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Obama Wants To Extend Gov’t Refi Programs to Non-government Held/Insured Mortgages (Kabuki Theater)
Confounded Interest ^ | 12/26/2012 | Anthony B. Sanders

Posted on 12/26/2012 2:17:54 PM PST by whitedog57

The radio show “Marketplace” wanted to chat this morning about the news that the Obama administration might extend its mortgage-refinancing programs to include borrowers whose mortgages aren’t backed by the government.

It’s one thing for the Administration to pressure loan modifications (with Congress’ blessing) for the FHA insured mortgages. It is even a bigger stretch for the Administration to pressure Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHFA to perform loan modifications (specifically principal writedowns since Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are private corporations … in conservatorship. But it quite another thing for the Administration to pressure non-government entities to make principal reductions.

As Robert Palmer could have sang “You might as well face it, your’e addicted to gov.”

I am no longer affiliated with any think tank, so I will not be called along with the usual lineup of suspects to testify on the benefits of principal reductions: Laurie Goodman (Amherst Securities), Mark Zandi (Economy.com), and any number of affordable housing activists who will declare unrealistic growth projections in GDP from more liberal loan modification programs.

But with the economy allegedly improving and house prices rising again (or at least stabilized), what is the imperative to extend loan modification programs to non-government held or insured mortgages?

Face it, it is more wealth redistribution, although some may argue that the decline in defaults AND the rise in GDP from unleashing the spending power of underwater households will offset the losses to taxpayers (Goodman, Zandi).

The Senate will approve such a bill (especially now that Elizabeth Warren is on the Senate Banking Committee), the House will likely not pass it (for reasons of not wanting further overstepping of government power). It will make for great Kabuki Theater and class warfare rhetoric. But nothing will be done unless President Obama issues an executive order.

(Excerpt) Read more at confoundedinterest.wordpress.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; Politics
KEYWORDS: boondoggle; fannie; freddie; housing; mortgages; obama
At least this economist HOPES that the Republicans don't surrender ... again.
1 posted on 12/26/2012 2:18:02 PM PST by whitedog57
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To: whitedog57

What could possibly go wrong?

//sarc


2 posted on 12/26/2012 2:25:04 PM PST by GeronL (http://asspos.blogspot.com)
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To: GeronL

Over 80% of the distressed mortgages are not held by Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac/FHA. Rather, they are held by private investment companies. Further, while the GSEs will refinance to current mortgage rates, the secondary market has refused to do a “streamline” process to allow loans to be refinanced to lower rates, forcing people who are good risks but either have a blimished credit for some reason or another, or are upside down, to be unable to refinance their loans due to the very tight regulations for new loans by the GSEs.


3 posted on 12/26/2012 3:02:15 PM PST by rstrahan
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To: whitedog57

If we can only get these damned politicians from all their meddling and screwing around with housing (and banking), the markets could clear and eventually reach a healthy condition again.


4 posted on 12/26/2012 3:16:23 PM PST by faithhopecharity
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To: All
Lead counsel in two of the decimated "mtge standards" lawsuits----none other than Barack HObama representing the arch criminal organization, ACORN.

Under the sap-happy Hobamanated giveaway mtge standards, lenders could no longer turn down a loan from a welfare recepient, from those who recieved unemployment compensation, or child support as their "primary income." One couple receiving only SSI---applied for a mtge w/ a fraudulent app prepared by a greedy latino realty agent.

HERE'S HOW THE SAP-HAPPY CRIMINAL LIBERAL MIND WORKS HObama sued lenders to force them to give out toxic loans, and now---as President---he is suing them for complying, and actually lending the money.

=============================================

MASSIVE MORTGAGE FRAUD ON CAPITOL HILL:

The Congressional Hispanic Institute, Inc, is an entity organized by Cong Joe Baca (D-Cali) in his capacity as head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Cong Baca created "HOGAR" (Spanish for home) in 2003 to work with the mortgage industry, F/M, lenders, banks and latino community groups to increase mortgage lending to what savvy observers consider to be unqualified Latinos.

"HOGAR" colluded w/ Cong Baca in what was to become a massive bilking of taxpayers. Cong Baca calculatedly hyped the fact that the national Latino homeownership rate was 47%, compared with 68% for the overall population.

HOGAR was coached to call the figure "alarming," and to say "a concerted effort was required to ensure that by the end of the decade Latinos will share equally in the American Dream of home ownership."

HOGAR and Cong Baca conned the public, failing to note that most of the "dreamers" were illegals, citizens of Third World countries who had violated US borders.

Predictably, HOGAR colluded w/ co-conspirators which included:

(a) shaky mortgage companies that ran into big trouble;

(b) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both now under federal control after billions in taxpayer bailouts;

(c) Countrywide Financial Corp., sold to Bank of America Corp;

(d) Washington Mutual Inc., taken over by the US government and sold to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.; and,

(e) New Century Financial Corp. and Ameriquest Mortgage Corp, both now defunct, killed by defaulted subprime Latino mortgages.

HOGAR's ties to the subprime mortgage industry were substantial. Bribery and self-dealing were rampant:

<><> Companies that donated $150,000 to Cong Baca got the right to have their own research fellow who would conduct fraudulent studies, which were cunningly used by industry lobbyists to pump lending.

<><> Bribery and extortion in the form of $100,000 annual donations to Cong Baca, for which HOGAR provided phony news releases from Cong Baca's Hispanic Caucus promoting a lender's commercial products to the Latino market,

<><> The most shocking example of bribery well-substantitated by Hogar's literature..... HOGAR announced it worked with Freddie Mac on a self-serving two-year examination of Latino homeownership in 63 congressional districts.

The "study" found Hispanic ownership on the rise thanks to "new flexible mortgage loan products" that the industry was adopting at the urging of Cong Baca's collusive coterie.

<><> HOGAR conned lenders into even more lenient down-payment and underwriting standards.

<><> As the subprime debacle unfolded, HOGAR declined repeated requests for comment despite the economic havoc their activities precipitated.

The mortgage schemes demonstrated the criminal activities of border violators with multiple identities---perhaps violent, terrorist-connected foreigners---colluding and conspiring to defraud private companies and public entities. And mortgage racketeering enterprises which employed sub rosa finance and business practices to carry out deceptions and frauds.

The alleged ring of swindlers---a Congresman, individuals with multiple identities, banks, insurance companies, mortgage nrokers--might be charged with cheating the US govt, taxpayers and bank share holders out of hundreds of millions of dollars via an elaborate web of mortgage and bank frauds.

The mortgage Dreamers used multiple phony identities, fraudulent Social Security numbers, purchased from identity forgers in order to obtain govt-subsidized benefits.

L/E will find that individuals with multiple identities obtained fraudulent mortgages then flipped the houses at ever-higher prices to family member who then absconded to foreign countries, sticking banks (and taxpayers) with hundreds of millions in fraudulent mortgages.

BACKGROUND A Wall Street Journal investigative report related that, according to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council examination of the borrowing spree, uncovered financial schemes by low-income housing groups, Hispanic lawmakers, a congressional Hispanic housing initiative, mortgage lenders and brokers, all colluding in fraduent schemes to increase homeownership among Latinos with forged documents which enabled massive fraud.

This was not simply the mortgage market at work. It was fueled by avarice, greed, and Congressional enabling fraudulent practices. In 2005 alone, mortgages to Hispanics jumped by 29%; Latinos with multiple fraudulent identities in low-paying jobs obtained subprime mortgages for prime properties---soaring to 169%.

(Research provided by Wall Street Journal. Some material excerpted from the NY Times).

5 posted on 12/26/2012 3:16:53 PM PST by Liz
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To: All
GENESIS OF THE F/M BILKING--- Clinton appointee. Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines' Letter to Shareholders--excerpted from 2003 Fannie Mae Annual Report

Excerpt ...Ten years ago the typical conforming mortgage required a down payment of 10-20%, and low-down payment mortgages were considered too risky. But then we helped to standardize the 3-5% down payment loan, brought it to global capital markets, and made it available to lenders and communities nationwide. Now low-down payment loans are commonplace. And we just adopted a new variance in our underwriting standards that will make the $500 down payment loan widely available as well...

In 1994, we pledged to provide $1 trillion in capital to ten million underserved families by the end of 2000. Thanks to our housing and industry partners, we met that goal early.

Then in 2000, we launched our American Dream Commitment, a pledge to provide $2 trillion in capital to 18 million underserved families by the year 2010, including $400 billion targeted specifically for minority families (later raised to $700 billion in response to President Bush’s Minority Homeownership Initiative). After four of the strongest years in housing and mortgage finance history, we’ve already surpassed the top-line goals of this commitment. But our work is far from complete.

So in January 2004, we announced our Expanded American Dream Commitment and pledged significant new resources to tackle America’s toughest housing challenges. Our new commitment has three main goals.

First, we will expand access to homeownership for six million first-time home buyers in the next ten years, including 1.8 million minority first-time home buyers.We also will help raise the national minority homeownership rate from 49 percent to 55 percent, with the ultimate goal of closing it entirely.

Second, we will help new and long-term homeowners stay in their homes through a series of initiatives, and commit $15 billion to preserve affordable rental housing and $1.5 billion to support the revitalization of public housing communities.

Third, we will increase the supply of affordable housing and support community development activities in at least 1,000 neighborhoods across the country through our American Communities Fund, and through targeted investments like Low-Income Housing Tax Credits that help finance affordable rental housing.

It is because of initiatives like our Trillion Dollar Commitment and our American Dream Commitment that we have exceeded our HUD affordable housing goals for ten consecutive years. (End Raines excerpt.)

=========================================================

FANNIE-MAE--THE DEMOCRATS' CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE / By Michelle Malkin

Fannie/Freddie are centerpieces of the criminal enterprise called the Democrat Party-—where Dem cronies and collaborators loot the organization, get cushy jobs, bonuses, and the like.

Fannie Mae’s political machine dispensed campaign contributions, gave jobs to friends and relatives of legislators, hired armies of lobbyists (even paying lobbyists not to lobby against it), paid academics who wrote papers validating the home ownership mania, and spread “charitable” contributions to housing advocates across the congressional map.

Fannie Mae serves as an industrial-sized patronage factory — sharing profits with political allies, spreading taxpayer funds to voting blocs——like ethnic groups-——and doling out jobsto left-wing academics, Washington has-beens and back-scratching buddies.

Obama insider Fannie Mae exec Jim Johnson got sweetheart loans from shady subprime Countrywide. Pols raked in six-figure salaries as F/F engaged in Enron-style accounting, plunged into debt and helped usher in the subprime housing meltdown through cockamamie lending practices.

Bill Clinton appointed Franklin Raines, Daley and Rahm Emanuel just as the quasi-governmental F/M engaged in rampant book-cooking so that F/M insider could help themselves to massive bonuses.

The Chi/Tribune exposed how political whore Rahm Emanuel’s “profitable stint” was low-show w/ no work involved. Emanuel was not even assigned to committees, according to company proxy statements. Immediately upon joining the board, Emanuel and other insiders qualified for $380,000 in stock and options plus a $20,000 annual fee, public records indicate. W/ Wall Street Rahm Emanuel at F/M, accounting tricks were used to mislead shareholders about outsize profits F/M reaped from risky investments.

The goal was to cook the books to keep fraudulent earnings on the books, to make Freddie Mac look profitable on paper-——AND to fraudulently obtain humongous annual bonuses for political insiders.

6 posted on 12/26/2012 3:19:25 PM PST by Liz
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To: whitedog57

Why have you excerpted your own blog, pimpdaddy?


7 posted on 12/26/2012 3:37:15 PM PST by humblegunner
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To: whitedog57

As a junior Senator, he was second highest of those getting kickbacks from Fanny and Freddie. Kerry was third. Of course he’s going to milk it for all he can get.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,423701,00.html


8 posted on 12/26/2012 3:45:42 PM PST by bgill (We've passed the point of no return. Welcome to Al Amerika.)
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To: whitedog57
Because it worked so well the first time...

(One might take that as sarcasm, unless one begins to believe that their intent is the destruction of the US economy... then the statement is simply factual.)

9 posted on 12/26/2012 3:50:14 PM PST by Teacher317 ('Tis time to fear when tyrants seem to kiss.)
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To: whitedog57

Blacks would be approved for free houses. The ones who haven’t got it yet.


10 posted on 12/26/2012 4:38:48 PM PST by Carry me back
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To: whitedog57

1-Gov’t runs everything
2-Gov’t owns everything
3-Gov’t controls everything

Your FREEDOM is GONE!


11 posted on 12/26/2012 4:44:35 PM PST by G Larry (Which of Obama's policies do you think I'd support if he were white?)
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To: whitedog57

Such a move would ultimately take the residential real estate market even further down, if that’s possible. It’s a dead market riding on lies, as it is.


12 posted on 12/26/2012 6:15:41 PM PST by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of rotten politics smelled around the planet.)
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