Reports of Mortgage Fraud Reach Record Level

 

by: Robbie Whelan

Reports of mortgage fraud, which have been increasing since the housing boom, rose to their highest level on record in 2010, Treasury Department figures showed.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a Treasury agency, reported 70,472 "suspicious activity reports" related to suspected mortgage fraud, up from 67,507 in 2009, or a 5% increase. That's the highest number recorded by the government since tracking began in 1996.

No Buyers For Treasuries aka "Toxic Waste"

by: Bob Chapman

We believe there will be something similar to a QE3 by another name and the Fed will probably have to create some $2.5 trillion to buy Treasuries, Agencies, and toxic waste and perhaps inject funds into the economy. Japan certainly won’t be a buyer and probably will be a seller. China has indicated that they won’t be purchasers in the future either. The question also arises concerning the continued purchase of these securities by countries in the oil producing Gulf States, which are in turmoil. The three countries make up 45% of Treasury purchases. As we pointed out in previous issues the second half of 2011 should be monstrous. Even if the fed buys all the Treasury and Agency bonds they’ll still have to deal with a lower dollar and high inflation. Then there is high unemployment and raging gold and silver prices. There is also the question of US debt, federal, state and municipal debt, along with wars in the Middle East and North Africa. How many US Treasuries will Japan have to sell and how deeply will its slowdown effect American industry?

Feeling Depressed? 27 Depressing Statistics About The U.S. Economy That Will Make You Feel Even Worse

If you know someone that believes that the U.S. economy is in great shape, just show that person the following statistics.  But please don't show these statistics to anyone that is feeling depressed or that has just lost a job - it might push such a person over the edge.

Who Really Owns Your Mortgage?

Do you know who really owns your mortgage? As Scott Pelley reports on "60 Minutes" this week, that question has become a nightmare for many homeowners since the invention of mortgage-backed securities. Yes, those were the exotic investments that sparked the financial collapse in this country. And the're still causing problems.

18 Reasons Why You Can Stick A Fork In The New Home Construction Industry

article from: The Economic Collapse Blog

If you make your living by building or selling new homes in the United States, you might want to consider taking up a different career for a while.  New homes sales in the United States hit yet another new all-time record low in the month of February, and there are a whole lot of reasons why new home sales are going to stay extremely low for an extended period of time.  The massive wave of foreclosures that we have seen has produced a giant glut of unsold homes in the marketplace, mortgage lenders are making it really hard to get approved for home loans, unemployment is still rampant and the global economy looks like it may soon plunge into another major recession.  None of those things is good news for the new home construction industry.  The truth is that we were supposed to have seen new home sales already bounce back by now.  If you look at the historical numbers, new home sales in the U.S. always increased significantly after the end of every recession since World War 2.  But that did not happen this time.  Instead, new home sales have just continued to decline.  This is absolutely unprecedented, and economists are puzzled.  So what is going to happen if the U.S. economy suffers another major downturn?