The Face of the Mortgage Meltdown and the Great Economic Collapse of 2008

Two McCain aides lobbied for ’shady’ mortgage lender.»

On Friday, the Politico reported that the past anti-regulatory and lobbying efforts of one of Sen. John McCain’s top economic advisers, former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, “contributed significantly to today’s economic turmoil.” Today, the New York Daily News reports “that two of his top advisers were recently lobbyists for a notorious lender in the mortgage meltdown“:

John Green, the senator’s chief liaison to Congress, and Wayne Berman, his national finance co-chairman, billed more than $720,000 in lobbying fees from 2005 through last year to Ameriquest Mortgage through their lobbying firm, disclosure forms reviewed by the Daily News show.

Ameriquest, which since has been bought out, was forced to settle suits with 49 states for $325 million. More than 13,680 New York homeowners got taken for a ride by the company, records show.

“They would be defined as the most blatant and aggressive predatory lenders out of everybody,” said Bruce Marks, head of the nonprofit Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America.
»

Link



[edit on 9/27/08 by BlackOps719]


Once more for those who may have missed it on page one.


Does anyone have any comment on this at all?

reply to post by BlackOps719


It is very easy to go after aides.

Obama Adviser Resigns as Loans Surface

Mr. Johnson, who led mortgage buyer Fannie Mae from 1991 to 1998, received more than $5 million in loans from Countrywide that were arranged outside its normal underwriting process, according to loan records and people with knowledge of the transactions.

A Democratic power broker who remains a paid consultant to Fannie Mae, Mr. Johnson was a major beneficiary of a Countrywide program known as "Friends of Angelo," which arranged loans for friends of Chairman and Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo at attractive rates.

In December 2006, Fannie Mae disclosed that Mr. Johnson was receiving annual consulting fees of $300,000. A spokesman for Fannie Mae, Chuck Greener, said Wednesday that Mr. Johnson remains a consultant but declined to discuss his pay. "In this housing crisis, Jim Johnson is a valuable resource to our company," Mr. Greener said.

I don't think there is a single politician on the planet who has questionable aides.

But the real meat is in the Congressional record. McCain signed on to the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005. He and others tried to head off the mess we are experiencing today. Amazingly, many in the media and many others are purposefully ignorant of this fact. They are also ignorant of the fact that the democrats blocked it.

www.bloomberg.com...

If that bill had become law, then the world today would be different. In 2005, 2006 and 2007, a blizzard of terrible mortgage paper fluttered out of the Fannie and Freddie clouds, burying many of our oldest and most venerable institutions. Without their checkbooks keeping the market liquid and buying up excess supply, the market would likely have not existed. But the bill didn't become law, for a simple reason: Democrats opposed it on a party-line vote in the committee, signaling that this would be a partisan issue. Republicans, tied in knots by the tight Democratic opposition, couldn't even get the Senate to vote on the matter.

And yet the democrats can keep on droning the "failed economic policies" of Bush thing on a constant basis. I have no idea how the democrats are getting away with this and I have no idea how the republicans are not getting any credit. It is as if it were somehow subhuman to give a republican (save for Ron Paul) credit on anything.

So while it is fun to play with aides whether it be John Green or Jim Johnson, it is more relevant to see what the candidates did on the issues. As far as I can tell, McCain tried to get some reform in to avoid today's train wreck while Obama endlessly calls McCains past "failed economic policies" when in reality it is failed Democrat party line judgment.

I think it would be very interesting to investigate more into what Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were trying to do with the housing economy. Did Fannie and Freddie force banks to lend to people who couldn't afford their loans? Did Fannie and Freddie insure Ameriquest and other sub prime loans? If they did, no wonder Ameriquest people were so damn greedy and no wonder they pushed loans. I wonder if Ameriquest was forced to provide loans to people who couldn't afford them.

Well, the bailout plan may be a good idea...But, I have to say its goimg to be very very bad for the value of the US dollar.

Next year, the US will perhaps convert their currency to EUROS because the dollar will not be enough to produce.

The dollar will equal to ZERO against all major currencies.
The US dollar will NOT exist by next year or so. The dollar is going to sink like the Titanic....

This is very true and this my prediction

Please, any opinions needed.

What I'm getting tired of is peope blaming the consumers for what was pure criminality from these so-called stalwart institutions.

First of all most of those subprime loans weren't taken by people "trying to get more than they could afford."

Most of those loans went to people getting doublewides, mobile homes, modulars and single family homes.

Is it their fault they were charged hundreds of thousands of dollars for homes it took 20 to 50 grand to build?

People deserved homes. What they didn't desrve was to be lied to, forced into higher interest rates and tantalyzed buy "exotic" mortgage schemes just to have a place to live.

I've read of instances where people were coerced into buying $5,000 dollar trailers with a mortgage of over $60,000 not including accumilating interest. And they never got the chance to live in the place because it was unliveable.

Sure there are "special" people in this world who shouldn't be entering into contracts.

But does that make it alright to take advantage of people--most of whom look up to these bankers and brokers like they do doctors and preachers.

It was criminal amoral bull#--through and through.

And there's no one to blame but the ones who benefitted from it.

What about world savings and what they did ?
At the signing of our loan docs we found out we had a neg am loan !
not once did any one tell us before this did we know at the time we had to sign up are lose are house!

Looks to me like Roland Arnall = scapegoat.

Yes, it seems as though he has helped perpetuate this house of cards and made a fortune off of it.

On the other hand, this is shown on ABC (msm) I would guess with the intent to mislead.

the main players in this will remain behind the scenes, while guys like this, who claw and scratch their way up, regardless of who they have to step on, will be thrown to the dogs.

I'm not sure if anyone already said this (sorry i didnt finish the movie or posts) but i would expect some indictments headed his way.

reply to post by BlackOps719



Mariano was in our office in Miramar...he was actually a good guy in my book but was very aggressive.. it was World domination!!!!!!!!

[edit on 28-9-2008 by thefreepatriot]

reply to post by Neutron580


But you had a 3 day right of reccission... you could have canceled the deal.. Unless it was a purchase? Regardless you can now switch to fixed.. give wachovia a call and tell them you want to covert the loan to a fixed.. Should get a good rate. the fee to do this last I checked was $250

Originally posted by infocon_delta
Well, the bailout plan may be a good idea...But, I have to say its goimg to be very very bad for the value of the US dollar.

Next year, the US will perhaps convert their currency to EUROS because the dollar will not be enough to produce.

The dollar will equal to ZERO against all major currencies.
The US dollar will NOT exist by next year or so. The dollar is going to sink like the Titanic....

This is very true and this my prediction

Please, any opinions needed.

This is also my fear.


What happens when money is printed and printed to the point of super inflation? What will we all do when the green paper that we strive so hard to have attained becomes virtually worthless? When interest rates on home loans go back to being 14% and the price of a gallon of gas tetters at over $9 USD?

There are so many various reasons why I detest the notion of this bail out, but the destruction of the currency is one of the most important reasons IMO.

I still think that this is all a set up devised to crash our economic system so that we will all be primed for what is to follow.

The world bankers wont have to force the NAU or the Amero on to Americans, by the time they are done manipulating our economy and devalueing our currency we will be the ones begging for THEM to step in and save us all.

Quite brilliant really. Purposefully evil, yes. But brilliant none the less.

Originally posted by thefreepatriot
reply to post by BlackOps719

 

Mariano was in our office in Miramar...he was actually a good guy in my book but was very aggressive.. it was World domination!!!!!!!!

[edit on 28-9-2008 by thefreepatriot]

Mariano is the biggest crook and fraudster I have ever met. He was Rolands lap dog.

He and that female dog in heat Mary Jo should both be tied to an ant hill and basted in mollasses for what they have done to so many innocent and hard working home owners.

Continuous Improvement.......only if you are a career criminal


Do the right thing.

I think it would be very interesting to investigate more into what Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were trying to do with the housing economy. Did Fannie and Freddie force banks to lend to people who couldn't afford their loans?

reply to post by wutone


No, the CRA (Community Reinvestment Act 1979, Jimmy Carter) forced the banks to lower their lending standards. The CRA, passed by a liberal congress and signed by Carter is the culpret in this entire collapse. The banks and credit institutions simply went into competition for the loans and put themselves into jepardy and breaking rules in the process (like Ameriquest).

Here is how Fannie and Freddie were involved: From The Government Did It

The government has promoted bad loans not just through the stick of the CRA but through the carrot of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which purchase, securitize and guarantee loans made by lenders and whose debt is itself implicitly guaranteed by the federal government. This setup created an easy, artificial profit opportunity for lenders to wrap up bundles of subprime loans and sell them to a government-backed buyer whose primary mandate was to "promote homeownership," not to apply sound lending standards.

and:

Of course, lenders not only sold billions of dollars in suspect loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, contributing to their present debacle, they also retained some subprime loans themselves and sold others to Wall Street--leading to the huge banking losses we have been witnessing for months. Is this, then, a free market failure? Again, no.

Also
The Government Did It (caused this financial crisis/ bailout)

So to summerize: Liberal congress and president passed CRA, several times Republicans including George W. and McCain tried to reform CRA but couldn't because liberals like Barney Franks and Pelosi accused them of being racist and bigots and they backed off and never were able to get anything passed. (the catch 22.. noone wants to be called racist so legislative paralysis). Similar thing is happening in Great Brittain eg Northern Rock bank failure due subprime collapse. Many world markets have money in the US subprime market so this may be a world market collapse not just US.

What did Pelosi do today? She has had the democratic votes for a week to pass her bill to bail out all the banks but wants some Republicans to join them. So just before the vote she gives a speach bashing the failed policies of Bush and the Republicans. The Republicans are rightly furious. Her bill fails. The markets plummet. Billions are lost from our retirement accounts today and more to follow tomorrow. Did Pelosi want Americans to bleed unnecessarily? Apparently! Bloody awful politics IMHO.

I have no pity for these people. Sales people are known to do what they have to do to close the deal. Same thing as car salesman or anyone else.

No one stuck of gun to these homeowners and made them sign the papers. Everything is written in black and white. If they can't aford the homes or want to pay for the fees, then don't do it or go somewhere else. Now, they tried to point the blame on the mortgage companies when they practically beg for a loan. They are just as much at fault as anyone else.

People need to take responsibility for their choices.




[edit on 30-9-2008 by amfirst]

I think it is all part of the plan to impel the American people into begging for 'change'. That change being full operating members of the "New World Order" with the euro as our currency, subject to the new world government and no longer an autonomous democracy. Basically, part of a potential world dictatorship with the appearance of cooperating countries working together.

Remember Bush Jr. did say not so long ago that a new government was now in operation in our country. (Only he worded it differently).

reply to post by wutone


Imagine buying a home for the first time - you send all your w-2's and statements to your mortgage guy and he tells you everything looks great and your good to go.

So you cancel the lease on your apartment, pack up all your stuff in boxes, invite your friends and relatives to help you move, take a half day off of work to sign papers.

Then you show up to sign papers and the closing agent rushes you through it with any excuse they can use - they've got to get to their kids ballgame. There's another appointment coming in - they'll say anything. And you don't know any different b/c this is the FIRST TIME you've obtained a mortgage.

You're excited about moving in and you trust the mortgage broker you've been talking to this whole time. You've got no reason to suspect anything is up. I think it's really disingenuous to put the same amount of blame on the borrowers, they signed to the deal in NAIVETE, the brokers in many cases ENGINEERED and purposefully falsified statements to make it fit.

We just sold our first home and moved into a new one. I was looking at our mortgage documents from our first home purchase just before we sold it and I was SHOCKED at the things that were on the application. Our broker had doubled our monthly income and put us in a 10 year interest only ARM! When we got the loan I didn't even know to look for stuff like that. I'm really glad to be rid of it - or else we may have ended up in the second wave of foreclosures.

It's like comparing someone jay-walking across a deserted road (the home buyer) against a serial bank robber (the crooked brokers). There's really no comparison. Sure they both broke the law, but one did it intentionally and with intent to gain from it and get away with it.

Originally posted by amfirst
I have no pity for these people. Sales people are known to do what they have to do to close the deal. Same thing as car salesman or anyone else.

No one stuck of gun to these homeowners and made them sign the papers. Everything is written in black and white. If they can't aford the homes or want to pay for the fees, then don't do it or go somewhere else. Now, they tried to point the blame on the mortgage companies when they practically beg for a loan. They are just as much at fault as anyone else.

People need to take responsibility for their choices.




[edit on 30-9-2008 by amfirst]

Did you not read this thread?

Let me tell you from someone who knows what has happened here first hand, you could not be more incorrect.

I suggest you go to the link provided in the OP to Ripoff Report.com.....track back to early 2004 and read forward all of the horror stories of fraud and abuse and down right treachery.

These people are not making these stories up, they were fleeced. Read the posts by current and ex Ameriquest employees detailing how the con was perpetrated.

Blaming the home owners for the mortgage collapse is similar to blaming the Jewish people for the holocaust.


Deny ignorance....read and research for yourself.

reply to post by BlackOps719


I said everybody is at fault.

I was part of the business for 5 years. Believe me, I know first hand more than all these wanna be professional think they know. The majority of the lenders are stricter than people would believe. It's those little peons workers that commited all crime trying to get their bills paid. They know it's not their company and license, so they didn't give a damn because in the end it's the big boys will go down not them.

The lenders have a guideline and rules that they follow and they have underwriters to make sure that it's being followed. If it's not being followed u can bet the underwriters get replace as soon as u know it. It's the agents that manipulates the loans and to fool the underwriters to believe it's good, when it's not. U really believe the officers of the company wanna buy back foreclosure loans and watch their hard earn work burn to the ground, and set themselves up to go to jail, u must be stupid like the rest.

Sure there is pressure to produce, but in every sales business it's the same. No one is going to pay u for sitting around and collect money. U got to produce or get the boot. There's plenty of honest sales people, but there are also bunch of crooks ready make a quick dollar.

Bottom line the borrowers are at fault as well, they have a obligation to pay their bills. They sign the papers. If they can't pay for it, then go rent a house. No one is forcing them to buy a house.







[edit on 2-10-2008 by amfirst]

[edit on 2-10-2008 by amfirst]

[edit on 2-10-2008 by amfirst]

reply to post by amfirst



Im not saying blame the sale people because they are just tools in the process just like the borrowers were.

I am saying blame the company executives who pushed garbage products on to the market knowing full well how risky these loan products were.

100% stated income loans to self employed people who cant even verify employment? How about adjustable rate products whos payments double when it amortizes and the first two or three years is up? Are you naive or stupid enough to believe that corporate execs at firms such as New Century and Indymac and the other huge conglomerates didnt know what types of volatile products their companies were selling? Please.

The fact is they were making money hand over fist selling these high interest time bomb loans to people who were too strapped or too stupid to go anywhere else or have another option. People like Roland Arnall made BILLIONS from having ignorant sale people sell these turds to likewise ignorant borrowers.

How about the loan that was considered the Ameriquest special? A 2/28 ARM that carried a 3 year prepay penalty? You gonna call that ethical to sell a product that the borrower CAN'T refinance before the payment adjusts?

You are just like every other knuckle head neo con who jumps the gun to blame anyone and everyone except the shot callers and the real dictators of the industry who made gargantuan sums of money by selling irresponsible high risk products. These CEO's and chairmen knew what their companies sold, there was no secret. They played roulette and gambled on a losing bet and now we are all going to suffer as a result of having to bail these people out.

And to answer to the other absurd statement that you made, underwriters are paid to write the loan based on the standards that are set forth by management. That is all. These people get paid to make that loan happen for the most part, and they have no say over ethical practices pertaining to the types of loan programs they underwrite.


How do I know? I have been in this business going on 11 years now and I run my own brokerage. I think I know a thing or two about what I am saying. Keep on blaming the borrower for this if it makes you feel better but some of us know what really went on.

reply to post by BlackOps719


And when Angelo Mozillo's name comes up, so should his good friend James A. Johnson, former chairman of Barack Obama's vice-presidential selectkion committee, still, for all we know, influential Democratic Party donor and golden parachutist to the tune of several hundred million in stock options from UnitedHealth...

Johnson's receipt of a sweetheart mortgage from Countrywide - which Mozillo runs, was cited as the reason why Johnson is no longer with the Obama campaign, but the truth is that Johnson is the stereotypical golden parachutist. And the stereotypical Wall Street supporter of Barack Obama.

"dark nightmare of the Bush administration,' my ass. Stealing from the lower middle class and the poor is a bipartisan endeavor, and Barack Obama has had his face in the trough, at least indirectly.

A you tube video that needs to be seen. Even if you don't like the Republicans, truth is truth.