Sunday, December 2, 2012

Monday December 3 Housing and Economic stories


TOP STORIES:

House Report Says Corzine’s Risky Bets Aided MF Global’s Fall  - (www.nytimes.com) Congressional investigators on Wednesday took aim at a former colleague, Jon S. Corzine, blaming the onetime senator’s risk-taking at MF Global for accelerating the brokerage firm’s demise. In excerpts from a broader MF Global report that is to be released on Thursday, Republican members of a Congressional panel outlined a withering critique of Mr. Corzine’s 19-month reign at the firm. Mr. Corzine, a former Democratic senator and governor from New Jersey, resigned as MF Global’s chief executive last fall after the firm raided customer accounts during a futile fight for survival.

U.S. Postal Service on a ‘Tightrope’ Lost $15.9 Billion - (www.bloomberg.com) The U.S. Postal Service said its net loss last year widened to $15.9 billion, more than the $15 billion it had projected, as mail volume continued to drop, falling 5 percent. Without action by Congress, the service will run out of cash on Oct. 15, 2013, after it makes a required workers compensation payment to the U.S. Labor Department and before revenue typically jumps with holiday-season mailing, Chief Financial Officer Joe Corbett said today. The service, whose fiscal year ends Sept. 30, lost $5.1 billion a year earlier. It announced the 2012 net loss at a meeting at its Washington headquarters. “We are walking a financial tightrope,” Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said at the meeting. “Will we ever stop delivering the mail? It will never happen. We are simply too important to the economy and the flow of commerce.”

17% of FHA loans delinquent in September, bailout coming - (www.ochousingnews.com) Everyone knew this was coming. The FHA needs a bailout. When the final tally of losses at the FHA come in, everyone will act surprised. Nobody paying careful attention to what the FHA is doing will be shocked. They are absorbing the losses the banks could not by insuring loans with low down payments in a declining market. No private lender or mortgage insurer would do this because the losses would put them out of business. Instead these losses will be absorbed by the US taxpayer — by you. FHA has been the lender of last resort since its inception.

FHA Nears Need for Taxpayer Funds - (online.wsj.com)  The Federal Housing Administration is expected to report this week it could exhaust its reserves because of rising mortgage delinquencies, according to people familiar with the agency's finances, a development that could result in the agency needing to draw on taxpayer funding for the first time in its 78-year history. Such a report would likely set off a political fight over the government's role in housing, as it raises the prospect of billions of dollars being added to the U.S. government's effort to stabilize the hard-hit sector in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, which already includes $137 billion spent to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Together with Fannie and Freddie, federal agencies are backing nearly nine in 10 new mortgages.

The FHA is giving loans to Ponzis to reenter the housing market - (www.ochousingnews.com) Do we really want to let Ponzis back into the housing market? There is a large group of people who’ve proven to be completely irresponsible with mortgage debt as evidenced by my daily debtor debacles. I wrote yesterday that Pent-up demand from boomerang buyers may not materialize, but isn’t stopping the FHA from trying. I have no problem with peak buyers whose only mistake was poor timing from reentering the housing market, but do we really want to let the irresponsible Ponzis back in? And do we as taxpayers want to be on the hook when they resume their old habits? That’s where the FHA is headed. It shouldn’t be surprising that Ponzis want to own another cash cow. They were handsomely rewarded for owning last time.






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