Archive for the ‘Nugatorium’ Category

Not only is the government buying bad mortgages, it appears they will soon be in the market for bad auto loans. Does this mean I can stop paying on my house and my truck, so you all can take over my payments for me?

The U.S. government is considering direct financial assistance to facilitate a possible merger between General Motors Corp (GM.N) and Chrysler LLC, a private sector source familiar with Treasury discussions told Reuters on Monday.

The Treasury Department is weighing aid of at least $5 billion, which could include capital injections and government purchases of bad auto loans, according to the source, a financial policy executive who spoke anonymously because the discussions are private.

If they do this, you know that every business out there is going to want a “bailout”, and cry until the government takes their bad debt as well.

Over the weekend, the Senate held an unusual Saturday session in order to pass the “Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008″ or was it the “Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008″? No wait. Wait, wait, wait. It was the “American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008″. That’s it.

No matter what name they put at the top of this bill, and they had many to chose from, it’s nothing more than a 600 page document of how much Congress (and the President) have lost touch with the American people. It’s a 600 page guide on how to make the American people think you actually care about them during an election year.

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Seen at the fail blog:

Wow.

This special message is sponsored by the letter “D” and the number ‘0′.

It’s no secret that Countrywide Home Loans, with the help of a shady mortgage broker, took advantage of a couple people I hold very dear to my heart.

Just over two years ago, they realized they had been duped into a mortgage they were not going to be able to afford. With the adjustable rate climbing, and the mortgage barely within their ability to pay, they took action trying to prevent disaster before it happened.

Over the course of these past two years, they tried working with Countrywide. Countrywide wanted no part of it. The only assistance Countrywide offered, was negotiating a new mortgage (which would have caused them to default even faster). They placed the house on the market immediately.

Because of the turn in the market, they couldn’t even get anyone to look at the house. Countrywide still ignored them. When they did receive an offer, they inquired about short-selling, but Countrywide slammed the door on that idea.

Nine months ago they were forced to walk away from the house. Countrywide gave them no choice. Several months ago, they foreclosed on the house. Last month, the house sold to another person for less than half what was owed on it.

And now? Countrywide actually sent them a letter telling them that their mortgage payment had been “adjusted” into a fixed 7.25% interest loan, with payments that were very reasonable, and in fact, affordable. One month after the house sold.

The people at Countrywide are “d”umbasses. They were screwing people over for years, and now they are sending out these fake “we’ll help you now” letters to convince the government they are actually trying to help them. They have to. It’s the only way they can guarantee that the government is going to help bail them out.

Countrywide was, and still is, run by a bunch of people with ‘0′ (zero) common sense. If they had actually helped the homeowners who didn’t want to walk away, rather than ignoring them, the mortgage “crisis” might not have become much of a crisis at all.

Crossposted at Slobokan’s Site O’ Schtuff.

Now ain’t that a coincidence. Freddie Mac shares are down 75% for the year. Aren’t 75% of the sub-prime mortgages in foreclosure as well? Wow.

US mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are facing growing pressure as fears intensify about a potential calamity at the firms, which underpin trillions of dollars in home loans.

On Thursday, Freddie Mac shares plunged 22 percent to eight dollars, and are down over 40 percent this week and 75 percent this year.

Word has it that the current administration has held talks about what to do if the two firms falter. Umm… What can they do? There is $1.5 trillion dollars tied up in Freddie Mac and $700 billion in Fannie Mae. How can he fix that? By signing another stimulus package into law? Crazy.

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It’s good to see more and more states stepping up and holding the executives at Countrywide accountable for their actions.

Florida sued mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp (CFC.N) on Monday for predatory lending practices, alleging the company at the center of the U.S. mortgage crisis made subprime loans to people who could not repay them.

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The state alleged the company gave subprime loans to borrowers who could not repay them, loaned money at higher subprime rates to people who qualified for prime rate loans and engaged in other deceptive marketing and unfair trade practices, contrary to claims in its 10-K filings.

It will come as no surprise to me if all of the allegations are true. I know of a few people personally, including family, who were deceived by the predatory lending practices of Countrywide and I for one will be happy if some of those people in charge end up doing time for their crimes.

Cross posted at Slobokan’s Site O’ Schtuff.

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Up and down, up and down. How high is oil going to climb on “speculation” before it settles back down to a realistic level?

The Dow briefly turned positive on Monday and the Nasdaq rose more than 1 percent as oil prices reversed an earlier climb, providing investors with some comfort following data that revived concerns about the economy.

Stimulating the economy won’t help, no matter how you try to do it, if people are spending more than the equivalent of that stimulus money on the nearly doubled gas prices.

Oh sure, people pay a lot more than we do overseas, but you know, that is beside the point. The price of gas has risen so quickly here that the cost of gasoline is now eating away at the money many people, myself included, need for other necessities.

Where’s all that Iraqi oil everyone keeps saying we are in the war for? If we “invaded” Iraq to get their oil, why has the cost of oil skyrocketed? Shouldn’t we have plenty of it just laying around waiting to be burnt in our automobiles?

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The only thing worse than watching 3-4 million people lose their homes, is knowing that the government knew it was going to happen all along.

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I had no idea that JP Morgan Chase & Co. executives were fortune tellers.

JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) does not expect the U.S. financial crisis to end soon and will remain very cautious, its top executive said in comments published by a German weekly on Saturday.

“We can only speculate how deep and how long the recession in the United States will really be and how that in turn will impact banks,” James Dimon told “Welt am Sonntag.”

Seeing that the United States is not yet, by definition, in a recession, I find it hysterical that he is actually talking about how deep and how long the recession (that doesn’t exist yet) will last. Just once I would like people to be honest. Just once I would like people to tell the truth. Why make comments like that? Talk about fear mongering.

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Apparently, the economy and foreclosures are no longer the only thing Countrywide executives have to worry about now.

Countrywide Financial Corp (CFC.N) shares dropped 14 percent to a 13-year low on Monday following reports the largest U.S. mortgage lender was being investigated by the FBI for possible securities fraud.

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Countrywide is being investigated over whether it misrepresented its financial condition and the quality of its loans in securities filings, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times over the weekend. The papers cited people with knowledge of the case.

I can’t imagine any reason why people might think that the powers that be at Countrywide would not be telling the truth when it came to their financial condition. Duh. They were allowing people with virtually no income buy houses worth three times as much as mine, eventually someone was going to notice something.

If they’re guilty, I hope they all get what’s coming to them for what they have done.