in, when the housing market recovers? A.k.a. maybe 2020?