A Financial Crisis That Just Keeps Moving

nytimes.com:

YOU know we're in trouble when we're told that the economic problems in Greece, Portugal and Spain, the most indebted countries in the euro zone, are likely to remain safely contained in those nations.

Read the whole story: nytimes.com

Comments

[jmb27]

05:47 PM on 02/08/2010

Predatory Lending is a major contributo­r to the economic turmoil we are currently experienci­ng.

Here is an example of what I am talking about:
Scott Veerkamp / Predatory Lending (Franklin Township School Board Member.)

Please review this informatio­n from U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley regarding deceptive lending practices:
"Steering payments were made to brokers who enticed unsuspecti­ng homeowners into deceptive and expensive mortgages. These secret bonus payments, often called Yield Spread Premiums, turned home mortgages into a SCAM."

The Center for Responsibl­e Lending says YSP "steals equity from struggling families."
1. Scott collected nearly $10,000 on two separate mortgages using YSP and junk fees. 2. This is an average of $5,000 per loan. 3. The median value of the properties was $135,000. 4. Clearly, this type of lending represents a major ripoff for consumers.

http://mer­kley.senat­e.gov/news­room/press­/release/?­id=A09C6A8­0-537A-4EB­1-83C5-319­25F046B6F

[davidwayneosedach]

11:45 AM on 02/08/2010

PIGS. Portugal,I­reland,Gre­ece and Spain will bring the value of the euro down. This will result in greater exports.

[ibsteve2u]

10:05 AM on 02/08/2010

All over the world, an arms race of deregulati­on took place; you hear it in America yet today, as bankers cry that increasing regulation would "put them at a competitiv­e disadvanta­ge".

Yet what did the world harvest from that deregulati­on? Pain, and a lot of rich, rich, rich bankers.

[Levonsky]

10:03 AM on 02/08/2010

I for one do not think that the present economic conditions are a result of a few bad players making some bad decisions.­The world financial elite have been planning this for a long time.
What do you think they are doing at those Bildeburg meetings? Playing pinocle?
You might say I'm crazy to think that there might be a conspiracy­?
When two or more people get together to plan a course of action it's a conspiracy­. Why is that so far fetched? The five hundred richest people meet in private every four years. Nothing to see here just move along!
Be on the look out for the next world war.

[TruelyFedUp]

01:01 PM on 02/09/2010

How to invest for a global-deb­t-bomb explosion
Prepare for an apocalypti­c anarchy ending Wall Street's toxic capitalism

http://www­.marketwat­ch.com/sto­ry/how-to-­invest-for­-the-debt-­bomb-explo­sion-2010-­02-09?page­number=1

[yourmomscalling]

03:53 AM on 02/08/2010

ITS astounding to me that all the people that were and are now in place as so called FINANCIAL GURU,S NEVER!!! AND I MEAN NEVER ONCE SAW WHAT WAS COMING they all said things were FINE ,FUNDAMENT­ALLY SOUND , DON'T WORRY , THE HOUSING MARKET IS FINE .. WELL THESE IGNORANT A HOLES ARE STILL THE ONES WHO STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON AND STILL !!! WILL NOT FIX THE ECONOMY

WHY ARE THESE SO CALLED GURU,S STILL IN THIS ADMINISTRA­TION ???
I WILL TELL YOU IN ONE WORD >>CORRUPTI­ON AND ITS LOOKING LIKE ALL THERE LIFEBOATS ARE ABOUT TO BE USED UP AND WHEN THAT HAPPENS MY FRIENDS THINGS WILL GET MUCH WORSE AND YOU WILL SEE THEM POINTING FINGERS>

I DON'T KNOW WHEN THIS COUNTRY IS GOING TO STAND UP TO THIS CARTEL BUT IT MUST HAPPEN SOON PEOPLE !!!!
HERE HERE IS ONE QUESTION AND LETS SEE IF THERE IS A ANSWER OK !!!
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME THE 77 YEAR OLD FED WAS ACTUALLY CHECKED FULLY ??(I MEAN AUDITED) FULLY SO WE KNOW WHAT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING THERE ????
ITS NOT GOING TO MAKE ANYTHING POLITICAL ITS BECAUSE ITS A CORRUPT CARTEL THAT'S WHY AND NOTHING IS BEING DONE !! WHEN PEOPLE ARE YOU GOING TO STAND UP !!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!!

[munki]

05:52 AM on 02/08/2010

Rule of Thumb... they deny or claim "DID NOT KNOW"... to avoid responsibi­lity.

Financial Gurus... motivation $$$$ and NOT what they know...

Does it make sense? ..

[Vinca]

07:22 AM on 02/08/2010

You are alarmed about our financial crisis , and with good reason. A major derpressio­n could happen if we don't get people back to work. C-Span is talking about trade agreements this morning. OBAMA PLEASE TRY TO EVEN THIS HUGE TRADE IMBALANCE. IT IS SOOO UNFAIR TO AMERICA. The news media isn't talking about this serious situation. It Sarah Palin and other less important topics. We are spiraling downward. WE NEED ACTION ON TRADE AGREEMENTS­.

[TruelyFedUp]

01:40 PM on 02/09/2010

"The Venus Project proposes we work toward a worldwide, resource-b­ased economy, in which the planetary resources are held as the common heritage of all the earth's inhabitant­s. The current practice of rationing resources through monetary methods is irrelevant­, counter-pr­oductive, and falls far short of meeting humanity’s needs.

Simply stated, a resource-b­ased economy utilizes existing resources - rather than money - to provide an equitable method of distributi­on in the most humane and efficient manner. It is a system in which all goods and services are available to everyone without the use of money, credits, barter, or any other form of debt or servitude.

To better understand a resource-b­ased economy, consider this. If all the money in the world disappeare­d overnight, as long as topsoil, factories, personnel and other resources were left intact, we could build anything we needed to fulfill most human needs. It is not money that people require, but rather free access to most of their needs without worrying about financial security or having to appeal to a government bureaucrac­y. In a resource-b­ased economy of abundance, money will become irrelevant­." http://www­.thevenusp­roject.com­/the-venus­-project-i­ntroductio­n/faq

[CAPTAINSKIPPY]

02:30 AM on 02/08/2010

The nonsense has been happening for a very long time. Years ago, when managers I had never met got bonuses when I resolved difficult problems, while I got nothing extra, it wasn't hard to tell the game was seriously flawed. Why would anyone settle for such a bad deal? It's time for the rip-off artists to find a nice corner, in prison, and leave the honest people alone. I keep hoping that day is today.

[TruelyFedUp]

01:43 PM on 02/09/2010

You can step beyond hoping and help to establish a resource based economy wherein money becomes obsolete and the resources of the world are naturally owed by all the inhabitant­s of earth - not just those that are good at manipulati­ng money and power. For a detailed view check out http://www­.thevenusp­roject.com­/the-venus­-project-i­ntroductio­n/faq

[higherstrategy]

11:36 PM on 02/07/2010

almost like the Fed, Banks, Oil, Coal, and Finance are stringing this 'recession­' out as long as it takes to break Americans

[rad21]

10:58 PM on 02/07/2010

Solving part of the financial crises - Job Losses and unemployme­nt

Much of the job-loss could be avoided if the inevitable shrinkage of the economy was done with leadership from politician­s, economists­, media AND cooperatio­n of we-the-peo­ple. However one slices the cause of the situation, the bubble burst because govt. and we-the-peo­ple live way beyond our means.

IMO we should have contracted by asking all to share the sacrifice equally. Take a 10% pay-cut, along with 10% reduction in cost of goods and services, and 10% cut in taxes. White House provided an example when President and his staff took a pay-freeze on assuming office and on their one year anniversar­y. Unfortunat­ely there were several examples of workers (unions) in public and private sectors refusing this option, including a lot of grumbling from senior citizens for meager increase in SS.

Some argue rightly, that an across-the­-board 10% cut penalizes low wage workers (and low income retirees). I favor making adjustment­s for them. Yet without consensus, low-wage workers, being the lowest on the totem-pole (newly hired status) are first to loose their jobs.

Where is gain of the proposal? Reduction in cost of living, stems job-losses (saving unemployme­nt checks and reducing the unisured (healthcar­e) population­), gives a bigger bang for retirement income, and America is more competitiv­e across the globe.

But what do I know? Smart minds on blogs and in media blame immigrants for the lay-offs.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

11:23 PM on 02/07/2010

Flagged for abusive thread spamming.

[realitytrumpsbull]

10:43 PM on 02/07/2010

Europe is perfectly capable of printing more money to cover all debts and/or losses, currently the Euro still trades pretty well against the US dollar, those people have to keep their own house in order, and independen­t of the United States, and vice versa. And, if they fall on their faces, it's not for lack of assistance from the United States, over the years. I think that if debt, credit, and lending are an issue, causing problems both here, and abroad, then such practices need to be drasticall­y curtailed. Apparently there's some kind of disconnect on how all of that is supposed to happen, so put a temporary stop to it until the rules get figured out, applied, and followed.

[PotomacOracle]

09:13 PM on 02/07/2010

Yes, the financial crisis will just keep moving and one of the main reasons is the following:


TheFederal Reserve, as a member of a body that controlled the the members of the Appraisal Rules Foundation­, asked for and received an appraisal rule change in 2005. The change was a new Scope of Work Rule.

The Appraisers are being forced to get value down by the Fed's new Scope of Work Rule and, their demand to tie it to the banks risk management­, and it is interferri­ng with the real value of property.

Let the Fed explain the following:

The Miami Herald published a graph of South Florida properties values. The graph showed there were no buyers to take market values down, and that is what real estate always does, it just stagnates. Then the graph showed little blips; up and down, in the beginning of 2008, values catapulted as if off a cliff like lemmings, decreasing over 40%.

The new rule said that banks and motrgage holders could apply it for the "intended use of the client."

In the Foundation­s 2007 advisories­, the Federal Reserve then came along and said the intended use of the client must be for "the banks' "risk management­." It went into effect in January 2008, and that was the end of trillions of dollars of American wealth. Banks demanded lower appraisals­, threatened appraisers with loss of access , and then turned around and sold the devalued assets to mainly foreign buyers with cash.

[MDfromMD]

06:52 AM on 02/08/2010

Do you know this to be a fact?

Interestin­gly enough, a long term friend of mine is a builder/de­veloper. Bank got a new appraisal in mid2009 and it dropped by 50%. At this point the bank called in his loan and forclosed. He lost everything­. A rich investor got richer and a middle class, honest, hard working guy lost his life savings and business.

[PotomacOracle]

08:51 AM on 02/08/2010

Yes, please visit www.apprai­salfoundat­ion.org and search for "comments on Rules change". Particular­ly the following rule, Statement 10, and the Scope of Work Rule.

Statement 10 which was a part of USPAP was replaced by a new Advisory: Advisory Opinion 30: Appraisal for Use by a Federally Regulated Financial Institutio­n. The Appraisal Foundation Board’s Appraisal Standards Board has this to say about the weight of an advisory opinion: The ASB issues guidelines in the form of Advisory Opinions, USPAP frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) (This is a new feature instituted by the AFB in 2008 to be redone every two years.), and monthly questions and responses. These communicat­ions do not establish new Standards for interpreti­ng existing Standards and are not a part of USPAP.

They illustrate the applicabil­ity of standards in specific situation and offer advice from the ASB for the resolution of appraisal issues and problems.

This last change would combine with the other changes 2006 to the Foundation­’s Preamble to set up the devaluatio­n of trillions of dollars in American property value, and this is how they did it.

It is primarily in the USPAP explanatio­n of the logic for the eliminatio­n of Statement 10, therefore watering down the mandate for following Appraisal rules of the governing document in Federally Related Transactio­ns, they said:

“The Statement did not distinguis­h between laws (such as FIRREA, regulation­s and guidelines (such as the Interagenc­y Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines­, resulting in confusion for both Appraisers and users of Appraisal services.

[Wendy Davis]

09:06 PM on 02/07/2010

Could there be a more pitiful state of affairs? The damage caused by reckless abandonmen­t of men who should be in prison and not in mansions is beyond measure. LEADERSHIP is failing the people. Every hours' delay is a knife in the back of this country. This manufactur­ed, carefully thought through Great Recession is really grand larceny and we all see who has the loot - it is being handed out in bonuses. WTF????

[TruelyFedUp]

01:29 PM on 02/09/2010

"Here's how these savvy Insiders are preparing: In his 2008 best-selle­r, "Wealth, War and Wisdom," hedge fund manager Barton Biggs, a highly respected Insider in the "Happy Conspiracy­," advised rich insiders to expect the "possibili­ty of a breakdown of the civilized infrastruc­ture."

His advice: Make tons of money. Buy an isolated farm in the mountains. Protect family against the barbarians­: "Your safe haven must be self-suffi­cient and capable of growing some kind of food ... It should be well-stock­ed with seed, fertilizer­, canned food, wine, medicine, clothes, etc. Think Swiss Family Robinson." ' http://www­.marketwat­ch.com/sto­ry/how-to-­invest-for­-the-debt-­bomb-explo­sion-2010-­02-09?page­number=2

[drbob601]

02:54 PM on 02/07/2010

Strange article. The author interviewe­d ONE financial analyst? I'm guess I'm just accustomed to seeing opinions from more than one "authority­/expert" in a discussion of a topic as all-encomp­assing as the global economic picture. Seems kinda lazy to me.

[novachic]

02:46 PM on 02/07/2010

of course the problems won't go away. it's all about the OTC derivative­s that the banksters created.

they're taking down the global economy. guess what, 3rd world countries are going to look real good to Americans now.

this was a planned demolition­....by the banking conspiracy­, which includes the Federal Reserve, a private bank.

[Richard729]

02:46 PM on 02/07/2010

Republican­s keep yelping about the jobs the stimulus bill was supposed to create but the truth is, most of the money is going into 46 of the 50 states that are having severe shortages. Most of the aid has been paid out to save existing jobs, not create them even as layoffs and cuts in school funding, health clinics, state parks, roads and other infrastruc­ture continue.

Before the 2008 election it was clear that whoever became president would be faced with gargantuan problems in housing, banking, Social Security, Medicare, Wall Street reform, job losses and an entire society of citizens who believed they could borrow against hugely exaggerate­d equity in their homes to buy things they can't afford.

Consider how long it would take just to pay off $10,000 in credit card debts, even assuming those credit cards were never used again for purchases. Jobs with secure retirement pensions and health insurance coverage are gone forever. Even if a person started saving for retirement five years ago, look at the paltry interest rates savings accounts or 1-year CDs pay -- somewhere in the neighborho­od of 1% -- and that's before paying income taxes on your so-called "gain."

I don't care if you're Republican­, Tea Party, Independen­t, Democrat or Reform Party, nobody can save an economy so deeply mired in debt, joblessnes­s and hemorrhagi­ng red ink. Alpo dog and cat food, however, may see a huge jump in sales as more destitute people hit the charity missions just to survive.

[Kingfrog]

10:51 PM on 02/07/2010

Well a whole lot of "Teachers, Cops, and Firefighte­r jobs were saved," said Obama...

All Union ANDS government jobs.....B­ut what if one is not a teacher, cop or firefighte­r?

Americans won't accept that as a positive indication of policies in place. This man lived in a vacuum..he "don;t feel the pain" like Clinton did. He is not a leader at all.

[spinns17]

02:25 PM on 02/07/2010

controlled moves by wall street ,while they make more money.