Yearly Archives: 2010

Are the Bank Foreclosure “Moratoriums” More PR than Real?

Bank of America announced a foreclosure halt in all 50 states; JP Morgan and GMAC have stopped in 23 judicial foreclosure states. Or have they? Florida is a judicial foreclosure state, and local reports suggest the banks are still moving forward with foreclosures. Note the inconsistencies between the statements of the bank employees versus the […]

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Guest Post: The Foreign Exchange Mystery

By Wallace C. Turbeville, former CEO of VMAC LLC and a former Vice President of Goldman, Sachs & Co, now Visiting Scholar at the Roosevelt Institute. Cross-posted from New Deal 2.0 Why would such a large swaps market be a possible exemption from FinReg? The traded foreign exchange market is the big enchilada. It is […]

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The Wheels Are Coming Off in MBS Land: All 50 State AGs Join Probe; Banks Abandoning MERS Foreclosures

I get on an airplane, and there are more dramatic developments by the time I land. Even though the headline item is the fact that the attorneys general in all 50 states are joining the mortgage fraud investigation, the real indicator that the banks are stressed is that they have started abandoning MERS, the electronic […]

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Banks Looking Further Than Robo Signers; “Lost Note” Affidavits a Point of Failure

As readers no doubt know, we’ve indicated from early on in the foreclosure crisis that problems with foreclosures of mortgages held by securitizations went well beyond the now well known “robo signer” issue. The most difficult to resolve and apparently widespread problem is the failure to convey the note (the borrower IOU) properly to the […]

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Links 10/13/10

Brazil urges fiscal measures – elsewhere beyondbrics Wall Street Journal ataca a España: "¿Es muy grande para caer o muy grande para salvar?" Cotizalia Why America is going to win the global currency battle Martin Wolf, FT (hat tip Swedish Lex) Italy’s crackdown on Gypsies reflects rising anti-immigrant tide in Europe WaPo (Xenophobia is increasing […]

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Antidote du Jour

Ed Harrison will graciously be providing proper Links later (I’m traveling today and have to be back up in four hours, and so a bit jammed), but I know e-mail subscribers get unhappy if they miss their Antidote du Jour, so I’m putting one up (Ed will have one in the proper Links later) with […]

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Banks “Nothing to See Here” Versus Grim Reality on Foreclosure Front

It’s time to resurrect that 1960s expression, “credibility gap,” since it applies so well to the bank and Administration posture towards the foreclosure mess. The banks continue to insist, despite the unheard specter of foreclosure freezes, that they just need to check some things and tweak some processes and they will be back to normal […]

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Title Insurance Woes Illustrate Liabilities of Foreclosure Mess Concentrated in TBTF Banks

There are so many fronts to the foreclosure crisis that it’s now becoming difficult to stay on top of all of them. One development Monday that didn’t get the attention it deserved is the fact that Bank of America is now eating title insurance liability on foreclosed properties sold by its servicer. Per Bloomberg: Bank […]

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Josh Rosner: “Could Violations of PSA’s Dwarf Lehman Weekend?”

Josh Rosner, a well respected bank analyst (he describes himself as “a recovering GSE analyst”) is circulating a client note and it takes the foreclosure crisis very seriously. The critical part is his discussion of the conveyance chain. As we indicated before, the minimum chain for a recent mortgage securitization is is A (originator) => […]

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Links 10/12/10

Bumblebees prefer stripy flowers BBC What Changes In Survival Rates Tell Us About US Health Care Health Affairs (hat tip reader Francois T) US warning to China on maritime rows Financial Times The Law is an Ass … Armed with Rockets Chris Floyd Universal Travel Group: the auditor resigns edition John Hempton No Margin of […]

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The Belgian mess (III)

Another little escalation of the pressure in Belgium. Via EuroIntelligence: The political situation in Belgium is becoming increasingly dramatic. After negotiations have broke down twice, the king asked for a new round of consultations to find a compromise over institutional reforms, possibly the last chance before organising new elections. Many expect that new elections would […]

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Auerback: You Can Thank Ben Bernanke for Higher Food Prices

By Marshall Auerback, a portfolio strategist and hedge fund manager who writes for New Deal 2.0 Although I have consistently taken the line that QE is totally useless, in effect an accounting trick which does little for real economic activity, I should have at least acknowledged its powers in terms of fomenting casino-like speculation in […]

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