Good news, Taxpayers. I have it on the highest authority that the plan to set up partnerships with private investors to buy the banks’ toxic assets is a lock to make us money. None other than Sheila Bair, the Chairwoman of the FDIC, said today that happy days are closer than we think. A U.S. […]
Archive for March 11th, 2009
FDIC Chief Says That Taxpayers Will Profit From Newest Bailout Plan
Justice Department Reported To Be Gearing Up For Mortgage Fraud Prosecutions
Pigs fly! Barney Frank and I finally agree about something. Speaking about going after various fraudulent financiers Mr. Frank remarked, “Rules don’t work if people have no fear of them” What a revelation. The reason everyone up and down the mortgage chain as well as on Wall Street took the liberties they did was that the risk/reward […]
Will More Problems With Alt-A Loans Get Swept Under The Rug?
It seems almost a bit old fashioned to write a column about Alt-A loans and more downgrades to classes of those loans. Almost like we’ve moved on from that and it’s just a question of mopping up the mess. HousingWire has a report that puts a distinctly different light on that. Standard & Poor’s Ratings […]
Defending The Developers
If you’re in the mood for one of those stories that makes you shake your head and ask how people could possibly be so stupid, take a look at this NYT story. It’s about the excess condo development in Miami and focuses on one project in particular. This sort of stuff is standard fodder these […]
Mortgage Applications Actually Falling
Housing Wire has some useful information on mortgage applications this morning. The headline number from the Mortgage Bankers Association is that mortgage applications were up 11.3% for the week ending March 6. HousingWire presents a different picture. Household applications actually fell, according to Mortgage Maxx LCC, which tracks weekly mortgage applications as well for its […]