Quoted: If they close your credit card account, do you still owe them the balance?  Do you have to continue to pay it down?  What happens? CJ

Pretty sure it just means that they want their money and they aren't loaning you any more.

Quoted: Quoted: The bank run has started. Coming soon to a local branch near you. I'd have called bullshit on you, but this week CitiBank closed my credit card account for no discernable reason.  They hold my mortgage, and I have never been late.  Never been late with a CC payment either.  I only owe 2500 on it, so it isn't a big deal.  I was declined on a purchace, and when I called I was told that Citi had closed the account.   When I started asking why, no reason was given, but the lady said that she had been getting a lot of calls like mine...   Shane

And so it starts...

I'm thinking about pulling my savings out in $1k increments starting this weekend.

Quoted: I'd have called bullshit on you, but this week CitiBank closed my credit card account for no discernable reason.  They hold my mortgage, and I have never been late.  Never been late with a CC payment either.  I only owe 2500 on it, so it isn't a big deal.  I was declined on a purchace, and when I called I was told that Citi had closed the account.   When I started asking why, no reason was given, but the lady said that she had been getting a lot of calls like mine...   Shane

That's fucked up, but with Citi, I'm not surprised.  They do what they want.

Quoted: If they close your credit card account, do you still owe them the balance?  Do you have to continue to pay it down?  What happens? CJ

Same thing that happens if you choose to close an account with a balance.  You continue to pay according to the terms in effect at the time of cancellation, until the balance in paid in full.  

Remember, kids, hyperinflation serves the banks interests in the long run.  

They will get a free pass with the "reset" button.

I am just a bit annoyed that the free market isn't allowed to do its thing - if Stearns went under, maybe other banks would WAKE THE FUCK UP AND STOP MAING STUPID LOANS.

This is a horrible crisis.

I going to the grocery store tonight to hoard bread, milk, Busch Light and Cap'n Crunch.

If my bank is FDIC insured, why would it matter if my bank goes under?

If the crisis is truly so bad that the FDIC cannot insure my bank account, then wouldn't this crisis be on par with the Great Depression?

Quoted: If my bank is FDIC insured, why would it matter if my bank goes under? If the crisis is truly so bad that the FDIC cannot insure my bank account, then wouldn't this crisis be on par with the Great Depression?

The problem will be how long will it take to get your money from the .gov.  You might need it well before they feel any need to get it to you.

The FDIC came about from the Great Depression, so if a lot of banks did fail (hypothetically) and the FDIC money was slow to come, then things could get bad I suppose.

Come on guys, don't start an internet run on banks.

Relax, we are adjusting to the excesses of the easy credit days, Bear Stearns is not even a commercial bank, but an Investment Bank.

Quoted: The economy is getting ready to implode because greedy mortgage brokers were lending hundreds of thousands of dollars a pop to known deadbeats on homes & property worth %25 of their selling price, and the fiscally irresponsible deadbeats didn't mind paying insane prices with someone elses money that was handed out to themwithout making them verify their income. Now the deadbeats can't pay and the domino effect is under way. The mortgage holders can't get their money from the deadbeats and the major banks that loaned money to the mortgage holders can't get their money either. The mortgages themselves have become almost worthless because housing prices are falling through the floor. Basically, money is disappearing into thin air and no one can pay back what they owe everyone else. To top it all off the feds are trying to encourage more borrowing by printing more money and lowering interest rates. That money is becoming worthless too because foreign investors are bailing on the dollar as if it were the Titanic, and domestic investors don't know whether to shit or go blind. That's my understanding of it.

Happened a few years back on a smaller scale with revolving credit in some industries. Basically lenders handed out money to people with questionable credit to buy consumer goods, many unsecured i.e. the financed item didn't serve as collateral. The end result was a high level of default. Where the goods were repossesed, lenders were unable to recover much of the secured value. End result, folks with shaky credit, now had bad credit. The lender had a loss, and the revolving credit market got tight with higher interest rates and a narrow margin of approval.

I think what you'll see with the mortgage situation in the future is higher downpayments, higher interest, and alot lower loan values with loan values tied to personal income as it should be.

What's going to be interesting is the fallout in the mortgage insurance industry.

Quoted: Happened a few years back on a smaller scale with revolving credit in some industries. Basically lenders handed out money to people with questionable credit to buy consumer goods, many unsecured i.e. the financed item didn't serve as collateral. The end result was a high level of default. Where the goods were repossesed, lenders were unable to recover much of the secured value. End result, folks with shaky credit, now had bad credit. The lender had a loss, and the revolving credit market got tight with higher interest rates and a narrow margin of approval. I think what you'll see with the mortgage situation in the future is higher downpayments, higher interest, and alot lower loan values with loan values tied to personal income as it should be. What's going to be interesting is the fallout in the mortgage insurance industry.

Exactly how it was before this 'subprime' phenom started...

Quoted: Can someone explain to me what the hell is going on?

Americas glutony is catching up?

Quoted: Quoted: Can someone explain to me what the hell is going on? Americas glutony is cathing up?

Exactly.

What I love is that all the liquidity(read Money) is being pumped into the financial institutions to ease up the "Credit Crunch".  Credit Crunch meaning tighter requirements such as having good credit to qualify for a loan.  They want to ease the tighter requirements so more people can borrow more money.  Yeah,borrowing more money and incurring more debt will fix the problem of being in debt to much and not being able to pay your bills.  You guys following this logic??  It is all sheer MADNESS !!

Quoted: Quoted: If you go get cash out of the bank before they begin to fail like the Bear/Stearn to bring home just make sure it is less than $5,000 per transaction as they call anything over that into the feds and they will probably call it drug money and come try and get you to slow down the withdrawals.It is not going to be people jumping out of windows this depression it will be two or three crooked fucks at the top of each company taking what is left.     I am going buying a gun or two and ammo tommorrow and some staple foods and bottled water,all on credit cards,if they are all busted who will they have to come collect the money?  Financial Armageddon.........I like that line just heard on Tv So your response to a credit crisis is to borrow more money? The only think worse that the hysteria in this thread is how misleading the title is.

You have to remember that a substantial protion of Arfcom wants society to collapse so that they can live out their Wolverines/SHTF fantasies... These posts are like dropping a vial of blood in a Pirhanna tank...Of course half of them would probably die in SHTF from a lack of insulin shots, judging by some previous posted pics....

Quoted: Come on guys, don't start an internet run on banks. Relax, we are adjusting to the excesses of the easy credit days, Bear Stearns is not even a commercial bank, but an Investment Bank.

I was going to post that, but you beat me to it.

There are consequences for your actions. The greedy bastards are ruining this country for their own personal gain. I imagine their Lear jets are warmed up to jet out if things really go south. America is up for sale now. CHEAP

Just incase...

tag

HH

You have to remember that a substantial protion of Arfcom wants society to collapse so that they can live out their Wolverines/SHTF fantasies... hinking.gif These posts are like dropping a vial of blood in a Pirhanna tank...Of course half of them would probably die in SHTF from a lack of insulin shots, judging by some previous posted pics....

Let's start a pool.  How much bonus did the CEO take out last week?

I call $30 million.

Quoted: Just incase... img297.imageshack.us/img297/8521/zombiebunkerhz9.jpg

.17 HMR is only going to enrage zombies. Dinking their rotting noggins ain't gonna get the job done, you need something that will make their heads splode like a punkin full of tannerite.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Can someone explain to me what the hell is going on? The economy is getting ready to implode because mortgage brokers were lending hundreds of thousands of dollars a pop to known deadbeats without making them verify their income. Now the deadbeats can't pay and the domino effect is under way. The mortgage holders can't get their money from the deadbeats and the major banks that loaned money to the mortgage holders can't get their money either. The mortgages themselves have become almost worthless because housing prices are falling through the floor. Basically, money is disappearing into thin air and no one can pay back what they owe everyone else. To top it all off the feds are trying to encourage more borrowing by printing more money and lowering interest rates. That money is becoming worthless too because foreign investors are bailing on the dollar as if it were the Titanic, and domestic investors don't know whether to shit or go blind. That's my understanding of it. Try not to forget that the government got us into this by getting requiring the banks to lend more to low-income people.

Banks refusing to loan money to folks that had no business buying a home? Thats discrimination and not FAIR!

Quoted: Quoted: You know it's hit the fan when the Federal Reserve pumps hundreds of billions of our dollars into the markets and financial institutions to prop them up artificially.  We already have a national debt that should be the largest in history.  This just digs the hole deeper.  Jeez,years ago it was my understanding that the U.S. was already in so much debt that we mathmatically could never pay it off(read Bankrupt).  So now I guess we are somewhere beyond bankrupt. Just more reasons to keep a strong military.  Letem come get their money !! 5sub

They won't have to.  They'll just stop loaning it to us and the nation will come to a grinding halt when there is no money to hand out.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: You know it's hit the fan when the Federal Reserve pumps hundreds of billions of our dollars into the markets and financial institutions to prop them up artificially.  We already have a national debt that should be the largest in history.  This just digs the hole deeper.  Jeez,years ago it was my understanding that the U.S. was already in so much debt that we mathmatically could never pay it off(read Bankrupt).  So now I guess we are somewhere beyond bankrupt. Just more reasons to keep a strong military.  Letem come get their money !! 5sub They won't have to.  They'll just stop loaning it to us and the nation will come to a grinding halt when there is no money to hand out.

No more Starbucks coffee while using up the minutes on the cell phone in the leased BMW, darn...

Quoted: Quoted: If you go get cash out of the bank before they begin to fail like the Bear/Stearn to bring home just make sure it is less than $5,000 per transaction as they call anything over that into the feds and they will probably call it drug money and come try and get you to slow down the withdrawals.It is not going to be people jumping out of windows this depression it will be two or three crooked fucks at the top of each company taking what is left.     I am going buying a gun or two and ammo tommorrow and some staple foods and bottled water,all on credit cards,if they are all busted who will they have to come collect the money?  Financial Armageddon.........I like that line just heard on Tv So your response to a credit crisis is to borrow more money? The only think worse that the hysteria in this thread is how misleading the title is.

I beg your royal pardon, this week the CEO said it wasn't in trouble, they had money, didn't know where those false rumors came from blah blah blah and now they're tits up (effectively).



GR

Quoted: Quoted: Come on guys, don't start an internet run on banks. Relax, we are adjusting to the excesses of the easy credit days, Bear Stearns is not even a commercial bank, but an Investment Bank. I was going to post that, but you beat me to it.

They're not the only one sucking wind........


GR

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: If you go get cash out of the bank before they begin to fail like the Bear/Stearn to bring home just make sure it is less than $5,000 per transaction as they call anything over that into the feds and they will probably call it drug money and come try and get you to slow down the withdrawals.It is not going to be people jumping out of windows this depression it will be two or three crooked fucks at the top of each company taking what is left.     I am going buying a gun or two and ammo tommorrow and some staple foods and bottled water,all on credit cards,if they are all busted who will they have to come collect the money?  Financial Armageddon.........I like that line just heard on Tv So your response to a credit crisis is to borrow more money? The only think worse that the hysteria in this thread is how misleading the title is. I beg your royal pardon, this week the CEO said it wasn't in trouble, they had money, blah blah blah and now they're tits up. GR

The rumors caused a panic run on the 'investment' bank.

i an am more worried when GD here is loaded up with 'I am pulling my '15k savings' out of Wachovia or some credit union to buy 'gold' or 'silver'

Quoted: Top execs already cleaned house. Bear Stearns CEO made over $120 million over the past 5 years. So what if his stock is worthless? Who really thinks he reinvested his own income in his company.

Worth every penny, those executives

Quoted: If my bank is FDIC insured, why would it matter if my bank goes under?

FDIC doesn't insure every depositor in the USA.  You know what a liability that would be?  They are actually able to insure a relatively small number of depositors, in order to instill confidence and security.  Banks are now more nation-wide and diversified so there's not as big a chance of a lot of them everywhere going under.

But FDIC can only cover a small amount of depositors if they ever made a claim.  If it could for as many as 5% nationally, I would be amazed.

Quoted: Quoted: If my bank is FDIC insured, why would it matter if my bank goes under? FDIC doesn't insure every depositor in the USA.  You know what a liability that would be?  They are actually able to insure a relatively small number of depositors, in order to instill confidence and security.  Banks are now more nation-wide and diversified so there's not as big a chance of a lot of them everywhere going under. But FDIC can only cover a small amount of depositors if they ever made a claim.  If it could for as many as 5% nationally, I would be amazed.

Thanks for helping to cause mass hystaria..

My guess is after a weekend of this on arfcom, a total of 2000 checking acounts with a grand total of $200k will be closed.

I still have some gold to sell if any of you guys are intrested.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: If my bank is FDIC insured, why would it matter if my bank goes under? FDIC doesn't insure every depositor in the USA.  You know what a liability that would be?  They are actually able to insure a relatively small number of depositors, in order to instill confidence and security.  Banks are now more nation-wide and diversified so there's not as big a chance of a lot of them everywhere going under. But FDIC can only cover a small amount of depositors if they ever made a claim.  If it could for as many as 5% nationally, I would be amazed. Thanks for helping to cause mass hystaria.. My guess is after a weekend of this on arfcom, a total of 2000 checking acounts with a grand total of $200k will be closed. I still have some gold to sell if any of you guys are intrested.

What is the location of said gold? GPS coords appreciated.

As far as runs on the bank - pretty worthless, from where I sit - taking out money that is about to be hyperinflated...

Quoted: Quoted: If my bank is FDIC insured, why would it matter if my bank goes under? FDIC doesn't insure every depositor in the USA.  You know what a liability that would be?  They are actually able to insure a relatively small number of depositors, in order to instill confidence and security.  Banks are now more nation-wide and diversified so there's not as big a chance of a lot of them everywhere going under.

All it takes is one of the TBTF banks going under to bring the whole system crashing down.  Banks are larger and more diversified, but the same thing that spreads out risk also interconnects risk.  This is why the government stepped in to save Bear Stearns.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: If my bank is FDIC insured, why would it matter if my bank goes under? FDIC doesn't insure every depositor in the USA.  You know what a liability that would be?  They are actually able to insure a relatively small number of depositors, in order to instill confidence and security.  Banks are now more nation-wide and diversified so there's not as big a chance of a lot of them everywhere going under. All it takes is one of the TBTF banks going under to bring the whole system crashing down.  Banks are larger and more diversified, but the same thing that spreads out risk also interconnects risk.  This is why the government stepped in to save Bear Stearns.

Thanks for the 'expert' analysis....

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Can someone explain to me what the hell is going on? The economy is getting ready to implode because mortgage brokers were lending hundreds of thousands of dollars a pop to known deadbeats without making them verify their income. Now the deadbeats can't pay and the domino effect is under way. The mortgage holders can't get their money from the deadbeats and the major banks that loaned money to the mortgage holders can't get their money either. The mortgages themselves have become almost worthless because housing prices are falling through the floor. Basically, money is disappearing into thin air and no one can pay back what they owe everyone else. To top it all off the feds are trying to encourage more borrowing by printing more money and lowering interest rates. That money is becoming worthless too because foreign investors are bailing on the dollar as if it were the Titanic, and domestic investors don't know whether to shit or go blind. That's my understanding of it. Try not to forget that the DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS government got us into this by getting the banks to lend more to low-income people.

Fixed.

Quoted: Quoted: All it takes is one of the TBTF banks going under to bring the whole system crashing down.  Banks are larger and more diversified, but the same thing that spreads out risk also interconnects risk.  This is why the government stepped in to save Bear Stearns. Thanks for the 'expert' analysis....

Ok, Einstein, you tell me why the government stepped in and bailed out Bear Stearns?

Hedge funds fleeing Bear's prime broker business
Fri Mar 14, 2008 8:44pm EDT  Email | Print | Share| Reprints | Single Page| Recommend (2) [-] Text [+] Video
Bear Stearns gets Fed lifeline
 
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Even the backing of the New York Federal Reserve and JPMorgan Chase can't keep hedge funds from fleeing Bear Stearns' once-vaunted brokerage division.

Some hedge funds that have regularly traded with Bear over the years say they are shifting to other prime brokers, fearing they won't be able to get their cash and securities out of the bank if it were to be forced to file for bankruptcy.

"To the extent that we had balances at Bear, we moved them away in the last 10 days," said a senior executive at a $1 billion New York-based hedge fund, who like others asked to remain anonymous. "If they fail, we will have trouble getting out our cash and securities, and we are not alone in doing that."

Hedge funds use prime brokerage divisions to execute trades, borrow money and other services with larger funds using multiple brokers. Bear has long been among the top prime brokers, along with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Lately, UBS, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and others have been making big inroads into the lucrative market for serving growing legions of hedge funds.

But since rumors of liquidity problems at Bear Stearns, began circulating in recent weeks, large hedge funds say they have been moving their business elsewhere. Several cited the example of Refco, the futures broker that abruptly went bankrupt in 2005, leaving thousands of clients scrambling for cash and securities held in margin accounts.

"There is no one in their right mind who is primed with Bear would keep their money there," said a portfolio manager at a $6 billion New York hedge fund. "The risk (of a Bear failure) is pretty low, but if something goes wrong all of a sudden you can't get your money out."

Bear is facing major problems in other parts of this business during its credit crisis.

Financial market traders across London have been told by their firms to stop dealing with Bear Stearns. At least six major institutions in London -- including Commerzbank, Royal Bank of Scotland and JPMorgan -- had stopped giving prices to the U.S. bank, a credit trader at one European institution in London, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.

Credit Suisse had also stopped trading with Bear Stearns, a London-based equities broker said.

None of the institutions named by the traders would comment on the subject when contacted by Reuters.

A London-based government bond trader said banks had been withdrawing from transactions with Bear Stearns since Thursday.

Bear, which on Friday said it lined up emergency financing from the New York Federal Reserve and JPMorgan Chase, has been servicing hedge funds for several decades, since the early days of the industry that has grown to some 10,000 funds with $1.9 trillion in assets.

The chief executive of Bear, Alan Schwartz, on a conference call on Friday, said: "I think this is a bridge to a permanent solution." He said the lending facility is sufficient for Bear to fund its daily activities, conduct "business as usual."

One wealthy investor, who holds stakes in a half-dozen hedge funds, said he is confident his managers are avoiding using Bear for prime brokerage services for now, even though he is betting Bear will survive its current crisis.

"Any risk manager worth their salt should be thinking long and hard about switching," said the investor. "If Bear is holding the securities and Bear goes under, you may have legal wrangling to get those securities back. You become a general creditor of Bear."

Representatives of Bear Stearns could not immediately be reached for comment.

(Additional reporting by Natalie Harrison, Christina Fincher, Mike Dolan and Anna Stablum in London, Peter Starck in Frankfurt, and Richard Leong and Chris Reese in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Quoted: I posted in the other thread I worked there from 1998-2001. There are a lot of good people there that I will feel bad for, because they work very hard there and don't make the kinds of decisions that brought BS to this. I predict JP Morgan or someone else will scoop them up for pennies on the dollar. One thing I do like though, is Cayne (who had over a billion $ worth of BS stock before the meltdown started, will probably lose most of that paper wealth).

I figure this is part of the deal they worked out w/ the Feds when they went Dutch on the bailout.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: If my bank is FDIC insured, why would it matter if my bank goes under? FDIC doesn't insure every depositor in the USA.  You know what a liability that would be?  They are actually able to insure a relatively small number of depositors, in order to instill confidence and security.  Banks are now more nation-wide and diversified so there's not as big a chance of a lot of them everywhere going under. But FDIC can only cover a small amount of depositors if they ever made a claim.  If it could for as many as 5% nationally, I would be amazed. Thanks for helping to cause mass hystaria.. My guess is after a weekend of this on arfcom, a total of 2000 checking acounts with a grand total of $200k will be closed. I still have some gold to sell if any of you guys are intrested.

Thanks for having a brain raven makes an excellent point regarding the FDIC.  And IMO if you don't have a fair amount of cash on hand you are a fool; trusting a Bank to give you your entire account if you needed it is stupid.  Most banks will require a 2-3 day window to cash you out in good times if your account is large; just think if there were a real emergency.  

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Can someone explain to me what the hell is going on? The economy is getting ready to implode because mortgage brokers were lending hundreds of thousands of dollars a pop to known deadbeats without making them verify their income. Now the deadbeats can't pay and the domino effect is under way. The mortgage holders can't get their money from the deadbeats and the major banks that loaned money to the mortgage holders can't get their money either. The mortgages themselves have become almost worthless because housing prices are falling through the floor. Basically, money is disappearing into thin air and no one can pay back what they owe everyone else. That's my understanding of it. Actually, Bear Stearns has been a bunch of shitheads for many years now.  They have had iffy business practices for at least 8 years.  I have first hand experience with this.  They are assclowns.  Let them go down the shitter.

They flew me up to New York a few years ago for an interview for a regional sales  position (no kidding, about eight years ago, come to think of it). I got close. but no cigar. When the headhunter who sent me there, called me to tell me the other guy got the offer, I was ready for him.

I told him in no uncertain terms "Actually, Bear Stearns has been a bunch of shitheads for many years now.  They're beginning some really iffy business practices that ought to last at least 8 years. They are assclowns.  Let them go down the shitter."

At least I think I told him something like that.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: If my bank is FDIC insured, why would it matter if my bank goes under? FDIC doesn't insure every depositor in the USA.  You know what a liability that would be?  They are actually able to insure a relatively small number of depositors, in order to instill confidence and security.  Banks are now more nation-wide and diversified so there's not as big a chance of a lot of them everywhere going under. But FDIC can only cover a small amount of depositors if they ever made a claim.  If it could for as many as 5% nationally, I would be amazed. Thanks for helping to cause mass hystaria.. My guess is after a weekend of this on arfcom, a total of 2000 checking acounts with a grand total of $200k will be closed. I still have some gold to sell if any of you guys are intrested. Thanks for having a brain raven makes an excellent point regarding the FDIC.  And IMO if you don't have a fair amount of cash on hand you are a fool; trusting a Bank to give you your entire account if you needed it is stupid.  Most banks will require a 2-3 day window to cash you out in good times if your account is large; just think if there were a real emergency.

Banks only keep a small fraction of cash compared to total deposits.  There is no reason to anymore, or so I am told.

Quoted: Come on guys, don't start an internet run on banks. Relax, we are adjusting to the excesses of the easy credit days, Bear Stearns is not even a commercial bank, but an Investment Bank.

Yes.  I was careful to make this point when I was explaining all of this to my wife earlier, who had this sort of blank look on her face and seemed to only get "It's the End of the World" from everything she heard.

I don't know if it helped, though.

Quoted: Just incase... img297.imageshack.us/img297/8521/zombiebunkerhz9.jpg

Holy shit, I gotta git me one o' themz!

Quoted: Banks only keep a small fraction of cash compared to total deposits.  There is no reason to anymore, or so I am told.

All I know is a few weeks ago all the employees at my local branch were replaced. People I knew for at least 10 years. Poof. Gone.


Coincidence?

Quoted: Can someone explain to me what the hell is going on?

Investment bank (note: Not the 'local branch' type) had a few high-risk mutual funds go tits-up...

To avoid going bankrupt, they secured 200mil from Chase & the NY Federal Reserve Bank

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Can someone explain to me what the hell is going on? The economy is getting ready to implode because mortgage brokers were lending hundreds of thousands of dollars a pop to known deadbeats without making them verify their income. Now the deadbeats can't pay and the domino effect is under way. The mortgage holders can't get their money from the deadbeats and the major banks that loaned money to the mortgage holders can't get their money either. The mortgages themselves have become almost worthless because housing prices are falling through the floor. Basically, money is disappearing into thin air and no one can pay back what they owe everyone else. That's my understanding of it. Actually, Bear Stearns has been a bunch of shitheads for many years now.  They have had iffy business practices for at least 8 years.  I have first hand experience with this.  They are assclowns.  Let them go down the shitter. They flew me up to New York a few years ago for an interview for a regional sales  position (no kidding, about eight years ago, come to think of it). I got close. but no cigar. When the headhunter who sent me there, called me to tell me the other guy got the offer, I was ready for him. I told him in no uncertain terms "Actually, Bear Stearns has been a bunch of shitheads for many years now.  They're beginning some really iffy business practices that ought to last at least 8 years. They are assclowns.  Let them go down the shitter." At least I think I told him something like that.

If you want to hear a really interesting story, I have one for you.  Myself and 12 others made Bear Stearns our bitch in court.  Fraudulant Fuckers.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Can someone explain to me what the hell is going on? The economy is getting ready to implode because mortgage brokers were lending hundreds of thousands of dollars a pop to known deadbeats without making them verify their income. Now the deadbeats can't pay and the domino effect is under way. The mortgage holders can't get their money from the deadbeats and the major banks that loaned money to the mortgage holders can't get their money either. The mortgages themselves have become almost worthless because housing prices are falling through the floor. Basically, money is disappearing into thin air and no one can pay back what they owe everyone else. To top it all off the feds are trying to encourage more borrowing by printing more money and lowering interest rates. That money is becoming worthless too because foreign investors are bailing on the dollar as if it were the Titanic, and domestic investors don't know whether to shit or go blind. That's my understanding of it. Try not to forget that the government got us into this by getting requiring the banks to lend more to low-income people. Banks refusing to loan money to folks that had no business buying a home? Thats discrimination and not FAIR!

About 6-12 months ago, I posted a study here which showed that the "home ownership for all" theory might actually be hurting some people, especially in the lower- and lower-middle classes.

For one thing, it can really hurt their upward mobility if they're locked into a home in CityA and get offered a better job in CityB.