Matt Tiabbi investigating foreclosures

This story is from the November 25, 2010 issue of Rolling Stone Magazine. 
Written by Matt Taibbil

The foreclosure lawyers down in Jacksonville had warned me, but I was skeptical. They told me the state of Florida had created a special super-high-speed housing court with a specific mandate to rubber-stamp the legally dicey foreclosures by corporate mortgage pushers like Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan Chase. This "rocket docket," as it is called in town, is presided over by retired judges who seem to have no clue about the insanely complex financial instruments they are ruling on — securitized mortgages and laby­rinthine derivative deals of a type that didn't even exist when most of them were active members of the bench. Their stated mission isn't to decide right and wrong, but to clear cases and blast human beings out of their homes with ultimate velocity. They certainly have no incentive to penetrate the profound criminal mysteries of the great American mortgage bubble of the 2000s, perhaps the most complex Ponzi scheme in human history — an epic mountain range of corporate fraud in which Wall Street megabanks conspired first to collect huge numbers of subprime mortgages, then to unload them on unsuspecting third parties like pensions, trade unions and insurance companies (and, ultimately, you and me, as taxpayers) in the guise of AAA-rated investments. Selling lead as gold, shit as Chanel No. 5, was the essence of the booming international fraud scheme that created most all of these now-failing home mortgages.

Chris here-  a  part I want to emphasize: 

----judges who seem to have no clue about the insanely complex financial instruments they are ruling on — securitized mortgages and laby­rinthine derivative deals of a type that didn't even exist when most of them were active members of the bench.----------

 The financial industry has used new vocabulary terms, new formulas and lack of transparency to to keep people on the outside from knowing what types of risk they were taking on the inside.  It is a long history of manipulation by the industry to allow Wall Street to gamble with other people's money in order to collect millions of dollars in salary and pay out a nominal return to the average investor.  If it is better than the going rate of a Certificate of Deposit, most people are happy if their investment continues to compound year after year.  People have been willing to accept whatever garbage Wall Street throws at them.  In part due to the smoke screen of complexity that financial institutions use so well, and partly due to being brainwashed that the people on Wall Street are just so much smarter than the rest of us. 
Read More Here at More Financial Reality

Interesting developments on foreclosure fraud and bank fraud

"More on Foreclosure Fraud at Naked Capitalism"
I’ve been in contact for over the last six months with attorneys involved in foreclosure defense. Unlike the foreclosure mills, which seem to coin money, the attorneys on this front are either laboring pro bono or making considerably less than they could in other lines of work. They also can back up their views with depositions and trial transcripts.


One thing they stress is that a significant number of their clients facing foreclosure has made every single mortgage payment. . Read that again.

Chris here-Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism really has the inside story on what is going on with the servicers and foreclosures.  The sentence above in bold face type is really shocking.  It is hard to believe that the incompetence of the servicers or just plain neglect on their part, is being used as an excuse to steam roll property rights. 




You can buy Econned and All the Devils are here using this link. 

the daily show video

We are starting to see more and more books coming out explaining the causes of the financial crisis.  Some are very good, some are off the mark.  Econned by Yves Smith is very good. 

Here is a video from the The Daily Show. Stewart interviews the authors of the new book on the financial crisis.

Take this link and see authors of All the Devils are here on The Daily Show 


 ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE use this link to here the author reading from the book. 



READ REVIEW ON ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE AT SEEKING ALPHA

Lack of housing recovery changes the game for the big players like Pimco. Home owners still likely left to take the fall.

http://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2010/10/faulty-foreclosures.html
Here's a real disconnect in the faulty foreclosure story: The story on credit slips blog.  Adam Levitin Questions the credibility of the B of A foreclosure review.  He asks the question but we all know the answer.  Bank of America making a test run at the steam rolling process.  They could not have reviewed the documents without another robo reviewer. 
They continue, with the federal governments blessing, to keep trying to push the issues regarding the foreclosure process under the rug.  The mainstream media is still in the tank for B of A and the too big to fail banks as they fall for the Administration's facade that they will be tough on any law breaking bankers. 

What amazes me is that many people still misunderstand the main issues that has just come into play this fall.  The fact that the housing industry has failed to respond to the ridiculously low mortgage rates really has put the issue of  forclosuregate in the forefront. 
Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control
Regardless every one's opinion that we need to get to the bottom of this so lets railroad anyone left in there home strategy, the housing market failed to respond to the low interest rates, which has put much of the world on notice that these "fraudulent" procedures are not getting prices back up. 

The only reason the game has changed is because the big money people, they Wall Street Elite, the oligarchy and the like, stand to lose major dollars now on their securities investments.  Everyone was happy with dumping this on the home owner if it would mean investors would be made whole or at least it would lead to a speedy recovery.  Now with the likes of Pimco starting to recognize that being a team player with the fed is not going to save them money this time around. 

Of course the homeowner is the afterthought.  Even Phil's stock world has taken the stance that is in more agreement with the banks than it is with the people.

 Power Therapy: Maximizing Health Through Self-Efficacy
Phil gives his opinion in this article that addresses the extreme. 

"I am sorry but that is complete nonsense. It will mean delays and legal expenses to figure out who has the right to foreclose, but it sure as hell does not mean borrowers own their house free and clear"
the full story can be read here:

http://www.philstockworld.com/2010/10/20/pimco-blackrock-ny-fed-seek-to-force-bofa-to-repurchase-47-billion-in-soured-mortgages-viral-nonsense-on-show-me-the-note-and-foreclosuregate/