Monthly Archives: September 2009

Mortgage 101 – what happens when you don’t undertand math

Part of the reason for singing the mortgage blues today is our track record of the years 2000 through 2006. As consumers refinanced mortgage coompanies started searching for those who would refinance again and again. Non-bank financial institutions and shady lenders looked for new customers, and subprime liar loans were born.

Breaking News – Fed to monitor subprime lenders starting in 2009

This is terrrible, ironic, and unfortunately it is still required. Years ago this proposal would have saved people from HSBC Finance, Citifinancial, and many others. Needless to say this decision is many years too late:

Thank you Phil Gramm, or “Who was padding your pocket?”

The United States has had as much of Phil Gramm as we can stand. While Americans expect almost everyone to be on somebody’s payroll, we are now at a point where we wonder about two main subjects: “Who was paying Phil Gramm for stupidity?”, and “Where am I going to be working next week?”

Household spending too weak to help – just like 1929

The problem went far beyond mortgages and opportunists. Greed almost stopped the American economy. Too many unemployed, too many reduced credit limits, and too many homeowners are upside down in the value of their homes.

Mortgage and Finance lacked leadership principles

My friend and I have 45 years of military service between her career and mine. By 2005 it was clear to us that executives and many employees in the mortgage and finance sector lacked basic leadership traits and principals known to everyone in the American armed forces.