Tag Archives: underwater mortgages

Morning Bunker Report: Monday 6.4.2012

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WHAT ROMNEY / REPUBLICANS STAND FOR———————————————

Paul Krugman again slams Ryan’s budget plan and Romney’s advisor Eric Fehrnstrom for supporting it — “The plan’s a fraud,” Krugman said. “The plan is a big bunch of tax cuts, some specified spending cuts, basically for poor people, and then a huge magic asterisk which is supposed to turn into a deficit reduction plan, but, in fact, if you look what’s actually in it, it’s a deficit-increasing plan.” “And so to say that, just tell the truth that there is really no plan there, neither from Ryan, nor from Governor Romney, is just the truth,” he said. “If that’s being harsh and partisan, gosh, then I guess the truth is anti-bipartisanship.” — Raw Story || image: phroyd

Austerity for the rest of us: Don’t look to Mitt Romney for help on underwater mortgages – Mitt Romney won’t offer “targeted relief for the 11.5 million American homeowners who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth,” Lanhee Chen, his campaign’s policy director, told Bloomberg’s Al Hunt. Chen described such policies as insufficient for stabilizing the housing market. – Think Progress


image: MoveOn.Org

Romney’s promises: we’ve heard it all before – Mitt Romney ran for governor of Massachusetts promising more jobs, decreased debt, and smaller government. By the time Romney left office, state debt had increased, the size of government had grown, and Massachusetts had fallen behind almost every other state in job creation. Romney economics didn’t work then, and it won’t work now — YouTube

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Romney adviser dismisses women’s issues as ‘shiny objects’ — Despite spending the GOP’s contested primary accusing President Obama for waging “an assault on religion,” flyering voters in Iowa with pamphlets that touted a “pro-life” agenda, and pledging to defund Planned Parenthood, Mitt Romney’s senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom insisted that the general election should eschew social issues. Fehrnstrom also accused Democrats of using women’s reproductive health as “shiny objects” to avoid discussing the economy. “Mitt Romney is pro-life,” he told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Sunday. “He’ll govern as a pro-life president, but you’re going to see the Democrats use all sorts of shiny objects to distract people’s attention from the Obama performance on the economy. This is not a social issue election.” – Think Progress

Louisiana paper runs ad suggesting Obama and Democrats want to murder Christians – The Daily Advertiser, a Gannett-owned paper serving central Louisiana, is standing by its decision to run an advertisement today in which a far-right extremist group suggests that President Obama and Democrats are conspiring to murder Catholics and Christians. […] As with most newspapers, The Daily Advertiser says it does screen advertisements to ensure that blatantly false, overly offensive or otherwise inappropriate content is kept out of the paper. – Think Progress

WHAT THE PRESIDENT / DEMOCRATS STAND FOR ————————————

Romney advisor Eric Fehrnstrom asked Paul Krugman if he preferred Obama’s plan over the Ryan plan. “Oh, yeah. I mean, the president — at least it’s — you know, I don’t approve of everything, but there are no gigantic mystery numbers in his stuff. We do know what he’s talking about. His numbers are… you know, all economic forecasts are wrong, but his are not… are not insane. These are… these are just imaginary.”  – Crooks and Liars

Shrum: ‘There’s nothing wrong’ with Obama holding Romney accountable — “There is nothing wrong with the president holding Mitt Romney to his account for his record from private business and his record as a public official,” [Democratic strategist Bob] Shrum said. “Harry Truman did the same thing. Ronald Reagan in 1980, one of the most optimistic politicians in America, ran a pretty tough negative advertising campaign, against Jimmy Carter.” Shrum added: “If you did what the governor (Romney) is suggesting, and maybe he’s not, and you just let this be a referendum, I don’t think the president could win.” — Raw Story

Having it both ways: a tale of two standards – Romney has been running for president pretty much non-stop for six years. He and his aides have, in other words, had a very long time to come up with compelling explanations for all of the shortcomings in Romney’s record. With that in mind, Romney’s staffers had to know that when they appeared on the Sunday shows yesterday, they’d hear questions about Massachusetts being 47th out of 50 states in job creation during Romney’s tenure. And what was their explanation? Romney inherited a bad situation, and when he left, things were marginally better. Seriously, that’s their defense. [...] Look, this isn’t complicated. Romney is trying to create a standard for success that only he’s allowed to use.  [...] If Romney’s to be congratulated for inheriting an economy that was struggling but then turning things around a little, by that identical standard, he ought to be patting Obama on the back for a job well done. Indeed, the Romney campaign talking points practically sound like an Obama endorsement.– Steve Benen || image: obama2016

Walker recall election Tuesday: you can help! This is a race that will come down to turnout — The final Public Policy Polling count ahead of tomorrow’s recall election shows a slight Walker lead in a race that’s tightening up in the final hours. […] x If the folks who turn out on Tuesday actually matched the 2008 electorate, Barrett would be ahead of Walker by a 50-49 margin. It’s cliche but this is a race that really is going to completely come down to turnout. Needless to say, if you’d like to help out with turning out the vote, you can help out with phone banking here. Today’s the day we need you to help. It’s crunch time, and you can make calls from your own home. It’s easy and simple. This race is winnable, folks. Fire Walker with me. — Balloon Juice

Sarah Jessica Parker: “That Guy” — “Ok, the guy who ended the war in Iraq, the guy who says you should be able to marry anyone you want, and the guy who created 4 million new jobs, that guy: President Obama and Michelle are coming to my house for dinner on June 14, and I want you to be there too. But you have to go to JoinObama.com for your chance to win and the contest ends tomorrow night so go right here, right now. Because we need him and he needs us.” – YouTube


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What if banks wrote down all underwater mortgages to market value and refinanced the homeowners…

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BECAUSE IT MAKES TOO MUCH SENSE, IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN. For one thing, the banksters would never allow this — what would happen to their huge bonuses? From Pat Garofalo:

A report from the The New Bottom Line — a coalition of community, faith-based and labor groups — finds that “if banks wrote down all underwater mortgages to market value and refinanced the homeowners into 30-year, fixed-rate loans at current market interest rates, that would pump $71 billion into the national economy.” “That would amount to $6 billion every month that is currently going towards mortgage payments that could instead go towards buying groceries, school supplies, and other household necessities,” the report notes. “As consumer demand picked up, businesses would start hiring again, creating new jobs. Putting $71 billion into American consumers’ pockets would create 1.05 million jobs.” Banks have been extremely opposed to writing down principal for troubled borrowers.

As I’ve said before, it’s a healthy middle- and working-class and their demand for goods and services which creates jobs and keeps the economy running smoothly — more tax cuts for the wealthy haven’t and don’t create any jobs. And speaking of mortgages, Standard & Poor’s is currently undergoing an investigation (that began before they downgraded the U.S.) regarding their very questionable practice of bundling troubled mortgages and rating them very highly, and subsequently making huge profits. From the NYTimes:

The Justice Department is investigating whether the nation’s largest credit ratings agency, Standard & Poor’s, improperly rated dozens of mortgage securities in the years leading up to the financial crisis, according to two people interviewed by the government and another briefed on such interviews.

The investigation began before Standard & Poor’s cut the United States’ AAA credit rating this month, but it is likely to add fuel to the political firestorm that has surrounded that action. Lawmakers and some administration officials have since questioned the agency’s secretive process, its credibility and the competence of its analysts, claiming to have found an error in its debt calculations.

In the mortgage inquiry, the Justice Department has been asking about instances in which the company’s analysts wanted to award lower ratings on mortgage bonds but may have been overruled by other S.& P. business managers, according to the people with knowledge of the interviews. If the government finds enough evidence to support such a case, which is likely to be a civil case, it could undercut S.& P.’s longstanding claim that its analysts act independently from business concerns.

It is unclear if the Justice Department investigation involves the other two ratings agencies, Moody’s and Fitch, or only S.& P.

During the boom years, S.& P. and other ratings agencies reaped record profits as they bestowed their highest ratings on bundles of troubled mortgage loans, which made the mortgages appear less risky and thus more valuable. They failed to anticipate the deterioration that would come in the housing market and devastate the financial system.

Maybe S & P and other ratings agencies should be required to buy back all underwater mortgages to current market value. After all, one of the main reasons for the nation’s housing bubble and subsequent economic crash was their fictitious ratings-for-profit scam.