Wednesday, August 14, 2013

The rule of fraud

Most people have not followed the mortgage scandals enough to realize how much the entire foundation of private property ownership has been compromised in the U.S.
If you know about foreclosure fraud, the mass fabrication of mortgage documents in state courts by banks attempting to foreclose on homeowners, you may have one nagging question: Why did banks have to resort to this illegal scheme? Was it just cheaper to mock up the documents than to provide the real ones? Did banks figure they simply had enough power over regulators, politicians and the courts to get away with it? (They were probably right about that one.)
A newly unsealed lawsuit, which banks settled in 2012 for $95 million, actually offers a different reason, providing a key answer to one of the persistent riddles of the financial crisis and its aftermath. The lawsuit states that banks resorted to fake documents because they could not legally establish true ownership of the loans when trying to foreclose.
This reality, which banks did not contest but instead settled out of court, means that tens of millions of mortgages in America still lack a legitimate chain of ownership, with implications far into the future.

...and on top of that, these banking cartels received massive bailouts and are still benefiting from the Federal Reserve's unreserved flow of cheap money.  

We're at a 'reset' moment for America in many respects, if we're ever to right the ship of state.  Frankly, I think the corruption in the financial sector is so broad and pervasive that it would be simplest to declare all mortgages null and void.  Ownership--title free and clear--would be reestablished by current occupancy, then the chains of custody resume from there.

Will certain parties lose their shirts?  Certainly.  But it's largely the same group that have been ripping ours off our backs for a decade or more now.  I'm far from redistributionist in my political views.  I just recognize a system failing under the weight of criminal abuse when I see it.  Time to start over, and let the crooks eat the harvest of their misdeeds.

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