If I could only deliver this message to the President:
Dear Bill,
Thank you for the invitation to address the short squeeze on mortgage brokers.
I own my local mortgage branch, licensed under a medium size broker network, based in Everett, Washington. My background is corporate marketing (prior to mortgage brokering) and I've traveled around the world, lived in Australia and New Zealand for some years and I've never seen an angry mob like this in my entire career.
The systemic and systematic poisoning of our ranks has been carefully plotted. Not to be too paranoid!
I wrote this plea for sanity back in September '08 which seems an age ago. Things have only gotten curiouser and curiouser since then.
http://loannetter.blogspot.com/2008/09/staying-alive-and-sane.html
Our effective strangulation has progressed along quite a planned strategy. By my estimate, in Washington we are down to less than 20% of brokers and loan officers still standing since the beginning of the public floggings of brokers began in mid 2007.
Every few weeks we get a new list of impending tighter guidelines from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These days, FHA lenders can demand even higher FICO scores than some conventional lenders! These are the very institutions charged with assisting home ownership as their charter.
The obvious first signs of a strategy to shut down brokers were cut backs of wholesale lines by the likes of Washington Mutual. Odd since we originated a higher percentage of loans than they did in-house.
As banks started tumbling, blogs with 'implodometers' filled with bad news and rumors sprang up, gleefully watched by the big banks and national press. The blabbermouths including Kramer seemed to take particular interest in debasing mortgage brokers for originating sub prime loans as if that were all we ever did.
Followed a barrage of bad press blaming brokers as the cause of all 'bad loans'. (The very loans WaMU, Wachovia and Countrywide was pushing)
A very bizarre period ensued fueled by massive national PR that all mortgage brokers were sleazy greedy crooks. Naturally many of us stopped going to cocktail parties. I was asked at Christmas dinner how many 'toxic mortgages' I had stuck my unsuspecting clients with.
Our own state and federal lending laws have for some time now been pushing (bank lobby) to force brokers to give up our yield spread premium (rebate) as predatory. We are limited to how much we may charge on origination fees and yield spread. We must disclose every dollar. Banks are neither limited nor do they have to disclose their profit because it's 'their money'. Laws were passed to forced brokers to return a ysp fee and all commissions if any lack of disclosure can be found even years later by some disgruntled party.The same banks, while also taking a premium, do not legally have to declare ysp (we do of course)-this debate continues. Our National Association of Mortgage Brokers is under funded by the likes of independent contractors on the ropes so their voice is a weak cry against the bank lobby. Our state Department of Financial Institutions, a regulatory body, took on investigation and prosecution as their tasks, outside their legal charge according to a very seasoned senior broker who helped write the state law. A witch hunt ensued: the DFI investigated every brokerage in the state--literally every file-- to find paperwork amiss, issuing public lists of criminal acts and exacting fines, without court hearings (!) putting these firms out of business.
Our legalese disclosures grew from eight pages to thirty pages during this time frame. One such page has an FBI logo big as life proclaiming that mortgage fraud is investigated by the FBI. Rather alarming to an applicant to say the least!
Ender the national system of Loan Officer licensing --after January 08, One could not work under a broker without being licensed in any capacity. Not even a phone operator could be employed by a branch manager like me. We had to give up our assistants who couldn't get licensed. This process did kick out a few bad seeds, convicted felons, etc. We celebrated licensing for setting professional standards.
The latest insult is the broad daylight hijacking of the broker's responsibility to liaise with appraisers. Since brokers and appraisers are all crooks who have inflated home values, banks are taking back this right into the underwriting process. What this neatly accomplishes is that the borrower will be at the mercy of said bank (and so will brokers) to establish values upon which they may deign to lend. Lenders will hold right to these borrower paid appraisals forcing borrowers to accept their offers! Oddly, Realtors are able to communicate with appraisers (the last person they wish to speak with) according to the new Home Valuation Code of Conduct which is supposed to take effect May 1, 2009 Briefly:
All members of the broker’s loan production staff...shall be forbidden from: (1) selecting, retaining, recommending, or influencing the selection of any appraiser for a particular appraisal assignment or for inclusion on a list or panel of appraisers approved to perform appraisals for the lender; (2) any communications with an appraiser, including ordering or managing an appraisal assignment; and (3) ... communication with any appraiser.
An impending sense of doom has perpetuated our waking and sleeping hours these last two years. Every time the Fed or Greenspan or Bernanke opened their mouths our lenders would fall over or rates would zoom up in exact disproportion to the consumers expectations for 'lower Fed rates' (while we tried to educate the public on these realities in vain). The likes of Lending Tree.com caused a race to online banking which has created havoc on borrower's credit due to the excessive abuse of credit pulling by such institutions.
Meanwhile, credit protection laws were being breached by loopholes within the agency bureaus, sanctioned by the Federal Trade Commission, allowing the Credit Bureaus (repositories) to resell actual credit reports on 'trigger lists' we brokers had issued to unknown list buyers. http://netcredit.blogspot.com/2007/05/trigger-lists-has-your-credit-repo...
Disastrous effects there: Credit Repair agencies sprang up. Loan Modification firms sprang up. Our spam exploded with these shysters.
I have a friend in the business who wrote this book if you care for an expose on bad bank habits. Carolyn Warren worked for several sub prime banks before writing this NY Times Best Seller. http://www.amazon.com/Mortgage-Ripoffs-Money-Savers-Re-Finance/dp/047009...
So--why am I and my two loan officers still plugging away? We actually believe in this business. We are skilled at helping home buyers and investors establish clear priorities, see opportunities, and we deliver a superior product and service. We are committed to it. I for one feel things can only get better. Eventually smart borrowers realize that their bank is lazy and self interested when they see how well we advocate for them.
I have other sources including: The National Mortgage Broker's Association who is frankly understaffed and marginalized. www.namb.org
I appreciate your concern for our ranks and for financial and insurance professionals.
Regards, Susan
Susan, the President ought to be aware that while he is out there giving us fine speeches, the people are speaking back. I hope he’s listening.
One of these people speaking out today was Rick Santelli, whom I guess is known to the President, Rick being from Chicago, involved in the capital markets, and speaking out daily from his platform at CNBC, and all. I venture to say there is not a banker in America who isn't familiar with Rick Santelli.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1039849853&play=1
We need more Susan’s and more Rick’s to turn up the volume. If President Obama is actually listening to the people, I think we can agree that none of us are telling him that the present banking system needs to be repaired -- we know it definitely needs to be replaced.
Independent mortgage, insurance and stock brokers and money managers are either under-utilized or unemployed, and ready to serve. If America is going to get back on track, these are the people who are going to do it. It’s not going to come from that place called DC. All those hundreds of billions of dollars being spend will just go down the drain if they are put back into the hands of the eight bank CEO’s and the Fannie & Freddie CEO’s who recently testified. Their model was killed by their advent of the Credit Default Swap and the securitized mortgages and the rest of the financial engineering products that Wall Street is so proud to have given us.
I hope the President is listening because, unless he takes action soon, this could get ugly.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please add only comments that are germane to this issue. Others that should be in the Community Chat will be moved.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comments
Appraisers
Requiring lenders to contract the appraiser directly has been the law since S&L reform (USPAP and all that). It prevents agents, buyers, sellers, builders and mortgage brokers from manipulating opinion in exchange for a fee and puts the onus on the bank to vet the appraiser. Market value opinion is not a broker negotiation. Just my two cents.
Go Rick!
Cheers.
Re: loannetter- re obama's mortgage relief program/4%?
Thanks, 2nd_ave. The support is really appreciated. 4% is the magic number right now becuase 5% is realistic and doable. When 6% was on the table everyone wanted 5. Ask yourself: If you are the HB&B in control of your own destiny, getting money on the cheap from the Fed with no oversight or strings attached would YOU go that low and P-O your compatriots? Of course not. The Big Banks are trying to hold rates up so they can make some dosh against their recent losses. Consider paying a point or so to get 4.5% and consider yourself an astute borrower!
Re: loannetter- re obama's mortgage relief program/4%?
the problem with low interest rates for homes now is, in 2-3 yrs when the same people sell their home, they have to then buy another home at 6%+ interest, when the rates stabilize. thus people will just stay in their homes longer.
I guess that also is a good thing, less flippers.
all i know is my goal is to keep working hard to having no mortgage. not there yet at age of 32 but plan to be there by 35.
Re: loannetter- re obama's mortgage relief program/4%?
Lowering rates to 4.5 or 4% will not solve the problem whatsoever. I am sorry to be a barrer of bad news but by artificially bring in the rates to a lower number you are essentially pulling demand from the future...
Someone above mentioned that what is the difference between 5-6% vs 4%, well it is actually about a 25% savings in payment believe it or not. That is irrelevent because of a couple factors. Number one is rising unemployment, we have no idea when the bottom of this mess will be and if you really look through the numbers they stats only get worse!
two - with artificially low rates what do we do for an encore? 3% rates? why not make them 1% rates.... See we are addressing the symptoms and not the problem. The US gubermint wants us to believe the problem is the payment, hence the lower rate and with the good'ol amortization schedule we have payments. The problem is homes are to expensive and have gotten that way because of wreckless credit creation and lack of productivity (true job growth with wages). We accepted the fact that we didn't need to save money because our paper assets were increasing (or homes, but lets face it a home is a paper asset these days). "true wealth".
Price need to drop at least another 20% from current levels just to hit historical norms, the pendulum could swing to far, that would be a good thing too... Either way during the GD prices fell 80% from the peak, we can only assume that is what we should be looking for at the end of this "recession".
Making rates low, is only a band-aid. if you can't afford your payment at 6% why should taxpayers help you out to get an artificially rate of 4.5%? Either way, housing appreciation is decades away. Unless they are dead set on living there till the pine box they will eventually walk away, DRAGGING this housing mess futher (decades away comment). The more the gubermint mixes it's "fixes" in the private sector the longer it takes to clear out back to reality.
If we let the banks go (make them fail, or pull life support), and investors (for the new banks, your 6 trillion i cash on sidelines) come back and buy those cruddy assets for 25 cents on the dollar. They can eventually (privately) launch a program to write down 50% of the mortgage balances for clients. Once this was done, those investors/new banks will have to realize a 100% profit (gubermint could help out here by not taxing them on the write up). This would incentivize them to continue that practice. Now home owners can have true market rates 6-7% and principle reduction and actually afford to live. That means prices all over the board come back down to reality, mom or dad can stay home to take care of the kids and save money. Just a thought... Just a thought...
Also - the tax on trades... We should not be accepting such nonesense. We should doing something about it... that is our right, right? Instead of wondering if it will apply to types of vehicles...
do one better, a lot better... Sign the petition and have a letter sent.
link below.
http://www.rallycongress.com/no2tradertax/1536/tel...
Re: loannetter- re obama's mortgage relief program/4%?
Petition signed
Re: loannetter- re obama's mortgage relief program/4%?
Why aren't companies like Interactive Brokers, e-trade, td, scwabb also setting up online petitions?
Re: loannetter- re obama's mortgage relief program/4%?
NYUGrad, good point! Perhaps that scenario suggests folks will stay put? We are so used to thinking our property values will rise sufficiently in a few years that we can 'afford' to refinance. Refinance to what? With what if your equity is stuck at where you purchased? Like what you buy now!
Re: loannetter- re obama's mortgage relief program/4%?
EDC, you are correct that lower rates is not THE answer. Right now lower rates are designed to help banks and realtors sell expensive houses and folks who bought with the eyes, not their budgets stay put. Saying that, banks make PLENTY on 4% over 30 years! Have you looked at a Truth and Lending Statment for a $300K loan? @5% the finance cost over 30 years = $286,152. @4% = $221,989 (the $64,0163 question). Pretty sure their lobby will fight for the difference.
Re: loannetter- re obama's mortgage relief program/4%?
home financiers need to think in terms of 1-5% appreciation per yr at best. Not the 13-20% from the past several yrs.
I cant stand when politicians use the term help the "Home owner". yeh the home owner is HB&B. the glorified renter is the sucker in this equation. real home owners = no mortgage, & don't need any of the bailouts. When will the president say that on prime time tv?
I am almost tempted to start my own blog to assemble as many Americans as i can and set a July 4 2010 date. If by then govt doesnt stop doing these idiotic policies, just stage a massive walk out and camp out at the white house. Imagine 20M+ working adults, + all the unemployed just quitting the system and living outside the whitehouse until our demands of dissolving the Fed and corrupt gnomes is completed.
Rich people need poor people to produce and borrow and pay taxes right? I am starting to get pissed. what the heck happened to this country?
Bill, Could not agree more.
Bill,
Could not agree more. Our major banks that need to be rescued should not be. In fact all financial institutions should be allowed to fail if they cannot cut it without government/taxpayer support.
I believe that if most of our banks and other financial institutions were left to fail, we would be much better off than trying to save them. Mass failure would create fertile ground to build a new, more ethical banking system by companies who did not let greed take over. Otherwise we would be trying to build a new system from a polluted environment tainted with all the old business processes. Complete transformation of the financial industry is needed, and with a morally conscious leader in the White House to help build it out, right now is the time! It could be Obama's enduring legacy.
My Senator
I forwarded this thread to my Senator along with my sentiment, in the interest that he be fully informed.
Thank you Susan and Bill for the opportunity to contribute my 0.02 cents towards the debate.
Obama has no choice
But to fight deflation with all he's got in a doomed attempt to preserve the high prices of the past. He is hoping that the interventionist nonsense succeeds in creating malaise in time for him to win a 2nd term. If he does what we want and lets everything correct the way it should, there's precious little chance that things get better by '12 and even less chance Obama gets re-elected. Make no mistake...It is deflation, not inflation that is our present reality. Fed and Gov are fighting deflation with all they've got.
Re: Obama has no choice
Sharkie,
You are 100% correct.
IMO - Don't worry because they will lose the battle and prices will go down as deflation will take heed by 2010.
If 9 trillion in guarantees aren't enough now, nothing will be. Firehose filling up a hoover dam that is leaking is not enough, bucket of water in a brush fire, hunting elephants with BB guns...
Welcome to the back side of peak credit, social mood is shifting, less is more, savings will be cool, welcome to the winter of the k-cycle.
There are many theories out there, we all have opinions. Those are mine.
By the way - great writeup loannetter!!! You should be proud of what you do!
Re: loannetter- re obama's mortgage relief program/4%?
Thanks norm, signed, sealed and delivered. I still believe low US wages are the real problem. Low wages are a result of child labor in foreign countries and substandard working conditions, remember when most American households had only one wage earner while the spouse raised the children? Look at the big picture, this is no longer the case. Predatory lending also played a large roll in the current housing debacle, placing low-income citizens in homes which they could not afford. IMO, Lower prices only lead to increased mortgage default. I prefer not to live in a third-world country where my children and my neighbors children must work in sweatshops and live twelve abreast in a 500sq ft tin shack with substandard sanitary conditions. Look at the shanty towns in Mexico that sprang up to service the large corporations spurred by NAFTA legislation. Third-world families live this way due to corporate greed, in case you weren't aware.
Re: Appraisers
Dr Stangelove, Do I detect an ex-banker in our midst? It has been our role as mortage brokers to order appraisals from licensed third party appraisers since I started in this business. As a third party, the appraiser may NOT be affected by our thoughts on value, but MAY take the borrower's opinion into consideration in the case of refinance. We deliver to them a copy of the purchase and sale agreement for their use. This is law now. The new Home Valuation Code of Conduct is a Fannie Mae invention in hot debate as I write.
Here is the link to the document:
http://www.ofheo.gov/media/news%20releases/HVCCFin...
Re: My Senator
Thank you Chickenpookie for informing your senator. I think they get tired of hearing from the few vocal sorts among us--the more voices raised the more likely we will be heard.
Re: loannetter- re obama's mortgage relief program/4%?
NYUGrad - "all i know is my goal is to keep working hard to having no mortgage. not there yet at age of 32 but plan to be there by 35."
Back many moons ago when I bought my first home, I scraped everything together and barely qualified. After ten years of home ownership, my income had increased by over 3x, yet my mortgage payments remained essentially the same. Most of the excess went into my savings account, while at the same time the market price of the home more than doubled. I was too busy working to invest or spend the excess until I relocated, again with a substantial pay increase. This is when I purchased my second home and leased my first.
NAMB: Lenders and Bankers who Prey Together Stay Together
Here's a timely open letter to the President on this subject:
https://www.namb.org/images/namb/GovernmentAffairs...
loannetter- re obama's mortgage relief program/4%?
Well-written analysis of what is now being called the $75 billion lifeline. Thanks.
Was wondering what your take would be on lowering mortgage rates across the board (new and existing loans) to the low 4% range? Does it have the potential to create either a ST or LT disaster? Are there scenarios under which you see rates going that low? Are there any scenarios under which you would RECOMMEND going that low?
rply toloannetter.about the mortgage rates.
It will come the day like the BOSTON TEA PARTY this will be the USA REAL ESTATE PARTY,when we as americans realized the biggest lye sold to us as the DREAM of homeonership,I like to call it THE MODERN SLAVERY CREATED BY BANKS backed by the gsis,backed by the same people BLIND people we elected to govern us,and the great discvery of compound interest used againts us by all the lending institutions.USURY is a word I found in the Bible and curious me looked it up and found out tha is exactly what the credit card cos and the mortg cos charge.To pay 3 times for your house in 30 years?is USURY to pay 29.9% to a credit card is USURYwe as humans are good at making excuses and to rationalized everithing good and bad.The solution to the greedy banks holding the ownership to our houses is simple,LET THEM TAKE THEM ALL,I!LL PAY THE RENT,LET THEM COME FIX MY ROOF,MY ELECTRIC MY FURNACE AND LET THEM PAY FOR THE HOME INSURANCE THE TAXES THE SEWAR ETC ETC NOW i CAN SAVE ALL THAT MONEY AND SAVE FOR MY KIDS COLLEGE,SVE AN BUY MY CAR CASH,TAKE MY FAMILY OUT ON A VACATION,let them give me a RENT TO OWN MORTGAGE WHERE I DIVIDE THE PRICE OF THE HOUSE BY 10 OR 15 YEARS WITHOUT COMPOUND INTEREST,i pay interest but not usury% or compound% let me put money in a savings account and let them pay me compound% now that ladies and gentleman is a dream....nice to be able to express my ideas
MOBAMANOMICS from the Xbroker
I think you will get a kick out of Jeff Corbett, a self proclaimed former insider now inner outter kinda guy who writes on one of our real estate community blogs. His list of the banks gone asunder is impressive!
http://activerain.com/blogsview/941770/Obamas-Aggr...
Re: loannetter- re obama's mortgage relief program/4%?
Hey 2nd-ave, I replied to your question on 4% or 5% higher up...how did you fall down here? As to ST or LT disasters, I think we have both going on simultaneously and mortgage rates will affect the outcome because 'rates' per se are only determined by maket indexes in combination with supply and demand (against inflation/deflation).
Kudos Susan
Am not American but observing the shameful actions of the SEC, Treasury, Fed, Fannie/Freddie et al in this mess am amazed the 'constitutional right to bear arms' hasn't translated into actually using them. But in all seriousness, you do your profession a great service by standing up to the crooks in the banking combine in an extremely knowledgable and classy way. Keep it up, the fewer folks we have like you and we can all throw in the towel, by observation many in your country have already given up. :-)
Aw Shucks...
Thanks for the spotlight today, guys. The mortgage, financial and insurance brokers of America deserve and appreciate your support. On my bike home now...take care. Susan
Re: Bankers, Appraisers, Mortgage Brokers
loannetter -
I think it is FIRREA that requires direct contract by banks with the appraiser to avoid influence. Banks allowed mortgage brokers to order appraisals with a bank contract later as a workaround. Outsourcing, high volume, instant approvals ...
Way back in the day, local businessmen knew their local banker and there was a relationship wherein the banker judged a borrower's ability to pay back debt based on the banker's judgement of that person and some basic income, credit, and market details. That banker's judgement was his job security. That profession is lost. The banking industry became impersonal when it farmed out that professional judgement to lawyers, title agents, appraisers and, more recently on the residential side, the mortgage terms negotiation to mortgage brokers thanks to Fannie Mae's move to open that door if you had a computer terminal. Residential lending became the wholesale folly of securitization. A 'solution' to Wall Street's burning desire to leverage real estate. The WSJ was warning about the risk of Fannie and Freddie on its op-ed page for decades. The banker eventually morphed into a fresh faced salesman on commission (!) with a 'vice president' tag.
The volume game is over. Let them fail.
That's my view and, no, thank God I'm not a banker.
Cheers.
Re: Bankers, Appraisers, Mortgage Brokers
Dr. Strangelove, I am of the opinion and experience that anyone can influence an appraisal outcome but honest professionals won't risk their license over such stupidity. What is really stupid is the new automated valuation modeling of home values conducted by a person sitting at a computer terminal states away. Oh yeah. Your perspective is correct: real relationships between bankers and their clients is rare. While this does exist in our small city, the other 'real relationship' of the day is with your mortgage broker, your financial advisor and your insurance agent. We all sell things to make a crust. It's the quality of the service and the intention to provide a decent and honest days work that seems to be on the endangered list.
The President speaks well; but is he listening?
Ken Langone, investment banker and a former director of the New York Stock Exchange offered good common sense views on our economic situation on CNBC's Squawk Box this morning.
Mr. Langone's common sense is born of experience. People he talked with in the barber shop reflect the experiences of many of my friends and acquaintances. They don't need government programs — don't want socialism!
He says it will take time, banks should NOT be nationalized and Obama should stop campaigning, stay in Washington and lead.
In reply to the Squawk Box request I sent this concerning the mortgages and foreclosures:
I ran my own business for forty years. When times got tough and clients were pressed for cash, we worked out terms we could both live with. Over all that time I failed to collect less than $700.
The bank doesn't want your house — negotiate with them directly.
ITS GOVERNMENT
ALOHA !!
I am finally hearing GOVERNMENT IS BAD! I watched the Rick Santelli video and that seems to be the theme. I read Susan's essay and that is the underlying theme. If you read 90% of my posts I fluctuate between BAD GOVERNMENT and BAD MONEY for years and years! Really these are MONEY issues at the core. Anytime you have government who can simply PRINT their way to perceived PROSPERITY you will always have HUMAN NATURE driving the money machine that generates the power the elite bankers enjoy ... a virtual MONOPOLY over government and money! This was and has been the central theme for bankers since Rothschild days over 230 years ago.
Tonight I read a report on the AG 2008 conference that was held late last year in Honolulu. This is an annual conference of all State Of Hawaii agriculture sector including farmers, fed and state gov, universities, trades, etc. Here is the breakdown on attendance for this conference:
Farmers - 29.8%
Government - 44.2%
University - 13.5%
Trades - 12.5%
There is only 29.8%(Farmers)who actually produce income, who drive this sector. Lets face it without FARMERS we Americans and foreigners would all ... ALL ... starve to death! All the rest of the attendees(70.2%) FEED off the farmers! Done deal ...
Why in Gods name would a conference have 44.2% attendees from the City and State and Federal government? This shows you IN YOUR FACE just how BIG GOVERNMENT is even on such a level as CONFERENCE ATTENDANCE for agriculture! Believe me when I say there is hardly any public interest in FARMING compared to REAL ESTATE, yet ALL our futures depend on farmers being successful. The amount of BIG GOVERNMENT in farming is TOO MUCH! But this is just a chronic condition since every sector of industry has to run the ever growing gauntlet of BIG GOVERNMENT and their intrusion into our businesses and our personal lives.
If you vote the TWO PARTY SYSTEM this problem will NEVER go away. It is that simple. These two parties are an aristocracy now where government dictates to the people and not the other way around, as it was intended to be by our Founding Fathers. Santelli mentioned Franklin and Jefferson and how they would be rolling in their graves ... something I have been posting here for years! He sounds like ME!
GET BIG GOVERNMENT OUT!
BIG GOVERNMENT is REP AND DEM ...
REP DEM GET RID OF EM!
REP DEM GET RID OF EM!
REP DEM GET RID OF EM!
At this rate we will all lose our homes and starve to death all at the same time! ITS BAD! HOW BAD? In my Jan-March edition of AGRICULTURE HAWAII the lead article is entitled "HAWAII AGRICULTURE THREATENED"! The gist of that article is everything is too expensive to farm and prices are too low for farm products! What does that tell you? I ... ME ... have not raised my "wholesale prices" for orchids since 2000. Have my cost to farm gone up since then ... um ... let me think for a nano-second ... DUH!!! HELL YES!!! The futures markets are rigged in all sectors and it is the same culprit ... BANKS!!! There is NO correlation between futures markets and monetary inflation ... PERIOD! Look at mining base metals ... the base metals are at all time lows but the costs to mine are not. When someone tells me inflation is dead and we are suffering from deflation I automatically think "idiot"! They totally negate the past 90 years of LONG TERM inflation and yet they will base their entire investing decisions on the last year or so of "deflation". Who cares about the Great Depression ... the deflation lasted four years and by 1934 we were back to inflation of money supply due to FDRs policies and the devaluation of the Dollar to gold. Oh, and soon after that a highly inflationary little event started up known as ... WW2! Within five years Hitler rolled into Austria and Denmark ... Where was his army's first stop in all those countries he invaded? The gold vault!
Between BANKS and POLITICIANS there is no greater abusive MONOPOLY on Earth! THAT IS NOT NEW! Mark Twain has written with great ire against the bank and political UNION for most of his writing career! NOTHING HAS CHANGED since Mark Twain was alive! The downhill slide started in 1913 when the US FED was created ... a greedy cartel of private bankers who have been planning this destruction from the start. PLANNED CHAOS! read about it ... the first Ludwig Von Mises edition came out in 1947! NOT NEW!!! Yet, we who speak out about this MONOPOLY are tin-hat conspiracy nuts or as the esteemed US Senator from Nevada, John Ensign, calls me a "Marxist subversive"! The Marxists all dwell in Washington DC not Hawaii!
Get with the program people before your kids lose their future!
GOVERNMENT IS ONLY AS HONEST AS ITS MONEY!!
Thank you Susan and welcome to the Marxist Subversive Club(MSC)!
GOLD AND BANKS PRE MARKET
Check out the pre trading volume size for gold and banks.
!
Re: The President speaks well; but is he listening?
ALOHA !!
"The bank doesn't want your house — negotiate with them directly."
Neither do the ex-homeowners(loanowners)!
If there is no confidence housing prices will ever return then who wants to throw good money after bad? Hence "jingle mail"! Look at the Case-Schiller charts comparing past booms to this last real estate boom. We peaked at about 4 times the peak of the last boom! We have currently corrected back to 2 times the prior peak on a national average level. Still higher.
The US government is trying to stall foreclosures(the punchline) in an effort to keep prices from dropping until they can create another real estate bubble again.
Do they know something we do not?
Re: ITS GOVERNMENT
Kaimu, Thank you for your warm welcome to the MSC!
"Santelli mentioned Franklin and Jefferson and how they would be rolling in their graves.."
I agree that we are in danger of losing the vision that our founders had for a democracy based on higher values and the common good. Fortunately, a good many folks in this community are willing to speak openly about the injustices and imbalances we see from where we sit. It is after all a system here based on checks and balances. Let's be both! It's up to us to affect in our own circles of influence whatever sanity we can. Thanks for your perspective and your vigilance. I am learning a great deal about our monetary system and how things work here...and for that I am eternally grateful. The silent majority is starting to wake up from our collective slumber of these last years of 'prosperity'. Hopefully we can turn our arms into plowshares and cultivate a real prosperity for future generations.
And yes, our government knows a great deal more than they are letting on! Let's hope the promise of transparency will become a reality soon.