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POPSFannie & Freddie NOT included in Obama's Financial Regulations In analyzing the mortgage crisis, economist Walter E. Williams has written: “Starting with the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, that was given more teeth during the Clinton administration, Congress started intimidating banks and other financial institutions into making loans, so-called sub-prime loans, to high-risk homebuyers and businesses. “The carrot offered was that these high-risk loans would be purchased by the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Anyone with an ounce of brains would have known that this was a prescription for disaster but there was a congressional chorus of denial,” he added. “The financial collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is not a failure of the free market because lending institutions in a free market would not have taken on the high-risk loans,” said Williams. “They were forced to by the heavy hand of government.”
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POPSWHAT IF HE IS RIGHT?????????????????? David Kaiser is a respected historian whose published works have covered a broad range of topics, from European Warfare to American League Baseball. Born in 1947, the son of a diplomat, Kaiser spent his childhood in three capital cities: Washington D.C. , Albany , New York , and Dakar , Senegal .. He attended Harvard University , graduating there in 1969 with a B.A. in history. He then spent several years more at Harvard, gaining a PhD in history, which he obtained in 1976. He served in the Army Reserve from 1970 to 1976. He is a professor in the Strategy and Policy Department of the United States Naval War College. He has previously taught at Carnegie Mellon, Williams College and Harvard University . Kaiser's latest book, The Road to Dallas, about the Kennedy assassination, was just published by Harvard University Press.
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POPSGoldman Sachs Banksters Knew and Bet on Meltdown Filthy lucre on the backs of investors and then got Bailout money from taxpayers too, with the help of their "insider" (and Treasury Secretary) Timothy Geithner. (It helps to have pals in high places.--see Goldman-Geithner connections )
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POPSBarney Frank: Predatory Lender Why is Barney Frank still in charge of the Financial Services Committee? Last years FNMA, FHA (GSE) loans are this years foreclosures. How is that working out for taxpayers. And in addition, lets keep non-paying borrowers in homes for 2 - 3 years without paying. How much is that costing taxpayers. Maybe cheaper to give those borrowers a big Cash for Keys check rather than continue to have a non-paying asset and cost of continuous litigation for a barrage of new federal mandates and state legislation that fuels plaintiff attorneys.
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POPSGovernment and the Free Market If I recall, it was the government that pressured mortgage institutes to loosen up there lending requirement. The next thing you know we have a mortgage crisis, and the housing market slumps along with the rest of the economy. Now we have PrezBO, telling banks how to lend. Deja Vu all over again. The enemy is in the White House. Leave no incumbent in office.
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POPSACORN foresaw the foreclosure crisis in 2001
More: Moreover, Oakland's law would have gone much farther than requiring that borrowers could afford loans. In 2001, ACORN officials already recognized that the driving force behind the subprime lending was the ability of brokers to chop up risky mortgages, repackage them with good loans as "securities," and sell them to other banks on a largely unregulated market. When homeowners who couldn't afford their loans later defaulted on them, these securities became widely known as "toxic assets" and were the primary cause of the world financial crisis… But if Oakland's law had been widely adopted, the bailout likely would have been unnecessary and the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression probably averted. Why? Because the city's ordinance not only would have held mortgage brokers liable for making bad loans, but also every other bank that later bought pieces of those bad loans after they were securitized. In short, the market for subprime loans would have dried up.
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POPSthe giant hole What this argument leaves out is Fannie and Freddie. The evil and greedy bankers (curiously intent on making loans that could not be repaid) were able to sell these loans to Fannie and Freddie. If there had not been these quasi-governmental corporations backing them they would not have been making loans and they would never have been capitalized. It may be true that there was a "giant hole" in the safety net, but the truck that drove through it was financed by the government's own creatures.
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POPSAmerican Casino: A Documentary About the Home-Mortgage Crisis more @ clip source the Cockburns meet one guy in "American Casino" who understands the whole mess better than most, a California real estate investor named Jeff Greene who smelled the end of the housing bubble around 2006 and bet $1 billion against the mid-decade exuberance of Wall Street. Sitting in his walled and gated beach compound in Malibu, Greene calmly tells the camera that the opportunity for his successful hedge bet (which has yielded $500 million so far) involved massive pain for millions of homeowners.
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POPSEast Bay poverty rates show 1 in 10 below federal poverty line More: in real terms — adjusted for inflation — East Bay incomes have been flat for two years. East Bay residents make about $3,500 less than they did in 2000 if their incomes are adjusted for inflation, said Jennifer Lin, a researcher for the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy. Lin points out that averages can also disguise the growing inequality the census numbers reveal. There are fewer East Bay households now making the middle incomes of from $75,000 to $150,000, and more people—especially Latinos and African-Americans working in low-wage service industries—are having a harder time making enough money to get by without public help.… Homeownership declined in both counties, which was no surprise to a region hard-hit by the foreclosure crisis… For homeowners with a mortgage, the median monthly cost last year was $2,755 in Alameda County and $2,842 in Contra Costa County. For renters, the median monthly rent was $1,192 in Alameda County and $1,254 in Contra C
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POPSUN Says New Global Currency Is Needed The 45-year-old UN group, run by former World Trade Organization chief Supachai Panitchpakdi, “promotes integration of developing countries in the world economy,” according to its Web site. Emerging-market nations should consider restricting capital mobility until a new system is in place, the group said. The world body began issuing warnings in 2006 about financial imbalances leading to a global recession.
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POPSIndymac Bank Read more details about IndyMac Bank, a bank that provides a number of home mortgage products that are mostly first lien residential loans and huge full-documentation loans and home equity lines of credit.
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POPSThe Bernanke Bailout Boondoggle Announced this week is the number of re-financing on sub-prime loans and foreclosure should have been on everyone's mind. However, no one cares, as long as the stock market continues to climb higher. Giving those who have lost 50% of their 401k money, hoping for a rebound. Riddle me this? What has lost 55% and gained 45%, and still down 45% from the high? If you know the answer, you are well on your way to understanding the truth! The stock market is a game, if you don't know how to play by their rules, you will lose!
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POPSAmerican Dream or American Nightmare? Home-ownership is just a part of the american dream, and it's a part which has been unduly subsidized and distorted by the government, to the pont that it threatens the whole dream.
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POPS1 Family Sole Occupants of 32-Story Tower Residents of Florida Highrise Find Every Other Prospective Condo Owner Has Bailed, and Now Want Out. there were security concerns. One night, someone pounded on their door at 11 p.m. The parents and their children sleep with their cell phones by their beds. Betsy McCoy, vice president and associated general counsel with The Related Group, which sold the family their unit, said they have tried to help find a solution - even offering them a unit in the building next door, free of cost, while the situation is resolved. "They haven't wanted to take us up on that," McCoy said Friday. "They frankly rejected every solution and offer and proposal that we've come up with." Victor Vangelakos said they don't want to move to the tower next door because they would still be paying the mortgage and maintenance costs on the condo they own. They paid $430,000 for the unit and took out a $336,000 mortgage. He'd like for The Related Group to buy them out.
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POPSMy Response to Sen. D. Stabenow (D-MI)
For the most part, my insurance coverage is catastrophic only. My portion of the premiums if I were to cover eligible members of my family would cost nearly 1/4 of my bi-weekly take home pay. Obviously, if a mortgage is only supposed to by 1/3 of your monthly salary, then insurance premiums are nearly the price of a good-sized house. Adding to the 'ranks of the uninsured' is the fact of a 14.2% unemployment rate - of which my husband is one. He doesn't qualify for unemployment insurance so he isn't even counted. So, why are my premiums so high? First, because malpractice insurance for my physicians is totally out of control due to frivolous law suits, huge legal fees and the costs associated with trying even a small case. The judge, clerks, bailiffs, secretaries, etc...all have to be paid - by me, the taxpayer. Because of the need to cover themselves, doctors are forced to order complicated, often if not always expensive and sometimes unnecessary tests and procedures. Ev
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POPSTime for Congress to Start Issuing Subpoenas
Pulling the TARP over taxpayers' eyes By: Michael Barone Last fall, former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson told shocked Americans that the $700 billion TARP had to be passed immediately but not to worry because taxpayers would eventually make money on the investments as banks and other institutions getting bailout money paid it back. To the contrary, Barofsky said, not only are banks hoarding TARP funds, it is "very unlikely" that most of the TARP money will ever be repaid, let alone turn a profit. The hastily passed bill included minimal reporting requirements, so a third of all TARP recipients admit they used the money to repay loans, merge with other banks, and even purchase more mortgage-backed securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - the two institutions at the heart of the housing market collapse. Some companies are even using TARP to pay off other government loans in what auditors call "bailout arbitrage." And it's all perfectly legal.
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