How to Solve the US Housing Problem and Avoid a Recession: A Revived HOLC and RTC (tags)
In 1933, Congress passed the Glass-Steagall Act, which banned banks from underwriting securities. Financial institutions had to choose either to be a simple bank lender or an underwriter (investment banker or brokerage firm).
Wells Fargo Is Accused of Making Improper Changes to Mortgages (tags)
Wells Fargo has been accused in lawsuits of significantly extending mortgage loan terms of customers in bankruptcy without their knowledge.
Is this the world's most radical mayor? Ada Colau of Barcelano (tags)
Adfa Colau spent the first years of the new millennium embroiled in activism, protesting and campaigning against wars, poor housing and gentrification. While working for the PAH, she developed her distinctive style of speech, which rests on a sincere, if carefully crafted, populism.
Foreclosure Victims Occupy Senate Stump Speech of Kamala Harris (tags)
“Sold out! Sold out! Took money from Wall Street!” came shouts from the crowd when Senate candidate Kamala Harris took the stage at the California Democratic Party convention. As California Attorney General, Kamala Harris protected the banks from criminal prosecution for their crimes by orchestrating a sweetheart deal of a settlement. “Task Force? Task Fail! Criminal Bankers Should Be In Jail!”
Seeno Family Developers Inflate Home Prices (tags)
For activists in Nevada who were battling Coyote Springs development and the SNWA pipeline, we've gone from the frying pan into the fire. Our prior nemesis Mr. Harvey Whittemore has now been replaced by Mr. Albert Seeno and Family. Just as was the case with Mr. Whittemore, environmental regulations are simply obstacles for Mr. Seeno & Co. to avoid, bend and break when needed.
Duplicitous Mortgage Settlement Deal (tags)
class war
Whistling Past the Graveyard (tags)
class war
Does anybody care? PLEASE read this article (http://exm.nr/v8VFLs) and then SIGN the petition (http://wh.gov/D3J) located on the White House's "WE the PEOPLE" website to stop foreclosures on mortgages made to individual homeowners belonging to the bottom 99%. Also, please help this go viral! It needs 150 signatures to be publicly visible on the site, and 25,000 by January 2, 2012 to be guaranteed a response.
Occupy Our Homes: L.A. Joins a Nationwide Day of Action Against Foreclosures (tags)
Housing is a human right. Today a coalition including Occupy LA, Occupy Riverside, ACCE, Refund California, and SEIU teamed up to defend two families who are facing eviction by sheriffs who protect the profits of JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo.
Hotline Now Open For Foreclosure Complaints (tags)
The Wall Street Journal Bank regulators and the mortgage industry have launched a complaint process to reach out to more than 4 million homeowners to find and compensate any who were harmed by deficiencies in banks’ foreclosure operations.
BTL:New York Attorney General Working to Hold Big Banks Accountable for Foreclosure Fraud, (tags)
Interview with Liz Ryan Murray, policy director at National People's Action and member of The New Bottom Line, conducted by Scott Harris
PRESS RELEASE/UPDATE: Homeowners Fight Back (tags)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Reclaiming the "American Dream" As the foreclosure and housing crisis continues to take a toll on families across America, homeowners are now sharing their experiences and arming themselves with information and resources to help those who are facing a difficult time in keeping their homes.
Why 50 State Attorney's General Should Not Settle With Banksters, Mortgage Fraud (tags)
As 50 State Attorney's General Mortgage Fraud probe continues, a possible settlement is being talked about. We know from history that "financial criminals" who commit massive crimes against the people get away with the crimes. Should Banksters get away with the crimes committed against the Nation?
Broken Dreams, Pre And Post Foreclosure (tags)
This story will take you into the world of pre and post Foreclosure crisis. The pain, suffering and never ending struggles of one American Family caught in the web of Financial greed by the biggest Financial Institutions in the world.
An Expansion of Terms Used in the Coffee Party Article by RP (tags)
I apologize for the weak structure in this article. I was hoping to write something that explained some of the material in the story, but ended up going a bit afield with the information. This article attempts to be neutral and nonpartisan, or at least not shrill, and avoids too much analysis. The nature of the Great Recession is difficult to sum up in a few pages, because it's a failure of a complex system with many parts, and many related behaviors, that led to the near-collapse of capitalism.
foreclosuregate one of many examples
A Permanent Housing Collapse? (tags)
The recent chaos that erupted when 30,000 people waited hours in the Atlanta, Georgia heat to receive applications for subsidized housing is a mere symptom of a worsening national problem. The housing market appears to be on a never-ending downward spiral, with the much-discussed "recovery" always around the next corner.
Stanley Sporkin: BP's Ombudsman Fixer (tags)
corruption in high places
Benefits of "Stimulus Jobs" Could Be Offset by Forced Health Insurance proposals (tags)
Government Forced Health Insurance May Cause Job Losses In Construction, Manufacturing and Other Housing Related Industries.
"Down the Memory Hole," Alan Greenspan Style (tags)
Greenspan-caused housing bubble
Are Sub-prime Mortgages Pollution? (tags)
Sub-prime mortgage lenders appear protected from homeowner and borrower plaintiffs that might allege a lender’s loan practices damaged the value of their home.
Homeowners' rallying cry: Produce the note (tags)
ZEPHYRHILLS, Fla. (AP) — Kathy Lovelace lost her job and was about to lose her house, too. But then she made a seemingly simple request of the bank: Show me the original mortgage paperwork. And just like that, the foreclosure proceedings came to a standstill.
Bush administration denies funding for FBI probe of mortgage mess (tags)
The Bush administration is rejecting FBI pleas for more agents to investigate crimes that helped trigger the global financial meltdown, bureau sources said this week.
Financial Market Capitalism: Neoliberalis become State Socialists (tags)
Neoliberalism is neither new nor liberal. All freedom is demanded for capital, even though human dependence is intensified and human existences destroyed. The state becomes a functionary for neoliberal concepts. The debts of Fannie/Freddie are added to the nine trillion.
Angry Protests at S.F. Mortgage Bankers Conference (tags)
The annual national conference of the Mortgage Bankers Association was greeted by angry protests outside the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco on October 19-20. The demonstrations initiated by the ANSWER Coalition received extensive coverage from nearly all mainstream Bay Area media.
US Real Estate: From Goldmine To Money Pit (tags)
Mortgage Backed Securities and Derivatives are Flawed and Failing. The mortgage debt problem is simple really, it has been a total mis-appropriation of equity. The equity lost on flat screen TV's, boats, new cars, vacations, and other living expenses; is equity lost forever. This loss of equity spent on consumer goods and expenses is a pyramid scheme of hyper-capitalism that is flawed and failing. Equity not spent on the property the equity comes from, is equity lost forever, a mis-appropriation of funds, and inappropriate; it is a failing economic model.
America is now a hellhole
Bush and the neocons caused it all (tags)
Al jazeera tells it all
Will Bailout Minimize FBI Investigation Who Might Have Sold Fraudulent Loans/Securities? (tags)
Some lenders might have lowered their “own mortgage borrowers’ home values” by continuing to make sup-prime loans to unqualified borrowers in their community—after having “knowledge” the community had high numbers of mortgage defaults and foreclosures.
Russians and Chinese Laugh (tags)
Bailing out speculators is like protecting the sharks from the sardines.or paying the robbers. Executives should absorb their losses by taking a 96% pay cut. Speculation should be discouraged, not rewarded. The Capitol switchboard is easy and free 800-270-0309
More than 60 labor and community activists protested at the downtown L.A. Federal Building against foreclosures. Organizers demand a two-year moratorium on the repossession of homes by banks and mortgage companies.
The Bailout is a Crime. Demand Socialized Housing! (tags)
If we're going to buy the debt, we want the collateral.
Reviewing Danny Schechter's "Plunder" (tags)
A masterful account of the subcrime crisis.
FBI mortgage fraud cases involve drug gangs and organized crime and nets hundreds (tags)
Sharon Ormsby, section chief in charge of financial crimes for the FBI, said “some cases, gang, drug and organized crime investigations have resulted in mortgage fraud cases because such schemes enable criminals to launder money.
Global Economic Meltdown (tags)
Financial Instability is Leading to an Economic Catastrophe
Senate housing bill- more grief for homeowners (tags)
Socialists across the nation are rejecting a U.S. Senate housing bill that offers little help to struggling homeowners facing foreclosure, while providing tens of billions for banks, financial institutions and big corporations. The bill (Foreclosure Prevention Act) passed in the Senate this past week by a vote of 84-12 and has been sent to the House. The vote was clearly a major setback for millions of homeowners and a big win for banks and big businesses.
The Great Plastic Meltdown (tags)
The real estate crisis turned out more serious than the bank's risk divisions estimated. The prices for new homes fell twelve percent in December 2007. The assets of private households shriveled two trillion dollars within a year.
The Subprime Tsunami Reaches the EU (tags)
Subprime mortgage credits in the US should not have been issued. Nevertheless subprime credits were extended in the volume of $1.3 trillion. An avalanche of expropriation roars in the valley. The banking crisis spills over into the credit system in the real economy.
The Truth About Your Bad Home Loan (tags)
Fighting Back - Borrower's Trust has been violated - Understand Foreclosure and Eviction - Do Not Move before you have to!
Banking- and Mortgage Fraud (tags)
The whole great world of money is infected by the banal greed for more and more. Wasn't the art of making more money out of money the most noble and top-paid pursuit? Deregulation and liberalization have consequences for democracy and the economy.
Mortgage Crisis Jeopardizing Working Class Families (tags)
If the two corporate parties, the Democrats and Republicans, take a wait-and-see attitude while the mortgage lenders and multi-billionaires take the hard-earned family resources of millions of Americans, the results will be catastrophic for working class families, and ultimately for our entire economy.
A Generalized Meltdown of Financial Institutions (tags)
By Mike Whitney 11/24/07 "ICH" -- - Reality has finally caught up to the stock market. The American consumer is underwater, the banks are buried in dept, and the housing market is in terminal distress. The Dow is now below its 200-Day Moving Average -- the first big "sell" signal. Anything below 12,500 could trigger program-trading and crash the market. The increased volatility suggests that we are watching a "real time" meltdown.
The Real Financial Tsunami is coming! (tags)
"The $690 billion worth of “interest only” ARMs due for interest rate hike between now and July 2008 are by and large not Sub-prime but a little higher quality, but only just. There are a total of $1.4 trillion in “interest only” ARMs according to the US research firm, First American Loan Performance. A recent study calculates that, as these ARMs face staggering higher interest costs in the next 9 months, more than $325 billion of the loans will default leaving 1 million property owners in technical mortgage default. But if banks are unable to reclaim the homes as assets to offset the non-performing mortgages, the US banking system and a chunk of the global banking system faces a financial gridlock that will make events to date truly “peanuts” by comparison. "
Alexander: US Government Should Protect Homeowners (tags)
Stewart A. Alexander, a presidential hopeful with Peace and Freedom Party and Social Party USA, says President Bush and Congress could do more to protect homeowners during this nationwide home mortgage crisis. Alexander has ruled out a federal bail-out of mortgage lenders and believes homeowners need federal protection; he is introducing several steps to ease this national crisis.
Billions Dissolve in Thin Air (tags)
While the political class practices faith healing, all the participants know the end is coming when more speculative bubbles burst. The popular dogma that financial markets and the world economy are more efficient when deregulated and liberalized is over.
Subprime warning signals ignored? (tags)
Regulators passed over chances to curb abuses. "The music has stopped. The people without a chair are going under."
Market Efficiency Hokum (tags)
Debunking the myth that free markets work best.
Stock Market Meltdown - First Signs of Global Economic Rout
Your house at zero cost (tags)
Today there are many people speculating in real estate as they did in the stock market. Buy something and wait for the market to go up and then sell.
America's Glorious Empire of Debt (tags)
Economists have all become like rich notables in the time of Trajan, doing the emperor's work whether they are on his payroll or not.
Citigroup Protests: Philly 8/2; LA 8/17/00 (tags)
Citigroup, the largest U.S. bank, is being called to account by an emerging coalition of community, environmental, and human rights groups. Round One was in Philadelphia on August 2; Round Two is in Los Angeles, August 17, 9 a.m., Pershing Square. After that, for more information, visit, , or . As Citigroup's Salomon Smith Barney says (on PBS), "See How We Earn It." How? From redlining to redwoods, prisons to predatory lending...