Super ‘Bama

You have to give President Obama credit for tackling the immediate problems of our nations economy head on and one by one. It’s almost like he has a play book and the toughest issues are at the top of the list of plays. The stimulus plan for the people and getting the jobs back is now in place to start rebuilding our infrastructure with some states receiving from $6 Billion or more over the next two years to rebuild roads, bridges and more.

President Obama is now tackling the home foreclosure problem and according to this report in the New York Times he doesn’t need the Congress to get this mega issue in the “Done” column of his to do list. As a moderate voter, I’m loving his style and desire to fix this nation pronto!

Obama Unveils $75 Billion Plan to Fight Home Foreclosures

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and EDMUND L. ANDREWS
Published: February 18, 2009

MESA, Ariz. — President Obama pledged on Wednesday to help as many as nine million American homeowners refinance their mortgages or avert foreclosure, an initiative he said would shore up distressed housing prices, stabilize neighborhoods and slow a downward spiral that he said was “unraveling homeownership, the middle class, and the American Dream itself.”

Mortgage Rate Snippet

“It will not help speculators who took risky bets on a rising market and bought homes not to live in but to sell,” he said, adding, “And it will not reward folks who bought homes they knew from the beginning they would never be able to afford.”

The plan will take effect March 4, when the administration publishes detailed rules explaining it. Most of the plan can be enacted by Mr. Obama though his executive powers, although part of it — including changing the bankruptcy laws to allow homeowners to seek changes to their mortgages through bankruptcy proceedings — will require legislation. Mr. Geithner said the administration was already in discussions with lawmakers on how to proceed. - New York Times

Not since the days of Ronald Reagan and FDR have we seen a President so intent on tackling the problems of our nation with such vigor and vigilance. Mark your calendars and note that I will proudly predict that President Obama will turn this economy around in two years by being proactive and over zealous in his mission. And if he can rescue six million home owners from loosing their homes, he will have a built in re-election vote built into the process. MSNBC has this to say in this news video...

Video Link

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

If there are 120 million home owners and 6 million of them benefit from his mortgage crisis plan then that is five percent of all homeowners that can thank President Barack Obama for saving their family homestead. Add that total to the number of small business owners that just benefited from the tax cuts in the stimulus package and you have a growing base of voters that will no longer look at the President as the Anti Christ Democrat in the White House.

No matter what angle you look at it, Super ‘Bama is playing the political game of chess like a true leader and his actions are not pissing off his base in any form or sense of the word. Republicans on the other hand have a President that is and will make them look like fools for voting “NO” on every proposal he offers to get America back on track. Republicans will have to explain the actions they took against the President that worked to save jobs, homes and all the rest of the Super 'Bama initiatives at the polls in the next election cycle.

Papamoka

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The Flip Side of Foreclosures

While Wall Street is crashing and fortunes are being wiped out, houses are being sold at impressive rates across the nation. Recently, my wife and I started to look at some of the houses in our local area and some of the prices might shock you. Take for instance the seven bedroom foreclosed home we looked at that was originally built in 1792, two fireplaces, three full baths, over a half acre of land with an above ground pool, originally priced at $292,000 that is now going for $150,000.

Yes the economy is in the toilet for many people but not for everyone out there. Not that luck alone has a lot to do with it but if you are lucky enough to ride out this financial crisis then one of the best ways of doing that is investing in a distressed home. Over at MSNBC they have this on the new version of a housing boom…

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The Next Great Depression?

Not since the days of the late 1920’s and early 1930’s has this nation seen such large financial institutions collapse as we are seeing currently on Wall Street. Lehman Brothers after 158 years in business is folding up its business table and calling it quits. This is not a good sign of a prosperous economy my friends. Is this the tell tale sign of the next Great Depression or just a bump in the road for the American economy?

Over at the New York Times and Deal Book they have this to say on the matter…

Lehman Expected to File for Bankruptcy Protection
September 14, 2008, 5:55 pm

According to people briefed on the matter, Lehman Brothers will file for bankruptcy protection on Sunday night, in the largest failure of an investment bank since the collapse of Drexel Burnham Lambert 18 years ago. (Should be 18 Months Ago)

Lehman will seek to place its parent company, Lehman Brothers Holdings, into bankruptcy protection, while its subsidiaries will remain solvent while the firm liquidates its holdings, these people said. A consortium of banks will provide a financial backstop to help provide an orderly winding down of the 158-year-old investment bank. And the Federal Reserve has agreed to accept lower-quality assets in return for loans from the government.

But Lehman’s filing is unlikely to resemble those of other companies that seek bankruptcy protection. Because of the harsher treatment that federal bankruptcy law applies to financial-services firm, Lehman cannot hope to reorganize and survive as a going concern. It will instead liquidate its holdings.

It was not clear whether the government would appoint a trustee to supervise Lehman’s liquidation, or how big the financial backstop would be. - Deal Book/ NY Times

For some odd reason I can’t fathom why John McCain says that the fundamental economy is in great shape and sound? When you have huge financial companies like Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch out right going under, do you think it might be a tell tale sign of an economy in trouble? Maybe John McCain doesn’t read the newspapers or watch television from one of his seven to eleven houses? Bank of America may have saved Merrill Lynch in a last minute deal for $44 Billion but Lehman Brothers is a been there and shouldn't have done that legacy for the history books.

Even the Federal Reserve Board is taking unusual steps to fend off the worries in the markets. This is unheard of news.

Papamoka

Housing Crisis Numbers

Browsing through the Worcester Sunday Telegram I came across some interesting numbers on how the home foreclosure crisis is effecting Worcester County. Every week the paper lists all property transactions and from whom to whom. This is just a sampling of some of the real estate transactions in this little corner of Massachusetts so it had me wondering how bad things really are across the nation?

There was a total of 207 transactions and of those 84 were listed as a bank transfer. That works out to 40.57% of possible foreclosures for the entire county. Then I looked at the transactions by city and town and the probability of predatory lending sneaks out.

Fitchburg 5 transactions 4 for the banks or 80%
Gardner 3 transactions 3 for the banks or 100%
Grafton 4 transactions 2 for the banks or 50%
Marlboro 7 transactions 4 for the banks or 57.14%
Milford 8 transactions 4 for the banks or 50%
Oxford 4 transactions 2 for the banks or 50%
Ware 2 transactions 2 for the banks or 100%
Winch. 4 transactions 4 for the banks or 100%
Worcester 45 transactions 33 for the banks or 73.3%

Just some numbers to think about. Have a nice day…

Papamoka

Cross posted at Bring It On! and To the Center

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McCain, Not the Compassionate Conservative

Many Americans fell for the BS story that current President Bush spread around that he was a compassionate conservative politician and now we all know what one is not. As the unmitigated candidate from the Republican Party, Senator McCain is giving lip service to the little people we all call the middle and lower class. After repeated criticism for lack of any plan on the housing crisis and that he has a plan. Or is it just more lip service from a want to be Presidential candidate?

Conservative principals are less government intervention in individual rights and less government and taxes overall. Is the distinguished Senator from Arizona playing politics with his plan to help but not help homeowners facing the loss of their homes? Over at the Washington Post and On the Trail they have this to say on his latest speech…

McCain Refines Plan for Homeowners
By Dan Balz

BROOKLYN -- Two weeks after drawing criticism for saying he favored only a limited federal role to help deal with the home mortgage crisis, Republican presidential candidate John McCain sought to assure Americans he is prepared to use the government where necessary to help ease the impact of a declining economy on working families.

In a campaign appearance with small business owners in Brooklyn, McCain also addressed the spreading economic downturn with proposals to help families facing foreclosure restructure their mortgages and to give workers who have lost their jobs more flexibility and incentives to seek retraining and a speedier return to the workforce.

McCain plans a more comprehensive economic speech for next week, but came here today to blunt criticism from Democratic rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton that he is insensitive to the plight of ordinary Americans.

"Let me make it clear that that in these challenging times, I am committed to using all the resources of this government and great nation to create opportunity and make sure that every deserving American has a good job and can achieve their American dream," he said.

~SNIP~

Instead, McCain proposed a federal program that would require individual homeowners to seek help from the federal government and, if they qualified for assistance, emerge with a restructured mortgage that would allow them to stay in their homes.

"There is nothing more important than keeping alive the American dream to own your home, and priority number one is to keep well meaning, deserving home owners who are facing foreclosure in their homes," he said. - Washington Post, The Trail

Senator McCain’s plan is more government? Is that even remotely Conservative or Republican? Then you have to love the part of “deserving homeowners”. What’s the classification or status as to what American deserves to keep their home Senator? Is there a nobody making under X amount of dollars gets a McCain thumbs down? Same article, same link…

There are some limitations. Those families who can afford the terms of their current, albeit higher, mortgage would not qualify. And the assistance would only cover primary residences and only go to families that can truly afford the new mortgage.

McCain economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin said the housing assistance would reach an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 families, with an estimated cost of $3 billion to $10 billion. He said McCain's goal is to use federal money only for those families "who really need help." He also called McCain's approach superior to some Democratic measures because it places primary emphasis on the individuals in need, rather than the lenders.

Hello to the Senator! If they could afford the mortgage payments they were lassoed into they would not be in foreclosure? That is the first clue to the big picture that John McCain and his political staff have no clue as to what is really going on down in your neighborhood.

One of the only things in his speech that made sense was demanding a Justice Department investigation. Shouldn’t he be doing that from his Senate office where it would actually be a formal request? Something that someone that in our government that cares about all Americans should have done a year or more ago? Politics is a learning curve for the McCain camp and they are pretty much amateurs. He’s still on the same page as Bush.

You get what you pay for Mr. McCain. Or in the case of homeowners facing foreclosure you get screwed. Same thing, different geography.

Papamoka

Cross posted at MichaelLinnJones.com and To the Center

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McCain on the Economy

When it comes to the economy we can pretty much give Senator John McCain an F for Forgetaboutit! (New York City Accent)

McCain’s idea about dealing with the current troubles and economic collapse is to leave all options on the table? That’s a great sound bite but means absolutely nothing. It’s tantamount to telling a dead man in a car crash directions to the hospital.

Do I believe that John McCain is serious about rescuing our nation from the current economic downturn? No, I don’t! Apparently, his idea of fixing the housing crisis caused by “Irresponsible American’s” is to wait for the dust to settle. Umm, that pretty much means he is giving a green light to disreputable lending practices because people are stupid. Those people are American’s betrayed by our own banking industry. Over at the Washington Post they have this to say on his brilliant idea to fix the housing crisis…

McCain told reporters he would oppose any big government bailouts, saying they had not worked in the past and would not work in the future. But he expressed support for the Senate's economic stimulus package.

"We have got to restore confidence on the part of the American consumer to invest, to save, to do the things that make our economy run," the Arizona Republican said.

"We have got to find the floor on the cost of houses. When we find the floor, then there will be people who will come in and purchase some of these at bargain rates," he said.
A sharp downturn in the U.S. housing market has led to a full-blown credit crisis that has reverberated throughout the U.S. financial system.

Still, McCain said he was confident about America's economic future. "The fundamentals of our economy are strong," he insisted.

Some Democrats have criticized McCain for advocating a less interventionist approach to the housing and financial crises than either Clinton or Obama. McCain said in a speech on the economy last month it is "not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers." - Washington Post

When we find the floor? That is McCain’s answer to the housing crisis? When you are loosing your house you can’t take the floor with you. If you are a neighbor to a homeowner that lost their home in foreclosure it reflects on your own homes value. Vacant houses owned by banks waiting for a buyer that might pay for a bargain go empty for months and in some cases years when the evicted family takes the pipes and destroys the home rather than give the bank a move in condition home. Maybe McCain is right and you can wait for the floor? You’ll find the floor boards over at the surplus construction scrap outlet.

Is his plan to save the economy restoring the Hoovervilles of years gone by? Maybe his plan is to let the banks police themselves and fix the problems in their own back yard? Maybe his plan is to offer the banks mega tax cuts to repay all the favors he owes them? It’s not like he doesn’t know that end of the political spectrum given his Savings and Loan history.

McCain with every passing day in this election is coming off as a man that will wing it as President. Unfortunately, the Senator is gravely mistaken when it comes to the economy. It would help when he claims to have more economic background than Senator Clinton or Senator Obama if he actually had a workable plan to temporarily sure up the economy. Maybe his wing man has it?

McCain’s actions and thoughts on the economy are always limited to his own experience and with that thought in mind he sounds more and more like George W. Bush every single day.

No more W!

Papamoka

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Big Bank Buyout

There is a probable solution to our nations banking crisis that started out with all of those bad loans that then turned into millions of foreclosures. Keep in mind you have to think like a wheeler and dealer like billionaire’ Donald Trump or Warren Buffet to make this proposition work.

If Bear Sterns could be bought for $2 per share then I think it’s possible for this blogger to enter the high finance games of Wall Street. First off you have to read this piece over at Reuters…

Goldman, Lehman outlooks cut to "negative" by S&P
By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc's and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc's credit rating outlooks were cut on Friday by Standard & Poor's, which said volatile markets could result in lower profit and revenue.

S&P revised its outlook to "negative" from "stable" on Goldman's "AA-minus" and Lehman's "A-plus" long-term credit ratings, suggesting a possible downgrade in one to two years.

(Snip)

Banks have suffered from lower earnings and share prices as the housing crisis, a slowing economy and worries about credit quality led investors to stop buying a wide range of riskier securities. This has cut into revenue from trading, arranging debt offerings, and advising on mergers.

Several banks have also been cutting jobs, and Bear Stearns Cos agreed last Sunday to a $2-per-share buyout by JPMorgan Chase & Co after a cash crisis.

S&P still has a negative outlook on Merrill Lynch & Co's "A-plus" credit rating, and expects to decide within 30 days whether to downgrade Morgan Stanley's "AA-minus" rating. The credit rating agency said net revenue in the industry may decline 20 percent to 30 percent this year. - Reuters

Keep in mind that my plan to buyout one of the nations largest investment banks will involve a little principal I like to call the meek shall inherit the earth. In this case I’m talking about all of us that have been victims to bad loans, poor decisions and foreclosure on our homes. Believe it or not we all hang out at the local diner sipping coffee and blaming Wall Street for our lot in life. For the sake of argument lets assume that there are ten million of us. It’s a big diner!

All we need to buyout Goldman Sach’s and Lehmans is fifty-one percent of the shares so right off the bat we have a 49% discount. All of the members of our little club have to contribute to the plan for this to work so here goes. Below is my top secret plan for us to finance our plan. Remember this is top secret so don’t tell anyone.

We’ve all gotten those flyers in the mail that you get $25 if you open a new savings account, we each open an account and pool the results. Then we look for all the banks offering free toasters and we open an account and sell the ill gotten toasters on Ebay for $50 each. (Really nice top of the line toasters with the assumption that there will be a bidding war for all ten million of them.) Again pooling all of the money. Seeing that we are all going to be high finance bankers we are going to need reliable transportation to get to Wall Street. We each buy a new car and pool the $1000 cash rebate. Before we give the dealer our old clunker of a car we each find $10 in spare change in it. We need a Green side to this buy out so everyone has to collect $100 worth of bottle and can deposits from the side of the road. Since we are going to be dealing with stocks and bonds we are all going to need new computers so we each buy a top of the line computer with a $400 rebate on the computer and a $100 rebate on all of the software.

This is the really creative part of the financing… We each sign up for that beta testing for tracking emails that Microsoft is undertaking. That should pay each of us $2000 and Bill Gates will thank each and everyone of us for helping him out. Next up, we each email back all of those crooked bankers in Africa that have $30,000,000.00 sitting in dead men’s checking accounts.

If my math is correct it looks like out little group of dead beat losers has to much money now. That’s a nice problem to have. It looks like we can take Goldman Sach’s and Lehman private at $4 per share. Oh, I almost forgot, we each have a $1 off coupon! With the change we have left over it looks like we can buy Canada and rent it back to them.

The Donald will be so proud of us…

Papamoka

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Cross posted at MichaelLinnJones.com

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F.B.I. Investigating Home Lending

Don’t for a minute think that this post is about you the disenfranchised foreclosed on former first time home owner. Even though you were told by your lending professional, abandoned on the side of the road used car salesman, small appliance repair, and fortune teller that you could afford your recently foreclosed home, this story is not about you. Justice is never about you so this post is not about anyone at or below the middle class income level that lost their home to dubious lending practices.

One thing is a given in America, the only justice is for the millionaires that can afford to demand it. All of the bum loans that the mortgage lending and banking industry gave out like free cheese to the poor was not a big enough problem to look into. And yet when the millionaire investors start loosing their shirts it just might be a problem.

F.B.I. Opens Subprime Inquiry

By REUTERS
Published: January 29, 2008

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 (Reuters) — The F.B.I. has opened investigations into 14 corporations as part of a crackdown on improper subprime lending, agency officials said on Tuesday.

F.B.I. officials told reporters that the inquiry involved potential violations including accounting fraud and insider trading.

Separately, Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley said government investigators were seeking information from them about their subprime mortgage activities. But it was not immediately clear if the disclosures by the three banks were linked to the F.B.I. probes.

F.B.I. officials did not identify the companies they were looking at, but said the investigation reached across the industry to include developers, subprime lenders, companies that securitized loans and investment banks that held them.

The cases could lead to potential civil or criminal charges, the officials said.
The F.B.I. said it was investigating the cases with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has opened about three dozen investigations into the subprime market collapse.

Targets of the S.E.C. probe include the investment banks Bear Stearns, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch, as well as the Swiss bank UBS and the bond insurer MBIA. It was not clear whether any of those companies were involved in the F.B.I. investigation.

The S.E.C., which has formed an internal subprime-mortgage task force, is looking at how financial firms priced mortgage-based securities and whether they should have told investors earlier about the declining value of those securities. - New York Times

All of the businesses that sold the loans to you the former homeowner hardly ever hold on to those loans. They sell them to bigger banks and bigger banks bundle them all together and sell them as investment vehicles for the mega rich. Now that the loans are being defaulted on in larger than life numbers those investment vehicles are up on cinder blocks with tickets on them from the board of health as a public nuisance. AKA losing money for the mega rich people and businesses that invest in them.

What the F.B.I. is investigating at the banks is the fact that the SEC has some serious rules about selling bovine by product as any kind of investment product. Especially, when those products are purchased by the mega dough bucks people at the top of the income earners heap.

Now it’s officially a Subprime Lending crisis! Now let’s see who goes to minimum security, weekends off for god behavior prison? Maybe when these guys have to loose their golf handicap they might see what justice is really all about.

One more note, Bear Stearns, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have all dropped in shareholder value between $15 and $20 in the last three months. Things that make you go hmmmm or screw them too?

Papamoka

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Cross posted at MichaelLinnJones.com

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Mortgage Broker Bail Out!

Picture courtesy of FHA

Years ago you actually had to qualify for a mortgage and you had better have more than zero down to get a mortgage. The mortgage industry is corrupt and the loans they are qualifying people for are a sham from the start. Federal mortgage insurance is letting them screw over the American people by telling someone that works part time that that person can qualify for a $180,000 mortgage with nothing down. Teaser rates and low entry mortgage payments is no better than stealing candy from every American Baby!

This issue has my blood boiling because my family and I were in fact victims of this crisis. Even though I work full time at a good job and at a decent wage, the wife works part time at a more than decent union wage, we lost our home to the criminals in the mortgage industry. We lost our credit, we lost our pride. We lost our home. Other extenuating circumstances contributed to our situation but the game plan was the same during a refinance of our existing home loan. I take full blame for my own financial stupidity and trusting the people that were supposed to help my family but in the end just buried us.

Over at the Houston Chronicle they have this to say about today’s government bailout created by the used car salesman of the housing industry…

House moves to help struggling homeowners
By MARCY GORDON
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The House today approved a plan to expand federal backing of mortgages in hopes of helping struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure.
The bill, which passed the House, 348-72, would allow the Federal Housing Administration, which insures mortgages for low- and middle-income borrowers, to back refinanced loans for tens of thousands of borrowers who are delinquent on payments because their mortgages are resetting to sharply higher rates from low initial "teaser" levels.

The measure, which exceeds limits favored by the Bush administration, is Congress' first stand-alone bill in response to the mortgage-market tumult of the summer, which came amid a rising tide of defaults and foreclosures. The Senate last week passed spending legislation that includes $200 million to provide aid to nonprofits and other groups that offer counseling and information to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.

House Republicans sharply objected to a $300 million-a-year fund for grants for affordable rental housing and homeownership assistance for low-income families, which would be financed from FHA revenues — a plan also opposed by the Bush administration. But House Republicans mostly were swept along in the vote for the bill, whose overall thrust they endorsed in the face of the mortgage crisis. - Houston Chronicle

Even with the Fed cutting the interest rates one half point it is not going to fix the problems that were created over the last ten plus years by the mortgage brokers of America. All of the schemes and plans to access the lucrative market of housing lending have been played out and for the next three to five years the foreclosures will continue.

I’m sure you know of someone that you can’t believe that they qualified for a mortgage. Maybe a child, a brother or sister, your best friend and the list goes on. What qualified them for the loan was the closing costs that were paid to the people that wrote the loan and sold that same loan within weeks of the closing. Once the loan is sold it is no longer the brokers problem and the commissions made to close the loans are huge!

First they make the kill by luring people in search of the American dream and owning a home. “I can get you into this house and if we have to fudge the numbers a little to get it done, we do what we have to do.” All the potential home owner really heard was “I can get you the loan.” Having the keys to that house is the dream and in that dream comes the people out of the woodwork of that home to make more than a few thousand dollars per loan that they close.

With all the deals that they have they can qualify anyone for a loan and the result is what we are seeing everywhere across America. Bogus adjustable mortgages that reel you in to thinking that you can afford the house payment. No principal payment for X amount of years and the list goes on and on. Everyone qualifies! Or do they? Over at Newsvine.com they have this to say about it…

U.S. Home Foreclosures Soar in August
Tue Sep 18, 2007 6:13 AM EDT

LOS ANGELES — The number of foreclosure filings reported in the U.S. last month more than doubled versus August 2006 and jumped 36 percent from July, a trend that signals many homeowners are increasingly unable to make timely payments on their mortgages or sell their homes amid a national housing slump.

A total of 243,947 foreclosure filings were reported in August, up 115 percent from 113,300 in the same month a year ago, Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac Inc. said Tuesday.
There were 179,599 foreclosure filings reported in July.

The filings include default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions. Some properties might have received more than one notice if the owners have multiple mortgages.

August's total represents the highest number of foreclosure filings reported in a single month since the company began tracking monthly filings two years ago. - Newsvine.com

Getting to the point of my post… Who the hell is screaming for the heads of the Mortgage Corporation’s across America on Capitol Hill? Anyone home? Somebody should call an exterminator for the Congress because there seems to be an infestation of crickets when it comes to the lending industry. I wonder why? Democrat’s and Republican’s both own this mess one hundred and ten percent but the ones that really own this self created crisis is the lending industry. As they walk away from it laughing all the way to their own bank the Congress will spin this as a crisisproblem for the American family. In the end the American tax payer that still has a job and a home will pay for the thievery of gentleman and woman disguised as a mortgage broker in wolf’s clothing.

These predatory lending practices should have been stomped on by the government years ago but they chose to look the other way. Millions of Americans have already lost the American dream and millions more will follow in their footsteps because they never saw the used car salesman standing in front of their future home and dream.

Watch the political spin. It should be pointed at the lending industry but that will never happen because that would point to the people that are supposed to pass the laws to not let this sort of thing happen.

Papamoka

Cross posted at Bring It On!

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Bush-O-Nomics Busted

Picture courtesy of The White House

It isn’t a huge surprise to me that the current trend in home foreclosures is happening given the fact that the lending industry has been left to its own unregulated ways. While President Bush and his crew are waving shiney objects to hide everything they are doing illegally the lending industry is following the same path.

Our nations lending system is broken and it is their own damn fault. Now it is all of our problem as the foreclosure rates go super nova. Welcome back to the Savings and Loan problems of the Reagan era.

I’m not surprised that this dilemma is happening now and neither should the Bush administration. While he has focused most of his limited attention capabilities on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan the kids are playing at home and ruining the company store. While the lending industry is loaning out the money as fast as the closing points will rack up the President and his hands off policy has played out. Does it make sense to anyone that you can pay an interest only loan for the first five or ten years and then it jumps up to out of your budget world? Busted!

Over at the LA Times they have this incredible story on homeowners in California being foreclosed in triple digit percentages…

Home foreclosures hit record in California

Riverside County at a new high. In addition, there's a year's supply of houses on the market in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, up from a three-week supply at the height of the boom.

By David Streitfeld, Times Staff Writer11:23 AM PDT, July 24, 2007

A sagging real estate market and tighter lending standards are exacting a rapidly growing toll on Californians, forcing them from their homes in record numbers, figures released today show.

Foreclosures in the state during the second quarter totaled 17,408, up 799% from the same period last year. The current rate handily eclipsed the previous foreclosure peak set in 1996, when the state was in the final throes of six-year slump.

The two eras are sharply different.Back then, the primary culprit was massive defense cutbacks that led to high unemployment. Without a paycheck, people couldn't pay the mortgage.This time, the economy is generally sound but many people have become trapped in loans that are resetting to rates that exceed their ability to pay. Those excesses need time to make their way through the system. - Los Angeles Times

Now will come the wave of former homeowners that realistically never qualified for home loans and yet one lending institution after another collected the profits from writing the loans. Those poorly written loans were sold to the highest bidder and guess who is the highest bidder? Yup, our good government providing the cash for all these corrupt lenders. Soon the government will have to bail out the lending industry for stealing from the people and the Bush circle of home finance is complete. More of your money will go into the Bush funnel of friends to pay the people that actually created the American foreclosure scandal.

Just like we are not getting screwed over at the gas pump, you as the former home owner are not really losing your home. It was just a temporary rental agreement courtesy of just another industry where big money protects big money and you end up homeless. American Tax payers will bail out the lenders but you are ultimately screwed. Thanks W!

Papamoka