Apr
23

The Wall Street Conspiracy – Trailer (VIDEO)

The Wall Street Conspiracy explores a pernicious form of fraud called illegal naked short selling that has had an enormous impact on the 2008 collapse of the US economy. http://www.thewallstreetconspiracy.com/ ~ 4closureFraud.org TweetRelated posts: Conspiracy FACT – Jesse Ventura, How Wall Street Destroyed Main Street Video – How Wall Street Shafted Main Street Prof. William … Read more Related posts:
  1. Conspiracy FACT – Jesse Ventura, How Wall Street Destroyed Main Street
  2. Video – How Wall Street Shafted Main Street
  3. Prof. William Black, On Point, Prosecute to the top 1% of Wall Street… (AUDIO)
Apr
13

‘Tsunami’ of Foreclosure (Fraud) Complaints Swamps Fla. Bar

“But while foreclosure fraud may be the most high-profile type of case following the collapse of the Law Offices of David J. Stern last year, no punitive actions have been taken so far against an attorney in that category.” ~ ‘Tsunami’ of foreclosure complaints swamps Fla. Bar The Florida Bar has fielded nearly 1,400 complaints … Read more Related posts:
  1. Sun Sentinel | Foreclosure fraud complaints flood Florida Bar but no lawyer reprimands so far
  2. More Foreclosure Fraud? | FL AG Investigating 3 More Law Firms After Consumer Complaints, Kahane & Associates, Daniel C. Consuegra, and Albertelli Legal
  3. OCJ CASE NO. 5595 | Confidential Report to Fannie Mae Regarding Shareholder Complaints of Foreclosure Fraud by Mr. Nye Lavalle
Apr
09

Still Crawling Out of a Very Deep Hole, The Collapse of Home Equity

NY Times – Still Crawling Out of a Very Deep Hole At the same time, home equity — for most families, the most important store of wealth — has been devastated by the housing bust, with $7.4 trillion wiped out since home prices peaked in 2006. Nascent signs of life in the spring selling season … Read more Related posts:
  1. 11.2 Million U.S. Properties with Negative Equity in Q1
  2. Negative Equity: How Many Loans are Underwater in Your State?
  3. Foreclosures Draw Private Equity as U.S. Sells Stolen Homes
Apr
09

Still Crawling Out of a Very Deep Hole, The Collapse of Home Equity

NY Times – Still Crawling Out of a Very Deep Hole At the same time, home equity — for most families, the most important store of wealth — has been devastated by the housing bust, with $7.4 trillion wiped out since home prices peaked in 2006. Nascent signs of life in the spring selling season … Read more Related posts:
  1. 11.2 Million U.S. Properties with Negative Equity in Q1
  2. Negative Equity: How Many Loans are Underwater in Your State?
  3. Foreclosures Draw Private Equity as U.S. Sells Stolen Homes
Apr
05

Jamie Dimon’s Annual Letter to Shareholders “We made too many mistakes.”

JPMorgan CEO on housing: We made too many mistakes In a letter to shareholders Chief Executive Jamie Dimon admits that his bank contributed to the collapse of the American housing industry, but says that progress is being made to rectify the errors. “We were one of the better actors in this situation — but not … Read more Related posts:
  1. Jamie Dimon: To Fix Housing, Everyone Should Get in a Room and Decide to Do My Bidding
  2. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon: Stop Bashing the Rich “Acting like everyone who’s been successful is bad and that everyone who is rich is bad – I just don’t get it”
  3. AFSCME | End Dimon Double Duty – “Jamie Dimon has gone from the ‘Last Man Standing’ to ‘the Most Dangerous Man in America
Apr
01

Thousands of Foreclosures in Limbo One Year After Stern Firm’s Collapse

Despite 377 complaints to the Florida Bar related to foreclosure fraud, not a single attorney has been sanctioned. Stern remains a member in good standing. ~ Thousands of foreclosures in limbo one year after Stern firm’s collapse The so-called foreclosure king of Florida knew his reign was over four months before his law firm’s doors … Read more Related posts:
  1. Fraudclosure Firm Baum’s Demise Leaves N.Y. Homeowners in Costly Limbo
  2. We’re #1 (Again) | 441,461 “Shadow Inventory” Homes in Financial Limbo Threaten Florida Prices
  3. David J. Stern | Foreclosure King to Burger King, Stern buys into Five Guys Burgers
Mar
17

WH comms group smarter than Obama, Chu on Solyndra?

"Ugh."


Politico has a big scoop on the Solyndra story today, but Darren Samuelsohn doesn’t quite connect the dots.  The report focuses on a lighter moment — pardon the pun — in the embarrassment of the Obama administration over the solar-power firm’s collapse.  While Barack Obama highlighted the $535 million loan to Solyndra in his January [...]

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Feb
21

The Disorderly Default in Your Closet Eupdate

Another day, another Greek deal to end them all (more on that soon). Amid the political din, legal and financial complexity, one thing has struck me: the entire enterprise is being justified as a way to avoid "disorderly default." But what exactly is disorderly default--that scary monster in the closet keeping many Eurocrats, foreign bondholders, and Greeks awake at night--and is it really the sole unthinkable alternative to the mess of the past year and, perhaps, some years to come?

Disorderly default, one that comes as a surprise to the markets, leading to contagion, capital flight, bank runs, a crashing collapse of the Euro, and widespread litigation, is surely unappetizing. But the alternative to disorderly default might also be a priced-in default with minimal contagion, a contentious restructuring with lots of litigation, or a slow-bleed near-default, complete with capital flight and bank runs, which destroys trust and political capital, depletes and redistributes resources that might have gone to finance recovery (see Roubini & Setser) ... and ends in default.

Mind you, I am not advocating disorderly default, but rather suggesting that it is of a piece with order, chaos, and other pure, but under-specified alternatives to messy reality. Disorderly default is evil in the same way that pristinely orderly bankruptcy is good. By taking default (orderly or otherwise) off the table early in the crisis, while refusing to finance a credible alternative, the European political leaders may have chosen the worst of all options.

As grandpa used to say, it is much better to be rich and healthy than to be poor and sick.

Feb
16

RNC back in black in 2012

Recovery.


It’s been a year since the RNC had to clean house in the midst of a fiscal collapse, installing Reince Priebus as chair and attempting to address a mountain of debt.  One year later, the deficit has disappeared, and the RNC now has a war chest of $7 million in cash for the 2012 fight: [...]

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Feb
14

Gingrich goes … positive?

“I don’t do nearly as well when I focus on my competitors."


With polls showing a collapse in support and money reportedly dissipating from the campaign coffers, Newt Gingrich needs a gamechanger — badly.  Gingrich has decided that his ideas were his original gamechanger, and he’s going to start focusing on them rather than on attacking his competitors: Newt Gingrich said he’s backing off his attacks on [...]

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Jan
30

MF Global money “vaporized”?

What's $1.2 billion between friends?


It sounds as if investigators looking for over a billion dollars in customer money in the wake of the collapse of MF Global have begun to despair of finding any.  Today, the Wall Street Journal reports that the probe thus far strongly suggests that the money got “vaporized” in a labyrinth of shady trading and [...]

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Jan
10

Jack Lew | Obama’s Office of Management and Budget Pick Oversaw Citigroup Unit That Shorted Housing Market

Jack Lew: Obama’s OMB Pick Oversaw Citigroup Unit That Shorted Housing Market President Barack Obama’s choice to lead the White House budget office oversaw a Citigroup unit that profited off the housing collapse and financial crisis by investing in a hedge fund king who correctly predicted the eventual subprime meltdown and now finds himself involved … Read more No related posts.
Jan
05

South Florida’s Dirty Dozen Honorable Mention | Victor Tobin, Foreclosure Judge Turned Forecloser

Dirty Dozen Honorable Mention: Victor Tobin, Foreclosure Judge Turned Forecloser We put out the call for people we missed in our roundup of 2011′s most devilish people, and were informed of one overlooked former judge who certainly qualifies. With all the foreclosures and mortgage-related tragedies that have occurred since the collapse of the collateralized-debt market, … Read more Related posts:
  1. Public Records Request RE Judge Victor Tobin Joining Foreclosure Mill Marshall C. Watson
  2. LIES | Court Responds to Public Records Request RE Judge Victor Tobin Joining Foreclosure Mill Marshall C. Watson
  3. Broward Foreclosure Judge Victor Tobin on Joining Marshall Watson “I will be able to apply my overall knowledge of the judicial process to advance the firm’s goals.”
Dec
09

Corzine: I didn’t tell my company to use customer dollars, and if I did, I didn’t mean it

Er ...


I don’t know. Maybe he should have stuck with the Fifth Amendment: Jon S. Corzine, the former U.S. senator and governor who presided over the collapse of the commodities brokerage MF Global, told lawmakers Thursday that he never intended to authorize a transfer of customer funds to the firm’s accounts and that if he did [...]

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Dec
08

Corzine: I have no idea where the money went

Taking the Fifth?


Jon Corzine goes to Capitol Hill today to answer questions about the disappearance of as much as $1.2 billion in the collapse of MF Global under his leadership.  The former Democratic governor of New Jersey and current fundraising bundler for Barack Obama might not have too much to say to the House Agriculture Committee.  In [...]

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Dec
05

The 11 Most Bizarre Foreclosure Stories Of 2011 (SLIDESHOW)

The 11 Most Bizarre Foreclosure Stories Of 2011 The housing collapse and subsequent foreclosure crisis has claimed the homes of millions of Americans. But that tragedy may only be matched by the absurdity of some of its tales. As of February, lenders had foreclosed on 2.7 million homes out of the 42.2 million mortgages borrowers … Read more Related posts:
  1. Scripps | Treasure Coast Residents, along with 4closureFraud & ForeclosureHamlet, Exchange Sad Stories at Foreclosure Happy Hour
  2. NYC Event | We Shall Not Be Moved – Stories from the Grassroots Struggle Against Foreclosure
  3. Rally in Tally WEAR 3 News Top Stories Video – Home Owners Facing Foreclosure came to the Capitol Wednesday to Drive a Stake in the Heart of the Bill
Nov
18

Who wants to go on the attack against Newt?

So far ... no one.


Now that Newt Gingrich has soared to the top of the polls, at least in some of the latest surveys, conventional wisdom would be to predict a pile-on at the next debate.  That happened to Rick Perry, and the pressure produced surprisingly bad performances from the Texas governor and caused a collapse in his own [...]

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Nov
18

WaPo gives Chu 3 Pinocchios for his testimony

Only three?


Energy Secretary Stephen Chu testified before Congress yesterday on the $535 million debacle of the Solyndra collapse, and needless to say, didn’t impress too many people.  He took responsibility for the decision to approve the loan guarantees, but claimed he had no idea how shaky Solyndra was, nor the solar industry in general — two [...]

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Nov
09

The US’s Missing Housing Policy

The United States has no housing policy. And there's none on the horizon either. That's a scary thing, given the centrality of housing to domestic economic woes.  

Once upon a time, the US had a housing policy. It was focused on increasing homeownership. It might have been a misguided policy or at least a policy taken too far, but it was a policy and everyone understood that. It meant that programs were designed to work toward that goal.

Today, 4 years into a housing crisis, we still have no housing policy. There's no plan to clean up the legacy of the housing bubble and no plan to build the future of housing finance. This sad state reflects a singular failure of political leadership.  It also reflects a deeply fragmented housing finance world in which no one is in a position to call the shots. 

Legacy Issues

Let's start with the legacy problems, namely the foreclosure crisis and the collapse of home prices. The Administration has never really figured out where it stands on these issues. It makes nods to the need to fix the housing market as part of economic recovery, yet it has assiduously avoided confronting the foreclosure crisis and housing price collapse as a macroeconomic issue. Instead, it has come up with a stream of poorly integrated, small-bore programs that it has greatly overhyped, even as the programs under-deliver. This is HAMP, HARP, FHAShortRefi, etc. 

HARP 2.0 and the proposed multi-state foreclosure settlement don't even qualify as manque housing policy. They are just continuations of the small-bore approach. The reason it feels like there is no plan is because there is no plan.  The problem here isn't just that people are losing their houses. It's that we've lost control of the ship. We've lost a policy vision. 

Why this non-commital approach? Because there is simply no way of dealing with the legacy problem without dealing with negative equity, and that means forcing loss recognition somewhere in the system, either on banks or on taxpayers. That's a painful move politically, and the Administration has kept trying to avoid manning up to the problem. As a result, it looks a lot like Greece, where there's lots of energy spent denying the inevitable. From a good government perspective, however, it's horrendeously irresponsible. 

So who is calling the shots? I was just on a panel about this at the fabulous AmeriCatalyst housing conference, and it is painfully obvious that no one is calling the shots. The ship is rudderless on housing. Part of this is because of the fragmented administrative authority.  HUD would seem to be the go-to office, but HUD's authority is over FHA and VA and Ginnie Mae, all a limited part of the market. FHFA has authority over the GSEs, but it is as a receiver, and the FHFA Director is an acting director and a career civil servant. The prudential bank regulators each have their own sphere and they aren't interested in housing policy. They are interested in the safety-and-soundness of their regulatory charges. Treasury and the Fed would both seem to have a macro-view of the world, but neither is really expert in housing. Prior to 2008, Treasury had never done anything with housing, while the Fed has only ever approached housing in terms of interest rate manipulation and as a bank regulator. The Council of Economic Advisors and the Domestic Policy Council in the White House would seem to be places where one would find a larger cross-market view and a policy focus, but they aren't staffed with "housies". There's no one in a position to see the whole market and with the expertise and authority to craft a policy.  One of these entities could step forward to try and take some leadership, but the personalities just don't seem to be there for that to happen. Instead, housing policy on legacy issues is being made one case at a time in the courts with foreclosure suits. Is that how a national market should work?

One suggestion has been for a national "foreclosure czar".  The right person in such a job could help corral the various disparate interests at play, but I would not be overly optimistic. A foreclosure czar would have a convening power proportionate to his or her personal prestige, but no ability to impose a policy vision. The leadership here needs to come from the White House, I think, but it hasn't been forthcoming. 

Future of Housing Finance 

We also have no plan for the future of housing finance. There are several well-developed future of housing finance plans circulating (including one from the Center for American Progress's Mortgage Finance Working Group, of which I am a member), but that proposal is just a proposal. It isn't policy. We've gotten a non-committal set of options from Treasury and HUD, but haven't seen things move beyond that.

In fairness to the Administration, the lack of forward-looking housing finance reform isn't solely its fault. Housing finance is a political 3d rail. There's deep, deep ideological divide on the solution, and the hybrid public-private nature of the past system has given everyone ammo for their position.

The ideological right blames everything on the role of government in the system and wants to privatize, damn the torpedos. Never mind that there isn't the private-risk capital in the world to support our $6T in securitized residential housing assets.

There's a left position that wants to see something more like nationalization or at least a very prominent government affordable housing role.  And then there's the non-engaged left, that just doesn't give a damn about the future of housing finance. In their view, the ability of homeowners to buy a house in 10 years doesn't matter much when people are losing their houses today. 

There's a fair amount of consensus on the big picture between the craven right and the moderate left that there needs to be a continuation of the public-private system in some form, but no consensus on the details. The extremes on both ends of this debate have prevented the moderate consensus from solidifying or advancing, at least until after the 2012 election. 

Is There a GOP Alternative?

So if the Administration doesn't have a housing policy, do any of the GOP contenders?  No, sadly. Watching the GOP debate this evening, it was clear why none of the candidates has emerged as a front-runner:  none of them are ready for prime time. Romney seemed a notch or two more polished than the rest (he also looked like he just got off the red-eye), but it was hard to ignore the pointed question posed to him about why his 59 point economic plan has nothing on housing. The response that it's a "jobs plan" not a housing plan just underscored that he doesn't have any ideas on how to address the elephant in the room for the economy. If he had a housing plan, that was the time to present it. 

Nov
09

Chicago | U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh Screams at Constituents – “Don’t blame the banks… that pisses me off”

“Don’t blame the banks … that pisses me off” Tea Party Republican Rep. Joe Walsh held a townhall at Uno Bar and Grill in Gurnee, Illinois, over the weekend. When the topic of banks and the collapse of the economy arose, the congressman flipped out. “QUIET FOR A MINUTE! OR I’M GOING TO ASK YOU … Read more Related posts:
  1. Daily Finance Must Read Report | Who’s to Blame for the Mortgage Mess? Banks, Not Homeowners
  2. OCC’s John Walsh Attempts Whitewash of Servicer Abuse
  3. Must Read Report | Calvin Townsend, A Speculator, Takes Blame for the Mortgage Mess
Nov
05

Obama administration rejects House subpoena on Solyndra

Transparency!


When Barack Obama got asked about the loss of $535 million in taxpayer-guaranteed loans in the Solyndra collapse, he told ABC that he thought it had been a “good bet.”  Now that the House wants the executive branch to produce documents relating to how Obama came to that conclusion, it looks like the taxpayers who [...]

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Nov
02

Greece cashiers its military leaders

Uh oh.


It’s been a while since we looked in on Greece, which has become the single most destabilizing force in the industrialized financial world.  The EU finally reached agreement with the Greeks last week on budget reforms and debt repayments for a second bailout to forestall a collapse of the euro and then of the global [...]

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Nov
01

Bloomberg to OWS: Congress caused the mortgage crisis, not the banks

The smoking gun?


By this time, everyone should be aware of the federal policies that precipitated the housing bubble and its collapse — the push by Congress and two administrations to push higher-risk lending in order to expand home ownership, as well as the effort by Congress to get Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to spread that risk [...]

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Oct
04

Durbin: Hey, who’s up for a bank run on BofA?

"Happy days are not here again."


Economic indicators are falling. The Fed issued a gloomy report on the future of the economy, saying that the so-called recovery may be “faltering.” Greece has only enough cash to make payroll for a few weeks before it defaults and flattens the European banking system. The only thing missing from a collapse is a good, [...]

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Sep
19

Obama admin attacking China for subsidies in solar tech as reason why our subsidies didn’t work, or something

Plus, a Solyndra quid pro quo discovered?


With their entire economic approach under fire after the collapse of Solyndra — and no small amount of speculation as to the motives behind the Obama administration’s approval of over a half-billion dollars in subsidies for the solar-tech flop — the White House has launched their own investigation into Solyndra’s failure.  Are they looking at [...]

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Sep
16

Pending bankruptcy didn’t keep Solyndra from sending cash to lobbyists

Investments.


The collapse of Solyndra looks inevitable in retrospect — and for auditors who reviewed their loan application that the Obama White House expedited and to the employees who worked there, it looked inevitable before it happened, too.  This has many wondering just what business model Solyndra used to keep the company going as long as [...]

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Sep
16

Pending bankruptcy didn’t keep Solyndra from sending cash to lobbyists

Investments.


The collapse of Solyndra looks inevitable in retrospect — and for auditors who reviewed their loan application that the Obama White House expedited and to the employees who worked there, it looked inevitable before it happened, too.  This has many wondering just what business model Solyndra used to keep the company going as long as [...]

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Sep
15

Bombshell: General accused WH of pressuring him to change testimony for Democratic donor

Whoa.


With the White House already reeling over the Solyndra collapse, a new scandal may have erupted today that could make the disappearance of $535 million in taxpayer funds look like a paperwork glitch.  Eli Lake starts off his new gig at The Daily Beast with a huge bombshell — an accusation made to members of [...]

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Sep
14

Banks May Fight Banks as Mortgage Investors Pursue Class Status

Banks May Fight Banks as Mortgage Investors Pursue Class Status Bank of America Corp. (BAC), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and other banks may pay more to resolve claims over their alleged roles in the collapse of a $2.3 trillion mortgage- backed securities market if sophisticated investors are allowed to sue as a group along … Read more
Aug
22

Fed gave Wall Street $1.2 trillion in 2008 loans

Ugly.


As it turns out, the $700 billion TARP bailout in late 2008 was just an appetizer for Wall Street.  Behind the scenes, the Federal Reserve gave out $1.2 trillion in loans to banks around the world, desperately attempting to maintain liquidity in a system that looked headed for collapse, according to Bloomberg News: Citigroup Inc. [...]

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