The inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program stated, via his investigation, which revealed, From 2007 to the present, the Judiciary Report insisted in numerous articles that the U.S. economy, including the banking sector was in very bad condition, despite the government's proclamations declaring the opposite in 2008. Therefore, if this site knew from then, so did they, but they were lying to you, as Bush hoped to leave office and let the house of cards collapse on the next President. However, it began collapsing on the non-math wiz, during his last year in office, where the dire monetary mess became so visibly apparent, he was rightfully slapped with the blame for the financial fiasco that was of his own making. U.S. Lost Credibility by Saying Banks Were Healthy, Audit Says Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The Treasury Department “lost credibility” when it said its first capital injections from the $700 billion financial rescue were for healthy banks, the inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program said... Barofsky said that the Treasury should have been more open about potential financial problems with the biggest banks when it began the TARP a year ago. “Treasury may have created unrealistic expectations about the institutions’ condition and their ability to increase lending,” he wrote. “Treasury and the TARP program lost credibility when lending at those institutions did not in fact increase and when subsequent events -- the further assistance needed by Citigroup and Bank of America being the most significant examples -- demonstrated that at least some of those institutions were not in fact healthy.” Bailout cop: Treasury fibbed to save economy Last Updated: October 5, 2009: 4:31 AM ET - WASHINGTON - A government watchdog says federal officials weren't entirely honest with the public about the health of the first 9 financial firms that got federal bailouts, according to a report released Monday. Bailout special inspector general Neil Barofsky says in an audit that Treasury Department officials painted an overly rosy picture, creating "unrealistic expectations," when they called the first bailout banks "healthy" institutions that would be able to lend more with government help. "It is not our intent to suggest that government officials should make public their concerns over the financial health of individual institutions, but rather that government officials should be particularly careful, even in a time of crisis, of describing their actions (and the rationales for such actions) in an accurate manner," the report stated... |
Selasa, 06 Oktober 2009
Bush's Bailout Full Of Lies
Senin, 05 Oktober 2009
Countrywide Destroyed Incriminating Evidence Against Senators
Chris Dodd
Predatory lender Countrywide, that was recently taken over by Bank Of America, as bad banking practices ran it into the ground, while the corrupt CEO,
Kent Conrad
Senators Chris Dodd and Kent
Phone Calls Add to Din Over Loans
September 28, 20009 - Congressional Investigators Ask for More on Countrywide VIP Mortgage Program
The discovery that Countrywide Financial Corp. recorded phone conversations with borrowers in a controversial mortgage program that included public officials -- and that those recordings have been destroyed -- has prompted new congressional calls for more information about the program.
Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is trying to subpoena the remaining records of Countrywide's VIP loan program. So far, the committee's chairman, New York Democratic Rep. Edolphus Towns, has turned down that request.
The committee's Republican staff investigators have spent months looking into the VIP program, and learned of ...
http://online.wsj.com
Minggu, 16 Agustus 2009
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.”
Minggu, 09 Agustus 2009
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).
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Obama Considering Homeowner Rental Plan
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...
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.