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NEW -> Contingent Buyer Assistance Program
<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081210/ap_on_re_us/workers_takeover_37">Workers pressure BofA into extending credit lines</a>



To me this stinks of extortion, but I'm willing to listen to why this is BofA's issue. Other than as a way to make the bad PR for something that isn't their responsibility, go away.
 
[quote author="No_Such_Reality" date=1228912732]<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081210/ap_on_re_us/workers_takeover_37">Workers pressure BofA into extending credit lines</a>



To me this stinks of extortion, but I'm willing to listen to why this is BofA's issue. Other than as a way to make the bad PR for something that isn't their responsibility, go away.</blockquote>


<em><strong>The loan would be designed only to enable Republic to pay laid-off workers, said bank spokeswoman Julie Westermann.</strong> There was no question of offering a loan large enough to reopen the factory, she said.<strong>



Asked whether the bank sympathized with the laid-off workers, Westermann said, "Of course we do."</strong> She added that bank officials were ready to begin the loan-approval process if talks concluded with an agreement.



Republic officials did not return messages on Tuesday from The Associated Press.



Without the severance and vacation pay, Caceres said, <strong>he and many of his fellow workers risk falling behind on mortgage payments and even losing their homes.</strong></em>



Translation: BofA did their due diligence, and said "Oh holy mother of sweet Jeezus! Do you realize how many of those workers have garbage mortgages we just bought from Countryfried? We would just be shooting ourselves in the foreclosure foot if they don't get a severance. If we give them a loan at least we won't have to put those bad loans on books until next year. By then they might have found new jobs and the housing market will have recovered. Right?"
 
[quote author="graphrix" date=1228925626]

Without the severance and vacation pay, Caceres said, <strong>he and many of his fellow workers risk falling behind on mortgage payments and even losing their homes.</strong>[/i]



Translation: BofA did their due diligence, and said "Oh holy mother of sweet Jeezus! Do you realize how many of those workers have garbage mortgages we just bought from Countryfried? We would just be shooting ourselves in the foreclosure foot if they don't get a severance. If we give them a loan at least we won't have to put those bad loans on books until next year. By then they might have found new jobs and the housing market will have recovered. Right?"</blockquote>


Not likely. How would BofA have all the names of these 240 workers to check against their mortgage portfolio? Also, assuming that the severance pay merely complies with the plant closing act of '86, the 60 days pay the workers would receive is unlikely to halt any foreclosures. The article mentioned that most of the workers made $30k or less. $5k before taxes doesn't go very far.



This is simply a case of the BofA bowing to extortion to avoid publicity.



It the loan is to close the facility, what are the odds of that loan being paid back?
 
[quote author="WINEX" date=1228940461]Not likely. How would BofA have all the names of these 240 workers to check against their mortgage portfolio? Also, assuming that the severance pay merely complies with the plant closing act of '86, the 60 days pay the workers would receive is unlikely to halt any foreclosures. The article mentioned that most of the workers made $30k or less. $5k before taxes doesn't go very far.</blockquote>


I wasn't being serious. I just thought it would be fun to throw their Coutryfried buy under the bus again.



<blockquote>This is simply a case of the BofA bowing to extortion to avoid publicity.</blockquote>


Well, they already got it, and now they look like that friendly neighborhood bank helping the community out. Maybe they wanted the publicity?



<blockquote>It the loan is to close the facility, what are the odds of that loan being paid back?</blockquote>


The likelihood that the facility will close and the loan will not be paid back is... certain.
 
Finally. Someone gets it.

<a href="http://rismedia.com/wp/2008-12-03/house-prices-must-return-to-trend-levels-to-stabilize-market/">Let 'em fall</a>



<em>The report, which draws on data from the Case- Shiller Index, emphasizes that house prices used in mortgage appraisals should be based on rental values to avoid over-valuation. The fact that real house prices exploded by 80% from 1996 to 2006 while rents increased by only 4% over the same time period points to a degree of speculation and the fact that prices still have further to fall before the bubble deflates.</em>
 
"The report, which draws on data from the Case- Shiller Index, emphasizes that house prices used in mortgage appraisals should be based on rental values to avoid over-valuation."



This idea is the cornerstone of my proposals to stop future housing bubbles. I am glad to see others take up the idea.



BTW, I am sending Dean Baker a copy of the book today.
 
<strong>Battle of the press releases:</strong>



In this corner, an idiot-



<a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/ForeclosureScom-Housing-Markets-Will-Roar/story.aspx?guid={C07AD957-E940-487A-A1A5-A9348B68C275}"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Housing Markets Will Roar Back in 2009!</span> </a>



<em>U.S. Foreclosures Index Paints Bright Picture

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Dec 09, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The nation's foreclosure hemorrhage has finally slowed and 2009 should see a significant decline in foreclosures as buyers return, pushing home prices up and fueling a real estate recovery...</em>





SCHB
 
<blockquote>

<em>"What I can tell, though, is that hardest hit housing markets have already hit bottom and others will follow in 2009."</em>

</blockquote>
Something to look back on a year from now.
 
[quote author="socalhousingbubble" date=1228986122]<strong>In this corner, an idiot</strong>-



<a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/ForeclosureScom-Housing-Markets-Will-Roar/story.aspx?guid={C07AD957-E940-487A-A1A5-A9348B68C275}"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Housing Markets Will Roar Back in 2009!</span> </a>



<em>U.S. Foreclosures Index Paints Bright Picture

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Dec 09, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The nation's foreclosure hemorrhage has finally slowed and 2009 should see a significant decline in foreclosures as buyers return, pushing home prices up and fueling a real estate recovery...</em>





SCHB</blockquote>


Yup... only an idiot would <a href="http://blog.foreclosures.com/">repeatedly quote idiots like Jim Cramer and Lawrence Yun</a>. I wonder if Doug Kass knows this moron put him in the same sentence as Cramer? I guess you better get your foreclosure home now, before they are all gone from savvy investors taking advantage of the cheap mortgage rates. Just make sure you sign up for <a href="http://www.foreclosures.com/">foreclosures.com</a> and get <a href="http://www.foreclosures.com/pages/Guide-To-Advanced-Investing-Techniques.asp">these books</a>, otherwise you will miss out on the great run up and be priced out forever.



Barf... how do these people, who are consistently wrong, continue to get press coverage?
 
You tell 'em IR.



<a href="http://www.southoctracker.com/">short interview with IrvineRenter. Ahh-h-h-h, whaddaz he know?</a>
 
[quote author="graphrix" date=1229012686]



Barf... how do these people, who are consistently wrong, continue to get press coverage?</blockquote>


Because the pressure to present a positive story is intense. If you want to keep your job you sell out your credibility. Print media is under unprecidented pressure right now. The stuff you're seeing in the Tribune is happening industry wide.



Honest brokers are hard to find.
 
FDIC signs three year lease in Irvine and is <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/11/news/companies/fdic_banks/index.htm?postversion=2008121113">now hiring!</a>
 
<a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/us-households-pay-down-debts/story.aspx?guid={823A97D3-ECA6-4887-A70B-9425366E7473}&dist=msr_2">U.S. households pay down debts for first time</a>



As of Sept. 30, the total outstanding debt for households shrank at an annualized rate of 0.8% from $13.94 trillion to $13.91 trillion, the Fed said in its quarterly flow of funds report. <strong>It's the first decline in household debt ever recorded in the report.</strong>



Households paid off more mortgage debt than they took on for just the second quarter on record. Mortgage debt fell at a 2.4% annual rate to $10.54 trillion, as foreclosures mounted and fewer new mortgages were taken on.
 
Oh looky, <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081212/ap_on_bi_ge/meltdown_autos_26">maybe they'll use TARP for an unvoted auto bailout</a>, is everybody feeling lied to yet?<span style="font-size: 11px;"></span><span style="font-size: 13px;"></span>





Meanwhile, the Dow is down 170 pts, doesn't look like financial armageddon.
 
OMG!! This man is a legend on Wall Street...He practically invented electronic trading...Very disheartening



?He?s one of the pioneers of modern Wall Street,? said James Angel, an associate business professor at Georgetown University in Washington. Madoff?s firm was among the first to automate market-making, in which a dealer continually buys and sells stock. The company was among the largest to offer ?payment for order flow,? or paying to handle customer orders.





<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aGQSr_LRM_.8&refer=worldwide">Madoff Charged in $50 Billion Fraud at Advisory Firm </a>
 
?He?s one of the pioneers of modern Wall Street,? said James Angel, an associate business professor at Georgetown University in Washington



Doesn't that say it all??
 
Thank you Lawrence Yun the oracle of butt



"National Association of Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun predicts home prices will keep falling in 2009 but could return to their 2006 peak in three years, not counting inflation. He says the bubble largely was confined to four states ? California, Nevada, Florida and Arizona. "People who bought at the peak in those states will need time for prices to recover, even up to five years," he says. Yun says people who buy now "have much less risk of price declines and a great possibility of price gains."





<a href="http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20081212/1ahouseprices12_cv.art.htm">Why home values may take decades to recover </a>
 
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