Charles: Thanks for the link. I don’t read the NYT much, and the Mercury News article was what Google could find for me.

So what if Bernanke restricts exotic loans to weak borrowers? That horse has left the barn. Do you really think Banks are going to be that stupid a second time?

As for the definition of “rant”, Wikipedia has a good one here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monologue#Rant
I think I used it correctly. I’ve certainly seen worse, but the label fits.

RE: IndyMac about to IMPLODE!

Countrywide Imploded. 90% of the big sub prime lenders Imploded. Bear Imploded and YES Indy Mac is/was about the 3rd largest Sub Prime – ALT-A related MASS volume wholesale and retail lender. They have a MASSIVE amount of the sub prime and related assets on their books. So,THIS could this be the beginning of the BIG GOV bail out? Perhaps another “indirect bailout”?? We shall see..

The thing is that we are operating our “BUSINESS” way in the RED and paying very high interest to OTHER COUNTRIES for survival loans. At some point these countries will either stop lending to us and or they will foreclose as we can’t possibly keep up with these loans. I would say at this point that the U.S. is in “loss mitigation” and or “Forbearance” or could be soon… That’s certainly NOT good.

Now, as you know the FED who by the way is BROKE as a joke, ie: “ tax payers “ IS NOT supposed to BAIL out PRIVATE banking institutions. In the case of Bear, that “indirectly” IS EXACTLY what they did in a very round about way and that’s NOT a good trend. They can however BAIL OUT FDIC insured Banks such as Indy Mac!! OUCH!

Essentially almost all of the major banks are NO LONGER doing wholesale, so it’s a matter of time before there are no more mortgage brokers and that good in my opinion. However SCARY as it seems, FHA is back in the sub prime business, a recipe for total long term DISASTER AS they are underwriting at nearly 100% counting GOV backed down payment programs. I read some investor guideline today that said 110% of appraised value! We know to play it safe TODAY that they should NOT go above 80% and ideally 75% with the decline in values nation wide still continuing.

Back to the private and public banking disaster…
Keep in mind that “the shareholders” often are YOU and I… And we don’t even know it in many cases .. THAT’s what’s prompting all the FBI and SEC investigations and class action Law Suit’s against investment banks.
BTW_ FDIC shut down IndyMac, they indirectly conceded to that in their shareholder letter, but called it a totally voluntary decision the day before in the press.

Back to Wall Street..

Wall Street investment banks and their Asset Managers lied to the “investors” quite often being retirement funds, insurance companies and investment firms suck as Smith Barney, places where WE walk in and invest or our work place retirement funds invest. They securitized and sold MASS CRAP loan backed assets as “other more stable investments” in deception, when in fact they knew these asset backed securities were CRAP and destined for TOTAL FAILURE!

I don’t want to be a fatalist, but a lot of the EXPERT economists are predicting a U.S. DEEP recession and perhaps a DEPRESSION very likely up and coming. This includes former and current government economists. Most EXPERTS outside the FED have been screaming very LOUDLY for MONTHS, falling on deaf ears.

99.999% Iraq war and 1% domestic policy! PERIOD!

Here’s a RANT. Limbaugh has gone on for years about survival of the fittest. Complaining about all money tax payers are paying for the mentally ill and drug dependent looses. We all know that he is heavily medicated, has mental illness by definition and is a friken drug addict himself!

The writing is on the wall~

When you have finished re-reading ALL that material, then maybe read part of an editorial in today’s New York Times that I have printed below just for YOU to read:

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It has been about two years since the junk lending of the housing bubble years peaked. Twenty percent of the $3 trillion dollars in mortgage loans made in 2006 were subprime, and another 15 percent were just above that lowest rung on the credit ladder. Since then, millions of all-too-predictable defaults — and the fear of more to come — have metastasized into the worst financial crisis since the Depression and into what is shaping up to be the second recession of the decade.

But it took the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, until Tuesday to announce that the Fed is ready to issue new lending rules to restrict junk mortgages.
***********************************************************

What did I just read? Did it say “it took the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, until Tuesday to announce that the Fed is ready to issue new lending rules to restrict junk mortgages.”

Is that what it said? Let me re-read it. Just a minute. Yes, why, that is exactly what it says—it took till Tuesday, as in yesterday, as in more than a year and half since this mortgage related crisis began.

Think he did this because he thinks things are getting better and not worse? Yeah? Well, re-read it and get back to me.

As for Henry Paulson Jr. (his friends call him Henry Paulson Jr. by the way) only a few months ago, Jr. (his mother calls him Jr.) claimed the global economy was pretty healthy (see a January 1, 2008 NYT piece written by Steven R. Weisman).

Think he may feel differently about this stance now? No? Then go back to the start of this reply and re-read everything that follows.

By the way, if you have re-read everything as assigned, you will note that although you quote me as saying that Paulson said things are getting worse, I said no such thing. That’s right. Go back. Re-read it and you will see I am right. But he did say, as reported by The Mercury News and others that many foreclosures can’t be prevented. And, gee, know what? That’s what I quote him as saying. Re-read it. You’ll see.

Rant…what is a rant?

Can you more clearly define what you mean by rant? Re-read what you wrote and you will see you used that word. Rant. R-A-N-T. Rant.

Now, I suppose you can call the Declaration of Independence a rant of sorts? I mean, it says all those nasty things about old King George, who was, after all, a bit of a nut job.

And, I guess the Bill of Rights is a rant,too. I mean, all those annoying claims that people have all these rights? Right?

So I guess you are making the argument that anything that takes a point of view based on facts is by YOUR definition a RANT (R-A-N-T, Rant).

Okay, I’ll buy that. Yes, It is a rant, then. Re-read this and you will see I am agreeing with you. Really. Re-read this and you will see I am right.

I was ranting. Venting. Agitating. Contemplating. Ruminating.

There, I feel better now. In fact, I feel so good, I think I will go back and re-read this entire reply!

Cheers
Charles