Artificial Growth

The Obama Administration used today's GDP numbers, which reflect small growth, to proclaim the "recession" over, but is it. The administration is in danger of falling into a false sense of security.

Unemployment continues to skyrocket, foreclosures still soar, corporate revenue declines are still massive and consumer spending is way down. The crisis continues to surpass the Great Depression in the areas of foreclosures and revenue declines, among other things.

The aforementioned growth is actually the many billions in stimulus money, the government doled out that certain businesses are claiming as revenue. Therefore, said growth is not the real deal. It is artificial growth.

The government cannot sustain this form of growth by spending one to two trillion per year, as it will wreak havoc on the national deficit. Corporate America needs to start cutting back on waste and creating actual products and real services again. No more ponzi schemes, rip-offs or gouging.

With big government boost, U.S. economy grew in 3rd quarter

The U.S. economy roared to life this summer, as an array of government actions led to the strongest quarter of growth in two years.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the nation's gross domestic product rose at a 3.5 percent annual rate in the July-through-September quarter, the clearest evidence yet that the country has begun to emerge from the deepest downturn in decades.

But there were few signs in the new data that the private sector will be able to sustain that growth once the government pulls back, or that the rise will soon translate into an improving job market.

The unemployment rate has continued rising in recent months, to 9.8 percent in September, as businesses remained reluctant to hire...

http://www.washingtonpost.com

When Ink Turns To Blood

Several journalists were induced to write antagonistic stories about Michael Jackson, particularly, former vile Fox News gossip columnist, Roger Friedman, who was fired over his unwise choices in the “Wolverine” film leak scandal. He wrote nagging, nasty articles, regularly proclaiming in a mean manner that Jackson was about to lose his home to foreclosure and his music publishing catalog, he’d borrowed money against. He kept proclaiming Jackson’s ruination was impending and of the greatest proportions. Friedman and others, prompted by individuals that sought to take Jackson’s assets, through an unlawful plot, did this to relentlessly goad, upset, vex and worry the pop singer, into abandoning all that he had worked for since childhood and purchased with his own earnings. As the world now knows, the immense pressure from the court circuit and the press, caused Jackson great anxiety, which begat insomnia. To address what clearly became a nervous disorder, Jackson turned to prescription meds in large doses, leading to his demise this past summer at the age of 49. Hollywood has more scammers and con artists than any other industry in the nation and world. People in tinseltown routinely conspire to bring others down to criminally steal millions and sometimes billions of dollars in cash and assets. Bribes are often paid to those willing to set people up and make false accusations that deteriorate victims’ financial position, enabling industry sharks to move in on their prey. Frivolous litigation is often initiated directly and or indirectly through third parties, in an effort to financially weaken, distress and psychologically batter targets chosen for their valuable assets. It is as bad the mafia, but worse in some ways, with both entities not above resorting to murder to get what they want.

U.S. Economy Still In Free Fall

Foreclosures Spike Again, Deficit Higher Than Expected, Dollar Decimated

More proof illustrating the economy is still heading in the wrong direction, due to massive spending, surfaced this week, with the news the U.S. dollar is no longer the preferred world currency reserve. Now comes word, foreclosure filings in America have spiked yet again, reaching new record highs.

The U.S. deficit also set another record this week, matching and surpassing Great Depression levels, much like the astounding foreclosure rates.

Once again, the Judiciary Report, would like to emphasize, the solution to the crisis is the government saving money, not spending it.

Deficit Hits $1.4 Trillion, Complicating Stimulus Plans

Published: October 16, 2009 - WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Friday that the federal budget deficit for the fiscal year that just ended was $1.4 trillion, nearly a trillion dollars greater than the year before and the largest shortfall relative to the size of the economy since 1945...

The shortfall for the fiscal year 2009, which ended Sept. 30, translates to 10 percent of the economy, according to a joint statement from the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, and the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Peter R. Orszag. For the 2008 fiscal year, the deficit of $459 billion was 3.2 percent of the economy, as measured by the gross domestic product.

Economists generally agree that annual deficits should not exceed 3 percent of the G.D.P., and that is the level President Obama had vowed to reach by the end of his first term in 2013.

But subsequent spending and tax cuts to stimulate the economy, and lower-than-expected revenues as the recession deepened before bottoming out, combined to push the administration’s deficit forecast to 4.6 percent of G.D.P. for the fiscal year 2013.

At 10 percent of the gross domestic product, the 2009 deficit is the highest since the end of World War II, when it was 21.5 percent. At that level, it already has become a bigger economic and a political issue than any time since the late 1980s...

http://www.nytimes.com

Why Obama's Housing Rescue Hasn't Prevented Record Foreclosures

Fri Oct 16, 9:53 am ET - After taking withering criticism for the Department-of-Motor-Vehicles pace of its initial efforts to keep struggling borrowers out of foreclosure, the Obama administration proudly announced last week that it had hit its goal of 500,000 trial loan modifications almost a month ahead of schedule. But with the foreclosure rate hitting a new record in the third quarter, the government's ability to put a meaningful dent in the tally of housing-crisis victims faces renewed skepticism.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 937,840 homes in the three-month period, a 23 percent jump from a year earlier, according to a report real estate firm RealtyTrac released Thursday. Home foreclosures in September, meanwhile, decreased 4 percent from August but remained 29 percent higher than a year earlier...

http://news.yahoo.com

Bernake Thinks Recession Is Over

...I Beg To Differ

Fed Head, Ben Bernake, believes the U.S. recession/depression is over. I disagree. The word "recession" is defined as, "Going back or receding - a temporary falling off of business activity during a period when such activity has been generally increasing."

Where is the increase? How can the nation be out of the "recession" when there is a massive fall off in the number of employed people. That depletion is defined as recessing, as in the word "recession."

Even more painfully, the continued downward spiral in the sheer number of foreclosures that continue to pummel many innocent homeowners, who were victims of a banking system that sorely took advantage of them, for undue financial gain. Once again, that depletion is defined as recessing, as in the word "recession."

How can the nation be out of the "recession" - yet continue to shed jobs and homes at an unprecedented rate. Economically speaking, that is abnormal behavior.

Market factors and several other indicators reveal, the nation is still in the thick of it, with more trouble to come, due to inaction on crucial issues effecting the economy.

The Cash for Clunkers program gave the economy a costly, artificial, short term boost that is already spent and over.

Real growth is much deeper and more profound than a one time, expensive project, which ironically ended up benefiting foreign carmakers, more than domestic entities.

The financial data for the nation is not pleasant, but it must be addressed, lest it create worst problems for the economy in the long run.

The massive overspending and overly ambitious initiatives, bearing costly price tags, shall not help matters either, as recoupment for those funds must come from somewhere.

The government is falling into a pattern of making premature and unsubstantiated announcements of the "recession" weakening or ending, to create spending booms on the stock market that fizzle shortly after. This is not a financially health cycle and weakening the word of the Treasury.

As it stands, the government has failed to correct many of the financial difficulties that were left behind via the juggernaut of problems and issues, former President Bush, created out of sheer ignorance and lack of fore-planning.

I can understand wanting to be optimistic, but unethically wishing a problem away, pronouncing it gone, when it is still present, is not financially sound or helpful to the nation. The problems still need to be fixed.

It is the equivalent of one's mechanic stating they have fixed your automobile, but when you turn it on, it still will not start.

Bernanke: Recession 'Likely Over'

SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 - Fed Chief Doesn't Expect Many New Jobs to Appear Soon; Retail Sales Climb 2.7%

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Tuesday that the recession was "very likely over," as consumers showed some of the first tangible signs of spending again.

Mr. Bernanke, who had become cautiously more upbeat in recent weeks amid signs of third-quarter growth, said for the first time that forecasters agree "at this point that we are in a recovery."...

http://online.wsj.com

Sheree Whitfield Divorce Settlement

Sheree Whitfield

Sheree Whitfield, one of the stars of the Bravo reality TV show "The Real Housewives Of Atlanta" was reportedly awarded a divorce settlement from her husband, former American NFL football player, Bob Whitfield. Their divorce was quite acrimonious.

The sizeable settlement will come in handy, as Sheree lost her home to foreclosure this year, when her husband stopped making mortgage payments on the $2,500,000 Sandy Springs mansion. It was auctioned at a bargain of $900,000. Former residents of scenic Sandy Springs include Halle Berry and her ex-husband Dave Justice.

Lisa Wu Hartwell

I wondered how her husband was unable to give her a settlement, when he owns one of the most sought after recording studios in Atlanta, worth over $4,000,000. Atlanta is the Motown of the South, with so many people trying to make records. Therefore, how could bookings be that low.

Since the foreclosure and eviction, Sheree moved to a smaller house further out in a more rural part of Georgia, much like her co-star, Lisa Wu Hartwell, who also faced foreclosure proceedings.

Kim Zolciak: Leave My Kids Out Of It

Kim Zolciak

Kim Zolciak, who is one of the stars of the Bravo reality show "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" has slammed Atlanta magazine.

They did an unflattering piece on her, painting her as an unfit mother, for constantly smoking around her children.

Secondhand smoke can cause cancer and it is irresponsible and selfish of Zolciak to subject her children to that environment.

Lisa Wu Hartwell and husband Edgerton

Another woman featured on the show, Lisa Wu Hartwell, who recently lost one of her homes, valued at $3 million dollars, to foreclosure, has placed the $1.4 million dollar property she is living in on the market. Apparently, it has been a tough adjustment for her to go from living in the St. Marlo Country Club to a more rural part of Georgia.

Her new home is nothing to sneeze at, containing 6 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms on 9 acres, but it is far away from her social circle.

U.S. Foreclosure Rates Skyrocket Again

President Obama

Once again, due to uncooperativeness from banks, the national U.S. foreclosure rate has skyrocketed, deteriorating to record levels not previously seen in America.

Some were encouraged by a slight rise in national home sales, but it is being fuelled by homes being sold at rock bottom prices ($10,000 to $50,000) drastically dropping neighborhood property values.

It would have been better had banks kept homeowners in their homes, which contained higher property values on state tax rolls, than rush them out via foreclosure, to sell the property at less than 50-90 percent of its value.

U.S. Foreclosure Filings Set Third Record-High in Five Months

Aug. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Foreclosure filings in the U.S. climbed to a record for the third time in five months in July as falling home prices and the recession left more homeowners unable to keep up payments or refinance.

A total of 360,149 properties received a default or auction notice or were seized last month, according to data seller RealtyTrac Inc. One in 355 households got a filing, the highest monthly rate in RealtyTrac records dating to January 2005, the Irvine, California-based company said in a statement.

“We’re in a deep hole,” Diane Swonk, chief economist at Chicago-based Mesirow Financial Inc., said in an interview. “There is a whole new wave of foreclosures tied to the cyclical dynamics of the economy.”

Foreclosures increased as the U.S. recorded another 247,000 job losses in July and home prices fell, leaving an increasing number of mortgage holders owing more than their properties were worth. The median price of an existing single-family house dropped 15.6 percent to $174,100 in the second quarter, the most in records dating to 1979, the National Association of Realtors said yesterday. Almost one-quarter of U.S. mortgage holders are underwater, property data firm Zillow.com said Aug. 11...

Loan Modifications

About 235,000 troubled borrowers have begun modifying their property loans under the government’s Making Home Affordable Program, compared with a target population of 4 million, according to an Aug. 4 Treasury Department report. About 15 percent of eligible borrowers were offered loan modifications and 9 percent entered trial agreements.

Bank of America Corp. modified about 4 percent of its qualifying loans and Wells Fargo & Co. changed 6 percent, making them the two worst performers in the program among the biggest U.S. banks, Treasury said. Citigroup Inc. modified 15 percent of its eligible loans and JPMorgan Chase & Co. changed 20 percent.

“It has been more profitable to put a home in foreclosure than restructure the loan,” Swonk said. “The only thing that helps is forgiveness of principal, and there is little willingness to do that.”

http://www.bloomberg.com

Banks And Bad Business Acumen

It's safe to state, corporate America led the United States into the current recession-turned-depression. The banks played a role in this financial calamity as well, spearheading the accompanying mortgage crisis, still spawning hundreds of thousands of foreclosures all over the country. Millions of families have lost their homes, due to bad loans, deceitfully issued by greedy mortgage companies and banks.

The next article is more proof of the arrogance, heartlessness and poor business sense banks are operating under, when a family's home was foreclosed on over 7 cents. As a result, Countrywide rejected the family's mortgage payment and placed their home into foreclosure. Disgraceful!

Make it worse, the family lost their 10-month old daughter to a household accident, now they are losing their home as well.

This is why I keep stating Obama and his administration cannot deal with the banks using kid gloves, as some of them are heartless.

Family losing home for underpaying mortgage by 7 cents

A Michigan family with an apparently spotty payment history is losing its home because it underpaid its mortgage by 7 cents, according to a legal aid group.

Sydney Rooks, a lawyer for Legal Services of Eastern Michigan, tells the Detroit Free Press that Creg and Bonnie Berger of Deckerville inadvertently underpaid their mortgage because a postal clerk issued a money order for $440 rather than $440.07. The Bergers didn't catch the mistake and they were four weeks late making February's payment of $690.07.

Though the Bergers, who have four children, caught up by mid-April, Rooks says, Countrywide Financial and its new owner, Bank of America, rejected the couple's payments...

http://blogs.usatoday.com

The Real Foreclosed Housewives Of Atlanta Pt 2

The Foreclosure Edition

Lisa Wu-Hartwell

Lisa Wu Hartwell of the Real Housewives of Atlanta stated she and her family were not "booted" from their foreclosed $3,000,000 mansion, as some reported. Since TMZ didn't use said wording when they reported the story and sites like this one did, I'll assume that was lobbed in this direction.

I wasn't trying to hurt her feelings, but I was stating it in legal terms, as when a home is repossessed via foreclosure and auctioned by the bank, that second step means the family has been "booted" from the property. It is a legal formality.

Otherwise, after vacating the premises, weeks or months down the road, the family could decide to move back in again.

The legal language of foreclosures with regard to the property actually being auctioned, mandates that it is clearly stipulated, the borrower in default has been put out, to facilitate the sale of said house to satisfy the debt. Therefore, anyone saying otherwise is pure semantics.

However, I will state, it is great the Hartwells were able to move into another property they "own" after "downsizing" as many Americans did not get that opportunity in the current, ongoing mortgage crisis.

The only property repossessions this Column would toast is that of ponzi schemers and other thieves, defrauding innocent victims.

Side Bar: Atlanta female stars gets testy when you write about their finances.

Lisa Wu Hartwell Rebuffs Reports Her Family Was Booted From Their Home

POSTED: AUGUST 11, 2009 - The economy is affecting everyone, even some of our favorite reality starlets. Recently, reports surfaced that "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" star Lisa Wu Hartwell and her footballer hubby Ed Hartwell were allegedly booted from their multimillion dollar Duluth, Georgia, mansion, after the bank allegedly foreclosed on the crib and sold it.

However, Lisa Wu Hartwell says that's the furthest thing from the truth. "People read and believe what they want," Hartwell, 38, told ESSENCE.com exclusively after landing in Atlanta from Baltimore where she had a speaking engagement. "Ed and I are doing fine and our children are fine."

Still, the petite beauty wants to make it clear that the Hartwells are no different from anyone else who had to make smart, cost-efficient lifestyle change like many Americans who have been affected by the recession. "We are not ignorant about the state of the economy, but we chose to move, we were not evicted. We've been settled in our home for two months now and we've owned it for five years, as well as other properties. We planned to build on that 10 acres of land and sell the property, but decided against it when the market went bad and I'm glad we didn't. It's just quite silly that there are reports that we were put out as if it weren't our decision to relocate. Our decision to downsize is what I call being [financially] responsible."

"RHOA" costars Nene Leakes and Sheree Whitfield have also moved after dealing with foreclosed properties.—KNB

The Real Foreclosed Housewives Of Atlanta

The Foreclosure Edition

Another star of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives Of Atlanta” has lost her home. Previously, NeNe Leakes was evicted from her rented home in the Sugarloaf Country Club in Duluth, Georgia, also home to Michael Vick and previously T-Boz of the girl group TLC.

Sheree Whitfield, was the next housewife from the show, forced out of her property, due to a foreclosure on her marital home, valued at the $3,000,000, because her husband stopped making the mortgage payments. The property was auctioned by the bank for $900,000.

Now, Lisa Wu Hartwell has lost her $3,000,000 home she shared with husband, football player, Edgerton Hartwell. The couple tried to have the mortgage modified with no success. They have since moved to a new property, after the bank evicted them for non-payment.

There is a lesson to be learned from all of this. The show advertises hedonism, avarice and excessive consumption as the way to live, when it's not. On the show, they worship money, which is destructive.

There is nothing wrong with working hard to support one’s family, but the love of money is the root of all evil, as the Bible says. There is a difference.

When backbiting and fighting over money and appearances of wealth, destroys families and friendships, how can that be a good thing.

Disclaimer: I know quite a few people in Atlanta and none of them behave like the people on the show.

'Real Housewife' Loses House, Still a Wife

Posted Aug 11th 2009 1:45AM by TMZ Staff - Lisa Wu-Hartwell needs a "Big Poppa" of her own ... the real housewife of Atlanta just lost her real big house in Atlanta.

TMZ has learned Hartwell and her husband, former Oakland Raiders linebacker Edgerton Hartwell, were booted from their multi-million dollar Georgia mansion last week -- after the bank foreclosed on the place and sold it shortly after.

Hartwell's rep tells us the couple was in talks with the lender to restructure the loan because the home had lost value -- but that failed. They originally bought the place for $2.9 mil back in 2007 -- but the bank only got $1.9 mil when they resold it this month.

The rep says "Ed and Lisa are fine. They have settled in their [new] home, that sits on 10 acres and they OWN it!"

http://www.tmz.com

Banks Still Not Helping Homeowners

The Economic Numbers Confirm It

As I have stated for months, banks are not doing enough to help distressed homeowners and it is driving up the foreclosure rate in America to record highs.

Government data released yesterday, affirms what I have been writing for months regarding the aforementioned matter, as it has been revealed this week, via national figures, only 9% of eligible homeowners have been helped by the billions in bank bailouts, funded by U.S. taxpayer money, which is a disgrace.

Banks are holding on to the money, investing it in other endeavors and not helping the American people, whose homes are at stake. Hence the higher foreclosure rates.

Had the banks held up their end of the bargain, in accepting enormous sums of taxpayer money and actually used it for what the funds where earmarked for, the economy would have experienced a better quarter.

As I have also stated for months, the government cannot play nice with a lot of these banks, as they do not understand that sort of language and conduct, interpreting it as weakness.

We see the end result of that this week, as the numbers confirm, banks have been audaciously hording taxpayer money. It is the equivalent of one's car breaking down, sending an assistant to buy a container of gas, they return with the gas purchased with your money and state, "I'm only going to give you 9% of the gas in this full container, bought with your money. It really won't get you very far, but that's your problem."

Side Bar: If I were head of state anywhere in this world and had to deal with an unruly banking sector, when I called them together in the aforementioned meeting Obama convened a few months ago, I would have let them talk their butts off then simply stated, "Thank you for coming here today. Let's cut to the chase. If I don't see a massive drop in fraud, a sizeable reduction in unjustifiable bonuses and more legitimate consumer loan modifications of a fair and sustainable nature, I'm going to start locking your employees up and I cannot guarantee it won't reach your personal executive office."

Then, I would offer them some coffee, as business people like that after they've been given soul shaking news. It aids in calming their nerves and temporarily helps them not to think about the human lion that's about to figuratively maul them, if they run amok at the taxpayers' expense (grin).

RELATED ARTICLES

The State Of The U.S. Housing Market

Obama Considering Homeowner Rental Plan

Obama To Address Foreclosures

U.S. Effort Aids Only 9% of Eligible Homeowners

Published: August 4, 2009 - WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department said on Tuesday that only a small number of homeowners — 235,247, or 9 percent of those eligible — had been helped by the latest government program created to modify home loans and prevent foreclosures.

A report released by Treasury officials identified lenders who had made slow progress in offering more affordable mortgages, naming Bank of America and Wells Fargo as among those failing to reach large numbers of eligible borrowers.

While 15 percent of eligible homeowners have been offered help through the mortgage modification program, the low rate of actual mortgage reductions has frustrated administration officials.

Michael S. Barr, the assistant secretary for financial institutions, said in a news conference that there were “significant variations” in performance and that some institutions had made “an infinitesimally small amount” of progress.

“I think it’s safe to say we’re disappointed in the performance of some of the servicers,” Mr. Barr said. “We expect them to do more.”

The release of data showing the progress of individual institutions is part of a Treasury effort to push banks to modify loans faster.

Under the $75 billion program, homeowners whose monthly mortgage payments are more than 31 percent of their gross income are eligible for modified loans, with interest rates as low as 2 percent.

Bank of America has modified only 4 percent of the eligible mortgages, and Wells Fargo has modified 6 percent.

Citimortgage, a unit of Citigroup, fared better at 15 percent, while JPMorgan Chase was among the most successful, modifying loans for 20 percent of eligible borrowers. All four institutions received federal bailout money...

http://www.nytimes.com

Stocks Slide on Worse-Than-Expected Jobs Report

On Wednesday the focus was on a report showing that the number of private-sector jobs fell by 371,000 in July, according to payroll company Automatic Data Processing and Macroeconomic Advisers. That was slightly worse than analysts were expecting and indicated that employers continue to slash jobs, though at a lower rate than earlier this year.

The data "suggest the unemployment rate continues to rocket and household cash flows continue to fall. Not a great outlook for spending, we'd say," said Ian Shepherdson, an economist for High Frequency Economics.

http://www.washingtonpost.com