Ghost Houses Haunt Neighborhoods

There is a strange phenomenon happening in many cities across the U.S.- ghost houses.

Homes once occupied by families but lost in the foreclosure storm are being dumped by the banks as they find these homes to be financial cannonballs.

In Chicago there are nearly 45,000 such homes waiting in limbo to be resold-but many have fallen into disrepair leaving neighborhoods and communities looking like the third world. When a house gets to that point the only parties interested in them are squatters , criminals and vandals. Banks simply write off the house as a loss and leave the stinking corpse for the neighborhood to contend with.

Banks are dumping houses at an alarming rate as it isn't in their best interest to hang on to properties in poor areas where the chances of a resale are slim to none. So like efficient plunderers they just move on to the next scam and walk away leaving devastation in their wake.

Homes that sit on the market for long periods of time quickly fall apart and rather than keeping people in these homes the banks take them back and do nothing to maintain them while waiting for a buyer. Many homes slowly rot or are torn up by vandals or angry buyers who take the scorched earth approach and strip them of fixtures, appliances and anything else a crow bar can pry free leaving a gutted empty shell waiting to be condemned.

House zombies are eating neighborhoods alive and the banks and are to blame.There are two players involved in the foreclosure business-the lender who owns the property and the servicer who takes the payment and does the foreclosure. While the house waits to be resold-the servicer is the one who is supposed to do the up keep on the property-but many servicers find it not in their best interest to spend time and money keeping up homes in bad neighborhoods so they write the house off. They neither finish the foreclosure process or try to sell the house. It isn't worth enough in their eyes to pay for up keep so they dump the house like an old abandoned car.

How can they get away with this? Because no one is stopping them.



Home For Sale-Again.

Funny how during his State of the Union Address president Obama never mentioned a word about the foreclosure crisis, and the Republicans had nothing to say about it either. Just more empty suits giving empty speeches.


Now that's leadership.


This beautiful home is now for sale in Newport Coast California. In 2003 it sold for $2,490,000.

Then in May 2007 it sold for $4,500,000.

In September 2009 it was listed for sale at $5,500,000 but didn't sell.

Now you can get it at a mere $2,765,000 nearly the same amount it sold in 2003! Talk about history repeating itself.


If you want to know what god thinks about money-just look at the people he gave it to.


ickenittle

Let's All Go Broke Together

Policy makers are working at a furious rate to come up with a plan that lets states go bankrupt-and get out of paying their debts including the pension plans promised to public workers.


How it works.

When a state can't make its debt payments, and no one will lend them any money-then the government steps in and puts it in receivership.This means an accountant would be assigned to come in and manage the state's debt. which is overseen by a judge. It would be like a bankruptcy in a way-except the receiver has the power to force creditors to negotiate the debts in a speedy fashion. The receiver however, wouldn't  have the ability to make decisions in the state's budget, like what programs to cut etc.

Good idea or bad idea?

Since some states are so underwater proponents of this say it's the only feasible solution for them to renege on promises to public workers (now being vilified by the right wing.) It's a handy dandy way to break public workers unions by putting a gun to their heads-forcing them to cut pensions-cut pay and renegotiate contracts and promises made to public workers. Though no state-even during the Great Depression went the route of bankruptcy-Republicans are pushing the issue in order to keep states from seeking a bailout by the federal government-which has been reserved for the exclusive use by big banks and the Wall Street casinos.

With so many insolvent pension funds looming-many states are unable to fund essential services like schools and health care. Some states have already made drastic reductions in police, fire departments and garbage collections.So raiding pension funds seems a handy solution. And since robbery has become the business model of today, many don't see this as a moral dilemma.



Having a good job is BAD.

 Along with retirees on the chopping block are investors in Municipal bonds (Muni) which used to be a safe investment and heavily invested by mutual funds. Just mentioning  state and bankruptcy in same sentence has sent investors fleeing the market with over $25billion dollars in mutual funds being liquidated in the last two months according to the Investment Company Institute.

Investors and public workers could be set up to take a hit waiting in the back of the line are unsecured creditors, and could be looking at getting 5-10 cents on the dollar in compensation.

Since bailout money is only reserved for the CFI (Crooked Financial Institutions) that have wrecked the economy,stolen peoples homes, destroyed retirement investments and rewarded its failed executives with billions of dollars in bonuses.The moneyed elite and their guard dogs-the GOP imperialists want to stop the states from even thinking about using any CFI bailout money.

 Chief executive guard dog Newt Gingrich said,"We're faced with the danger that states are going to try to show up and say to Washington: you have to give us money and we have to have an alternative that allows us to say no."

Gingrich added,"The fact of the bill existing....allows governors to sit down with unions and say,"look you, negotiate* with us or I'm taking the state into bankruptcy."

Negotiation*-Definition (n) Mutual discussion and arrangement of the terms of a transaction or agreement.

Coercion*-Definition (n) the use of force or intimidation to obtain compliance.



Republican Mascot

Extortion*-Legal Definition-the obtaining of property from another,with his consent-induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence or fear.

The Pew Economic Group reports the average U.S household lost $66,00, in stock holdings and $30,000 in real estate values from June 2008- March 2009 due to the upheaval in world markets-that's nearly $100,000 per family. Meanwhile the corporate banking elites are doing better than ever. Which just goes to show once again that crime is the new business model of today's corporate "job creators."

At least now the stigma of bankruptcy has become a thing of the past as we are all bankrupt now-at least 98% of us.

So don't feel so bad-now you have something in common with California, Illinois, Arizona, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, Nevada and Maryland.

What ever happened to that American exceptional ism thing?

Looks like this is it.


ickenittle

Got Debt? Sell It To The Federal Reserve.



Pagan Gods of the Federal Reserve.

 Why is the Federal Reserve buying the U.S.Debt?

According to CNBC The Federal Reserve bought approx. 80% of the US Treasury Securities issued in 2009-in other words they have been grabbing up all the massive debt that has been created in the past year.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

To many it's a really bad sign. Depending on which so -called expert you believe- many are saying the Federal Reserve is keeping the economy from tanking by keeping interest rates artificially low. When the US needs to borrow more money-we go to the Federal Reserve to get it.

What the Federal Reserve does is give the US green pieces of paper (reserve notes) in exchange for pink pieces of paper (Treasury Bonds)-and they in turn sell the pink paper to investors world wide making everybody happy.

But in 2009 there weren't enough people buying the pink paper investments so the Federal Reserve started selling them to themselves. They bought about 80% of them in fact-which doesn't make sense to anyone but the Federal Reserve.

Basically the Federal Reserve is creating money out of nothing, loaning it to the US then collecting interest on the loan. How can they do this you ask? They are doing this in order to keep the interest rates on Treasury Bonds artificially low in order for the US to keep borrowing indefinitely in a kind of borrow- spend-borrow spend-rinse-repeat- perpetual spin cycle to keep the US boat a float until a better solution comes along or perhaps a miracle.

This doesn't seem to make sense to anyone who understands economics.

Some have even gone so far as calling it a giant ponzi scheme.(only those who understand economics.)



Another kind of currency

 Since the Federal Reserve isn't really part of the American government- it seems a little fishy that a private institution should have so much pull when it comes to our money. Maybe if they were not a private institution and were part of the government-they would have to be more transparent in all this money shuffling, interest rate manipulation hocus-pocus.

By keeping the interest rate on treasuries so low no one with half a brain wants to buy them. With such a shaky economy smart investors expect a higher rate of return than 0% -but to raise the rate of return would doom the US since borrowing from the Fed would be too expensive and we'd be even deeper in that black hole-so much so- we'd be even more bankrupt than they deny we are.


By printing a flood of cheap crap money for the US government to borrow, the Fed is probably going to destroy the value of the US dollar because the more fiat (fake money) currency you create-the less each dollar is worth when your money is based on nothing.

If history repeats every fiat currency when over produced becomes worthless. But maybe that won't be so bad since every other international banking system is based on fiat currency so we'll all sink slowly together pretending it isn't happening - wait until its too late-then be forced to change it all.

But maybe there is a secret plan afoot. Maybe they will do what strategic defaulters do who are about to declare bankruptcy. They put all of their credit card debt on one card-paying off the one they want to keep-then not going bankrupt on the good card. Maybe -the US government will put all of its debt on the back of the Federal Reserve-while keeping sound banks intact-Let the TBTF banks go belly up-add that debt to the Federal Reserve pile -and presto-chango-Default on the Fed.

It may not be an honest way to get out of debt-but that shouldn't stop them because dishonesty seems the standard business practice of today.

As long as they can enter numbers into bank accounts instead of printing paper everything will appear just fine and the Federal Reserve can keep on practicing its legal counterfeiting.



Our New Currency

 just don't try it at home.


New phrase of the day; Ex nihilo-(out of nothing.)


ickenittle

Courts Give Homes Back To Defaulters



"but,but,but!"

 Several homes have been given back to borrowers free and clear in Utah after a ruling that determined there was no evidence the bank had the right to foreclose.

In a Utah court case the borrower of a Draper town house was given clear title to the property-even though he still owed $132,000.

This case is once again calling into question the legitimacy of the data- base created by the big banks- MERS (Mortgage Electronic Registration System)  that banks created for the sole purpose to by- pass the land recording system and avoid paying recording fees to counties when the mortgage is transferred. It has also been accused of using this system to sell mortgages multiple times in the slice and dice MBS (mortgage backed securities) fraud- where the mortgage acts as collateral making investors think- they are actually investing in something sound.

Not true-was never true.

 MERS  has gotten away with this so far by naming themselves as the mortgagee on the note through the data -base. The problem is Mers is named in name only as owner on loans in which it has admitted  has no financial interest in, and has been granting itself the right to foreclose on borrowers without the legal right to do so. Just calling yourself the owner doesn't mean you are.

The  judicial system doesn't know how to deal with this monumental mess that-in essence proves MERS has no legal standing to call itself the mortgagee. This has messed up the title insurance companies, who can't figure out who actually physically holds the note or who can legally collect the debt-since banks either destroyed the original physical note after electronically transferring it to MERS or never had it in the first place-and having just the borrowers name and the debt owed on a spred sheet just doesn't cut it in court.

In exasperation the in courts in Utah just gave ownership back to the borrower of the Draper town house.This case is similar to another where the defaulter was given clear title through whats called a"Quiet Title Action" kind of like granting a homesteader the right to claim a property when no one else claims it.

Since MERS was not notified of the court case because it has claimed itself having no financial interest it lost by not contesting this action. No- Show = You lose. Since no one showed up to claim the property as "theirs" the borrow still owing $417.000 walked away with the home-and a clear title.

Unless there is a physical original promissory note held by the lender they aren't legally entitled to foreclose. Further evidence is coming through the courts that shows the actual promissory notes or mortgages signed by buyers were not transferred as the notes made their way into mortgage backed securities (MBS) investment pools-rendering these investments essentially worthless.

The idea of worthless MBS investments means the banks can be forced to buy them back and none of the big banks have enough money to absorb these kind of losses. This is what is called a huge systematic risk.

A case in Utah's Supreme Court right now could set a precedent disallowing MERS the right to foreclose on any property in Utah. Similar lawsuits are working their way through the courts in other states as well.

Quiet Title Action removes any clouds on the title-and in most states property laws- there must be a real person or corporation named as mortgagee in order for them to be able to foreclose. MERS is nothing more than a nominee, or middle man between the bank and the borrower-kind of like an invisible entity that has no legal authority to claim anything. You can't transfer a deed "in blank" nor can you have a security interest " in blank." The identity of said person or corporation has to be known and recorded.

In a nut shell what the banks have done in their frenzy to cheat counties out of recording fees, and sell their non investment MBS as investments they granted MERS the right to act as an agent on their behalf to foreclose on borrowers. Like the Emperor with no clothes they fooled themselves into thinking they are so big and powerful that they could skip the process called- The Rule Of Law

Now they will pay or we will through another bailout.

Property laws are state specific and if you don't record a security interest in many states you aren't entitled to be notified of any action to quit the claim.(call off the debt) If you don't show up you lose.

Also added to the sleaze list

J.P. Morgan Chase has admitted to ripping off military families and conducting illegal foreclosures on military members protected by the Service Members Civil Relief Act. (SCRA) which disallows the foreclosures on active duty military members. Over 4000 military families have been over charged or improperly foreclosed  on by Chase- who continue to use the "error"," mistake" and "over sights" as their manufactured excuse.

Rotting Corpse Banks


 Rotting Banks Are Attracting Flies

 Chase is also showing itself as a customer service Caesar-it is charging $7 a month in new fees for checking accounts that have less than $500 as a minimum balance. Apparently they find average Americans too distasteful to be considered worthy customers anymore. Why buy the cow when you get the milk for free?

They have milked all they can get from the former middle class-and the poor are just a waste of time.

Some say there is a reckoning to come-and as much as the banks put on a brave face they can't deny the fact that they are losing. In the rush to make more profits from trading in the bubble-driven real estate securities market, the banks ran roughshod over the mortgage and title system that has served this country for hundreds of years.

They created a foreclosure crisis of epic proportions. Because they cooked the books by not wanting these bad assets to wreck havoc with their "official" valuation and stock prices, they had no interest with helping home owners all along- (big surprise) So like a sinking ship they grab back homes to keep them afloat-for just a few months more-to keep stock prices up and keep the investor rats from abandoning ship.

But the investor rats are getting nervous and are starting to sell. Just watch as they cry victim-and try to extort yet another bailout to save their sorry asses. They will be hold a gun to Americas' head threatening to take down the rest of our pathetic economy with them if they don't get their welfare check.




 But Americans aren't in the mood for this kind of charity.


Wikipedia definition of "quiet title"- a lawsuit brought in a court having jurisdiction over land disputes, in order to establish a party's title to real property against anyone and everyone, and thus"quiet" any challenges or claims to the title.

In other words it's a polite way for the courts to tell the banks to shut up and go away.


ickenittle

They Call It A Class War-We Call It Robbery

Since when did the poor and the former middle class declare war on the rich? In classic double speak (where you say up but mean down) class war is just another right wing big lie
and it's obvious to anyone with half a brain the opposite is true-and it's been true for some time now.

The war began way back when.

From 1950 to 1965 median income rose from $24,000 to $38,000 about 4% a year to about 60% over 15 years.In 1964 there was a tax cut which slowed the increase for average households. By the mid-70's the middle class stalled. from 1975-2010 median family income rose $42,936-$49,777 not quite 16% over a 25 year time span.This averages out to be less than 6/10ths of one percent per year.


For a short time under Clinton taxes went up and median income rose peaking at $52,587 in 1999, then came the Bush tax cuts and median income declined. At this time, income for the richest households sky rocketed. Now that same group of wealthy households makes nearly one quarter of all incomes combined.That 1% owns 25% of the wealth in America-compare that to 1979 when 1% only owned 9%.

Then came the crash in 2001 and again in 2008 and the recessions that followed.From 1990-2005 the minimum wage when adjusted for inflation is down 9% while corporate profits are up 106.7% and CEO pay is up 282%.

So tell us again just who has declared war on whom?

The old worn out argument that there is nothing wrong with the rich getting richer-that it's "just the American way"-just doesn't wash anymore. Not when the rich become thieves and thieves are running the banks and thieves are destroying the very country that enabled them to gain their riches in the first place.These plunderers are multinational corporations that have no loyalty to any one country.The Too-Big-To -Fail financial institutions-The Federal Reserve-which has manipulated interest rates in order to provide cheap loans to failing institutions that under the rules of defined capitalism would have failed by now.

What they don't tell you is countries with such vast inequities in wealth don't lead the world-they become unstable.They have huge underclasses-they don't innovate-create industry or technology.They have high crime rates and little opportunity. Sound familiar?

The rich have far too much power in these societies-they control everything-especially government, police and the judiciary.They simply exist to replicate themselves.They don't create jobs they just create more wealth from the money they already have. Mexico is a good example.

Many experts have said that the only solution is through taxes-what worked before can work again. As people get richer-they pay more. Unearned income (making money from investments) dividends and capital gains need to be taxed as earned income. Tax cuts for the richest only mean decline for average Americans.They have been gaming the system -long enough.

More sickening facts

The top10% own 80-90% of all stocks, bonds, trust funds,and business equity-and 75% of all non home real estate. As of 2007 the bottom 50% of the US population owned only one half of 1% of all stocks, bonds, mutual funds while the top 1% owned 50.9%. It is as if the top 10% of the population actually own the United States.

So again-who started this war in the first place?



The Ripening process of the Banana Republic



New definition of banana republic;

ba-nan-a re-pub-lic (n) new definition- a politically unstable country whose economy is dominated by multinational companies, depends on the export of war materials,engages in empire building and destroying the standard of living of working people,i.e.the United States of America.




The American Dream has been coveted by the wealthy few and middle class wage earners are getting the squeeze-they aren't moving up the ladder anymore with fewer people becoming wealthy-and the wealthy are just getting richer. There never was a trickle down because the gluttons plugged that leak long ago.And the middle class have gotten double sucker punched-with falling wages and higher health care costs.

No society can sustain itself without a middle class. No healthy society ignores its poor. No moral society treats its citizens like consumerist debt slaves- and no true capitalist can call this current business model capitalism.

 This is monopoly but it ain't no game-because only one player gets to play-and that's just plain cheating.


ickenittle

Never Say Never Ever



Homeless People Crossing

 As foreclosures and unemployment rates keep rising more and more of the former middle class are stunned to find themselves at homeless shelters. "I can't believe this is happening to me." is the most common statement heard nationwide at homeless shelters and DSHS offices.

Maybe someone should write a song about it.

The "official" bogus- government figures claim unemployment hovering at 9%  but what they forget to tell you is the countless unfortunates already out of extensions who are facing the un-thinkable reality of terminal poverty. And according to the governments' bogus figures there are 9% more homeless people today instead of yesterday-and they count only those people in shelters or who go to the DSHS for help. They forget about the single family household with two or three families sharing one bathroom.

According to the census bureau over 13% of households contain more than one family.This doesn't get counted as being homeless however by the official official government people in charge of calibrating the homeless. I guess living in a garage with your kids is just fine with them.

People who were the former middle class are being some of the hardest hit having lost their good job which was replaced by no job-used up all their savings-having their 401K stolen by the Gamblers down at the Banking Casino-have left them pretty much used up-dried up and on the street.

Meanwhile food and fuel prices are rising even though Ben Bernanke doesn't believe in inflation. He has however had to admit that the foreclosure problem is a problem and the job problem is actually not getting better anytime soon. Acknowledging reality must make him even more nervous than he already is.

Hey former middle class FYI

And all the fictional sound good figures the government tries to pass of as truth just keep getting knocked down. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics the unemployment figure is at 16.7% because they count the actual unemployed short term discouraged workers. In some states the unemployment rate is already at Great Depression levels.You might ask your government why they keep insisting the rate is only 9% but you probably won't get a straight answer because they actually only count 42% of people without jobs using their U.3 counting combobulation mis-counter numbers fudger.

After all you don't want to upset the sheeple with such a hard to understand concept- like the truth- they might get mad.

Also if middle class families had maintained the same share of the American pie that they had in 1980 you'd be making on average (according to the IRS) $12,500 per year more. All the money you put into the GDP didn't reap you any rewards. Since your stake stayed the same you have been pedaling backwards for thirty years.

If fairness instead of corporate greed had prevailed you would have kept up with the rich instead -wages were frozen while the richest 1% took your money and ran. And now they are taking an addition $600 a year out of your pocket- to pay for their tax breaks. But they promise to create jobs real soon--just not in America.



The schemers like Sarah Palin and the far right continue to blame liberals for all the trouble we are in and never offer any solutions except the second amendment kind.

They stir the pot of habanero soup and then blame someone else when somebody gets burned. They talk about patriotism-family values and liberty while people everywhere are losing their homes. They never blame their sponsors the financial institutions or the media tycoons.

Instead they blame the victim until it's their turn to be the victim, then they blame everybody else.

Must be hard talking out of both sides of your mouth at the same time.

After being asked to tone down the hate speech-the far right came out with more hate speech and Sarah Palin said something dumb about "blood libel" which she clearly didn't understand-so Michelle Malkin -seeing an opportunity to steal some of Sarah's limelight came up with her own defense as proof all the hate is coming from liberals. She highlighted obscure videos from you tube and cherry picked unknown blog postings and inflammatory comments. All in an effort to defend the far rights'- right to be mean. " See" she seems to be saying," they are worse than we are."


Maybe by the time the homeless rate hits 20% someone on the right will finally be forced to listen -as it will be all their loyal minions who with torch in hand come knocking on their doors.

Patriot BBQ at Sarah's house tonight.

Maybe Sarah will share a little of that caribou meat.



But I doubt it.


ickenittle

Wells Fargo Gets Ass Spanked

LIES LIES LIES LIES and more LIES.

In a decision that could affect foreclosures nationwide, the Supreme Court of Massachusetts voided the seizure of 2 homes from the claws of Wells Fargo and US Bankcorp after the banks failed to show they held the mortgages at the time of the foreclosures.

The unanimous decision is the first to address the validity of foreclosures done without the proper documentation.The banks failed to show they were the holders of the mortgage notes. Justice Robert Cordy lambasted "the utter carelessness," that the banks demonstrated in documenting their right to claim property.



WellsFargo takes on Justice and loses



Massachusetts Secretary of state William Galvin said he agrees with the ruling, which he said,"demonstrates the need for judicial review of foreclosures in the state to give homeowners more protections." He also stated the decision would have a "chilling effect" on the real estate market.

So you might want to pass on buying a foreclosed house for awhile.

The effect of this decision is a proverbial monkey wrench being thrown into the foreclosure machine and analysts say the decision may threaten the banks' ability to package mortgages into securities, and may raise the possibility of improperly transferred loans will need to be bought back by the miscreants who pawned them off as legitimate securities in the first place.

So you might want to reconsider hanging on to that bank stock you own.

The spokes- zombie from Wells Fargo said- in defense of the bank, "No comment."

US Bancorp spokes-zombie in defense of the bank claimed- " no responsibility on their behalf."

Both Wells and US Bancorp had the nerve to request that the ruling apply only in the future- ( Maybe they need time to create a new fraud to cover up the old one.)

The court denied the request keeping the ruling retroactive-meaning every illegal foreclosure done in the past- can be challenged in court. Thousands of defrauded homeowners now have the power to either get their houses back or be compensated for the deed.

You might want to wait to buy a house in Massachusetts for awhile.

All the other big banks are trembling in the wake of this decision because it opens the door for other states to follow Massachusetts lead. The only question remaining is what happens to the guy who buys a foreclosed house from a crooked bank that didn't have the right to sell it? This important question will be a double whammy that could throw an even bigger wrench in the already screwed up works making the banks liable on both ends of their money making scheme.

If you bought a foreclosed house from a miscreant bank you might want to contact a lawyer.

A man in Cleveland got behind on his mortgage on his 8 bedroom lake front property after falling behind for over a year. Peter Sikora makes $121,350 a year as a Cuyahoga County juvenile Court Judge.He was attempting to refinance his home due to plummeting value and reduced interest rates-and was not behind on the payments. It wasn't until he took the banks advice that he got into trouble.

"The bank advised me that the only way they would consider a modification would be if I fell behind on my payments." he said,"I took their advice and put the money aside." During the middle of negotiations J.P.Morgan Chase filed the foreclosure lawsuit. It was then they stopped returning his calls.

His story is just one of the thousands like it-where the banks mislead home owners to stop making payments.

Justice picks up the pace



Coming Tsunami of Law Suits

This is a  detailed, very specific indictment that is going to send a shock wave throughout the mortgage, foreclosure, real-estate servicing industry-probably the debt collection agencies as well. It has been alleged that the whole reason for this mess with missing documents may prove intentional to hide the fact that the banks were selling the same mortgages many times over.
Since this ruling was reported bank stocks have fallen.

Other banks are being silent. When asked for a reaction to the ruling Bank of America declined to comment.

They must be running out of denial.

Just wait till WikiLeaks....Boom.

ickenittle

Deadly Rhetoric




Sarah's rhetorical hit list

  After Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head in front of an Arizona Safeway store along with six others killed- many have called into question the part of right wing political rhetoric.Giffords is a Democrat on many a right wing "hit" lists for her support of the health care bill.

Sarah Palin's mock"hit list" with Giffords named as one of the targets has been curiously taken down.

Also guilty of murderous rhetoric is Giffords political opponent Jesse Kelly who advertised a rally with the phrase;

"Help me remove Gabrielle Giffords from office /shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly."

Then there was the tough talk about "second amendment remedies" coming from Sharon Angle. Stoking the fire with angry rhetoric on a daily bases are the likes of right wing extremists Glen Beck, Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Palin- all provided a platform by Fox News.

Sarah Palin offered her hollow condolence with this;

My sincere Condolences are offered to the family of Representative Gabrielle Giffords and all the other victims of today's tragic shooting in Arizona. On behalf of my family,we'll all pray for the victims and their families, and for peace and justice.

Hollow peace and hollow prayers


Though there is no evidence yet that this shooting was politically motivated-it is still grimly ironic that the candidate appeared on a map of those Democrats "targeted" by Palin in 2010. "I hope lock-and- load Palin can sleep tonight." one anonymous person said.

Giffords father Spencer wept when asked if his daughter had any enemies. "Yeah," he said "The whole Tea Party."

The shooting comes amid a highly charged political environment that has seen many threats against lawmakers-but nothing has reached this level of violence so far.

A San Fransisco man upset with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pleaded guilty to threatening her and her family for her support of the health care bill.

In July a man angry by left leaning politics engaged in a shoot out with highway patrol officers after planning an attack on the ACLU.



STFU Mama Grizzly

 Gifford drew the ire of Palin for her support of heath care reform noting her concern of herself and others being targeted on Palins' website.  "We're on Sarah Palins' targeted list, but the thing is, when people do that, they have to realise that there are consequences to that action." She warned. She also spoke about  the animosity against her by conservatives.

The blogosphere is aflame with commentary from people fed up with the hate speech and feigned violence from people like Sarah Palin who use violent rhetoric to make headlines. When Sarah Palin accused Wiki Leaks founder Julian Assange of being a "terrorist with blood on his hands" she probably didn't realise that statement would come back to haunt her.

But she should have known better.

Whether the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords was politically motivated or not-only time will tell. But Americans are acting as it is- with many questioning the constant onslaught of violent talk so common amongst conservatives and why purveyors of poisonous ideas on Fox News aren't taken to task. If there is a link to hate speech and this violent crime then the speakers should be held accountable for inciting violence as any average American would-including Sarah Palin.

Violent Rhetoric- Today's Snake Oil

Just because you have a TV show doesn't make you above the law.

Maybe this shooting had nothing to do with dangerous rhetoric or the violent rantings of the lunatic fringe or Sarah Palin. But one thing seems apparent- People are fed up with the likes of Beck and Palin who are in a position of influence that they abuse on a daily basis by rhetorically inciting violence- then when things heat up- they claim innocence.

This argument is wearing thin.

It doesn't take much to influence a deranged mind-and it is this point Gabrielle Giffords was trying to get across to Palin.

But you can't expect a narcissistic opportunist to understand-they have a built in mechanism called zero accountability which distances them from personal responsibility.

After all they will say "We didn't pull the trigger."



Then who's fault is it?


The same can be said of Charles Manson.


Maybe all the bad press will finally shut Sarah up-maybe she will finally pack up her rhetoric and hibernate for a while like a good Mama Grizzly.

But it's doubtful when there is an opportunity for another spot on TV.
 

ickenittle

The Crazy Makers

"Every thing's great"" Every thing's bad"

When the government comes up with its up-beat numbers about improvements on the economy and the MSM joins the party with gushing headlines bursting with joyful predictions that times are looking rosy-and prosperity is right around the corner the average American must think they have lost their minds.

They have.

The definition of this sort of behavior is called Crazy Making-where information is presented as truth but goes against reality. In a relationship the crazy maker tells you to do or believe two things then blames you for believing the wrong one out of those two things.

It is impossible to believe two opposing contradictory things at once.

Example- Though there are no jobs to speak of - too many people are on food stamps. Or the rich need assistance in the form of tax cuts that don't need to be paid for but the poor need their assistance cut -to offset the rich getting tax cuts because they are the "job creators" who create no jobs.

Then there's the fake figures and statistics-you know the ones that go against reality.

The Real Reality

The Pew Research Center released their year end survey and the polling revealed some pretty hard truths.

72% of Americans polled said they were dissatisfied with National conditions.

89% rated economic conditions fair to poor.

57%  said they had difficulty affording basic needs.

51% have difficulty affording health care (the lucky ones who have health care)

48% struggle to pay heating costs

29% have difficulty paying for food.

Since the government insists food costs have not gone up-these 29% of people must be imagining it, as well as those having a hard time paying the utility bill-because those costs (according to the government) haven't risen either-neither in fact has the cost of health care.

Bottom line in the Tale of Two economies the only economy that is doing well is the 2% wealthy economy and all the facts and figures and fancy reports about how much the economy is improving doesn't include the other economy of other 98%. As long as the financial class is growing -and the stock market robust-and corporations make more profits America on one hand was never in a recession while-the other hand has lost all its digits.

So right hand economy tell us this: Tell us again how trickle down works?

Tell us why again, the big banks needed bailouts to save our economy.

Tell us again that this empire isn't crumbling, or why a rising stock market benefits the other 98% of us.

Tell us how corporations making profits overseas benefits us-here.

Tell us again how rising gas and food prices don't matter.

Tell us why it isn't shameful that 3 in 10 Americans find it hard to buy food-or over half of all Americans don't have health coverage,or 1 in 7 are on food stamps or 23% are still unemployed-and Banks are illegally throwing people out of their homes-or Social Security recipients don't deserve a cost of living increase while Wall Street bankers deserve O% interest rates on over night loans using taxpayer money while the banks won't loan to us.

Tell us again why 2% of the population controlling all the wealth is good for America.

Tell us again that it's all in our heads.




You can only foreclose on so many hives

 Be careful stirring the hornets nest you can only placate angry bees for so long.

So when you hear all the good news pandered by the MSM realise they aren't talking about your economy-they are talking about the economy of the Big Rock Candy Mountain where the 2% live.The economy of that microscopic minority with no interest or concern just how the rest of us live.

Extend and pretend-this is the economy currently pursued in all the major nations by transferring debt from private hands (Wall Street Banks) to the taxpayer. Profits became "private" while losses became "public."



Where the rich live on the poor folk's money


Tell us again the real definition of free enterprise and capitalism. Where does using the publics money to keep  failing private companies on life support fit into either of these definitions?

They Don't but the crazy makers want you to believe they do.

And as far as some of those prospective new jobs being created what they fail to tell you is they all pay minimum wage and are part time-or temporary.


Here's a good example:


Dollar General is opening 625 new stores-and will create 6000 new jobs. It's too bad they won't pay enough to live on-or provide medical benefits-but hey -

what did you think you could get with that masters degree?

I'm sure you will make enough to pay back those college loans.

Even if you don't-rest assured-some Wall Street genius will find a way to bundle your debt-sell it to some naive investor and make a killing.

And with any luck-

maybe Dollar General will make you a store manager.

ickenittle

First They Came For The Birds

Residents of Beebe Arkansas rang in the new year with fireworks and several thousand black birds falling from the sky.People woke in the morning to find the ground in a one and half mile radius littered with the bodies of over three thousand red-wing black birds.

Reports to the fish and wildlife commission began coming in at about 11:30  with residents reporting the strange occurrence-which officials first thought was a New Years prank.

The director of Cornell Universities ornithology lab in Ithaca, NY,says he suspects the birds were the victims of bad weather-sometimes when a violent thunderstorm passes it acts like a giant vacuum cleaner that can suck up unsuspecting birds whirling them around as if in the spin cycle of a washing machine where they get fatally drenched in the rinse cycle before finally striking the ground.

These birds seem to have just fallen out of the night sky. As the birds showed physical signs of trauma the weather theory seems to be the best explanation. Some thought the birds may have been hit by lightening which happens from time to time with flocks of geese. Black birds however are not night fliers and perch in trees at night-so what were they doing flying  around in the dark?

Speculators have been coming up with all kinds of theories in the meantime. Some say New Years Eve fireworks spooked the birds and flying blind they crashed into each other like bumper cars and thinking up was down caused them to fly into the ground.

Conspiracy theorists think it was a secret government test using electromagnetic waves that cause storm systems and can short circuit a birds internal guidance system.

Some think it was toxic-chem trails from Air Force jets

Others think seismic activity released methane from the ground and all the birds were gassed.

Some think it is a sign from god that the end of times is near......

Some think it was a terrorist attack using biological weapons.

Some think it was caused by global climate change.

Some just don't know what to think.....but think it can't be good.

Then they came for the fish


The strange bird kill was only 125 miles from a recent fish kill in the northeastern section of the state.

Over 100,000 fish were found floating in an Arkansas river all belonging to the same species.

Officials aren't sure what may have killed so many fish but have ruled out a contaminant in the water as only one species was involved. The Drum fish.

 

Since only drum fish were found dead wildlife officials have ruled out any other reason but disease.

"Drum fish take refuge together in deep water when extremely cold weather occurs and spread disease more easily."

Since this is only believable explanation for now until further testing is done- it will just have to be accepted  as true until they come up with something better.

Many are saying the two incidents are just a little too close together to be unrelated.

Extreme conspiracy theorists are saying it is a secret government test using electromagnetic waves that disrupt the fishes internal guidance system causing their brains to short circuit.

Others are saying, it was caused by global climate change.

Still others are saying,"The end of the world is near."

Then they came for the bees

As everyone knows honey bees have been disappearing over the years.

Recently however bumble bees have all but vanished along with other less known bee species across North America. First officials thought the honeybees were under attack by a parasite. Then they thought pesticides were the culprit. Now they speculate it may be a combination of pesticides,global climate change, parasites and disease, as well as anything else they can think of.

Whatever the reasons, things in the natural world seem turned upside down, and if you look for the answer somewhere in the middle of all the speculation you arrive at one conclusion. 

The end of the world as we know it seems to be very near.

But then again maybe not.



Monsanto genetically modified low fat fish



NEWS ALERT!  Another 500 black birds were found in Louisiana!

But don't worry too much-  I'm sure someone will have a pretty good explanation.

And it's probably all unrelated.

ickenittle

Robo Zombies From Debt Collector Hell







 The signature of a woman who has been dead since 1995 has mysteriously been showing up on collection agency affidavits post mortem- for over ten years. It seems the infamous practice of robo signing made famous by sleazy mortgage servicer's-has been a technique practised by collection agencies as well.

Credit card company Providian National once owned by Washington Mutual, now owned by J.P Morgan-Chase had used the repeated signature of a deceased employee named Martha Kunkle to sign affidavits when collection agency Portfolio Recovery Associates purchased defaulted balances from credit card accounts. Portfolio Recovery has been using these false affidavits to collect debts in lawsuits filed against borrowers.

Martha Kunkle was a resident of Arlington Texas, born in 1922 and passed away in 1995. Her life remained unblemished until her death when he daughter Lorraine Kunkle-a one time employee at WAMU ,authorised colleges to use her mothers signature for its robo signing purposes.



Regulators are complaining that using the deceased woman's name proves collection agency practices are as fraudulent as mortgage servicer's use of robo signing to illegally collect a debt. More and more collection agencies are suing people in courts to get what they claim to be owed.



In a Montana lawsuit Portfolio Recovery Associates was sued for fraud in 2008 over the highly questionable use of of Martha Kunkle's signature-claiming the company used abusive, unfair and unlawful practices to collect debts. Also court records show Portfolio has been sued in more than 200 consumer cases in other Federal District courts across the country in the last three years.



But in July 2010 a Seattle woman was sued for $2,892.10 by Portfolio to collect a debt-and Martha Kunkle's signature again reappeared. A Portfolio Recovery associate spokes zombie called the incident "human error" but failed to comment any further and they dropped the suit against the Seattle woman.

After hearing testimony from a Portfolio Recovery associate who admitted that its "legal specialists" regularly signed over 200 affidavits a day-the Federal Trade Commission recommended that state regulators require the disclosure of more information by debt collectors and debt buyers.

Martha Kunkle's name first attracted attention after her name appeared in thousands of affidavits generated by a branch of Providian National Corp. The credit card issuer sold a number of delinquent account balances to Portfolio and other collectors which then sued the borrowers to collect the debt-most of which was before 2004.



"I swear to tell the truth"

 The lawsuit involving the Seattle woman included an October 2006 affidavit in which Martha Kunkle,designated agent for Providian swore,"to the best of my knowledge, that the amount owed reflects a true and correct accounting of the card holders credit card amount."

Some judges say robo-signing is more prevalent in collection agency affidavits than in foreclosure documents. Most people sued for credit card debt usually ignore the letters and phone calls and 90% ignore the lawsuit itself out of fear or shame. With very few people willing to challenge the debt agencies they do very little to present actual evidence that they have the legal right to collect the debt. The majority are relaying on erroneous or incomplete paperwork when suing to recover a debt.



Too many in fact have little more than a spread sheet with the borrowers name and amount owed.If a borrower does challenge the collector they then resort to a robo-signed document which supposedly authenticates the debt.This proof  is more designed to intimidate the debtor and bamboozle a judge who is more concerned that the required documents are there. Up until now judges took the collectors docs as proof they had a claim.

The robo signer is supposed to be someone who oversees the account-is familiar with the history and can verify the account is delinquent.This person is by law supposed to review each package of documents thoroughly before signing off. They never or rarely do.
According to lawyers representing borrowers many of the largest collection companies buy debt in bulk and have no evidence to back up their claim. They instead use pressure tactics to get people to pay-with threats of a lawsuit if the borrower doesn't respond-and only pull out the fraudulent-robo signed affidavit as a last resort.

Since debt collectors depend on borrowers ignoring their demands they have become over confident and lazy in following the law.They relay on the inaction of the borrower to assure them a win in court. In a credit card lawsuit the borrower doesn't have to prove they don't owe the debt-the collector does-and most when challenged can't -without opening themselves up for a fraud investigation. If a borrower is sued looking up previous lawsuits by the same company will show similar names signed thousands of times-sometimes with varying signatures over and over. All the borrower has to do is present this evidence to court-or require the signor to testify-which is either impossible (as in Martha Kunkle) or too expensive for the collection company. knowing your rights under the law is extremely important and any person being hounded by a debt collector should read HERE and HERE.

All states have a statute of limitations for debt collection and they vary from signed agreements to verbal contracts to find out you rights under the laws of your state go HERE

With the economy being what it is debt collection agencies are getting more ruthless and will stoop to any bottom feeding level they can to make your life a living hell. If you do anything to rectify the problem contact the original creditor-they are more than willing to accept payment minus the late fees and interest charges usually accepting 40 cents on the dollar.



 Beware of debt consulting companies-they are usually just the middleman between a lawyer and credit issuer-some charge as much as $500 dollars to put you in touch with a debt resolution lawyer-and you can do that yourself. Before your delinquent balance gets sold to a collection agency it is written off by the card company and they use it as a tax credit-so they aren't really losing anything-and all those predatory interest rates-late charges-and service fees are just icing on their cake-those amounts are where the take the loss.

A lawsuit filed in Great Falls Montana is accusing several debt collectors of civil racketeering and debt collection laws- by filing fraudulent affidavits against consumers-included in that case is Portfolio Recovery Associates.

When will the Attorneys General at both the Federal and State level start prosecuting these crooks? Using a signature of a dead person is forgery plain and simple. These are not mistakes-these are not errors as so many of these gangsters claim-including the entire banking cartel involved in foreclosure-gate. It seems there is no rule of law and no law enforcement agencies that will enforce the law when the party involved is the average American.

If neither political party will bring felony charges against even one single executive in the foreclosure scandal what will be next? School loan-gate?

There are millions of defaults on the books being gobbled up by collection agencies too many to follow the rules -or so it seems- and using robo-signing is the only way they can collect-legally or not.

A robo-signer is no different than an imaginary witness and until the Justice system does something the predation will continue.



Martha Kunkle is an Angel

And the unproductive-parasitical financial industry that has infested the politicians of both parties will continue to commit crimes and gut this country of all its remaining wealth.

Matha Kunkle probably never imagined she would become a hero.

And a hero she is-Rest in Peace Martha Kunkle.


She deserves a monument to be placed in the lobby of every JPMorgan Chase bank-as a reminder that someone is watching.


Maybe the ghost of Martha Kunkle will haunt  Eric Holder.


ickenittle