A reprint of an article from colleague Nye Lavallle…

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Put down Reckle$$ Endangerment, or Exiles in Eden or whatever novel you’re currently reading about the financial armageddon we’re in and click on Nye Lavalle’s After The Storm Report….it’s a gripping encyclopedia with names, dates and serial numbers that document the collapse we’re all still right in the middle of.  The only problem is the title…the storm at nearly over.  If it seems a little more quiet, that’s just because we’re in the eye of the hurricane

This book is a tome, dense with detail and long on facts.  At some point in time when this entire economy and country are fully collapsed we’re all going to be sitting around wondering why our elected and appointed “leaders” ignored all of the evidence that is painstakingly documented by Lavalle and others.  True, a big part of the explanation is outright corruption…none of those in power, either at the state or national level, are willing to bite the corporate hands that are feeding them quite well, thank you very much.

I’m convinced that the Geitners, Bernakes, Paulsons, Clintons, Bushes and Obamas of the world know that we are too far gone down this perilous road to turn back now. I’m convinced  that the global banking elites sit down with the “leader” du jour and explain that if they push to hard against the machine the entire world will come collapsing down. Rioting in the streets. Looting. Chaos.  And so we keep hobbling along going deeper and deeper into the abyss.  All the while becoming more and more intertwined with the evil that was wrought so long ago.

I picture the incestuous relationship of systematic, pervasive banking fraud and our government not unlike a deeply imbedded glioblastoma….the growth becomes so imbedded, so immeshed so wholly connected that removing it becomes difficult or impossible, a parasite that becomes so connected with the host so as to become one.

It’s far too late to wonder “How did we get here?”  That kind of academic inquiry is wasted time and useless energy. This is all treason and economic terrorism and ultimately subjugation of an entire world of people.  As a Middle Class American (whatever the hell that means anymore) do you really think you’re much better off than more “primitive” people living in central America or Asia or any other less “free” or less “democratized” world….well, time to re-orient your worldview.  The United States is propping up a fiction of economic stability and we have been for some time now.  As a nation, we are exponentially over leveraged and that means each of us individually are dramatically over leveraged.  Whatever your debt picture is, just add several zeros.

It’s with all this very big picture stuff in mind that I start of to fight my day, every single day, shooting at the nuclear powered warships and black helicopters with my trusty bb gun…..all the while wondering, “why are we so outnumbered on this side of the battlefield?”

After the Storm?  Not hardly…..Right in the Eye of It….

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The US economy collapsed in 2008 and we would have fallen into an economic and  societal abyss had the federal government not taken massive interventions that we’ll be paying for for decades to come.  As we know from the investigations that are now being made public, and which will continue to develop in the years to come, Wall Street Fat Cats teamed up with shifty players from the mortgage industry to monetize then liquidate the single largest collection of public wealth ever accumulated….the equity Americans held in real estate.  The unchecked, unregulated and unrestrained business practices allowed two entire sectors of the economy- real estate/mortgage and Wall Street/finance to merge together in an orgy of greed, fraud and deceit.  The “screw the rules”, “everyone for themselves” culture eventually led to collapse.

Apparently we didn’t learn our lesson because these same attitudes and business practices have infected our court rooms across the country.  The results will be a new round of financial chaos because the land title industry simply cannot pay the claims that will come when the results of the improper court practices are litigated in the decades to come.

Reuters Article on Bankruptcy of LandAmerican

Finally, as reported here in today’s edition of the Wall Street Journal, BofA is going to start reducing the principal balance on mortgages.

After being pumped full of billions of dollars in taxpayer money and after acquiring many of the loans that will be reduced for cents on the dollar….reducing principal is just something that makes sense.

Read on and stay tuned….much more on this later. This is a trend that will undoubtedly make its way to other lenders as well!

It is widely accepted that Obama’s HAMP mortgage modification program is a failure, not helping anywhere near the number of homeowners leaders estimated it would help.  If you’re facing foreclosure in Pinellas of Florida or are simply trying to get some reduced payments on your mortgage you will find trying to get a modification a very frustrating process.  Virtually every client reports spending countless hours on the phone with lender representatives and sending documents back and forth again and again.  I was at first incredulous, thinking that one or two lenders were getting it wrong, but I am a first hand witness to an entire industry that is broken down. If you’re trying for a modification or short sale, be prepared for months of frustration and hours on the phone…..and you probably wont get what you want.

The Curious Case of Canceled Sales

Attorneys and other opponents of the lenders and the mortgage meltdown are at a bit of a loss regarding why the system is broken down, but several theories are supported by facts. Most of the major lenders reported major (breathtaking) profits during the last quarter of 2009.  Curiously many of the same lenders delayed or simply canceled foreclosure sales that they had every right to conclude during the last quarter.  They had no legal reason to cancel the sales and some cited compassionate grounds for doing so. (Ha Ha)  Bottom line is I believe some lenders canceled sales in order to depress their earnings. (Can’t get to high on the hog just yet.)

Today’s Wall Street Journal confirms that one effect of the canceled sales and slow pace of modifications is fewer home on the market and an increase in overall value.

The number of such homes available for sale dropped to 637,000 in November 2009 from 845,000 a year earlier, Barclays Capital estimated. Barclays expects the number to start rising again as people who don’t qualify for a loan modification or don’t want one lose their homes, and peak at 747,000 in April before declining gradually.

As recently as September, however, Barclays expected a peak of nearly 1.2 million foreclosed homes for sale in mid-2010. “Our projected peak keeps getting lower, the longer banks delay foreclosure sales,” spreading the pain over a longer period, says Glenn Boyd, a senior researcher at Barclays.

That has implications for pricing. The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index is down 29% from its peak in 2006 but has leveled off in recent months as fewer foreclosures have hit the market.

As of Sept. 30, about 7.5 million households were behind on their mortgages or in the foreclosure process, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, a trade group.

Bottom line is those 7.5 million homes are going to continue to have a profoundly negative effect on the real estate market and the larger economy for years–even decades to come.  And as unemployment continues to rise, the number of households in trouble will only increase…..this is not just a problem for those 7.5 million in trouble….it’s everyone’s problem and we need a better system to address the problem.

Full Text of Article Here.

SUE THE USA FOR THE MORTGAGE MESS!

Wow!  Every once in a while I read something truly mind blowing…totally off the wall and completely revolutionary.  I found that just a few minutes ago in a lawsuit filed by private citizen Paul L. Muckle and suing Barack Obama, George Bush, Timothy Geithner, Henry Paulson, Sarah Palin and the governors of all fifty states…that’s ballsy!

All 106 pages of this masterwork can be found here. Although it is drafted by a layperson, it really is brilliant and lays out quite remarkably a variety of causes of action that could (on a longshot) and probably should be pursued against all the elected and appointed leaders who were complicit from the very beginning in the financial fraud that brought this country to its knees.  As this crisis continues (and the truth of the matter is its quietly getting worse), we owe it to ourselves to read this lawsuit and at least understand some of the allegations.

Fraud, lies, conspiracy and treason!

The mess that is our current financial, banking and mortgage system is more than even the most sophisticated person can possibly comprehend.  I spend ten hours a day working on this problem and the deeper you dig, the more complex, convoluted and mysterious it becomes.

Take a moment to read it….staggering.