Fixing the Mortgages. Fixing the economy. Undoing Bush's final insults?
By Les Porter.

Yeah, those pesky sub-prime mortgages. But because of them, because of the market collapse, everyone with an uncompleted mortgage needs a break. Everyone. The bank cartel scammed all of us. Protect the financial system? Get this into your psyche: The financial system is most of the problem, and it is on an international scale.

The $700 Million man. Hank Paulson, Something for nothing.
Photo Credit: US Treasury

Everyone but you? Even you need a break. Think "American Economy" bailout!

Oh, but you pay your mortgage. You are always on time and you resent the idea of bailing out those slackers who were suckered into bad mortgages, say those adjustable rate mortgages with super-financed loans for 125% of the real estate's value.

You know I'm NOT joking. There really were these super-funded 125%-value mortgages out there! Sucker-mortgages! Hope mortgages! You know, "Hope" I can keep my job or get a raise! "Hope" I can make the payments!

Or "hopes" from the lender, "Hope" I can sell this mortgage before they (the debtor) default. That's why we got this credit default insurance! and I'm paying to assure the mortgage buyer is covered should this mortgage/porker ever go belly-up. Hey, buy this mortgage, and You're fully covered! That's right. AIG is covering most of it -- And that's right! J P Morgan and company invented these swaps. They are instruments as "solid" as a rock! You betcha!

Financial Instruments, all un-regulated, were created to smear some lipstick on these sick pigs, and these pigs were then mixed right in with the healthy ones. Even the healthy ones were going to the slaughter. Right?

Tell me how much your house (home? abode, hut or hovel) is worth in the real estate market. So you lost 11%! And some others lost 25%? 31%? Brutal!

You lost your what!? Yeah? So they only took your rear-end, Oh . . .just a hind quarter. Part of the Bush Team insult? You should be renegotiating your loan so it reflects the value of the mortgage were it floated for sale. (That would be a stimulus, too.)

Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson came to the Treasury with "personal wealth" of some $700 million from the sales of vast amounts of "bad paper" to the Chinese while he worked for Goldman Sachs, a few years back. He came to the microphone very, very nervously, very, very defensively and asked for $700 Billion to "help" to "stop" the foreclosures. To buy the "Toxic Assets." To rescue the American Financial System. To rescue the Banks so they can loan money. So we can "save" the economy.

Of course it was a lie.

Executive pay. Bonuses, Dividends. (Oh . . . Some of those should be given up?)

Oversight? At least one Republican senator voted against oversight. This article doesn't name names, but any Democrat can tell you. Great Republican shift is part of the insult. Claiming now, they not only don't want (can't have) oversight, they don't want the program at all. These few slick talking silver tonguers lie continually from both sides.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=axxKVhnKFnb0

Treasury’s Paulson shifted from what congress voted to allow -- as far as allowing toxic (troubled) assets purchase -- to a so-called "capital purchase" program, that allowed giving $250 billion for healthy, non-troubled banks. Almost a month ago, 11-25-2008, the Treasury had given out $150 billion for tokens in 52 banks. Are these banks lending? Yet? To their branches in Europe or Asia? Other banks? Just what are they doing?

The second excuse/justification was to give money to some of the wealthy and healthy banks and this exercise was to "start deicing" the credit markets for consumers.

Yes, it was another "lie." Are they loaning yet?

Now it is seen as what it was, and seen very clearly.(thed truth of who got most of the money is known -- but it is again opaque as to what they did with the money. Anything but transparent. Disclosure? Not until we make the Banks a Part of western society, or pass laws with teeth for violation of the needed transparency which will perhaps help in the "trust" of the banks. If you saw what the banks are hiding, you might want to abandon banking as a mechanism to operate in our "capitalistic quagmire."

If we knew what the banks want to hide from us-- we might get blood out of the banks! Or we could simply "nationalize" or perhaps, better, since they have been trying to skim their way into this -- GLOBALIZE THEM! Take government control of them -- at least in the Democracies -- and not trade or convey digital money to those few that are dictatorships, or non-democratic regimes. That might be fun, huh? Then we'd find out they think they run the world -- not "us."

You think "they" are "us." They aren't. They are "Them!"

I think if you are a senior executive in any of the "bailed-out" banks, you are now subject to federal employment standards, you know General Schedule standards -- you should be facing a reduction in job pay, and held until you explain what was done with public funds, proven with an independent audit, and then released if the truth was told, or held, if caught lying to Federal investigators, with Gitmo for interrogation and rehabilitation. If you can't afford an attorney, we have lots of lawyers needing work to help you. Get rid of the foreign detainees, get the place cleared for our Bank, FDIC, SEC, and Treasury white-collar-shower-before-work financial terrorists. Disclosure?

It is a moral imperative to save the banks so they can lend? Or is it?

No lending from the "good hearts of the banks" is going on to save the people who have mortgage problems or are being ejected by the foreclosures. You know, the Law is the Law.

Banks do not have "hearts." Nope, not under the Bush-Paulson regime. Let 'em sleep on the streets. Talk the talk, but let 'em walk.

Let their local-kin-workers take care of 'em; these substandard defaulting humans aren't part of the god-recognized elite American citizenry among mankind.

That's right; there are workers and there are the elite who pay them for the work they get from them. No lending for main street businesses on the edge. Right. Most of them are worker-class, too!

There is nothing of a moral obligation to the existence of any bank.

Banks are a "Racket." A sophisticated racket; but a racket, none-the-less. Your standard of living and wages are regressive while those of the elite are piously and rightly ascending. As they were meant by creation to ascend!

Some call them (banks) businesses. But if they are businesses, then business skims are scams as well. It is like not really paying the farmer, but paying all the steps between them and your table. Milk is a good example. There is little real value added in the distribution of milk. Same with money, so why the fee?

Under the current planetary emergency, I suggest we convert the banks into something useful for planetary survival. After all -- the banks have financed this anthropogenic global warming condition. In fact, this exploitation of population growth, of the environment, and the destruction of the health of the planet is traceable directly to the International Banking Cartels, to say nothing of the wars that have enriched the banks on the "winning side" through time; and in many cases, enriched the banks on both sides.

Keep this in mind: Privately "owned" banks are just skimmers, licensed so-to-speak, by the government to provide a mechanism of value scoring to support a trading economy. That is, money or instruments of "value exchange." And they skim from the transactions -- as a government sanctioned "entitlement." Government let's them pick your pocket with "service" fees, unconstrained rates of usury, and more instruments than you can imagine. And via the Fed, they control how many or how few units of money are printed and when.

Now, please realize -- I am not suggesting a society "without money" -- though that is what we may eventually become, if we are able to stabilize population and provide services to species members without the greed/avarice part of our nature.

Most of Wall Street's efforts are designed to use other people's money and trade with other people's money and skim a bit of that money as a fee, as well as to advance personal fortunes without conscience, moral guidance or character. It is a racket.

What about purpose oriented things like Credit Unions. Devices that serve their membership?

Credit Unions -- directed by membership -- these are different and these are okay. They still have to tow the line as far as their practices. We just need to provide them with funds to invest and loan. Private Banks do not "like" Credit Unions. The story of the Credit Unions in Texas is especially interesting because of the political involvement, the FDIC, and the outright theft by friends of the directors of large sums of money, while attempting to blame employees. Some of these are still playing out, but if you look at the actions of some of Bush's Texas friends and his pardons of them, you may get the gist of the story.

Below are some first steps toward how we might stimulate the economy, save homes etc. I think this can be done without raising the national debt nearly as much as the War against Osama Bin Laden, in Iraq, or where ever he might be, has cost us. But what if we could do what is outlined below for a $ trillion, this time invested through people who are American citizens not just workers and let this bubble up. With an effort of re-powering of America with renewable energy sources, reducing fossil fuel emissions and working to eliminate the global warming we have caused, this is reasonable but only if kept from the fossil fuel gang's manipulations.

The Mortgage Stimulus, and Working Rules for Banks. Banks to "work" -- the "free ride" is over.

I preface my suggested solutions with this: The Taxpayer "rescue" funds (TARP) for a great many financial institutions engineered by Hank Paulson's Treasury "gift" to them and composed of money from your children, shall be made to be returned to the nation, with more than token interest, before the middle of 2010. This will be accomplished, or the bank will be liquidated, and all bonuses paid out to executives since the date TARP received, will be returned to Treasury via the General Accounting Office, this will come out of the banks accounts. The time frame is important, and these bonus returns can only be prevented by immediate application of TARP funds to the subprime and foreclosure disaster. Those funds not used by the middle of 2010 will be returned to the Treasury via the General Accounting Office on or before July 15, 2010.

The only way lending institutions can moderate the "gift loans" payback to reduce the return to the taxpayer, is to apply the TARP to the accounts of those mortgage foreclosures they were engaged in doing. They should make these fund applications retroactive so long as the property has not been resold, and any such scheduled sales immediately be halted. The banks with TARP funds would be expected to engage in negotiations with holders of the "behind payments" mortgages, and work with those that can be worked with to negotiate an equitable low interest rate that the debtor could afford, and maintain it, using the taxayer money from the bailout gift to make up the difference in the account from a 5.25% fixed rate. If they are unable to accomplish the mortgage renegotiation, the first possiblity would be to return the funding, as the mortgage payoff amount to the General Accounting Office.

If the debtor has lost his job, or is unable, for health reasons, to seek work or accomplish it in the general employment work force, he should be referred to the public welfare portion of the Obama economic stimulus plan for possible housing and medical help for rehabilitation or sustenance. Alternatively, if the debtor is able to work and cannot find an adequate financial job in the locality, he should be referred to the Stimulus job service infrastructure or new infrastructure for employment. A small part of the new Stimulus package I am suggesting is lightly explained below. But, Banks that received bailout funds should be faced with a full accounting of the funds provided them to help rescue the damaged global economy that they along with Wall Street, Congress, an inept Executive, and an unrealistic approach to Anthropogenic Global Warming, have created. Greed! No. Avarice on an exponential scale also within some of our natures, has contributed to the problem to a much larger degree than we should ever have allowed.

Above, I include the entire population of residential mortgages in the "reset," the need for which hinges on the problems within the global financial system, compound interest, numerous financial instruments and the resulting deflation and depression of the global economy. The financial depression of housing prices generally, devalues all residential real estate, and it is that devaluation which needs to be addressed as a part of the overall stimulus package. The TARP funds would be applied to the extent of the troubled housing and residential assets porfolio the particular bank has on its books. If it has written some of these off, TARP Funds are reduced by that amount, and must be applied to properly performing mortgages. That is, EVERYONE will be allowed mortgage relief with the TARP funds. Those in danger of foreclosure or losing their homes will be first to be considered in the emergency situation.

For those of you who are getting by well on keeping up with your mortgage, have a good job, have an up-beat future, the housing prices that have depressed also include yours. Your mortgage up to the value of $400,000 will be renegotiated on the basis of local housing market value depression. ALL performing mortgages will be renegotiated to the market price, so long as no housing interest rate exceeds the 5.25% -- which will be the residential interest rate limit.

This may come at the sacrifice "price" of several of the banks, their bonuses and CEO's executive parachutes. Even though Republicans blocked the oversight requirement, a complete accounting of the bailout funds and how they were used to help the US in line with the intent of congress will have to be accomplished with federal penalties for violations of disclosure. If needed, let's do this retroactively, and if a bonus was paid you will be recalled for testimony and be subject to punishment upon the mercy of a federal court. And your bonus will be returned to the treasury.

Foreclosures

1. All foreclosure actions are suspended for 120 days. This should become effective immediately, but can be after Obama's inauguration, with retroactive conditions also to be extended -- so save your home's paperwork for possible resurrection.

Adjustable Rate Mortgages

2. All ARM's for residential real estate are made null and void. All recent resets to higher amounts are rescinded. Every ARM will be renegotiated. No one will be ejected from their homes during the renegotiation period and all extenuating circumstances will be used. The new fixed rate will be 5.25%.

For those who have lost their jobs, the economic stimulus package to rebuild the economy will work with the debtor to find gainful stimulus-supported employment in building such things as electrical grid power transmission, manufacturing and erecting windmills, manufacturing and erecting stimulus supported solar and alternative energy production technologies, as well as biofuels. Of course, infrastructure repair or enhancement in the form of roads, water systems, and bridges as well as schools and internet development, are included.

New mortgage payment schedules and reduced do-able mortgage payments will be negotiated and instituted. Under Law. These mortgages will be owned by the Government and may be sold to banks, but only under strict regulatory control.

Saving the Automobile Industry Saving US Manufacturing!

That is right. They have been a long way from being "viable" under their current direction, but they can be fixed, and they can be "used" to help rescue America. Your friendly giant bank will attempt to skim from the solution. Steps need to be taken to prevent that.

This is not even difficult. But it takes some planning, and some communication. There is nothing as do-able as saving the manufacturing capability and using it to save the United States.

Image from National Renewable Energy Lab.

1. T. Boone Pickens is correct about the use of US and Canadian Natural Gas as the transportation fuel for trucks and heavy motive equipment. And it is all home-sourced. It is North American.

2. Flex fuel approaches, which already exist as well as propane and Natural Gas (mostly methane) and pure hydrogen or hydrogen-supplemented biofuels, or on board pyrolysis generated fuels. The electric cars need to be pursued with vigor and the battery or fuel-cell technology employed developed as rapidly as possible.

From Sandia Labs. Do you think chrome plating stamped-out pieces, bolted together could be manufactured by Detroit? Chrome-plated bumper steel would be too heavy, but we know the big three can stamp thin steel. The Sterling Engine needs to be developed and mass produced. Of course the fossil carbon fuel people have successfully persuaded Detroit to not work hard on these. But now is the time.

3. The new engines and motors the automobile corporations must build are extremely efficient. In addition, Sterling engines need mass production. Instead of chrome-plated plastics, the production of thin steel substrate parabolic segments for chrome-plated focusing solar parabolic collectors can be easily manufactured -- and economy of scale will bring the price into a range that any car owner can also afford to use solar energy to fuel it, as well as supplementing the national power grid. Or filling his own hydrogen vehicle storage. Further, under license, PV manufacturing must be included. General Motors might think of changing its name to General Manufacturing.

Image: eere.energy.gov

From Sandia Labs: (I think we are a bit ahead of this)

General Electric's manufacture of large windmills should be subsidized at stimulus levels with the auto corporations also directly involved.in the manufacture of smaller or larger technologies that use renewable energy resources.

These suggestions, enacted, can save nation and planet. What job would you like to do as part of this renewal?

Eventually, and soon -- we have to make "real" a value system. If we are to continue to exist on this world, without destroying it as we are doing, we must transform our systems and ourselves. Education will help. The interest, the usury, far outstrips the planet's capacity to perform. To give the banking cartel the power to operate under these conditions is morally in error. Population will crash if carried very far under the current approach. There will be a limit to population in the future.

Realize the last 12,000 years or so, mostly since the "ice went off" is all the time it has taken us to overrun the planet, violate its air and accumulate tokens or papers or digits of "wealth." The Banking skim has been operating for 4,000 of these 12,000 years.

A Note:
Principal = One cent = $0.01
usury = one Percent = 1 %
Compounded = Annually,
Years = 4,000

Ancient societies realized that usury (interest) would bankrupt entire nations, religions, and indeed the species. The only thing that allowed continued and higher rates was population increase. Well, that is coming to an end as we humans stress the worlds resources. We can reset values, but unless we transform the International Banking Cartel for a human future the recovery will not solve the problems we have sold or bought into.

Present value = $1,929,723,699,473,219.00 that is $1.929 Quadrillion dollars

The interest on this deposit is $19.1 trillion per year. Paying the interest is a job in itself.

http://www.1728.com/compint.htm

Visit the above for a quality compound interest calculator.

Congress has a lot of work ahead.

Watch the Republican Obstructionism. Then, in two years vote out another bunch of them. Or else, have your Republican Buddies join the Democrats. Oops! Yes there are some bad Democrats, too. But we are "weeding" them out. That is via civil means. So far.