Reply #77: But they were. Yes, that train has been stopped finally, but

[sabrina 1]

the profits have already been made from foreclosures. I used to think as you do, I couldn't understand how a bank could make money from so many foreclosures, many remaining empty or being sold off at prices half what they were worth. When my friend tried to pay part of her mortgage not to get too far behind while she applied for an adjustment, they sent her money back. I couldn't believe it. She could afford a modified mortgage, but they didn't want it. They WANTED to foreclose.

I knew something was wrong then. And that's when I started reading and learning and it was hard, since I detest economics, and as Michael Moore pointed out in 'Capitalism A Love STory', they deliberately use language that we don't understand. Like 'tranches' and 'toxic assets' and 'derivitives' etc. Not words in the vocabulary of the average person. So when I read articles about this issue, it was like reading in another language. And that made me even more angry.

I felt better when MM brought that up in the movie, and asked the Wall St. guy if it was deliberately meant to confuse people, and he answered finally, 'yes'. So I began to study their made-up language so I could understand what they were doing. It gave me a headache, but nothing LIKE the headache I got from what I learned so far.

I don't blame you for not seeing how they profited. You would need to have a criminal mind to figure it out. Even people like James Galbraith had trouble seeing what was to be gained from these millions of foreclosures. But now the information about why and how they did it, is being revealed on a daily basis. I don't know why it is not being covered by the media.

But people did profit from foreclosures. If they could not have done that, there would most definitely have been fewer of them, banks taking advantage of the available programs to help people stay in their homes. But that was not the goal. See my post elsewhere in this thread. There are some links there that begin to explain the whole nasty, criminal scheme. And we so far, have seen only the tip of the iceberg.