The government, after destroying the economy and housing market through its social engineering, financial corruption, and political favoritism, is telling you to pay up or else. Government-sponsored mortgage purchaser Fannie Mae is trying to encourage distressed homeowners to find alternatives to foreclosure by banning those who walk away from getting new loans for seven years. [...]

I am still receiving some demented emails from emotional readers upset about the following two articles of mine: – It May Be Financially Irresponsible to Pay Your Mortgage – Why a Strategic Default May Be Your Best Option I’ve received almost no rational letters of disagreement from folks who offer up a better solution and [...]

On CNBC Squawk Box, the topic was this: “Moody’s Says U.S. Debt Could Test Triple-A Rating.” From the New York Times article: A downgrade would affect more than American pride. The bigger risk would be to the country’s ability to keep borrowing money on extremely favorable terms, and therefore to keep spending more money than [...]

And this is according to an FDIC report. The names of the banks on the list are never made available to the general public by regulators out of fear that depositors at those institutions may prompt a so-called “run on the bank.” …Bair confirmed that the pace of bank failures would pick up this year, [...]

While the government spent zillions trying to prop up its swine flu propaganda campaign in order to grab unprecedented new powers by putting the populace under the spell of a doomsday crisis, duplicitous public officials who paint catastrophic landscapes with pink ribbons and teddy bears are obscuring the real calamities. The blighted landscape before us [...]

From Old Rebel comes this. Though, since Biden is a bit player — I’d rather see Bush or Pelosi in the tent with Obama.

Yesterday, seven more banks were closed – quietly – as the number reached 106 for the year. The Wall Street Journal has an interactive map of bank failures (131) since the beginning of 2008. On a related note, as the commercial real estate bust heats up, Capmark Financial Group, Inc.  (formerly GMAC Commercial Holding Corp.) [...]

The Depression Memo, that is. Thanks to Michael W. for the link.

No need, really. Goldman already sits at the top of the ruling hierarchy and has the power to choreograph the financial markets. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) just named a new Chief Operating Officer for its Enforcement Unit, and this new guy is Adam Storch, a 29-year-old executive from Goldman Sachs. He’s been a [...]