Who’s To Blame For The Subprime Mortgage Mess
“I’ve seen the enemy and the enemy is us.”
I’ve been following the subprime mortgage debacle for a while now, giving it a lot of coverage. This bust has left us with some tragic results, as homeowners far and wide are left holding the bag and in ruins, after losing their homes and whatever else they’ve got.
It’s common knowledge how much fraud has become a big part of this crisis, but in their own defense, insiders from the real estate industry have claimed that this crime is actually victimless.
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Sur le même thème que "Who’s To Blame For The Subprime Mortgage Mess"
The Subprime Mortgage Crisis Explained with Cartoons
If you don’t understand a whit about what’s happening with the credit crisis and the whole subprime mortgage mess, here’s a primer - in cartoon form - at Joey deVilla’s Accordion Guy blog: Link Or, if you’re literary and like readin’ words, the New York Times has a nice write up. Raise your hand if you don’t [...] [lien] [EN]
Who Wasn't Investing In Subprime Mortgages? [Subprime Meltdown]
MoneyGram is the latest non-mortgage lender to be caught investing in the subprime mortgage market, says BusinessWeek. (emphasis ours) The money transfer services provider's stock lost half its... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] [lien] [EN]
British satirist explains the subprime mortgage meltdown [Clips]
British satirist John Fortune is interviewed as "George Parr the Investment Banker" by fellow satirist John Bird to discuss and make light of the subprime mortgage scandal. At last, this infernal... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] [lien] [EN]
Random Thoughts - CNN’s Special Investigation on the Mortgage Mess
This is the time that I’m supposed to rounding up what has been going on around the blog world. But I am now watching a CNN program : Special Investigation Unit, and I’m intrigued. There is a round table on the mortgage sub prime crisis and the mess we are in right now. The show essentially explains the events that led to the present situation. As I am watching this, a few things spring to mind. 1. Unintended Consequences - One of the things about this show that really intrigued me was this phrase called “reverse red lining” - which is a term used to describe mortgage lending to people like minorities and people with low credit. In 2002, President Bush announced his intention to help more than five million minorities to own their homes. Great intention, but unfortunately. [lien] [EN]
Random Thoughts - CNN’s Special Investigation on the Mortgage Mess
This is the time that I’m supposed to rounding up what has been going on around the blog world. But I am now watching a CNN program : Special Investigation Unit, and I’m intrigued. There is a round table on the mortgage sub prime crisis and the mess we are in right now. The show essentially explains the events that led to the present situation. As I am watching this, a few things spring to mind. 1. Unintended Consequences - One of the things about this show that really intrigued me was this phrase called “reverse red lining” - which is a term used to describe mortgage lending to people like minorities and people with low credit. In 2002, President Bush announced his intention to help more than five million minorities to own their homes. Great intention, but unfortunately. [lien] [EN]
A Solution to the Mortgage Mess?
Trade Radar Operator submits: Ben Bernanke spoke Tuesday before a group of community bankers in Orlando, Fla. He encouraged bankers to find creative ways to address the problems in the mortgage market. Preventing foreclosures, he implied, should be a priority as it would "help not only stressed borrowers but also their communities and, indeed, the broader economy."Complete Story » [lien] [EN]
These are my questions about subprime mortgages
I know that a certain number of these bad mortgages were made in response to initiatives started in the 90s to allow low-income families who otherwise couldn’t afford homes to own them. But what percentage of the current crisis involves loans of this particular type? And what percentage involves people who actually have [...] [lien] [EN]
Don't Blame Declining Lending Standards for Subprime Mess
Zubin Jelveh submits: A policy statement by the President's Working Group on Financial Markets signed by Henry Paulson in March placed the root cause of the current crisis on a now-familiar source: The turmoil in financial markets clearly was triggered by a dramatic weakening of underwriting standards for US. subprime mortgages, beginning in late 2004 and extending into early 2007.Complete Story » [lien] [EN]
Mortgage Meltdown Woes Spread To Home Builders [Subprime Meltdown]
The Wall Street Journal says that subprime woes have started to put our nations small and midsized home builders in a difficult position. And as the home builders go so goes the regional banks... Bill Whitlatch, longtime owner of one of the leading home builders here in northeast Ohio, is among the casualties. Three years ago, he borrowed from regional banks to start six developments in the Cleveland area. Soon the region's home market turned cold. Buyers vanished. Mr. Whitlatch drained his personal savings of $2 million to keep his company going. It wasn't enough. In September, the company filed for bankruptcy protection. Now owing about $1 million to dozens of subcontractors, and $8 million in debt to his banks, Mr. Whitlatch is selling the family home he designed. Mortgage Mess Hits Home For Nation's Small Builders [Wall Street Journal] (AP/David Zalubowski) [lien] [EN]
Don’t blame the New Deal
Je reproduis ici (en anglais) l’edito tres interessant du New York Times sur la responsabilite des choix politiques de l’administration Bush dans la deregulation des marches et l’inaction de la Banque federale americaine. Don't Blame the New Deal This year's serial bailouts are proof of a colossal regulatory failure. But it is not “the system” that failed, as President Bush, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and others who are complicit in the calamity would like Americans to believe. People failed. For decades now, antiregulation disciples of the Reagan Revolution have eliminated vital laws, blocked the enactment of much-needed new regulations, or simply refused to exercise their legal authority. The regulatory system for banks, securities, commodities and insurance is unwieldy and in need of modernization. [lien] [EN]
"Victims" of Subprime Mortgages and Victims of Eminent Domain:
Steven Geoffrey Gieseler of the Pacific Legal Foundation makes an excellent point in decrying the great amount of attention paid to homeowner victims of subprime mortgages in the current presidential campaign relative to those who have lost their homes to eminent domain (hat tip: Tim Sandefur of PLF on Eminent Domain): As the campaign for the presidency unfolds, candidates from both parties are squabbling over who can bail out defaulting homeowners first, and most. The mortgage crisis has become a central issue of the Democratic and Republican primaries. "Saving homes" is now a necessary mantra for everyone seeking the White House. Problem is, they're all trying to save the wrong homes.... As stressful as losing a home to foreclosure may be, most such homeowners at a minimum share in the blame for their predicaments. [lien] [EN]
Old Men To Blame For Everything, Again [Scape Goats]
The subprime mortgage situation, the looming social security crisis and the History Channel: old men are ruining this country for us young women. If we were in charge, every day would be talk about periods and make-up day. And here's another thing old men are destroying: The broadcasting career of Katie Couric. Les Moonves, CBS chieftain, blames his own demographic for Couric's dismal run as news anchor. Men don't like getting information from a lady! Well, maybe if that Miss Couric tramp talked less about periods and make-up and more about how WWII was really won, she would do better in the ratings. [pagesix.com] [lien] [EN]
UBS, or How the Mortgage Bust Went Global
Normally, St. Jakob's Hall is Basel Switzerland is home to soccer tournaments or the occasional hockey game. But on a sunny morning in February, the stadium offered a corporate face-off every bit as contentious as any athletic event. More than 6,000 shareholders of the Swiss banking giant UBS packed the house to vent their fury over tens of billions in losses on American subprime mortgages and what they saw as an insult to traditional Swiss values like prudence and thrift. The target of their anger wasn't just UBS's chairman, Marcel Ospel, or any of the bank's other top executives, who were arrayed under a giant screen near where goalies usually tend the net. Instead, much of their ire was aimed at the United States itself — specifically an addiction to high-octane risk-taking. [lien] [EN]
Subprime Response
Larry Summers is worried: Ex-Treasury Secretary Calls For Tax Cut, Spending Plan, by Michael M. Phillips, WSJ: Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, once a fiscal hawk among Clinton Democrats, said the government should consider a $50 billion to $75 billion tax-cut and spending package to stave off a deep recession. Mr. Summers ... also urged the Federal Reserve to take more aggressive action to ensure that its rate cuts actually reduce consumers' interest charges and stimulate spending. "Insufficient action to contain recessionary forces has much more serious consequences than excessive action to contain recessionary forces," Mr. Summers said... Mr. Summers's comments put him among the most pessimistic economic prognosticators and were a slap at the Bush administration's handling of the subprime. [lien] [EN]
Huckabee Sticks With Bush on Mortgage Mess
Alex Frangos reports on the presidential race. Huckabee Mike Huckabee is a maverick on some economic issues, striking a more populist tone than his Republican rivals, as noted in todays Wall Street Journal. He calls for a national sales tax to replace the federal income tax. And he often laments the disconnect between corporate profits and wage growth that has characterized this decades expansion. On one important economic issue — solving the mortgage mess — the former Arkansas governor is cautious about any big intervention. Governments got to be very careful. They cant come in and bail people out, he said in an interview in Iowa Wednesday. A bailout, he said, would help people who bought homes bigger than they could afford, while alienating homeowners who stayed within their means. [lien] [EN]
Chicago Tribune: Don’t Mess With The Economy
An editorial in the Chicago Tribune warns candidates - from both parties - that trying to "stimulate" the economy right now is a very bad idea. Not only will meddling likely do no good, it actually may do long term damage. People in Washington rarely need an excuse to spend money, so when they have a particularly timely pretext, taxpayers should be even warier than usual. Like now, for instance. With the economy showing signs of a slowdown, possibly even a recession, there are growing calls for Congress to perk it up with a fiscal stimulus package. But at this point, the risks of rushing to the rescue are at least as great as the risks of holding off. No one doubts the economy is wheezing. December retail sales were down, unemployment is rising, housing starts and new home sales are way off. [lien] [EN]
Facebook's data guru worked on mortgage mess [Jeff Hammerbacher]
Jeff Hammerbacher, a research scientist at Facebook, is giving a presentation at Yahoo today about large-scale data analysis. The Harvard grad's prior experience before coming to Facebook? Developing... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] [lien] [EN]
First tech hiring freeze due to mortgage mess [New York, Minute]
During an internal conference call yesterday, Bloomberg LP management announced it would freeze hiring and cut costs, a source told Silicon Alley Insider. Sure, Bloomberg earns its money licensing... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] [lien] [EN]
F.B.I. Examines 14 Firms in Subprime Inquiry
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened investigations into 14 corporations as part of a crackdown on improper subprime lending, agency officials said on Tuesday. F.B.I. officials told reporters that the inquiry involved potential violations including accounting fraud and insider trading. They did not identify the companies, but said the investigation reached across the industry to include developers, subprime lenders, companies that securitized loans and investment banks that held them. The cases could lead to potential civil or criminal charges, the officials said. The F.B.I. said it was investigating the cases with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has opened about three dozen investigations into the subprime market collapse. Targets of the S. [lien] [EN]