Don’t ask about the monkeys.

It may have been coincidental that our current financial crisis happened exactly center of a Presidential campaign, but I think the blame game needs to stop, and solutions executed.  The problem, however, with all of this happening during an election year, is that our country’s economic future has become political fodder for the candidates.  Each [...]

Gordon Gekko was wrong.  Greed isn’t always good.  In fact, as we have seen this year, greed can be devastating.  Don’t misunderstand me; Capitalism is good.  Selling a viable product for a profit is good.  Corporate takeovers, failures and resurgences are part of our economic system which I wouldn’t trade for anything.  But where did [...]

On the eve of the merger by Bank of America to bail out the shareholders of Countrywide, even more evidence of greed, self-serving, and morally bankrupt behavior from the nation’s largest lender reared its head.  In the following NBC video, a Countrywide employee pretty much confirms the worst fears of borrowers across the country; that their mortgage [...]

Ralf Cioffi and Matthew Tannin, now infamously former hedge fund managers at Bear Stearns are in no danger of being asked to appear on Jeopardy! any time soon.  These men haven’t exactly fallen prey to a Danny Ocean caliber plan to catch them in the act of looting their clients out of billions of dollars.  [...]

The Bush administration’s top housing official is under a criminal investigation and announced Monday he is quitting.  Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson said his resignation will take effect on April 18.  For a couple of years now, Jackson has been fending off allegations of cronyism and favoritism involving HUD contractors. The FBI has [...]

The mortgage industry has gone through some a major overhaul recently, and there is more to come.  The latest shoe to drop is the 100% financing / zero down mortgages.  Not all of them are extinct, but don’t look to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac to guarantee one.  Now these mortgages are deemed a risky [...]

Update! Despite earlier reports, JP Morgan has raised the bid for Bear Stearns from $2.00 a share to $10.00 after major negative feedback from stockholders.  This puts JP Morgan’s ante up to roughly $1 billion.  The Fed will lend JP Morgan another $29 billion to seal the deal.  What’s in it for the Fed you [...]

The Federal Reserve took dramatic measures this past week to try to inject a little calm amidst the concern over not only the housing market, but Wall Street and the credit crunch as well. To begin with, the Fed assisted in the sale of Bear Stearns, one of Wall Street’s biggest and most storied banks. [...]