Gen,

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Our so-called "President For Change", President Obama, in fact has changed nothing

He has changed one thing for sure, he has changed himself into everything he criticized in the campaign.

Each application nets the processor or bank a cool $1K from Uncle Sam. So who says no one has been helped? Sounds like some folks received about $650M worth of "help" -- it just wasn't the mortgagees.

I don't think the Treasury is paying any modification fees until they loans are permanently modified. That said, this program is bound to fail unless the principle is written down to the current value of the property. The problem is that if banks start doing that for 'distressed' loanowners then why should anyone stay current on their loan if they too are underwater?

There is just no incentive to struggle to make even modified payments on a home that is more than a few thousand dollars underwater. Hell, Diana Olick at CNBC reports banks can't even find half of their customers to offer them modifications. They've moved out of their house or aren't replying to bank inquiries and why should they? The banks knew ( or should have known) the value of the homes they were financing could not possibly be worth the amount of money they were lending on them.

Quote:

I don't think the Treasury is paying any modification fees until they loans are permanently modified.

HAMP pays the banks $1K for the initial application process, and then an additional $1K per year for each mortgage successfully modified. Looks like the banks are plenty happy with collecting the initial fees.

Think for a minute about the potential for criminality inherent in this silly program. Organized crime, ACORN, etc., could have a field day skimming the fees and recycling some of them with compliant politicians. The amount is small enough so that no law enforcement organization will even bother investigating individual cases, but in toto they add up to some real money -- genius!

Man these banksters have put to shame Al Capone, Bonnie and Clyde, Willie Sutton, Bernie Madoff, Stamford, and I now look back at the days when the mob ruled Las Vegas as the good old days. This mob with their $5000 suits and indirectly subsidized taxpayer bonuses and parties, rule with the complicit approval of our elected officials, who we take care of for a lifetime as they surround themselves with adoring sycophants.

Gen wrote:

Quote:

---I repeat: A law without a punishment for failure to comply is no law at all - it is nothing other than a scam and a fraud perpetrated by the government to make you "feel good" while in fact doing exactly NOTHING.---

Very poignant insight.

Let me see if I can get part of this right.

1. We give them billions of TARP, our money, we ask them what did you do with it, and they give us the middle finger.
2. We ask them, under the acronym HAMP, to rework the loans, and they do little to none of that work.
3. We loan them our money at 0%, they lever it 30 to 1, and then use the carry trade to buy a cornucopia of investments in the worldwide financial supermarket. As for you the new/new is 29.99% revolving credit rates, and FEES, FEES, FEES, FEES, which I admit does involve creative thinking.
5. They send out NOD's, but this is toilet paper, because they will not foreclose, because that would set a mark as to the true value of their portfolios, rendering the TBTF, FAILED. This has the unintended consquence of allowing those so inclined to live payment free, and or gut the house. Pity the chump who made 360 timely payments if his/her house sits next door to the in limbo property.
6. Failed would mean, no more parties, princely bonuses, and no more sucking off one of the govs. (synonym for taxpayer) teats. This allows the TBTF to buyout, with their infinite kitty, the prudently and conservatively run smaller regional and community banks.
7. More laws of the >1000 page size, loopholes, and complexity are passed, with no teeth(as in if you do this and we CONVICT YOU and you will share a cell with Bubba whose mother ironically was foreclosed upon), and which are not read by our elected officials.

Mean while at the ranch the twin torture chambers, for the middle class, of job loses and debt escalate unabated. Damned the MATH.

No??

My timeline is filled with holes----it's madly more pernicious.

Thanks Gen.

All this could be resolved if we used what has always worked.
Sign a contract, you're obligated.
Take on risk,(think leverage)gamble, you may lose it all.
Commit, aid or are complicit in fraud, face punishment up to and including jail.
As far as all the newly homeless foreclosure victims, that's where friends and family come to the rescue.
As for under capitalized banks, let them fail. Other strong financial outfits would be happy to take their place. Same with private industry, some one will gladly back fill in their demise.
I know, I know sounds like crazy talk...

Digalert stated:

Quote:

As for under capitalized banks, let them fail. Other strong financial outfits would be happy to take their place. Same with private industry, some one will gladly back fill in their demise.
I know, I know sounds like crazy talk...

Yup!!

No---not crazy talk.

Very nice Ticker.

Let us suppose that the recession has a second dip - one perhaps lower than the previous dip. People will get more desperate, but have less hope.

What happens then? A more feral society?

Just imagine the false hope this created in some who thought their loans might be modified.

What I heard anecdotaly about this is confirmed by this ticker.

Thanks, Karl

On Fox4 News out of Dallas last week they ran a story about people having HUGE problems with the banks and modifications, one example was a woman who waited months for the modification, getting further and further behind, and when it was finally processed it lowered her monthly payment by . . . FORTY DOLLARS LOL She was incredulous at what a ****ed up waste of time it was, and now she was in even worse shape on the mortgage. Bank of America I believe.

No "or else" for the banksters, but they would consider throwing honest, hard working Americans in jail for NOT having govt approved Health Insurance.

This kind of nonsense never ends well. Do these people not comprehend the lessons of history? Do they think human kind has evolved beyond "off with their heads?"

I couldn't resist.

Gen, have you seen this posted over at Automatic Earth?:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?c....

MISSING WORD?

You have give these banksters credit

YOU HAVE "TO" GIVE THESE BANKSTERS.......?????

Best and Thanks

Quote:

The Obama administration plans to announce additional steps tomorrow, including new private-public partnerships...

Welcome to Nazi America.

"None? Out of 651,000 "trial" modifications none have turned into a permanent repayment plan?"

I can't help it: that is funny. NONE. ZERO. Or as the Three stooges once said, NIL, NULL, and VOID.

Now if these so-called modifications would mark down a home to it's real book value, then maybe there could be some hope. Alas, that would impair the loan even further.

Of course, an asset can easily drop below book value. I know someone buying homes in Redford, Michigan from HUD at $10 to $20 a square foot. Solidly built brick homes. Some had notes on them as high as $115,000. Now they sell for $20,000 to $30,000. Econ 101. Supply and demand always meet at some number.

Hmmmmm it looks like Obama's team has been painting a rosy picture of this program.

"This legislation will strengthen our nation's housing sector and facilitate the goals of the Administration's Making Home Affordable Program by helping millions of American homeowners stay in their homes"

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_offi....


"the program is on track to meet its goals over the next several years"

http://makinghomeaffordable.gov/pr111020....

Some more Obamanomics for ya'll to digest. Now don't any of you dare criticize ME for this essay. It's taken verbatim from the Obamessiah's official government website.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/economy

Millions of hard-working, responsible families are at risk of losing their homes as home prices fall and jobs are threatened. The Making Home Affordable Refinancing program will expand access to refinancing for up to 4 to 5 million families who are current on their mortgages but otherwise unable to refinance because their homes have lost value. The Making Home Affordable Modification program has a $75 billion commitment to support loan modifications so that up to 3 to 4 million borrowers at risk of foreclosure can keep their homes. President Obama’s programs to prevent foreclosures will help bolster home prices and will provide direct support to up to 9 million homeowners to refinance for lower payments or have their mortgages modified to prevent foreclosure. President Obama also launched MakingHomeAffordable.gov, where borrowers can learn basic facts about mortgages, homeownership, and resources available.

Degaston' Whitehouse Link wrote..

Home • Issues • Economy
Economy
Progress

* The President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
* The President announced the "Making Home Affordable" home refinancing plan.
* The President launched a $15 billion plan to boost lending to small businesses.
* The President and Secretary Geithner announced the details of the Financial Stability Plan.
* President Obama played a lead role in G-20 Summit that produced a $1.1 trillion deal to combat the global financial crisis.
* The President signed the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act which gives the federal government more tools to investigate and prosecute fraud, from lending to the financial system, and creates a bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to investigate the financial practices that brought us to this point.
* The President signed the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, expanding on the Making Home Affordable Program to help millions of Americans avoid preventable foreclosures, providing $2.2 billion to help combat homelessness, and helping to stabilize the housing market for everybody.
* The President signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act to protect Americans from unfair and deceptive credit card practices.

THE PRESIDENT HAS PADDED HIS RESUME! HALLELUJAH! WE'RE SAVED!