FedUpUSA

Archive for November 5th, 2010

Riiiight…..all these foreclosure problems are merely paperwork snafus.  Nothing to see here.  Move along.

From the BAC 10-Q:

 The Corporation and affiliates, legacy Countrywide entities and affiliates, and legacy Merrill Lynch entities and affiliates have been named as defendants in a number of cases relating to various roles they played in MBS offerings. These cases are generally purported class action suits or actions by individual purchasers of securities. Although the allegations vary by lawsuit, these cases generally allege that the offering documents for more than $375 billion of securities issued by hundreds of securitization trusts contained material misrepresentations and omissions, including statements regarding the underwriting standards pursuant to which the underlying mortgage loans were issued, the ratings given to the tranches by rating agencies, and the appraisal standards that were used in violation of Section 11 and 12 of the Securities Act of 1933 and/or state securities laws. The cases generally allege unspecified compensatory damages and in some instances, seek rescission. The Corporation has previously disclosed some of these matters under other headings, in its 2009 Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2010 and June 30, 2010, including Countrywide Mortgage-Backed Securities Litigation; IndyMac Litigation; Merrill Lynch Subprime-related Matters; and Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle Litigation.

We recently temporarily suspended our foreclosure sales nationally to conduct an assessment of our foreclosure processes. Subsequently, numerous state and federal investigations of alleged irregularities in foreclosure processes across our industry have been initiated. We have incurred liabilities and are facing additional claims from GSEs and monolines related to representations and warranties and we may face similar claims from private-label RMBS investors which, if successful, could result in significant repurchase obligations.

Yeah, it’s all under control….$375 billion is apparently a trivial amount to the banksters when they know they can have Ben Bernanke extort money from the US taxpayer to cover up their little problem.  Meanwhile, Bank of America will foreclose on your home.

Another highlight you may not hear in the President’s address from this morning: according to the last Department of Agriculture update, Americans on foodstamps has increased by over half a million in August, hitting a fresh all time high of 42.4 million people relying on the government for basis sustenance. At least now we know where that labor force is going. The August number is a 17% rise from the same time a year ago. That number is up 58.5% from August 2007, before the recession began.

As the WSJ reports:

By population, Washington, D.C. had the largest share of residents receiving food stamps: More than a fifth, 21.1%, of its residents collected assistance in August. Washington was followed by Mississippi, where 20.1% of residents received food stamps, and Tennessee, where 20% tapped into the government nutrition program.

Idaho posted the largest jump in recipients in the past year. The number of people receiving food stamps climbed 38.8% but their rolls are still fairly low. Just 211,883 Idaho residents collected food stamps in August.

The average benefit size per person nationwide in August was $133.90. Per household it was $287.82.

Food stamps have become a lifeline for workers who have lost their jobs, particularly among the growing share of unemployed Americans who have also exhausted their unemployment benefits. Lines at grocers at midnight on the first of the month have signaled that, in many cases, those benefits aren’t tiding families over and they run out before their next check kicks in.

Even during the summer children returned to schools to take advantage of free lunch programs where they were available. Nearly 195 million lunches were dished out in August and 58.9% of them were free. Another 8.4% were available at reduced prices. That number will surge when the fall data are released because children will be back in school. Last September, for example, more than 590 million lunches were served, nearly 64% of which were free or reduced price.

Children whose families have incomes at or below 130% of the poverty level — $28,665 for a family of four — can access free meals. Those families earning between 130% and 185% of the poverty level — $40,793 for a four-person family — are eligible for reduced-price meals that can’t cost more than 40 cents.

We also fail to see just what Fed-induced wealth effect these 42.4 million Americans will receive courtesy of the Fed’s generosity targetting Wall Street, corporate insiders, and nobody else.

ZeroHedge