Jun 14 2011
I have been writing about housings downturn for sometime and housing has been trending downward for the last 57 months straight. Even with all the government support, various moratoriums, delays, refinances, loan reworks and a plethora of other gadgetry the trend still remains.
Now I am ready to call a crash. But before I get to that specific information lets look at some recent data.
Nov 11 2010
Laura Flanders of GRITtv talks once again with Truthdig.com’s Editor-in-Chief Robert Scheer, author of “The Great American Stickup: How Reagan Republicans and Clinton Democrats Enriched Wall Street While Mugging Main Street“, about Barack Obama’s economic policies and team, about the blackmailing of you and the country and the world by Wall Street, about the financial industry lately booking two thirds of all profits produced by all economic activity in the United States, and about the parasitical mindset that now passes for “success” among the ultra-wealthy and their political servants in a morally warped empire in decline…or in freefall?
“Wall Street was blackmailing us,” says Robert Scheer of the bank bailouts, “And we got nothing in return.” It’s not news to any viewers of GRITtv that Wall Street’s tentacles ran throughout our election, but now that the election is over, we turn again to the running of government. Scheer joined us in the studio recently to discuss his new book, The Great American Stickup, and we asked him to give us some thoughts for after the election as well. Most pressing of all, he asks if either bankers or politicians are capable of thinking in anyone’s long-term interests.
Oct 02 2010
Thank goodness. It couldn’t have happen a day too soon.
NBC Nightly News (03-09-09) Tent Cities of Homeless Springing Up In Bad Times
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F94f_Ycsjs
Tent City, USA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…
Sep 15 2009
We have been told that Wall Street Investment firms are “Too big to Fail” — But that does NOT Mean they are “Too Big for Accountability”!
The Question boils down to,
Who Does the Congress Represent anyways —
The American People, or the Global Bankers (and their Lobbyists) ?
And Will the People bother to care about Wall Street Regulation this time around?
Since I’m assuming we will, here’s some essential background on the Wall Street Meltdown mess:
Credit Default Swap (CDS)
What Does Credit Default Swap (CDS) Mean?
A swap designed to transfer the credit exposure of fixed income products between parties.
http://www.investopedia.com/te…
CDS’s are an easy way to transfer Credit Risk — Check!
Jul 27 2009
Way back in March of 2009, Rachel explained the “Highway Robbery” which happened on Wall Street, using a few simple word-pictures. (ie. simple Frames). These perhaps deserve a quick review …
Rachel Maddow – Cops and Robbers
Link to Rachel’s very humorous Clip
Great Framing Rachel! … I love it, when Progressive Talkers, make learning FUN! The simpler the Word-Pictures, the better the Frame!
“Is our childrens learning?” as George W. used to ask.
Could be, … Maybe we just needed to “Turn the Page” …
Jul 14 2009
Elizabeth Warren was appointed chair of a newly created Congressional Oversight Panel (COP), which is charged with keeping tabs on the $700 billion bailout of the financial sector – including Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP).
Warren however, has had some “Trouble” getting straight forward answers … as she explained to the Boston Globe:
Feb 06 2009
Banks are more than broken, they have become ongoing criminal enterprises. This goes beyond simple bookkeeping errors to systemic criminality. Want to fix the mortgage problem? Start auditing banks and prosecuting under RICO. Giant bonuses, trips to Vegas and Super Bowl sponsorship are really the LEAST of the problems with banks. Follow me below the fold for what they aren’t talking about on Morning Joe, or any of the MSM.
Oct 18 2008
Now she has the time to Grieve for her Son, Killed in Iraq only a short time ago, Her Reality!!
I was just sent the following:
Oct 09 2008
“We will no longer be a party to something that’s so unjust,” Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said in a news conference on Wednesday.
Chicago’s Daily Herald reports that Dart cited the “economic crisis” as the reason he has called a halt to evictions until lenders can prove the foreclosed home’s occupant has been notified.
“We have to be sure that when we are doing this – and we are destroying some people’s lives – we better be darned sure we’re talking about the right people,” Dart was quoted saying in the AP story.
Dart explained that he ordered his deputies to stop evicting people from homes in foreclosure because many of the people ordered evicted are renters who have paid their rent and have done nothing wrong. He explained that tenants with their rent fully paid, go to work in the morning and then return to discover they have been evicted. The authorities cart the possessions of renters of foreclosed homes out to the curbside and by the time they return home, everything has disappeared.
“The meager possessions they have are gone,” he said. “This is happening too often.”
Mar 06 2008
That was then:
From George W. Bush’s 2005 inaugural address on January 20, 2005:
To give every American a stake in the promise and future of our country, we will bring the highest standards to our schools, and build an ownership society. We will widen the ownership of homes and businesses, retirement savings and health insurance – preparing our people for the challenges of life in a free society. By making every citizen an agent of his or her own destiny, we will give our fellow Americans greater freedom from want and fear, and make our society more prosperous and just and equal.
From the White House, Bush Discusses Home Ownership at Indiana Black Expo on July 14, 2005:
I like the idea of home ownership, and I hope you do, as well. Three years ago, I set a goal of creating 5.5 million new minority home owners by the end of this decade. And we’re getting results. We’ve already added 2.3 million new homeowners, minority homeowners, putting us ahead of schedule. Today, nearly half of all African Americans own their own homes.
Dec 07 2007
Most people, and most experts, tend to feel that the US economy is in trouble. Many news stories are a significant part of this: the subprime mortgage “crisis”, the falling value of the dollar, the restatements of financial earnings from Wall Street. But the actual narrative of how this happened is very poorly understood, and rarely explained in its entirety. And much information which contradicts what we think we know exists as well: that subprime mortgages represent less than 2% of the equity market, for example, or that over half of subprime borrowers are still making timely payments.
Due to the failure of most Americans to understand the narrative of how we got here, most of us don’t understand what the problems actually are, nor do the politicians vying to “solve” the problems feel the need to address the actual underlying issues. It is my feeling that it is therefore important to try to tell the story of how we got here in a narrative fashion.
Oct 25 2007
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I’ll be a monkey’s uncle.
In a diary on mortgages, now frontpaged, a comment was made about the Chinese moving in to your home when the proverbial shit hits the fan.
My initial reaction – that sounds just a tad farfetched to me. After all, China does own a lot of our government debt, but I seriously doubt they own much in the way of our personal debt.
Well, since Google is our friend, I decided I better test my theory before spouting off.
And thus, the title of this essay.