http://ml-implode.com Tracking the housing finance breakdown. en http://ml-implode.com/staticnews/2012-05-24_TheNineLivesOfAlliedHomeMortgageHUDGoesForTheKillShot.html http://ml-implode.com 2012-05-24 ``Although the wheels sometimes turn a bit slow at HUD, yesterday's notice means that Allied will get its hearing. We are absolutely confident that their operations will be suspended for good.'' http://ml-implode.com/staticnews/2012-05-24_BankiatoaskSpainforover15billioneurossource.html http://ml-implode.com 2012-05-24 ``Spanish lender Bankia will ask the state for more than 15 billion euros (US$19 billion) to bail it out when its new management team presents a restructuring plan on Friday, a financial sector source said late on Thursday.'' http://ml-implode.com/staticnews/2012-05-24_PanicLikeItsMarch2009ChrisPuplava.html http://ml-implode.com 2012-05-24 ``For Bernanke to have cover to launch yet another round of quantitative easing (QE) he generally needs conditions just right for justification. That is, falling commodity prices, falling inflation expectations, and a weakening economy. When all three of these conditions are in place we often see "Helicopter Ben" fire up the Fed's printing press. Commodity prices have been tanking since March as have inflation expectations (as measured by breakeven inflation rates), but the economy so far has remained resilient--resilient that is until now.'' http://ml-implode.com/staticnews/2012-05-24_MBAHikes2012OriginationForecastby200BillionDueToRefis.html http://ml-implode.com 2012-05-24 ``The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is projecting that mortgage originations in 2012 will be $200 billion higher than was originally anticipated.  Almost all of the increase will be coming from a boom in refinancing, but none of the additional originations are pegged to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP 2.0.) '' http://ml-implode.com/staticnews/2012-05-24_TurkGrexitMayTurnIntoDepositConfiscation.html http://ml-implode.com 2012-05-24 Due to huge Target2 intra-Eurozone imbalances... ``So to put words into action, the Eurocrats determine that coincident with the Grexit and re-launch of the drachma, all euros deposited in banks anywhere in Euroland by Greek nationals becomes a drachma deposit. Germany is saved because it no longer owes euros to Nico. But Nico's life savings are not safe after all. And the same thing could happen to Juan, Paddy, Luigi and their countrymen in the PIIGS, if they think that moving their euros to Germany is safe.'' http://ml-implode.com/staticnews/2012-05-24_5DayBankHolidayToPrepareForCollapseofEuro.html http://ml-implode.com 2012-05-24 Bilderberg is so desperate to save the euro because it represents the entire foundation of their global financial agenda to create regional currencies and carefully-managed bureaucratic federations on the same model as the European Union.Bilderberg-chairman Étienne Davignon bragged that Bilderberg helped create the euro by first introducing the policy agenda for a single currency in the early 1990′s, which was later formalized into the 1992 Maastricht Treaty. http://ml-implode.com/staticnews/2012-05-24_EuropesNewAusterityTheCheesecakeDiet.html http://ml-implode.com 2012-05-24 ``... the UK has been on a Cheesecake Diet all along. While ordinary people in the UK have been punished with month after month of sadistic, suicidal austerity; the Bank of England has been showering its bankers with new money, courtesy of more UK "QE".'' http://ml-implode.com/staticnews/2012-05-24_WegelinCoSwissBankDeniesClaimsItHelpedAmericansEvade12BillionInT.html http://ml-implode.com 2012-05-24 Wegelin & Co, the oldest Swiss private bank, is digging in its heels against a U.S. criminal charge that it conspired to help wealthy Americans evade taxes. At a hearing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Wednesday, a federal prosecutor said Swiss police on May 2 had hand delivered a court summons and a copy of the indictment to Wegelin executive Konrad Hummler. The bank is now seeking to contest the summons in Swiss courts, prosecutor Daniel Levy said. http://ml-implode.com/staticnews/2012-05-24_AIGventuresbackintosubprimemortgages.html http://ml-implode.com 2012-05-24 CEO Robert Benmosche has increased non-government-guaranteed residential and commercial-mortgage backed securities holdings by $11.1 billion since 2010 to $28.4 billion at the end of March, according to regulatory filings. The New York insurer has acquired debt sold by the Federal Reserve that the central bank acquired from AIG when the company was rescued, including $600 million of commercial-mortgage backed securities last month. This is rather interesting not only for the choice of assets (which were, of course, previously owned by the collapsing AIG) but also because the Treasury is still majority-owner of AIG. So basically, if these assets were to tank again, the government would still be mostly on the line. But we suppose that's not as big a deal anymore, what with an implicit Fed "put" under all markets. Even better: if AIG is getting a good price, the Fed must be giving something up (and indirectly, the Treasury benefits). So to the extent AIG is still publicly owned/supported, it would seem to us all this shuffling does is effectively give AIG execs a "call" on the performance of said toxic waste... http://ml-implode.com/staticnews/2012-05-24_AnonymousTheFableofMoralArithmetic.html http://ml-implode.com 2012-05-24 "But there ARE only 100 marbles, so unless Teacher adds marbles into the room, Timmy can only get back as many marbles as he put in. So the correct answer is Timmy will get back 100 marbles and some of his classmates will default on their debts and suffer a life of stupid unemployed poverty because Teacher says "We must live within our means." and she refuses to add the needed marbles even though she owns the marble factory that produces unlimited marbles at virtually no cost." http://ml-implode.com/staticnews/2012-05-24_BelowtheFoldFedsPipeUpandGreedyGovernorsScrewHomeowners.html http://ml-implode.com 2012-05-24 As it turns out, the $2.5 Billion that was initially doled out among the states to help homeowners isn't going to help homeowners after all. States are going to use some or all of the money to cover budget holes in state budgets and general funds... in Georgia, the state with fifth highest foreclosure rate... the state constitution requires that the money go into the state treasury. The governor would prefer that it go from there to the rainy day fund. The rainy day fund is state savings to cover emergencies and hard times. The irony of Georgia putting money into a rainy day fund that was intended for underwater homeowners would be funny if it weren't for the tragedy of it all. http://ml-implode.com/staticnews/2012-05-24_GermanyIssuesLongTermZeroRateBonds.html http://ml-implode.com 2012-05-24 ``For now at least Germany and Greece share the same currency. But don't tell that to investors. On Wednesday the German Finance Ministry pulled off a remarkable feat for a country in a threatened currency union: It issued €4.6 billion of two year bonds with a rate of zero percent. In other words, once inflation is factored in, investors are essentially paying to park their money with the German government.'' http://ml-implode.com/staticnews/2012-05-24_Spainstrugglestomeetregions36billioneurodebtsUpFrom8bln.html http://ml-implode.com 2012-05-24 ``The figure, revealed in the budget plans from 17 autonomous communities, compares with previous public data of around 8 billion euros of bonds maturing in 2012. The difference is due to bilateral loans from Spanish banks to the regions worth 28 billion euros that were not made public previously.'' http://ml-implode.com/staticnews/2012-05-24_EuroZoneCrisisBoilsasLeadersFailtoSignalNewSteps.html http://ml-implode.com 2012-05-24 ``With Greece's membership in the euro zone teetering, fears of bank insolvency rising and Europe's leaders bickering about what to do, the euro crisis is once again intensifying and threatening to undermine fragile growth globally.'' http://ml-implode.com/staticnews/2012-05-24_TheFacebookIPOShareholdersWerentInvitedtotheRealPartyMattTaibbi.html http://ml-implode.com 2012-05-24 ``Virtually every week now we see stories like this that hint at a kind of two-tiered market system -- in which most of the real action takes place inside an unregulated black-box network of connected insiders who don't disclose their relationships or their interests, while everyone else, i.e. the regular suckers, live in the more tightly-policed world of prospectuses and quarterly reporting and so on.'' http://ml-implode.com/staticnews/2012-05-24_MoreInterestingGoldStoriesfrom2005.html http://ml-implode.com 2012-05-24 It seems that the mainstream financial media reporting on gold is becoming more and more interesting as each day goes by and the price of gold edges higher. The word ‘interesting' is a polite choice of words here -- the spirit of the season, and so on. http://ml-implode.com/staticnews/2012-05-24_JosephBucciFacingJailTimeAfterSpending70000ThatWellsFargoMistake.html http://ml-implode.com 2012-05-24 Joseph Bucci woke up one day to find $70,000 in his Wells Fargo bank account, which previously had about $35 dollars, Phillyburbs.com reports. Police allege Bucci knew the money wasn't his, but went on a monthlong spending spree anyway; now, he's facing felony charges and seven to 14 years in jail. http://ml-implode.com/staticnews/2012-05-24_SalesOfNewHomesInUSClimbMoreThanForecastEconomy.html http://ml-implode.com 2012-05-24 Demand for new U.S. homes rose more than forecast in April, indicating residential real estate may contribute to economic growth for the first time in seven years.Purchases rose to a 343,000 annual rate, up 3.3 percent from a revised 332,000 in March, the Commerce Department reported today in Washington. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 72 economists was 335,000. Data yesterday showed April sales of previously owned homes rose in every region. http://ml-implode.com/staticnews/2012-05-24_DisturbingpolicebrutalitytargetedjournalistsatNATOsummit.html http://ml-implode.com 2012-05-24 In the wake of the anti-NATO protests surrounding the Chicago NATO summit on Saturday and Sunday, it has now emerged that there were several troubling incidents of vicious police actions targeting journalists. http://ml-implode.com/staticnews/2012-05-24_WallStreetConfidenceErodesAfterFacebookIPOJPMorganTradingLoss.html http://ml-implode.com 2012-05-24 Shareholders filed at least two lawsuits against Facebook and Morgan Stanley, the bank that shepherded the IPO, over reports that it withheld negative analyst reports about Facebook from some clients before the company went public.