Free Republic

Wall Street warns against using eminent domain to seize underwater mortgagesBy Peter Schroeder - 08/19/12 05:00 PM ET Heavy hitters in the financial industry are lining up against a new idea brewing among local government officials to help struggling homeowners by seizing control of their mortgages through eminent domain. With many areas of the country still digging out from the housing crisis, some local governments are considering taking on the underwater mortgages at a substantially lower price, thus making them more affordable for the borrower. With policymakers at the federal, state and local level struggling to find a way to...

Spying seems to be hardwired into Russian DNA and for decades the USSR and now Russia have sent Combat Divers a.k.a. “frogmen” on clandestine missions to infiltrate other countries’ military complexes by using their harbours as a gateways to enemy naval bases. Because of the aggressive nature of their missions (they are the invaders after all) these Spetsnaz (Russian special operations) units are armed with specialized APS and ASM-DT underwater rifles. APS Underwater rifle APS Underwater rifle The APS underwater rifle, developed in the mid 1970s, was Russia’s first attempt at an underwater long gun and the world’s first movement...

The latest quarterly report out of CoreLogic is as usual full of curious insights about the state of US housing. Key among them is the finding that "negative equity and near-negative equity mortgages accounted for 27.8 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage nationwide in the fourth quarter, up from 27.1 in the previous quarter. Nationally, the total mortgage debt outstanding on properties in negative equity increased from $2.7 trillion in the third quarter to $2.8 trillion in the fourth quarter." In other words, courtesy of no Mark To Market, there is at least $2.8 trillion in debt held...

President Barack Obama, whose economic acumen was shaped by left-wing, Big Government ideologues, wants to fix the housing market mess that government, in large part, is responsible for creating. His plan to tax big banks to raise money to guarantee refinanced loans for existing homeowners to lower their monthly payments is fundamentally flawed, almost certainly won't pass Congress, but it is political pandering of the first order. In an election year, is anyone surprised he would push something he knows won't happen while positioning himself as Rescuer-in-Chief? He can always blame Congress when it doesn't come to pass. The rest...

According to real estate data firm CoreLogic, about 11 million American homeowners are underwater, and half of all U.S. mortgages are owned by non-government lenders. On Wednesday, President Obama announced plans to help homeowners facing foreclosure. Obama is seeking to make interests rates for borrowers lower, and he plans to pay for the estimated $5 billion to $10 billion cost with a fee on the nation’s largest banks. “It is wrong for anyone to suggest that the only option for struggling, responsible homeowners is to sit and wait for the housing market to hit bottom,” Obama said. “I refuse to...

U.S. homeowners who owe more than their properties are worth got new help on Monday when a U.S. regulator expanded a government program in a step that could help up to one million borrowers. The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, eased the terms of a refinancing program which helps so-called underwater borrowers who have been on time with payments but are unable to refinance. *snip* FHFA said it was scrapping a cap that prohibited borrowers whose mortgages exceeded 125 percent of their property's value from participating in the Home Affordable Refinance...

Las Vegas – Seeking to breathe new life into a sagging economy, President Obama will attempt an executive branch rescue of homeowners trying to refinance underwater mortgages, with a new initiative that lets people with little or no equity get a better interest rate at a reduced cost. The initiative, the first in a series of announcements expected this week by the president, applies to homeowners with federally guaranteed mortgages who are current on their payments. The revamped Home Affordable Refinance Program, which aims to avert foreclosures, is expected "to encourage new, lower-cost loans" to more homeowners who are paying...

A string of a dozen volcanoes, at least several of them active, has been found beneath the frigid seas near Antarctica, the first such discovery in that region. Some of the peaks tower nearly 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) above the ocean floor — nearly tall enough to break the water's surface. "That's a big volcano. That's a very big volcano. If that was on land it would be quite remarkable," said Philip Leat, a vulcanologist with the British Antarctic Survey who led a seafloor mapping expedition to the region in 2007 and 2010. The group of 12 underwater mountains lies...

FALL RIVER (CBS) — There’s another strange twist after a woman’s body was found floating in a public pool in Fall River, possibly going unnoticed for days. The mayor of Fall River says “that health inspectors from the City visited the pool on Monday and on Tuesday and inspected the facilities,” which was during the time that body was believed to be in the water. Marie Joseph was at the pool on Sunday and hadn’t been seen since. It wasn’t until Tuesday night, when some kids broke into the Veteran’s Memorial swimming pool and found Joseph’s body floating in the...

Reporting from North Las Vegas, Nev.— Charles Mills can barely afford to stay here. But he also can't afford to move. That's why the 44-year-old heavy-equipment operator was preparing to leave his wife and young daughter here and go where he could find work — the Oklahoma oil fields. Mills has a mortgage to pay, even if its size pains him. He purchased his house in 2006 for $308,500. Current value: $105,797. "We talked about it: What can we do with the house?" Mills said. "Nobody's going to buy it. Nobody's going to rent it. If we walk away, my...

Now we know what is really causing global warming. It's not caused by man, it's caused by penguins farting underwater. We better get Al Gore out there to put meters on their derrieres so we can check the rate of global warming gasses emanating from these birds before the polar caps completely melt. This is a funny video of a penguin that farts in the face of another penguin who does an about face and heads the other way. Follow the link below to see the video of a Penguin Farting in Another Penguins Face.

China Told U.S. of Underwater Nuclear Plant in N.Korea China obtained information in 2008 that North Korea has a secret underwater nuclear facility in its coastal waters, leaked U.S. diplomatic cables show. According to a Sept. 26, 2008 cable from the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai disclosed by WikiLeaks, a North Korea expert in Shanghai announced this in a meeting about the six-party nuclear talks with Christopher Beede, the political and economic chief at the consulate. The expert said the nuclear declaration the North submitted to China, the chair of the six-party talks, in May the same year was "incomplete" and...

Hannity was surprised to hear a famous ex Air Force General tell him “That Is A Missile, Shot From A Submarine!” I quote retired Air Force Lieutenant General Tom McInerney (ex commander of 11th Air Force in Alaska) “I spent 35 years flying fighters, and you can see the guidance system kick in, I have watched that film 10 times, I am absolutely certain that that is not an aircraft, but a sub launch ICBM missile!!!” See the video and judge his words for yourself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LivRJOWrcpA&feature=player_embedded#! I will next post a clickable link.

As underwater archaeologists dive to recover 300-year-old artifacts from the shipwreck presumed to Blackbeard’s flagship, the effort to keep the public a part of the project are all 21st century. A six-week dive expedition at the Queen Anne’s Revenge shipwreck site began this week, and anyone interested in following its progress can do so via the Facebook page Blackbeard’s-Queen Anne’s Revenge. Full information on the project is also available at the website qaronline.com. After a day of field preparations, a Wednesday afternoon Facebook post announced the biggest news of the expedition: “Returning to USCG Fort Macon. Still need to get...

Momentum Gathers For A New, Massive Bailout Of Homeowners Joe Weisenthal Sep. 19, 2010, 8:48 AM A new federal program that would be tasked with a massive refinancing of mortgages for strapped Americans has been chattered about for awhile, though The White House has never indicated that the idea is on the table. But the calls are growing louder. This time it's from the NYT op-ed page, where former Bush advisor (and now Columbia business prof) Glenn Hubbard along with Columbia's Chris Mayer are calling for exactly that -- a massive new agency to bail out underwater homeowners via refinancing....

This is a great video and photos of an underwater statue of Christ off the shores of Florida. It is awesome. I never knew it existed. Here is the link to the...Video of "Christ of the Abyss"

The Obama administration is trying to jump-start its sputtering plan to tackle the foreclosure crisis with an effort to assist up to 1.5 million homeowners who owe more on their properties than their homes are worth. The Federal Housing Administration will allow lenders to give these "under water" borrowers refinanced loans if the lender agrees to forgive at least 10 percent of the original mortgage amount. The plan, which was announced in March, is being made available starting Tuesday. The FHA said in a document published last month that between 500,000 and 1.5 million homeowners are projected to be helped....

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is trying to jump-start its sputtering attempts to tackle the foreclosure crisis with an effort to assist homeowners who owe more on their properties than their homes are worth. The Federal Housing Administration will allow lenders to give these borrowers refinanced loans if the lender agrees to forgive at least 10 percent of the original mortgage amount. The plan, .. announced in March, .. available starting Tuesday. The FHA said .. between 500,000 and 1.5 million homeowners are projected to be helped.

A Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier who held his 4-year-old daughter’s head underwater in a kitchen sink at their Yelm home as punishment for not reciting the alphabet will spend the next two months in jail. Joshua Ryan Tabor, 27, was sentenced Thursday; he earlier had pleaded guilty under an Alford plea to three counts of third-degree felony assault of a child, domestic violence, as part of a plea deal. Under an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt but concedes there is enough evidence to convict if the case goes forward at trial. As part of the plea deal,...

From CoreLogic Real Estate News and Trends •23% of mortgaged properties (11 million) were under water by $766 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2010 •An additional 2.4 million had less than 5% equity – That makes 28% negative or near negative •5 million borrowers are in “severe negative equity” and defaults will be high for an extended period •Top 5 states: Nevada 68%, Arizona 50%, Florida 46%, Michigan 38%, California 33%