FedUpUSA

Archive for May 21st, 2011

As we reported here on April 26th, the Michigan Court of Appeals handed down a ruling that pretty much shuts down non-judicial foreclosures by MERS in Michigan.  As we indicated at the time, this is probably the most sweeping mortgage foreclosure case since Ibanez and has even further reaching consequences than any of the other MERS decisions handed down this year.   (See Residential Funding LLC v. Saurman, Case No. 290248 ).

As we had hoped at the time, this means things are a-changin’ in Michigan.  Since appellate court rulings set precedent in their respective states, lower courts are now required to take their cues from this case when hearing foreclosure suits before them.  Now it is just a matter of getting suits filed on behalf of wronged homeowners. 

Taking the lead in this regard is Justin Grove of the Dailey Law Firm, P.C. in Royal Oak, Michigan.  In addition to filing a class action lawsuit against Bank of America, Justin has now filed more than 15 actions to quiet title.   While these suits will take time, and there are no guarantees, the precedent now set by the Michigan Court of Appeals has given these homeowners a shot at leveling the playing field against the rampant and prolific number of fraudulent foreclosures perpetrated by the big mortgage banks in this state.

Just as important, is that the Dailey Law Firm is getting the word out about the fraud and corruption.  They’re bending more than a few ears, too.  With a weekly radio program airing in two markets, Detroit and Chicago, they are educating homeowners in a vast portion of the Midwest on two of the biggest mega-watt radio stations, WJR and WLS. 

In the past couple of years, almost as many scam law firms have sprung up taking advantage of homeowners, as there are fraudulent mortgage companies.  Unfortunately, an unsuspecting homeowner, desperate for help, may not recognize a scam when they see one.  A page everyone should bookmark and keep for reference for helping to spot a scam is READ THIS FIRST — DON’T GET SCAMMED!  This is also permanently linked on our Links page here on FedUpUSA.

However, let me assure you that Justin Grove and the Dailey Law Firm, P.C. are no scam.  They’ve not only done their homework, but as the Founder and Director of FedUpUSA, I’m going to personally vouch for their integrity.  Much of their work in this area to date has essentially been pro bono.  Filing suits on behalf of homeowners in foreclosure in a non-judicial state with absolutely no case precedent for defense, is a heck of a long shot.  Yet, they did it anyway.  Why?  Because fraud is a crime, but it is not a crime to default on a debt. 

As we’ve said before, this isn’t about anyone getting a free home; this is about the rule of law.  Those rules have been thrown three sheets to the wind in the past 4 years.  Property law has been violated by the banks; rules of accounting have been violated and circumvented (much with the blessing of Congress making special ‘exceptions’); and tax law has been completely thrown out the window, which has resulted in horrific losses of revenue for municipalities.  All of this is FRAUD.  Yet, no one has gone to jail.  Sure, there’ve been fines handed out here and there, but no one has been prosecuted — but many people have lost their homes, and a good portion of those have been the lenders utilizing the aforementioned methods of fraud.

So where does it end?  That’s the question we here at FedUpUSA have been asking since April of 2008.  Perhaps it ends when good people no longer remain silent and good attorneys are willing to stand up and say, ‘You know, there’s no point in my having a job, no point to my profession, unless the rule of law can actually be restored and followed.’  Justin Grove is one of those lawyers.

So, if you’re facing foreclosure, if you’re worried about the chain of title to your home, if you know MERS is part of that chain of title, tune in to The Law Show With Brian Dailey.   Get educated, and if you’re in Michigan and MERS has initiated foreclosure proceedings on your home, then call the Dailey Law firm.: (248) 744-5005 or (866) 66-Lawyer (866-665-2993)

FedUpUSA will be featuring permanent links to The Law Show in our side bar and the Dailey Law Firm, P.C. contact information can be found on our Links page.

Live Video Stream DETROIT Sunday 11:00 AM Eastern:

Live Video Stream CHICAGO Saturday 10:00 AM Central:

And in case you missed it, Justin Grove talked foreclosures and the recent Michigan Appeals Court ruling on their May 8, 2011 show.  Give a listen.

Justin Grove, Esq.

A protest movement that started in Spain has now spread to Italy. The Spanish government has banned protests, but that has only encouraged more protests.

I picked the story up two days ago in Protests Mount in Spain; Sovereign Debt Crisis to Follow

Acting on a tip, the New York Times picked up the story a day later in Protesters Rally in Madrid Despite Ban.

Protest Images

Here are a few protest images by Juan Luis Sanchez on Yfrog.

Spain’s Icelandic revolt

Protests in Iceland helped bring down the Icelandic government and stopped the bailouts of banks at the expense of Icelandic taxpayers. Can the same thing happen in Spain?

Please consider Spain’s Icelandic revolt

After passively submitting to the crisis, young Spaniards have finally taken to the street. Breaking out on the eve of municipal elections, the protests of recent days have been inspired by those in Iceland that led to the fall of the government in Reykjavik.

One morning in October 2008, Torfason Hördur turned up at what Icelanders call the “Althing”, the Icelandic parliament in the capital city, Reykjavik. By then, the country’s biggest bank, the Kaupthing, had already gone into receivership and the Icelandic financial system itself was in danger of going under. Torfason, with his guitar, grabbed a microphone and invited people to talk about their dissatisfaction with the freefall of their country and to speak their minds.

A movement spawned by the internet

But those voices calling for real democracy are not just being raised in Iceland, a country of about 320,000 inhabitants. Here in Spain, the umbrella organisation for various Spanish movements – Democracia Real Ya (Real Democracy Now) – already lists among its proposals some 40 points ranging from controlling parliamentary absenteeism to reducing military spending through to abolishing the so-called Sinde law (a law restricting on-line infringements of copyright).

The demonstrations have broadened spontaneously, as was the case for those who rallied under the umbrellas of the “alternative globalisation” movements, and have evolved, one decade after the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on a more modest stage than the one demonstrators faced in the past at the World Economic Forum of the global elite in Davos, Switzerland.

All this is happening at astonishing speed via the Internet, which has amplified the echo of discontent and opened the lanes of cyberactivism to groups such as Anonymous, notable for intervening against companies like PayPal and Visa during the advocacy campaign for Wikileaks chief Julian Assange. Yet it was also there at the beginning of the revolts in the Arab world, to help people get round the censorship of the Tunisian and Egyptian dictatorships.

“When we grow up, we want to be Icelanders!” cried one of the leaders of the organisation during the march on Sunday May 15 before a column of young – and not so young – parents and children, students and workers, the jobless and pensioners. Many Saturdays in Iceland were needed before citizens won the changes they had demanded. Spain’s first Sunday has taken place, and was followed by a Tuesday [May 17]- but there’s still a long way to go.

Protests have now spread to Italy and beyond.

Protest Camps

Green tents are current protest camps. Purple tents are planned protest camps.

My friend Bran who lives in Spain writes …

A Spanish revolution is slowly gaining coverage, both internationally and locally. http://www.ikimap.com/map/2CYF is a map of existing, planned and evicted camps. Politicians and administrations are trying to claim sympathy and similarity to the protests expression, yet no one has good faith in the political class.

‘Revolution’ jumps from Spain to Italy

Courtesy of Google Translate (a choppy one, slightly edited by me) please consider ‘Revolution’ jumps from Spain to Italy and Italy to the rest of the world

Agglutinated protests in Spain by platform Real Democracy Now has called for demonstrations in at least six cities in the country, today and tomorrow at 20.00 .

Concentrations have been summoned by a profile of the social networking site Facebook entitled ‘Italian Revolution. Reale Democrazia Ora ‘, launched yesterday. The cities are Florence are scheduled today at 20.00, and Rome (Plaza of Spain), Milan, Bologna, Padua and Pisa, tomorrow at the same time.

The manifesto makes specific reference to the protests in Madrid, which cites as inspiration and express their solidarity. And the story is repeated all over the world

After Spain and Italy are numerous cities that have emulated the system concentrations.

Berlin joins the struggle for real democracy, support to Spain and joined the protest. “This decision May 20 Berlin Street,” announced their posters.

Paris or Buenos Aires will focus today. Brussels, Birmingham and Bogotá Ahram, tomorrow.

Amsterdam will hold a rally on Saturday 20.

For Spanish speaking readers, here is the original link: http://ecodiario.eleconomista.es/espana/noticias/3081817/05/11/Italia-copia-a-Espana-y-crea-su-Italian-Revolution.html

It is difficult to know what exactly might transpire from these protests, but we certainly have seen some shocking results in Africa and the Mideast already.

Watch Italian and Spanish Government Bonds

Most eyes remain focused on Greece. It is more important, to pay attention to Spain and Italy. Here are the charts I have been watching.

Spain 10-Year Government Bonds

Italy 10-Year Government Bonds

If yields break North of those zones shown in the above charts it will signify a lack of faith in the government bonds of those countries. Spain is huge, but Italy is massive. Italy has as much debt as Germany in an economy nowhere near as big.

I believe it is simply a matter of time before the markets start questioning Spanish government debt. Should Italian debt come into question, so will the very existence of the Euro itself.

Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Global Economic Analysis

The Federal Reserve’s elaborate financial charade on the American people – Big banks hold excess reserves that represent 10 percent of U.S. GDP. Federal Reserve has failed on largest goals for our economy.

The antics of our Federal Reserve rival those of the now disgraced IMF chief although they won’t grab as many gossip headlines.  The Federal Reserve has fashioned a system that has allowed economic bubbles to surface every very few years like high school reunions.  Bubbles are not normal.  These are financial disequilibrium events that occur simply because excess money is flowing through the system.  The housing bubble was the perfect example of what happens when a central bank does not mind its own store.  The Federal Reserve, our central bank and supposed expert on all things money, sought to protect the banking system at all costs during this recent crisis.  It is amazing how the actions conducted by the Fed were never fully scrutinized in the media thoroughly even though this is where most of the money was funneled.  It was simply assumed that the trillions of dollars in loans, purchases, and accounting chicanery that went to the largest banks was somehow the perfect way to avoid a crisis.  Who really avoided the crisis here?  The working and middle class is still disappearing.  Yet the large Wall Street banks are back to their profitable ways since they figured out that the best thing for business is a crisis.  These banks (just like the Fed) have little desire to help the American public even though they are only standing because of the power of the people.

Banks withhold lending to the public

Prior to October of 2008 the Fed did not pay interest on excess reserve balances or required reserves.  That all changed with the Economic Stabilization Act of 2008:

The Fed started paying 0.25% interest on these funds and as the chart above shows, banks are happier to stuff this money away at 0.25% instead of lending it to the cash strapped American public.  By definition this is money that can be lent out in terms of loans.  Yet the American middle class is struggling to get by so banks with more stringent lending requirements are simply hoarding or investing bailout funds that were targeted for working and middle class Americans.  It is no coincidence that during this time excess reserves went from $1 billion in 2008 to over $1.4 trillion where they stand today.  Banks are holding the equivalent of 10 percent of U.S. GDP in excess reserves!

Contrary to what is being circulated in the typical press, the Federal Reserve is largely creating another bubble economy.  The Fed balance sheet still stands at an all time record:

The charade is a simple one where banks pretend to help the economy while dumping toxic loans, risky paper, and other odd bets into the junk yard of the Fed.  Why else would the Fed balance sheet be up to roughly $2.75 trillion?  This is no tiny number.  We never even hear this mentioned in the press.  Don’t you think this is important to know especially when the future economic implications are enormous?  The Federal Reserve has a mission and that is to protect the big banking interests in the country.  That is it.  So it should be no surprise that all the bailouts have benefitted the big banking interests disproportionately while the public struggles to get by.

The underemployment rate in the country is still extremely high:

Over 19 percent of Americans are still underemployed.  This is all happening while the economy is supposedly recovering.  We are simply witnessing the ultimate bubble of the Federal Reserve and that is to steal from the taxpayer directly.  Nothing can be easier than robbing the American taxpayer through a crushing realignment of the American middle class and blaming it on the global economy.  That is, unless you are a large Wall Street bank connected to the Fed and then all you need to do is created some fancy alphabet labeled “program” and dump your toxic loans into it like loading paper into a shredder.

Without a doubt these actions are creating shadow inflation but I don’t need to tell you that.  Just look at your grocery bill.  Look at your kid’s tuition statement.  What about filling up at the gas tank?  Need to see a doctor?  Americans without an unlimited credit card are adjusting their behaviors:

“(WSJ) Americans living paycheck to paycheck are looking at the gas gauge before they run their errands, and that’s hurting big retail chains such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Lowe’s Cos.

“Our customers are consolidating trips due to higher gas prices,” said Wal-Mart U.S. head Bill Simon during the retailer’s earnings conference call Tuesday. “One in five Wal-Mart moms list gasoline as a top expense behind housing and car payments.”

As the cost of a good education becomes more inflated and paper mill schools crop up to scam the public, many people are ending up stuck in massive amounts of student debt.  As you can see from the above story, families are consolidating shopping trips because of the price of gas.  What is the big deal?  Our nation as you know runs on consumption.  The fact that people are shopping less signifies the reality that middle class families are being forced to cut back.  This is the river that runs through our economy and without this our economy will sputter even further.

I was looking at some of the stated missions of the Federal Reserve and they have failed on so many fronts:

To strike a balance between private interests of banks and the centralized responsibility of government

To supervise and regulate banking institutions

To protect the credit rights of consumers

maximum employment

To strengthen U.S. standing in the world economy

To address the problem of banking panics

On all fronts they have failed.  First, there is absolutely no balance since the big banks control the Fed and the big banks control government so virtually all their outcomes are met.  Obviously they cannot regulate an industry that is run by an armada of cronies.  Hence the enormous waste and speculative casino known as the housing bubble.  They also talk about protecting credit rights of consumers.  This is laughable and yes, another failure.  Another stated goal is “maximum employment” which of course is another failure.  The Fed has not strengthened the U.S. economy but has made the big banks more powerful.  And finally the Fed’s answer to banking panics is ripping off the taxpayer for giant bailouts.

The Fed is leading us down a very troubling road of economic serfdom for the working and middle class. Their stated objectives are laughable and clearly do not relate to what is going on in the economy.  If you had a doctor that couldn’t operate, didn’t understand medications, and hurt multiple patients you would want his license to practice revoked immediately.  How then can our central bank, an organization designed to keep the flow of capital moving for the benefit of society keep on operating when they have failed on every key mission goal?  The Federal Reserve will keep on pretending that there is no $2.75 trillion in assets on their balance sheet and the media will keep on pretending that everything is okay.

My Budget360