Everything Has Been Turned Upside Down
The Missoulian reports from Montana. “In 2011, 187 Bitterroot Valley residents officially lost their homes to foreclosure when trustee deeds were filed with the Ravalli County Clerk and Recorder. That was 19 more than were filed the previous year and double the number from 2009. ‘What’s happened is everything has been turned upside down,’ said Ravalli County Clerk of Court Regina Plettenberg. ‘For many of those people, their home isn’t worth now what they paid for it and they owe more than it’s worth. That makes it so they can’t refinance. Before 2007, it was rare to actually see someone lose their property. I could probably count on one hand how many we would see in a year.’”
“We’re seeing both the well-heeled and just the average, blue-collar worker being impacted,’ said First American Title Company manager Sherri Williams. ‘There is no cutting the sheets between the halves and halve nots. It’s like my dad used to tell me: Most of us are just one paycheck away from bankruptcy at all times.’”
The Idaho Statesman. “People go to pawnshops for many reasons, but they have been using the shops more since the economy started souring four years ago. As banks have tightened lending, home-equity loans have become scarcer and credit cards have blown past their upper limits, people have been turning to pawnshops for quick cash to make ends meet. ‘More affluent people are needing to borrow money,’ said Tim Birkle, co-owner of GNP of Idaho, which owns three Vista Pawn shops in Boise and Nampa, and Airman Pawn in Mountain Home.”
The Spokesman Review. “A Spokane bank has inherited large pieces of the shuttered Ridpath Hotel. A public foreclosure auction Friday in the lobby of the Spokane County Courthouse failed to earn any bids above the opening prices of $875,000 and $125,000 for two upper floors, leaving the parcels as property of RiverBank.”
“RiverBank forced the auction by filing a foreclosure action against Gregory Jeffreys, a Spokane man who has left a trail of debts across Spokane County and who is now at the center of lawsuits and investigations over multiple projects. Court records show RiverBank attempted to collect on development loans, as well as several other connections with him.”
“The lending relationship was among the problems that led federal banking regulators to demand RiverBank raise more capital. Attorneys, bankers and developers say they have not been able to find Jeffreys. He has skipped lawsuit depositions. He doesn’t answer or return phone messages, although he still owns an upscale Spokane Valley home with an assessed value of $666,000.”
“A Coeur d’Alene condominium project postponed three years ago when the economy faltered has resurfaced as a rental housing proposal geared toward workers with moderate incomes. Lake City Development Corp Executive Director Tony Berns said the urban renewal agency has been trying to add affordable housing units to Midtown for years. But, he said, ‘The world fell apart, economy-wise. The reason it’s got life right now is because they’ve redefined the project to be rentals. The only thing that seems to be working these days is rentals. Nobody’s building any condos.’”
KLCC in Oregon. “Federal funding for low-income rental assistance has not yet been appropriated by congress. But a Central Oregon agency is helping applicants with the process of getting on the waiting list. Housing Works provides services to low-income families in Crook, Deschutes and Jefferson Counties. Kenny LaPoint says Central Oregon’s housing boom went bust along with the economy, leading to a high foreclosure rate. ‘Many of those families that were in foreclosure, lost their homes, have gone into the rental market, and so our rental market has actually tightened up. And we’ve actually seen a bit of increase in rents here and it’s becoming tougher and tougher to find rental units.’”
Oregon Public Broadcasting. “Notices of default were down last year in Deschutes County. That’s the first yearly decline in four years. Kathy Ragsdale, CEO and President of the Central Oregon Association of Realtors, cautions the numbers may not mean the market is bouncing back. Some observers say the banks may be holding onto foreclosed properties, to keep from flooding the market and depressing prices further.”
“‘If they’re actually having less that they’re foreclosing on, that’s wonderful. But if there’s a backup inventory that we haven’t seen yet, we might not see that much of an inventory in the market until that inventory is depleted,’ Ragsdale said.”
KVAL in Oregon. “Nadine Powell said the house nextdoor in her downtown Eugene neighborhood used to be a beautiful home. Bank of America said the house is not technically foreclosed yet, but neighbors explained it’s been empty for months. The house has become more than an eyesore: Powell said it’s now potentially hazardous. ‘We’re really concerned about fire and possible gang activity.’”
“So what can neighbors do about these vacant homes? ‘The big thing is for the neighbors to be involved,’ explained Eugene real estate broker Marie Due. Dues said she can’t think of a neighborhood in the area without a foreclosure or short sale, and there are a few ways neighbors can take action. ‘Be the eyes and ears. If a house is vacant, you know it’s empty, and all of a sudden it looks like somebody’s in the house, call the police,’ said Due.”
“But as far as your own property value, Due said neighbors are basically stuck. ‘One of the things is that you’re not going to be able to do anything to help you with your value,’ said Due.”
The HeraldNet in Washington. “Snohomish County’s housing market closed out the last month of 2011 on the same projection as the past six months: home sales continued to rise while home prices declined. The median home price fell 9.3 percent to $222,750, down from $245,700 in December 2010. Fewer homes are coming on the market for sale and interest rates remain low — factors that give real estate brokers a positive outlook for 2012.”
“In December, 763 homes came on the market in Snohomish County. That’s down 28.4 percent from December 2010. The county’s housing supply is at about 3.2 months. For Seattle region, inventory is down 30 percent compared to a year ago. Despite rising sales, OB Jacobi, a member of the Northwest MLS board of directors, noted foreclosures and short sales continue to cause downward pressure on prices.”
“‘Many would-be sellers are still wary of the market, and as a result, there are fewer homes for sale,’ Jacobi said. ‘At the same time, there are buyers who are eager to strike while the iron is hot, so in some areas, homes are selling before many buyers even have a chance to react.’”
The Puget Sound Business Journal in Washington. “The median price for single family homes and condominiums in King County last month was $291,000, according to a new report by the Northwest MLS. That compares to a median price of $342,400 in December 2010. The number of single family homes and condominiums listed for sale was down more than 25 percent for the month, compared to the period a year ago. Meanwhile, the number of pending and closed sales was up for the period by 19.8 percent for pending sales and 4.1 percent for closed sales.”
“Southwest King County had the steepest decline in median sales price for the month, falling 27.15 percent to $163,000 from $223,750 in December the prior year. The decline was coupled with the county’s sharpest increase in the number of closed sales, with a 48.26 percent jump.”
From MSNBC. “When David Martin and his wife bought their north Seattle condo five years ago, they figured they had plenty of time to downsize if they needed to before they retired. Now, with the property worth roughly $60,000 less than the balance of their mortgage, Martin, 68, has been giving serious thought to just walking away, a process lenders call ’strategic default.’”
“‘Guilt and morality are one side, and objective financial analysis are on the other side,’ Martin said. ‘They’re coming to two opposite conclusions. I wonder how many other people are struggling with the same question.’”
“The government’s ineffective response to the housing crisis, even as it went to extraordinary lengths to backstop banks, has also propelled walkaways, say researchers. As home prices resume their fall, some homeowners believe lenders should bear at least a portion of the losses inflicted by a housing bust the industry helped create. ‘The money didn’t disappear,’ said Martin. ‘We still owe it to the bank, so the bank will end up getting all of its money back on a loan that no longer has its original value. They’re taking no part in the loss.’”
“For now, Martin is electing to stay in his home and continue paying the mortgage. ‘We intend to continue as we are on the basis that we gain nothing from acting at this point,’ he said in a note. ‘We think that the real estate market in Seattle will rise by 2013 enough to offer better alternatives. There is a small chance that the federal government will act to offer more rational choices. The real possibility is that the debt might be refinanced in 2013 at a level that might offer enough reduction in payments to allow us to hang on long enough to shore up our financial position.’”
Here’s another classic from Missoula of the ‘we can’t sell these affordable homes’ variety.
‘Inadequate subsidy harnessed to a crashing economy contributed significantly to this project missing the mark and its market,’ wrote Oaks in the memo…The city of Missoula recently bailed out its riverfront baseball stadium, and a private developer is asking Missoula to donate other riverfront property to build a hotel. Jaffe, though, said financial support for the neighborhood nonprofit is of a different nature.’
‘If you’re going to classify this as a bailout along with the other things we’re going to classify as a bailout, who do we want to be bailing out?” Jaffe said. ‘It’s a bizarre thing in this country where it’s more acceptable to bail out folks with the greatest means and folks with the least means are left just to sink.’
We’ve got to come up with a phrase to describe this; moral hazard envy?
‘It’s a bizarre thing in this country where it’s more acceptable to bail out folks with the greatest means and folks with the least means are left just to sink.’
“We’ve got to come up with a phrase to describe this”
How about- ‘the truth’?
Corporatism.
Oaks is quite the community organizer here. Probably the most powerful…hard to keep up with someone who apparently doesn’t have to work for a living.
‘It’s a bizarre thing in this country where it’s more acceptable to bail out folks with the greatest means and folks with the least means are left just to sink.’
Like many people have said before: The richer you are, the less you have to pay for.
‘The richer you are, the less you have to pay for’
IMO, it’s a big leap from that to I want a bail-out too. Two wrongs don’t make a right and unless we stand up against bailouts, we humbly wait in line for our govt cheese.
“More affluent people are needing to borrow money.”
Natch, many of the affluent made their money off the less-than-affluent - many somehow got a cut of the paychecks of the less-than-affluent. So when the less-thans have to cut back the more-thans also get to feel the pain.
Trickle down, trickle up.
I always doubted that the affluent used the chack cashing places. A friend that worked next to one told me how doctors’ wives and others would park down at the other end of the strip mall so their cars wouldn’t be seen parked out front.
Affluent = does not need to borrow money.
Except for the faux affluent, who are now legion among us.
“Affluent= A media created image that many will commit financial suicide in order appear as.
‘There is no cutting the sheets between the halves and halve nots. ”
LOL! that was a movie, wasn’t it? To Halve and Halve Not?
I saw that too, and figured they spell it that way in Montana. You know, like the British with ‘color’.
And even if they’d spelled ‘have’ correctly, what does ‘cutting the sheets’ mean? You can’t cut them in half?
The whole statement is nonsensical, and it took the person who said it, the reporter, and the editor to come up with such a complete garbling.
Or maybe it’s an obscure Monatanan expression.
‘The money didn’t disappear,’ said Martin. ‘We still owe it to the bank, so the bank will end up getting all of its money back on a loan that no longer has its original value. They’re taking no part in the loss.’
‘We intend to continue as we are on the basis that we gain nothing from acting at this point,’ he said in a note. ‘We think that the real estate market in Seattle will rise…’
I’m not sure what this guy is saying. Could it be he will stay if the prices rise and will walk if prices fall?
It sounds to me like he is a member of the Federal Reserve Bank’s cargo cult of true believers in near-term housing bubble reflation.
Well Im 68 years old and we might as well stay .. moving is tough on us old birds, so whose gonna be hurt?
Well my kids and grandkids when i have no money to leave them, and they wont want the condoze thats underwater….I hate my kids anyway so….’em
‘For many of those people, their home isn’t worth now what they paid for it and they owe more than it’s worth. That makes it so they can’t refinance…………………………….
Yes, indeed. Cognitive Dissonance.
When did it become a standard way of life that “refinancing” your house was an economic solution?
For most of the previous generation, the goal was to PAY OFF the mortgage and OWN the house FREE and CLEAR by the time you retired.
That was the benefit of “home ownership”. After 30 years of payments, you finally retired the largest monthly payment and could live on substantially less money when you retired.
Now, thanks to financial planners and economic fraudsters, a.k.a. economists, providing stupid ideologies about how money works, many people didn’t want to have “all their money tied up in their house”.
The “financialization” of Amerika has ruined many people. They haven’t learned simple concepts of FREE and independent people:
Live below your means. Save for a rainy day. Don’t buy things you can’t afford.
I realize the Pigs at the FED and their buddies in the trading firms and banking companies have made a WAR on savers and try to INFLATE prices to keep you chasing after dreams……As the Realtors would say, you better buy now before you get “priced out forever.” It’s been a tough decade or 2 for prudent people. But you have to hold a line in this war on savers. If you don’t you may find you need to re-cycle loans on your house on a regular basis, thereby having no equity and no chance at any kind of retirement. I realize the banksters want to re-write loans and revolve credit continuously. It’s their big bonus money pipe dream. As FREE people, don’t go for it. Give them the finger and don’t buy things you can’t pay for with a job that provides 30% less pay then you make now. Always. (forget “growth”).
Fewer homes are coming on the market for sale and interest rates remain low — factors that give real estate brokers a positive outlook for 2012.”………………….
Yes, there you have it, folks. Hurry! Don’t be the last to “lock in” that All time Low rate on the current housing price. Rates will only go up from here and may go up rapidly. If so, we certainly hope you don’t plan or need to SELL the house you buy in the next 10 to 20 years. Or, guess what?? The PRICE will need to come down. At least in relative terms.
Perhaps the FED can get a roaring inflation going that will make it look like you “came out ahead” in actual current dollar amounts.
I think I will burn my real estate brokers license. I haven’t used it in years and wouldn’t want to put someone into a house unless they have the CASH.
“Most people who own a home know of someone — a friend, a colleague a family member — who has defaulted, especially in housing markets that have taken a big hit,” said Jon Maddux, CEO and co-founder of youwalkaway.com, a service that advises homeowners on walking away from their mortgage. “They realize these are not bad people. They’re not deadbeats. They’re just like them.”
dead·beat noun \ˈded-ˌbēt\
Definition of DEADBEAT
1: loafer
2: one who persistently fails to pay personal debts or expenses
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deadbeat - 132k -
Maybe they`re not bad people but according to merriam-webster, they are Deadbeats.
If they paid their debts up until walking away, and/or are paying some of their debts now, they are by definition not deadbeats.
Foreclosure free ride: 3 years, no payments
By Les Christie @CNNMoney January 1, 2012: 4:40 PM ET
Nationwide, the average time it takes to process a foreclosure — from the first missed payment to the final foreclosure auction — has climbed to 674 days from 253 days just four years ago, according to LPS Applied Analytics.
It takes much longer than that in Florida, where the process averages 1,027 days, nearly 3 years. In D.C., foreclosure averages 1,053 days and delinquent borrowers in New York often stay in their homes for an average of 906 days.
And while some borrowers are looking for ways to make good with lenders and get their homes back, many aren’t paying a dime. Nearly 40% of homeowners in default have not made a payment in at least two years, according to LPS.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/12/28/real_estate/foreclosure/index.htm - 69k -
Robo or not he is by definition a Deadbeat.
A Staten Island, N.Y. man who owed $300,000 on his mortgage and hadn’t made a payment in two years, said his attorney used the robo-signing issue to fight his foreclosure.
In his case, the lender’s paperwork included many different papers signed by the same employee. The problem was that the signatures didn’t match. The judge dismissed the lender’s case against the borrower, although it can be re-filed.
“It looks like I’ll be in my home for some time to come,” said the homeowner, who asked to remain anonymous. He said he is currently not making any payments on his home.
I still don’t understand why these people bother you so much. It strikes me as being a parallel to those who hate people who lost their non-menial jobs and are now on welfare.
If someone is going to give you free cheese, you’d be a fool to not accept it.
“I still don’t understand why these people bother you so much.”
I live in an area where people bragged about how smart they were during the runup in house prices. I was told how smart they were and how much money they made on their houses and how much money they were going to make. They laughed at me and my family for having such a stupid father and husband who could just not see the big picture. Now many of these same people claim they are victims, many of these same people have lived in their houses for years without making a payment (as i have shown from public records). The PTB have kept house prices in decent neighborhoods at unafordable levels for the average guy. (which is me the guy who couldn`t see the big picture about realestate only going up).
That is why “these people” bother me so much.
PS
I tried serenity now, It didn`t work.
I agree. I also don’t understand how some people are looked upon as immoral/unethical for walking away from a non-recourse home loan when the contract stipulates the borrower can walk away and forfeit the collateral. It’s all legal, and thus moral/ethical.
Hear Hear!!
It’s truly adding insult to injury that these same people who looked down their noses at people like us, now expect us to (partially)pay for their free rent in the form of bailouts that keep the banks from being forced to foreclose and sell their properties to stay afloat.
Gawd - is there no relief? Face it home-moaners: You made a bad call. You thought housing would go up forever - it didn’t. You were wrong. Take your lumps, pay what you owe or go bankrupt, but quit begging for/expecting housing help from my tax dollars - it only hurts those of us who were responsible in all this who simply want a decent place to live.
We all know they won’t get bailed out. Only the bankers will be made whole. The non-payers will eventually be kicked to the curb, have ruined credit and maybe even a deficiency judgement hounding them for years.
I agree. The point that was made recently about how they are the majority and therefore to allow us to be right means collapse was a good one. If life was fair the banksters would have been crushed lately. Therefore life will not be fair as long as they have any control…and perhaps for much longer.
“I live in an area where people bragged about how smart they were during the runup in house prices.”
And now they lost everything and will be eventually be kicked out of the houses. What good will the luxury car do when they have to move into a shasty apartment complex?
I can live somewhat with life not being fair. It’s the double injustice of my money going to the continual aid of those that caused this mess in the first place that I can’t accept without a fight. I’ll be joining “Occupy the courts” on the 20th…..
“We all know they won’t get bailed out.”
3 years of no rent or house payment would be a $61,200 bailout to me.
3 years of no rent or house payment would be a $61,200 bailout to me.
Then why don’t you buy a house using a mortgage, and quit paying?
4299 Althea Way Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410
Short sale!!!! Must see this beautiful 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms,2 car garage with pool
Beds 4 bed Baths 4 bath
House Size 2335 sq ft
Price $209,000
Property InformationLocation
Address: 4299 ALTHEA WAY
Municipality: PALM BEACH GARDENS
Sales Date Book/Page Price Sale Type Owner
Jun-2000 11876/1180 $165,000 WARRANTY DEED PASCOAL ADEIR F &
Apr-1991 06800/1498 $140,000 WARRANTY DEED
Jun-1987 05332/0615 $128,500 WARRANTY DEED
Victim who bought for $165k in June 2000 needed a little spending money. Still lives there.
Type: MTG
Date/Time: 7/5/2000 03:13:09
CFN: 20000252367
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 11876/1181
Pages: 16
Consideration: $148,450.00
Party 1: PASCOAL ADEIR F & MARIA O
PASCOAL MARIA O (M)
Party 2: FIRST NLC FIN SVC
Legal: PALM BCH GDN 6 B70 L19 BL
Type: MTG
Date/Time: 4/22/2002 09:52:33
CFN: 20020203051
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 13629/443
Pages: 16
Consideration: $157,000.00
Party 1: PASCOAL ADEIR F
PASCOAL MARIA O
Party 2: NATIONAL CITY MORTGAGE CO
COMMONWEALTH UNITED MORTGAGE COMPANY
Legal: PALM BCH GDN 6 B70 L19 BL
Type: MTG
Date/Time: 1/2/2004 12:23:28
CFN: 20040001707
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 16391/1256
Pages: 19
Consideration: $167,000.00
Party 1: PASCOAL ADEIR F
PASCOAL MARIA O
Party 2: WORLD SAVINGS BANK FSB
Legal: PALM BCH GDN 6 B70 L19 BL
Type: MTG
Date/Time: 6/23/2005 13:27:46
CFN: 20050390139
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 18797/1
Pages: 9
Consideration: $55,000.00
Party 1: PASCOAL ADEIR F
PASCOAL MARIA O
Party 2: SUNTRUST BANK
Legal: PALM BCH GDN 6 B70 L19 BL
Type: MTG
Date/Time: 4/21/2006 12:15:17
CFN: 20060236238
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 20233/1761
Pages: 15
Consideration: $130,000.00
Party 1: PASCOAL ADEIR F
PASCOAL MARIA
Party 2: WORLD SAVINGS BANK FSB
Legal: PALM BCH GDN 6 B70 L19 BL
Type: MTG
Date/Time: 12/11/2006 11:18:35
CFN: 20060682659
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 21178/1012
Pages: 22
Consideration: $331,200.00
Party 1: PASCOAL ADEIR
PASCOAL MARIA O
Party 2: MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS INC
FIRST MAGNUS FINANCIAL CORPORATION
Legal: PALM BCH GDN 6 B70 L19 BL
Type: LP
Date/Time: 11/30/2011 10:08:42
CFN: 20110442837
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 24876/1636
Pages: 1
Consideration: $0.00
Party 1: AURORA BANK FSB
Party 2: PASCOAL MARIA O
PASCOAL ADEIR F
Legal: PALM BCH GDN 6 B70 L19 BL
Simple tyranny by the moron majority.
“Then why don’t you buy a house…?” Because the banks require a down payment now.
Because the banks require a down payment now.
That’s not what I hear. FHA?
I mentioned here about a year ago I have a friend who bought a house in Flagstaff with a VA loan. He put 1% down and got a really low rate. I saw him the other day and he told me his $290k house was down about $30k since he bought it (it was a foreclosure and his buy was around $30k less than the houses around him). So it cost him $45-50k to own that house this past year. Yeah you can get a low rate loan, from FHA, Fannie or Freddie. BTW, he now expects it to go down to $200k.
Here ya go Russ
We don’t need no mortgage payments
We don’t need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the courtroom
Banker, leave those beats alone
Hey, Banker, leave those beats alone
All in all, you’re just another brick in the wall
All in all, you’re just another brick in the wall
“Time to go.”
“Wrong do it again!”
“If you don’t pay your rent, you can’t have any pudding, how can you have any pudding if you don’t pay your rent!”
“You! Yes, you! behind three years on your payments, stand still laddie!”
“I saw him the other day and he told me his $290k house was down about $30k since he bought it (it was a foreclosure and his buy was around $30k less than the houses around him). … he now expects it to go down to $200k.”
Such are the natural consequences of the personal choice to fall for a government-sponsored knifecatcher encouragement program.
Comment by jeff saturday
2012-01-10 13:45:23
“I still don’t understand why these people bother you so much.”
I live in an area where people bragged about how smart they were during the runup in house prices. I was told how smart they were and how much money they made on their houses and how much money they were going to make. They laughed at me and my family for having such a stupid father and husband who could just not see the big picture. Now many of these same people claim they are victims, many of these same people have lived in their houses for years without making a payment (as i have shown from public records). The PTB have kept house prices in decent neighborhoods at unafordable levels for the average guy. (which is me the guy who couldn`t see the big picture about realestate only going up).
That is why “these people” bother me so much.
PS
I tried serenity now, It didn`t work.
——————————————————————
All you guys read this one again. And the next time you think Jethro is belaboring the point(assuredly tomorrow if I know Jethro), you’ll better understand why. I don’t think Jethro’s point is all that productive but let me tell you something….. When I stumbled on this blog 7 years ago, there was a instant connection to others who experienced the same haunting sentiments Jethro expressed above.
And I dunno if you noticed this other thing. I’m fawkin’ fed up. More so than ever. You pantywaists can stay here safe on the blog or take some risks and start shutting down the lies either in public, private, in the workplace or on the net. Do SOMETHING. The HCS didn’t establish its authority and power in a day, a week or a month. It will take time to seize it from them. And we’ll never succeed if you don’t do something. Anything. And maybe we won’t succeed ever but I won’t be accused of hiding from them or saying nothing in the face of their lies.
“They laughed at me and my family for having such a stupid father and husband who could just not see the big picture.”
If you can’t rise above that, then you haven’t watched enough cowboy movies.
It’s been a long time since I watched a cowboy movie, but didn’t the laughers usually end up getting shot?
but didn’t the laughers usually end up getting shot?
Sometimes- they’re usually the stupid townspeople, some of whom get killed by the bad guys, who in turn get killed by the hero. But through the middle of the movie, the hero had to hold his head up high, while the laughers laughed.
It used to be a sign of manhood and integrity to be able to do so. It was a very common motif in westerns.
But I thought the idea was that the audience knew they would get what they had coming in the end. I think the frustration today is that it’s not looking likely.
the idea was that the audience knew they would get what they had coming in the end
The audience may have known, but the hero didn’t.
I think of us more as the audience than as characters.
In 2011, 187 Bitterroot Valley residents officially lost their homes to foreclosure when trustee deeds were filed with the Ravalli County Clerk and Recorder. That was 19 more than were filed the previous year and double the number from 2009
Whatever happened to never paying the mortgage, buying a Benz with the mortgage payments and living rent free in perpetuity?
It only happens in the minds of some. Just like their perpetually being in line behind some ‘deadbeat’ buying t-bones with food stamps.
Don’t forget, while they yak on their iPhones.
You guys are right, only bankers cheat. ooops
“$753 million in federal food aid is spent fraudulently each year.”
Obama administration targeting food stamp fraud as program reaches record highs
By Ed O’Keefe
Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 12/06/2011
More than 46.2 million people received a total of $75.3 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, in fiscal 2011, according to Agriculture Department statistics released Monday. Officials said participation spiked in the closing days of the fiscal year as Hurricane Irene caused destruction across a dozen East Coast states.
Year-to-year, the program gained more than 6 million new participants and distributed $7 billion in additional funds, officials said.
With more Americans relying on the program, the Obama administration on Tuesday plans to announce new steps to crack down on SNAP fraud amid estimates suggesting as much as $753 million in federal food aid is spent fraudulently each year.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/post/obama-administration-targeting-food-stamp-fraud-as-program-reaches-record-highs/2011/12/05/gIQAfdM3XO_blog.html -
Jeff, i fell your frustration,this slow motion trainwreck is driving me nuts ! i want those houses for my family too……….
I guess you don’t understand the too-big-to-fail bailout plan: Balance the Wall Street losses from subprime loans thrown away on helping people buy homes they cannot afford on the backs of those who tried their best to avoid the mania.