Fed Chief Urges Foreclosure Action

[OhioChick]

Source: Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc./AP

Price Declines Contributing To Mortgage Defaults, Bernanke Says

POSTED: 9:42 pm EDT May 5, 2008
UPDATED: 10:10 pm EDT May 5, 2008

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Monday said conditions in mortgage markets remain strained, posing a threat to the economy, and urged steps be taken to prevent home foreclosure where possible.

"High rates of delinquency and foreclosure can have substantial spillover effects on the housing market, the financial markets and the broader economy," Bernanke said in a dinner speech to Columbia Business School in New York. "Therefore, doing what we can to avoid preventable foreclosures is not just in the interest of lenders and borrowers. It's in everybody's interest," he said.

Bernanke's comments come as concern about the housing crisis and debate about how to help homeowners in trouble is growing.

Some 1.5 million U.S. homes entered into the foreclosure process last year, up 53 percent from 2006, Bernanke said. The rate of new foreclosures looks likely to be even higher this year, he said.


Read more: http://www.newsnet5.com/money/16169263/detail.html

[ananda]

1. Well, duh.

nt

[lonestarnot]

2. No shit. You don't say!

[OhioChick]

7. Yeah, I Also Thought This was One of Those

"No Shit" Headlines. :)

[newburgh]

3. I think it's much worse than what we're seeing...

I'm sure many of the banks are holding off on the foreclosure process as long as possible now, not wanting to go into the failing real estate biz- especially with the neg value properties. I can just imagine there are many of these holdbacks in the wings that don't show up in these numbers. There's no advantage to moving quickly anymore...

[Trajan]

4. Talk about closing the barn door ....

After the horses have lived, retired in Sarasota Springs, ate their oats at 4 PM with a chaser of Ensure, and passed on to greener pastures ....

Wow .... Arent THEY in front of the curve ?

Get a clue: WITHOUT WAGE INCREASES ACROSS THE BOARD, we are headed toward a long depression ...

But hey: Republicans hate wage increases ...... no wonder everything is so fucked up ....

[mac56]

9. "Cheap Labor Republicans"

Amazing how more and more true that proves to be.

[Kaleko]

5. Apparently, this is the only way to bring the Empire to its knees.

Of course, you can say the banker/policy-maker elites have planned this all along. But it seems that even the richest of the rich don't like what they see now, as the results of their plans are coming into view.

[soothsayer]

6. Feh, just a consolidation of power. This Yahoo biz yesterday was another

classic pump and dump (e.g., the powers-that-be buy yahoo stock, then create a fake plan for microsoft to buy yahoo, the stock shoots up, they sell, then buy short, then whoops the microsoft deal gets pulled and they make money on the way down). But yeah, it's a mess out there for us, the vanishing middle class. Not vanishing so much as being systematically squeezed out of society.

[Javaman]

8. the bigger question is this: how does the rich make money by

telling Bernanke to make this statement?

[flashl]

10. Bernanke urges Congress to help stem foreclosures

Source: IHT

Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, urged Congress on Monday to allow U.S. government agencies more leeway in overseeing the ailing mortgage industry, emphasizing that the causes of the current foreclosure crisis were more difficult to address than those in the past.

"Realistic public and private sector policies must take into account the fact that traditional foreclosure avoidance strategies may not always work well in the current environment," Bernanke said at a Columbia Business School event at the Waldorf-Astoria in Midtown Manhattan.

...

A high concentration of speculators and owners of second homes, who may have less incentive to hold onto their property, also contributes to more delinquencies, Bernanke said.

The variety of factors leading to foreclosures makes it more difficult for mortgage lenders to help ailing homeowners, Bernanke said, noting that "lenders and services will have to develop new and flexible strategies to deal with this issue."

IHT

Read more: http://iht.com/articles/2008/05/06/business/06fed.php

---

Is this an effort to include speculators and owners of second homes in the 'worthy of rescue from foreclosure' category?

[whistle]

11. Why help the speculators with government bailouts?

[Baby Snooks]

12. Oh puhleeeeeeeze....

That is the American way. You bail out the very wealthy and hope some of the good fortune you've bestowed on them somehow "trickles down" on everyone else although usually the only thing that "trickles down" is the bill for the bail-out.

Of course the Federal Reserve is worried about the economy and the only economy left in this country is the very wealthy economy so of course Bernanke is going to do what he can to ensure it remains healthy as well as wealthy. The rest of us and our economy simply do not matter.

[Tempest]

13. Bernanke wants to put the fox in charge of the hen house

The government agencies he wants to give more control over the industry are the same ones who turned the other way when the crisis was building.

[bluesmail]

14. why doesn't he just go straight to the WH, fall on hands and knees

and ask really nicely *, we need your help. This is preposterous. Again.

[high density]

15. Bail out specualtors and second home owners?

What a nutjob this guy is. These people are the primary cause of the problem. It's not our problem if somebody takes on too much risk and fails at it. The government can't subsidize stuff like this. Speculators can sell, and people with second homes can sell. It's not that complicated. If they're upside down, well, welcome to America you dumbshits.

[Zorra]

16. Welfare for Wall St.? The hypocrisy of these "freak market" republicans

knows no bounds!

Maybe we should just let the entire parasitic system of Wall St. collapse.

It's time for these Wall St. bankers to *pick themselves up by their bootstraps*, start earning an honest living, and do something productive with their lives instead of ripping off and then sponging off the average American taxpayer.:D

[lonestarnot]

17. "let it." Snort.

They are going to "cause it."