John Cole, October 12th:

That isn’t taking the side of the banksters, that is taking the side of common sense. What possible use could there be for a nationwide halt to foreclosures?

(emphasis mine)

Me, October 12th:

Why should there be a national foreclosure moratorium? Because only 23 states deal with foreclosures in the courts, and for the rest of us, tough luck. There’s no oversight at all.

(emphasis mine)

John Cole, responding to me later that same day:

Forty state AG’s are on the ball, what exactly could a national moratorium do? The idea is to stop the bad foreclosures, not grind every single transaction in this sector to a damned halt.

You aren’t hurting the banksters when you do something like that. You’re hurting every single buyer and seller in the market.

(emphasis mine)

Me, still later, in response:

See, here’s the thing; the market isn’t functioning now. It’s rapidly worsening, digging itself in deeper by the day. It’s not a little technicality when you sign a false affidavit or ‘borrow’ someone else’s notary stamp, and the courts aren’t likely to see it that way. Combine that with the countless tales of horrific abuses, easily located by anyone with half a brain and Google, and you quickly realize that this is an emergency. Whether the Feds or the states intervene, the outcome is going to be the same; the mortgage market is DOA until this is sorted out. Title insurers are already balking, and 40 states are digging. Real estate lawyers probably need a smoke after the repeated serial orgasms they get after reading the news each morning. Face reality for a change: this moratorium is happening.

We have but two choices: do it in an orderly fashion, with rule of law, or let it happen in anarchic disarray, and cross our fingers. Hoping that the same individuals who hired hair stylists to forge legal documents by the thousands will suddenly have a change of heart and ‘fix’ this is fantastic delusion akin to believing Saddam Hussein was an imminent threat to the United States of Americ… oh wait. Darn.

Look who I’m talking to.

(emphasis mine)

October 22nd:

The Foreclosure Mess Hits Home

by John Cole

Is there anyone out there who can help Kirk out?

Explanation from Kirk, excerpted:

Example one, today. I got a phone call from the BoA team that informed the house was still under foreclosure. “What about the foreclosure freeze?” “It’ll end November 1st.” Wait, what? See, in Georgia they can only sell the house on the second Tuesday of the month. They announced the freeze just after the first Tuesday of October, and they’re telling me (but not the press) that they’re going to end it on the first Monday of November — meaning the sale isn’t delayed at all. But I was speaking of the home workout.

…

If this were a judicial state, by the way, that would be enough to challenge the whole issue of foreclosure on the question of where the note might be. It would be enough to do so in many other non-judicial states as well. Here in Georgia it’s not enough. Servicer can proceed. Trust me, I’ve asked.

It’s quite apparent BoA doesn’t want to do a workout, and will reject even due to its own mistakes.

I expect to lose the house – I’m rather resigned to it, actually. Angry, but resigned. But I will never trust any of the banks that are involved in this mortgage mess again. I cannot trust them to act in good faith.

I suspect I’m not alone.

(emphasis still mine)

I’ve said it before about the continued naivete of Obama supporters, and I’ll say it again: the tragedy is that the harm they help him inflict with their idolatry isn’t limited to themselves.