Mortgage Servicer Industry High in the Saddle

October 10, 2010 Leave a comment

This problem of the essential fairness (instead of corruption) of the US foreclosure system was well known for years to those involved in the system.  The huge number of companies and lawyers involved in this out-of-control system is a mirror of the system that helped us take out the failed mortgages.

Florida has evolved a system of fast foreclosure process that again favors banks, developers, real estate agents and associated  industry that wants to rush through the foreclosures to clean out the bad debt, rather than finding a fair and permanent solution to the underlying problem.  See my earlier post, Florida’s High-Speed Answer to a Foreclosure Mess – NYTimes.com.

The only solution to the problem is a scheme of national debt foregiveness (cancellation) of mortgage debt on a large scale.  This will keep people in their houses, will protect the social foundations of our towns and cities, and help people who can, under no circumstances, move on to rental units.  This will also keep house prices from falling even further (this is the big benefit of the system for people who have kept up their payments).

Consumer advocates and lawyers warned federal officials in recent years that the U.S. foreclosure system was designed to seize people’s homes as fast as possible, often without regard to the rights of homeowners.

…

As momentum builds for a national moratorium, the administration has begun assessing the potential impact, examining the threat it could pose for the ailing housing market and the wider financial system.

via Government had been warned for months about troubles in mortgage servicer industry.

Filed under Florida, Housing, National

Economic Inequality–Not Just an Economic Matter

October 9, 2010 Leave a comment

This is not only a national phenomenon–the culture of political infighting and citizen discontent–but is fully manifested in Miami-Dade and Coral Gables politics.  Democracies solve these impasses by overturning the existing order by elections.

It’s no coincidence that polarization of income distribution in the United States coincides with a polarization of the political process. Just as income inequality has eroded any sense that we are all in this together, it has also eroded the political consensus necessary for effective government. There can be no better proof of that proposition than the current election cycle, in which the last of the moderates are being driven from the political process and the most likely prospect is for years of ideological warfare and political gridlock.

via The costs of rising economic inequality.

Filed under Economy, National

Economic Outlook: Joseph Stiglitz

October 4, 2010 Leave a comment

I just viewed an interview with the economist Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize in Economics in the PBS Nightly Business Report.

He said the following:

  • Unless there is another stimulus package the economy will take three to five years (optimistically) to recover;
  • Unemployment will continue high, in the range of 8.5% to 9.5% during this period;
  • There are risks that the European countries undertake restrictive economic policies that will hurt the US economy;
  • More needs to be done to help with foreclosure problem;
  • More needs to be done to get credit to small and medium enterprises.

It is essential that Coral Gables leaders be realistic about the economic future and its impact on taxes and budgets.

This would be done through a recommended  LONG-RANGE FINANCIAL PLAN.

Filed under Economy, Housing, National

Republican Plan “Pledge to America”

September 24, 2010 Leave a comment

This simple explanation of the usual political blah-blah-blah.

Howard Gleckman of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has done the math. As he points out, the only way to balance the budget by 2020, while simultaneously (a) making the Bush tax cuts permanent and (b) protecting all the programs Republicans say they won’t cut, is to completely abolish the rest of the federal government: “No more national parks, no more Small Business Administration loans, no more export subsidies, no more N.I.H. No more Medicaid (one-third of its budget pays for long-term care for our parents and others with disabilities). No more child health or child nutrition programs. No more highway construction. No more homeland security. Oh, and no more Congress.”

via Op-Ed Columnist – Downhill With the G.O.P. – NYTimes.com.

Filed under Economy, National

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