Robert Oak's blog

An Update on the Foreclosure Mill

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Grinding the middle class one family at a time, the foreclosure wheel keeps turning. Did you know Treasury blocked aid to homeowners facing foreclosure?

19 states which are recipients of the Hardest Hit Fund (HHF)—a portion of TARP money set aside to help homeowners in states struggling with the highest unemployment rates and steepest declines in the housing market.

Some of those states, including Ohio, let Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner know as far back as this past spring that they wanted to use some of those funds to assist legal aid groups that help individual homeowners. Seems like a reasonable request—unlike the absurdity of handing over trillions of dollars to robo-signing, foreclosure-mad banks, no questions asked.

Treasury solicited the opinion of an outside law firm, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey. Never mind that the firm's clients include BB&T Corporation and payday lender CNG Financial Corp. The firm said, in essence—sorry, no can do on the legal aid. Not permitted under the TARP.

Huh? Hold on a sec—is this the same TARP that granted the Treasury Secretary all those "extraordinary powers" to protect people's home values, preserve home ownership, promote economic growth, etc.?

Senator Sherrod Brown held a hearing and said Mortgage Servicers Akin to Predatory Lenders:

The predatory practices of the mortgage servicing industry are remarkably similar to the predatory practices that led to the subprime crisis.

The Bernanke Buzz on What Ben Said

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Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke gave a 60 Minutes interview and now the world is all abuzz with the possibility of more quantitative easing. He said other stuff ya know, like income inequality is a real problem in the United States and the unemployment rate could tip the scales into another recession. He even came clean with the reality 2.5% annualized GDP growth is barely enough to maintain the status quo. Watch the interview for yourself below:

 

Sunday Morning Comics - Even a Child Can Do It Edition

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Brought to you by economic news - Statistical snowflakes dancing on the heads of snow blind politicians while the middle class is buried in a blizzard of bad policy.
Cup O' Joe

 

Good Morning! Rise and Shine! Get that Cup O' Joe...
break out the O.J....hang out with the pooch...time to check out the Funnies.

 

Where are the Jobs? Offshore Outsourced of Course!

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A new study by the Hackett Group, Acceleration of Offshoring Trend Driving Loss of Millions of Finance and IT Jobs in U.S. and Europe is something everyone should read if you're wondering where the jobs are.

On top of 2.8 million jobs lost from 2000 to 2010 in finance, IT, HR and procurement, The Hackett Group projects that another 1.0 million will disappear by 2014 in North America and Europe, representing a total reduction of 46% of jobs in these functions since 2000.

Friday Movie Night - Quants: The Alchemists of Wall Street

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hot buttered popcorn It's Friday Night! Party Time!   Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!

 

Remember all of those derivatives, the CDOs, CDSes which brought down the world economy? This documentary is about the people behind those mathematical models, which due to the failure of financial reform, are still operating today.

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