Re: [RC] Another example of free market follies

[David R. Block]

Title: ORourke1 Signature

I work for CoreLogic, the largest keeper of real estate data in the US. This year is gonna REALLY suck when the numbers all come in, and next year isn't looking that great either... Our CFO for 6 months was the former CFO of Fannie (or Freddie, don't remember which), and he resigned when he found out that he was under SEC investigation (OH, GOODY). But he had enough time to make our financial statements look real funny, so funny that the company is up for sale. So NOBODY try to tell me that the Fannie and Freddie folks are clean. Well, you can try, but it's not going to go over well. One can ALMOST say that Wall Street was following Fannie's and/or Freddie's example of "innovative accounting principles" with the derivative mess. David "Anyone who thinks he has a better idea of what's good for people than people do is a swine."--P. J. O’Rourke On 10/30/2011 10:27 PM, bil...@aol.com wrote: Excellent : You write quite well when you get really ticked off.   Will save your "essay" along with the article. Not sure I can do it, there is a lot that I simply don't know about the real estate biz, but it would otherwise be fun to try and blend your statement and the article, since  --seems to me--  both are right.   I heard Madrick on C-Span last night and he has a new book out, Age of Greed. From the sound of it, and even he admits that Clinton did a lot to screw up the system, regardless, Wall Street did all kinds of stuff that no-one remotely told them to do, or pressured them into doing,  or anything else by way of gvt influence. And, hoo boy, did they ever #%#* things up royally.   Its the rise of finance capital that seems to be the chief problem, paper wealth as a "good" in its own right, no concern for the real economy, all this crap facilitated by deregulation  --RR & Clinton--  with no sense of the problems that can result.   My view : It is finally time to take Adam Smith and Keynes out and shoot them both.   They don't deserve eternal life, not like they now have it.   Billy       10/30/2011 7:21:59 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, david.r.bl...@verizon.net writes: Yeah, that's right, I don't give a shit. </SARCASM> PLEASE. Nothing to do with Freddie or Fannie, move along now. Nothing to do with the "Community Reinvestment Act," move along now. Nothing to do with a never regulated (NOT deregulated) Freddie and Fannie, move along now. It's all the evil Wall Street Cabal. Don't forget to mention that it had nothing to do with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner, then the head of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, who poured as much money as he could into the system while not lifting a finger while all of those derivatives were created and selling like hotcakes. Move along now. With regulation by the Federal Reserve, the SEC, the Treasury Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, just how free is it? IF this is a failure of the free market, it is also a failure of government regulations and regulators, most of them civil service UNION positions and not erstwhile political appointees (although I wouldn't exactly call them non-partisan by any stretch of the imagination). Grassy knoll theory (Dallas radio hosts, even those of sports talk shows, have adopted this sobriquet from the Kennedy assassination and use it to signify that one is trailing off into conspiracy theory land): It is not surprising that all of this unfolded on Bush, already damaged goods, with the purpose of destroying Republican candidates lock, stock, and barrell in the 2008 election. Mission Accomplished. Now, the problem with the Obama plan is that one has to be current on their mortgage payments. This basically knocks out the ones who need it most: those who have been unemployed for up to two years or more who are "under water" in their mortgages. They would have to "catch up" first, and with no income, that's hard to do (I would say impossible, but that's just me). Plus, you can't be more that basically 5 % under water (mortgage is for no more than 105 % of current market value). This knocks out some entire cities, markets, and even states. Have fun with the conflicting sources: http://www.openmarket.org/2011/10/24/obama-fannie-regressive-refinance-ripoff-for-taxpayers-and-middle-class-investors/ http://www.cnbc.com/id/29510983/New_Mortgage_Plan_Who_Qualifies_and_How_It_Works http://blog.chron.com/lorensteffy/2011/10/the-plan-to-continue-ignoring-the-mortgage-crisis/ http://money.cnn.com/2009/04/15/real_estate/obama_mortgage_plan/index.htm http://money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/post.aspx?post=38b7c152-1411-4586-a565-41fea08a8f30   The CNN article surprisingly (to me, anyway) seems to slam it a little bit for being a bank rescue plan instead of a homeowners rescue plan. From The Atlantic's Megan McArdle: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/10/why-the-government-is-not-going-to-force-banks-to-write-down-your-mortgage-principal/247383/ I was going to do a FOX/MSNBC side by side, but alas, I could only find a short article on MSNBC. See MSN Money above, I guess. http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2011/10/24/udpate-obama-administration-unveils-new-refinancing-program/ David "Anyone who thinks he has a better idea of what's good for people than people do is a swine."--P. J. O’Rourke On 10/30/2011 8:25 PM, bil...@aol.com wrote:     Las Vegas Sun Romney, GOP fail to see Americans’ need for help in foreclosure crisis Sunday, Oct. 30, 2011 | 2 a.m. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney got in trouble recently when he came to Nevada and started talking about housing. Nevada has the highest foreclosure rate in the country, and Romney, a front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, showed little sense of compassion or desire to help ease the foreclosure crisis. In an interview with the Las Vegas Sun, Romney said “the key thing for me is let the market do its work. Get the foreclosures washed through the system ... let the market rebound from the bottom that it hits, and get people back into homes.” In other words, Romney doesn’t want the government involved but instead wants the market left on its own. And he wants it to move quickly by having foreclosures “washed through the system,” meaning even more foreclosures. Romney is not alone proposing a hands-off approach to the foreclosure crisis. Arguing to let the market “do its work” has become something of a conservative mantra. Nearly all of the Republican presidential candidates have said similar things. Conservatives are loath to talk about any type of government help or intervention. They have offered a number of economic explanations about how letting the market work supposedly makes sense, but does anyone see a problem with leaving the market on its own to correct itself? After all, it was the market — fueled by lax oversight — that got the country into this mess with its risky practices. The result is that millions of Americans have faced job loss and foreclosure. And the idea that foreclosures need to be “washed through the system” quickly is ludicrous. Did the Republican presidential candidates fail to notice what happened as the banks scrambled to foreclose on properties? There were serious problems. In Nevada, for example, state Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto has alleged that one major bank essentially railroaded homeowners, ignoring its own procedures to foreclose on properties when it didn’t have the right to do so. What makes the Republican presidential candidates’ advocacy of a hands-off approach even more troubling is that it leaves consumers with nowhere to turn. Wall Street made billions in profits by breaking and bending the rules, and Americans are paying the price. It is galling that the Republican approach would only further this injustice. This is the time government should be involved. Nevadans understand how devastating the situation is. In addition to the highest rate of foreclosure, the state also has the highest rate of unemployment. President Barack Obama was in Las Vegas last week to unveil his plan to help ease the foreclosure crisis. The plan will allow people who owe more than their home is worth, or who have a small amount of equity, to refinance. To qualify, the mortgages have to be owned or backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, and homeowners have to be current with their loans and have a strong record of making payments on time. Estimates say as many as 2 million homes could qualify, and critics have tried to dismiss the plan, saying it won’t help much, if at all. The plan certainly isn’t perfect, but it’s at least a step in the right direction — and it’s more than anyone else has offered. -- org   -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <RadicalCentrism@googlegroups.com> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <RadicalCentrism@googlegroups.com> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org