It sounds so much nicer than “massive criminal fraud“
Potential flaws in foreclosure documents are threatening to throw the real estate industry into a full-blown crisis, as Bank of America on Friday became the first bank to stop sales of foreclosed homes in all 50 states. The move, along with another decision on foreclosures by PNC Financial Services Inc., adds to growing concerns that mortgage lenders have been evicting homeowners using flawed court papers.
If Obama isn’t completely insane, he’s going to shut down the recent attempt of the House and Senate to immediately make all of this grand theft housing ex post facto legal. I am no green shoots optimist, but this is much, much worse than even most confirmed economic pessimists had been expecting. If Washington doesn’t break with Wall Street soon and jail the guilty bankers, it won’t be long before they find themselves facing crowds of the size of the Beck rally storming the barricades. Nor is this foreclosure fraud the only blatant chicanery. Consider the decline in commercial bank credit since its peak in December 2008.
Notice the immense and unprecedented $452 billion leap in loans that supposedly took place in the last week of March. And immediately, the decline continued at much the same rate it had shown before. Now, here’s how TOTLL would look without this reported one-week borrowing orgy.
As of the latest Fed report, correctly adjusted TOTLL is now to $6.297 trillion, down from $7.294 trillion; that is a $993.6 billion collapse in credit. 13.63% of the commercial bank credit in the country has vanished, even without counting all of the defaulting and foreclosed properties that may not even belong to the banks trying to claim them. Keep in mind that the most TOTLL had ever previously declined in a two-year period was -0.76% in 1974-75. Here’s the punchline.
“Here are seven predictions concerning economic-related events I expect to see by December 31, 2010
5. Commercial bank loans and leases (TOTLL) will fall below $6.3 trillion.”
After the March 31 report, I was thinking that I’d have to call shenanigans in defense of that prediction, but given the likely fallout from the Great Foreclosure Fraud of 2010, it’s quite possible that TOTLL will fall below $6.3 trillion despite the “potential flaws” visible in the Fed’s statistical reporting.
UPDATE – Apparently Obama isn’t a complete moron. He has made it clear that he will not permit HR 3808 to go forward and cover the mass foreclosure fraud by the banks preparatory to yet another bailout.
Presidential Memorandum–H.R. 3808
It is necessary to have further deliberations about the possible unintended impact of H.R. 3808, the “Interstate Recognition of Notarizations Act of 2010,” on consumer protections, including those for mortgages, before the bill can be finalized. Accordingly, I am withholding my approval of this bill. (The Pocket Veto Case, 279 U.S. 655 (1929)).
The authors of this bill no doubt had the best intentions in mind when trying to remove impediments to interstate commerce. My Administration will work with them and other leaders in Congress to explore the best ways to achieve this goal going forward.
To leave no doubt that the bill is being vetoed, in addition to withholding my signature, I am returning H.R. 3808 to the Clerk of the House of Representatives, along with this Memorandum of Disapproval.
BARACK OBAMA
THE WHITE HOUSE,
October 8, 2010.
Interesting that such a firestorm blew up fast enough to force Obama to show his hand in public this way. This is a very serious situation; it’s arguably more serious than when Paulson was threatening Congress with the image of tanks in the streets and martial law.