Faces Of Foreclosure

So much for Forbearance Agreements:

January 4, 2010: A Realtor/friend said today: “Be careful. Wells Fargo just foreclosed without notice on a home that was in the middle of the three month forbearance agreement.” Apparently Wells (and other lenders) do not have the ability to modify any loans it has sold (and my loan has been sold repeatedly). I was pleased in 2006 when Wells Fargo took on my mortgage; I had no idea that lenders were then bundling and selling them willy nilly. This has been a painful lesson.

January 5, 2010: A couple knocked on my door around 4 p.m. wanting to know if the open house was over. Surprised, I told them they must mean Point San Pedro Road. They said they were new to the area and weren’t sure. (I subsequently checked — there is NO address similar to mine on Point San Pedro Road — it is my house they came to view, but I see nothing on the Internet to indicate that it is up for sale — this strikes me as insider information. The woman was about 45, blonde, 5’7”, trim. The man was around 60, about 5’8”, quite portly, somewhat seedy and smoking cigarettes. She spoke. He said nothing.)

I was delighted when on December 23, 2009 (after one year of “negotiations”) I received a Forbearance Agreement from Wells Fargo with a modification within my income structure. A polite Wells Fargo rep explained that the language on those “Agreements” is “boilerplate.” That doesn’t seem to be true: Basically, you do give away your rights, the lender “in its sole discretion and without further notice to you (me), may terminate this Agreement . . . and may foreclose . . .

January 5, 2010: eMail to Wachovia and Wells Fargo: Do you have any idea what is going on? Does Wells Fargo have the power to save anyone’s home?

I have written to Wells Fargo’s CEO and CFO for an explanation of the Agreement and requested a copy of the note as it is now held so I know with whom I am dealing. No response as yet. I CAN afford the restructured agreement as noted in the forebearance — without undue problems.

My negoiator said it might go up a couple of hundred dollars when it is finalized — that is affordable also. However, if lenders really do not want to help anyone with anything, or actually cannot help, what are we all doing? Will you kindly assist me in getting a copy of the note asap or tell me who to contact?

I speak for millions of Americans when I say this is really sad; this absolutely should not be happening in America.

Reading today’s news brings home the fact that few of us know much about the history of the world. Many of us are rightfully upset, but Robber Barons ARE the people who develop all countries while amassing fortunes at the expense of others under the guise of conquest, development, “you need this or that.” Think about all that you have in your home that you absolutely do NOT need at all for any reason. If you never saw this or that widget, it would not matter.

Think about all the foodstuffs that we consume that are actually harmful; food and drug industries are rife with Robber Barons . . . and with the help of government. Think about cigarettes; beyond a shadow of a doubt, they main and kill. Executives and shareholders of Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, etc., ARE robber barons. They are making fortunes while individuals die (or, perhaps worse, live and drain taxdollars to help them stay alive — while continuing to smoke).

Our friends, The Robber Barons (aka Super Thieves) have been with us since the dawn of time. As soon as someone decides they want something you have, and the second the desire outstrips their ethics, the game starts. During extensive historical research for a maritime site, I’ve repeatedly been appalled at the machinations of man as I read about who took over what nation and under what circumstances.

Don’t you find it appalling that the British, French, Spanish, Dutch, et. al. sat around divving up countries willy nilly in order to secure spices for England or gold for Queen Isabella of Spain or diamonds for Holland? These countries were already inhabited and some quite developed when Europeans arrived, claimed to have “discovered the land,” and proceeded to invade, rape, pillage, rob, burn . . . They want what they want and they take it.

It seems the only reason so many more of us are aware of international wheeling and dealing is because of the Internet and cellphones; the people have a voice like never before. Little can be hidden.

While government representatives, for example, insist there is no strife in their country, a student or tourist with a cellphone snaps that telling shot . . . the one that shows a different story; one that shows the truth to the world. (Left is a robbery of a jewelry store captured on someone’s cell phone — this was found on the internet!)

This, while I agree, I find this article from the Sovereign Society newsletter quite narrow in scope:

Lies and irresponsibility have become the hallmark of both Wall Street and now Washington are threatening the life savings of individuals.

Noted author and economic analyst John Pugsley was quoted as saying, “Hard working Americans, trying to do everything right, are now at the mercy of the fallout from these lies. And there are three in particular that pose devastating threats. But investors today can protect themselves if they quickly take the appropriate steps…”

For all of us to decide, perhaps, is how much is enough? How much is too much? Do we need all of these developments at the cost of everything else on earth?

In the event you have note wrestled with that one (or have without a satisfactory answer), you might want to see the movie “Avatar,” which addresses some of these issues.

The upside and downside of being out of work for most of 2009 has been I’ve had time to look at our system of government and banking in a depth never before done by me. It’s depressing. The “powers that be” have gotten away with so much because families have had their heads down working hard to make a living. We have paid scant attention to the corruption stemming from Wall Street and Washington, D.C.

America IS a great country. Why has it come to this levels of abandonment of principles?

This was just sent to me. It IS time to take back our country and level the playing field.

For too long we have been too complacent about the workings of Congress. Many citizens had/have no idea that members of Congress can retire with the same pay after only one term, that they don’t pay into Social Security, that they specifically exempt themselves from many of the laws they pass (such as being exempt from any fear of prosecution for sexual harassment) while ordinary citizens must live under those laws.

The latest attempt in Congress is to exempt themselves from the Healthcare Reform that is being considered . . . in all of its forms.

Somehow, that doesn’t seem logical. We do not have an elite that is above the law. It does not matter if they are Democrat, Republican, Independent or whatever. The self-serving must stop. This is a good way to do that. It is an idea whose time has come.

Ask each person on your eMail list to contact a minimum of twenty people on their address list, in turn ask each of those to do likewise.

In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one proposal that really should be passed around.

Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution:

“Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States.”

Dr. Seuss’ Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? (Classic Seuss)
A favorite economics lesson is from Dr. Seuss’ “Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?”

Oh, the jobs people work at! Out west, near Hawtch-Hawtch, there’s a Hawtch-Hawtcher Bee-Watcher. His job is to watch . . . to keep both his eyes on the lazy town bee. A bee that is watched will work harder, you see.

Well . . . he watched and he watched. But, in spite of his watch, that bee didn’t work any harder. Not mawtch.

So then somebody said, “Our old bee-watching man just isn’t bee-watching as hard as he can. He ought to be watched by another Hawtch-Hawtcher. The thing that we need is a Bee-Watcher-Watcher.”

WELL . . .The Bee-Watcher Watcher watched the Bee-Watcher. He didn’t watch well. So another Hawtch-Hawtcher had to come in as a Watch-Watcher-Watcher.

And today all the Hawtchers who live in Hawtch-Hawtch are watching on Watch-Watcher-Watchering-Watch, Watch-Watching the Watcher who’s watching that bee. You’re not a Hawtch-Hawtcher. You’re lucky you see.

Why are those at the heads of the investment banking businesses worldwide trying to convince us that this entire sink hole began only a year or so ago, when in fact the sink hole has been being positioned by those very actors, for decades. How and when did America become the “sloppy society?” The way our country is run is quite inelegant.

The following is from a variety of sources: “Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration Recovery Act,” “Sovereign Society,” and a gentleman self-described as a “Disgruntled Republication.”

Federal workers owe more than $3B in back taxes
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER (AP) – Dec 15, 2009

WASHINGTON — Federal workers owed the government more than $3 billion in back income taxes in 2008, just as federal tax revenues started to suffer from the recession.

More than 276,000 federal employees and retirees owed back income taxes as of Sept. 30, 2008, according to data from the Internal Revenue Service. The $3.04 billion owed was up from $2.7 billion owed by federal employees and retirees in 2007.

Among cabinet agencies, the Department of Housing and Urban Development had the highest delinquency rate, at just over 4 percent. The Treasury Department, which includes the IRS, had the lowest delinquency rate, at 0.98 percent.

Overall, the 9.7 million federal workers included in the data had a delinquency rate of about 2.9 percent.

“It’s not right for a few to shirk their obligations, and it’s especially offensive that these tax delinquencies come from federal employees and contractors,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.

The IRS doesn’t provide a comparable delinquency rate for income taxes paid by the public. The nation’s overall compliance rate, which includes taxes paid by small businesses and corporations, has hovered around 85 percent for decades, according to IRS statistics.

Most residents who owe back income taxes file returns but cannot pay the full amount at tax time, said IRS spokesman Anthony Burke. Others have their tax bills increased through audits and cannot pay the higher bill.

The statistics on federal employees do not include those who are on payment plans. The IRS doesn’t publicize the data, but makes it available upon request. The data was first reported by Washington radio station WTOP.

The recession has put a big dent in federal tax receipts. Individual income tax receipts for the fiscal year that ended in September were down about 20 percent from the year before.

I recently discovered that the servicer of my mortgage made TWENTY-TWO mistakes (that I know of) during 2009 with regard to my mortgage! That, of course, pushed me into wondering what in the hell is going on? . . . the IRS has trouble even with routine tasks. According to another IG report, the agency has a staggering 70 percent error rate in its processing of taxpayer identification numbers for individual taxpayers:

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) today publicly released its review of the IRS’s processing of applications for Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs). TIGTA reviewed a sample of ITIN applications and found that almost 70% contained significant errors and/or raised concerns that should have prevented the issuance of an ITIN. The IRS estimates that it has issued more than 14 million ITINs as of December 2008. ITINs are intended to provide tax identification numbers to resident and nonresident alien individuals who may have U.S. tax reporting or filing obligations but do not qualify for Social Security Numbers, which generally are only issued to U.S. citizens and individuals legally admitted to the U.S. . . . ”The number of individual income tax returns filed using ITINs and reporting wage income has increased by 247 percent from 2001 to 2008,” commented J. Russell George, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. “If the IRS continues to issue ITINs without proper verification, the risk of fraudulently filed returns – along with fraudulently claimed refunds – will continue to rise,” added Inspector General George.

Everything by Dr. Seuss
Just think how much fun it will be when the IRS is in charge of determining those of us who should get fined or jailed for noncompliance with government-run healthcare! No wonder so many taxpayers put a flat tax or national sales tax on their Christmas lists.

Perhaps Dr. Seuss is our only hope . . . We’ve added a link to a collection of his books, including Dr. Geisel Goes Green (warnings against mindless progress), The Lorax, Mr. Brown Can Moo!, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish and others. The Economics of Dr. Seuss

A proposal: Keep track of every mistake your bank/lender makes. If we do our “homework” with due diligence, you may save your home (if foreclosure is looming) and not only will your finances be in better shape, but we can help banks do their job efficiently and accurately. Why should we? Because their screw ups do NOT cost them; they cost us. Each bank client ultimately pays for the bank’s messes and the only way to straighten this out is to call them on it.

WHY are the keepers of our money allowed to operate carelessly and sometimes outside of the law? Apparently it’s been sloppy for 15-20 years and no one has called them on it. This is our money we are talking about: yours, mine, ours. People work hard only to have their income carelessly handled by banks and lenders. Where is the control over these institutions? Who owns the Federal Reserve? Apparently, no matter who is “in charge,” of America’s lending institutions, they are not paying attention (or are looking the other way for profit/percentages).

Important note: I do not hate banks. They pay reasonably well, still provide benefits (health insurance and vacations), and have a growth plan for their employees . . . including funding for additional schooling. In my 20s, I worked in Bank of America’s Corporate Finance Department in their San Francisco Headquarters under A.W. Clausen and Robert Frick, both of whom rose to prominence in national and international banking. They were fine men. And most bank employees are wonderful people — although, unfortunately, I’m now thinking someone needs to be watching the store because of the multitude of errors made by those wonderful people.

Bank errors are costing you a fortune (as are erroneous credit reports, but that is another story). Start tracking the errors — when they are bank errors and not such things as overdrafts caused by your mismanagement of your own accounts; that IS your responsibility.

Setting the stage: Around 1997, my then-home-loan was sold to Washington Mutual. I wasn’t informed. I sent my payment to the prior lender and it was lost in the transfer process. After ONE YEAR of getting nowhere in straightening this out, I pulled a negative Better Business Report on Washington Mutual. I put on my best business suit and stood outside their Greenbrae, California branch handing them out to people with a suggestion that they read the report before doing business with WaMu. After successfully turning away several people, I explained my process to the bank manager and insisted he straighten out the missing payment mess immediately or I would continue handing out the BBB report. Bristling, he demanded, “Are you threatening me?” Calmly I responded, “No. I’m promising you that I will hand out this negative report re WaMu.” He cleared the record while I waited. Technically, I should have taken that further; because of the resulting poor credit report due to the lost payment, my home loan interest was higher than it should have been.

More setting the stage: In 2007 and 2008 Wells Fargo Bank lost payments on my home loan. Because of the WaMu fiasco, I began tracking all conversations and letters to/from Wells Fargo.

When the mortgage payments did not clear my account, I called Wells who informed me they did not have the checks. So I paid by phone with their assurances that they would NOT put through both payments should they find the missing checks. However, they found the “lost” payments and put both checks through. The result: $580 in overdraft fees. In 2007 I let the overdrafts go as it takes too much time to deal with bank mazes. However, in 2008, I’d had it: It took almost a month, several phone conversations and five letters to straighten this out. They reversed the overdrafts for 2007 and 2008; however, a great deal of time was spent in cleaning up their mistake. Of course, I wasn’t covered for that.

In December 2008, when I began “negotiating” for a loan modification with Wells Fargo, I began tracking all conversations and letters and now have a four-inch-thick binder and nine typed pages of who said what to whom. I’ve learned far more about banking than I ever wanted to know.

So, back to the list you should keep and the whys of it all: On December 28, 2009, curious about the volume of mistakes made by Wells Fargo since they have held my mortgage beginning July 2006, I started counting from my lists of who said what to whom.

As near as I can figure there are TWENTY-ONE errors during the past year alone. Wells’ mistakes include repeatedly lost documents resulting in denials, misinformation during telephone conversations, two outright lies (one before a Superior Court Judge and one in writing in response to a Congressional Inquiry) . . .

I’m not alone. This IS how banks are doing business – sloppy, as is indicated by my timeline, conversations with others, checking blogs with complaints about various banks, and as indicated by the loss of original mortgage papers for thousands (millions) of people.

However, hope springs eternal:

From a Wall St. Journal article written by Amir Efrati on December 24, 2009: “Now, after the country has been mired in a housing crisis for more than two years, more judges are calling these companies on their paperwork glitches, and in some cases going much further in their efforts to help homeowners.”

and

“It makes sense for judges to demand that mortgage companies follow the rules to the letter if they want to win foreclosure cases in court, says Raymond Brescia, an assistant professor at Albany Law School who has written about the role of the courts in the financial crisis. ‘I don’t think that’s a crazy idea,’ he says. ‘To expect plaintiffs to prove their case is what the judicial system is founded on.’”

SO PLEASE keep a list of your dealings with your banks, lenders (and the credit reporting agencies). For decades I considered these bastions of industry as sacrosanct; I actually thought credit reporting agencies were government agencies. They are not, and, like the banks, they hold your financial life in their shaky hands.

Never afraid of anything in my life, I am now afraid of our mortgage lenders and our banking system; they have too much control, do not manage it accurately or efficiently, seem to have no checks or balances, and can take our homes without having to prove ownership. They have also quite studiously ignored Presidential requests.

In December 2009, I received a three-month forbearance offer. This is wonderful, except that too many forbearance offers disappear into thin air as your lender does not hold the note, has no authority to negotiate anything, and after the three months may foreclose anyway — that IS happening in California.

One of Wells Fargo’s own branch managers expressed worry about this “offer” when I stopped by to give the wonderful news. The manager suggested that I track payments carefully and confirmed what I already know: “Horrible things have happened.”

I love my home and country, and Wells Fargo was a favorite bank of mine until this mess. Because of their history in California, Wells is featured on one of my Web sites (although I’m contemplating taking the time to remove all mention of them from the site), and two of their horses — Molly and King — live in my home (the stuffed ones, not the real ones). This is SO sad.

The following is from a Facebook comment posted by an observant Realtor.

(Editor’s Note: I completely understand the frustration of trying to save one’s home and then losing it. However, I can’t understand destroying something you have loved because it is no longer yours . . . years ago I read Nikos Kazantzakis “Serpent and Lily,” wherein when the artist’s lover says she is leaving him, he kills her. That didn’t make sense. Destroying property does not make sense. There HAS to be a way to bring lenders to their knees but destroying homes isn’t, in part because they have insurance for everything.)

“I showed a home just prior to Christmas that, literally, had liquified feces on the wall used as a “writing” tool and aside from some very choice curse words, there was a very solid message to Litton Loan. While the act was irrational on the part of the former homeowner, what is clear is that they got in trouble and didn’t want to leave the home . . . that is the sad reality and I’ve seen dozens of home where the person being foreclosed on ceases to care and seeks to destroy out of anger and frustration.

“The issue is deep in this country. I don’t want to walk away from real estate after ten years because I don’t believe that homes and home ownership aren’t the foundation of the economy . . . because I do. I’m ready to hang it up because I don’t know if I can ethically and with a good conscience, tell someone to buy now or even during the course of the next year, without risking losing even more.

“I anticipate that, as long as the Congress is more hellbent on shoving healthcare reform down our throats, and spending trillions of dollars a year on poorly thought out plans that do nothing but devalue our currency . . . then we’re in for a very long, very ugly road as far as real estate is concerned.

“I’d almost rather go work at a job with benefits and a guaranteed paycheck and put aside money until homes are worth half or LESS than they are today.

“Mark my words . . . it will happen and right behind it . . . hyperinflation. All the economic indicators are there and the current administration will make Jimmy Carter look like an economic genius.”

Excerpted from the Wall St. Journal
Law Journal
December 24, 2009
Amir Efrati

Foreclosure Challenges Raise Questions About Judicial Role

A group of state and federal judges presiding over foreclosures are wiping away borrowers’ mortgage debt, invalidating foreclosure sales and even barring some foreclosures outright.

The decisions in recent months by a handful of judges in states including Massachusetts, New York and Texas mark a new phase in the judiciary’s battle to stem the rising tide of foreclosures by punishing mortgage companies for paperwork mistakes and alleged mistreatment of borrowers.

The number of judges taking such action remains small, and most foreclosures go through without a challenge . . . but the growing number of rulings against lenders’ claims is raising questions among some legal experts about judges’ impartiality . . .

As early as 18 months ago, several judges in California, New York, Ohio and elsewhere would dismiss foreclosure cases if they could find reason to do so . . . Now, after the country has been mired in a housing crisis for more than two years, more judges are calling these companies on their paperwork glitches, and in some cases going much further in their efforts to help homeowners.

It makes sense for judges to demand that mortgage companies follow the rules to the letter if they want to win foreclosure cases in court, says Raymond Brescia, an assistant professor at Albany Law School who has written about the role of the courts in the financial crisis. “I don’t think that’s a crazy idea,” he says. “To expect plaintiffs to prove their case is what the judicial system is founded on.”

But if judges decide to help borrowers in ways that overlook the merits of individual cases, Mr. Brescia adds, that would “undermine the integrity of the judiciary, and that’s not going to help anybody.” Instead, he says, it might trigger a backlash from legislators or regulators to rein in activist jurists.

At the heart of some of the court rulings is what became a common practice among mortgage companies: filing a foreclosure claim without showing proof that they actually own the mortgage and have the right to foreclose. This occurs in part because mortgages change hands multiple times after the original loan is made, but the mortgage documents and the contracts between borrowers and lenders are never altered to reflect those changes. Years later, it can be difficult to verify who is the owner of the mortgage.

That played a key role in a ruling in October by Keith Long, a state-court judge in Massachusetts. He invalidated two foreclosure sales that had occurred more than two years ago. The judge affirmed his own prior ruling that said units of U.S. Bancorp and Wells Fargo & Co. never had the right to sell the homes.

Judge Long ruled that even though the companies physically held the relevant mortgage documents, the mortgages were never legally assigned to them and recorded with the state.

“They’re selling something they don’t own,” says attorney Paul Collier, who began representing the borrowers in the case last year.

Walter H. Porr, a lawyer for the companies, which are appealing the ruling, says his clients “operated in what had been an accepted industry fashion for the better part of 15 or 20 years.” He adds: “We owned those mortgages.”

In October, a federal bankruptcy judge in White Plains, N.Y., rejected a claim by a mortgage company that the debtor owed $460,000. The judge, Robert D. Drain, said the company, PHH Mortgage Corp., couldn’t prove it owned the debt . . .

And in a prominent case in New York’s Suffolk County on Long Island, Jeffrey Spinner, a state-court judge, canceled $292,000 in mortgage debt after he ruled the borrowers were mistreated by IndyMac Bank (which) displayed “harsh, repugnant, shocking and repulsive” behavior by making no attempt to negotiate a settlement with Diane Yano-Horoski after she and her husband fell behind on payments, despite a state law requiring the company to try . . .

The full story from the Wall St. Journal

We heard of a wonderful win in Marin County, California which then turned into a nightmare. Were it not for the fact I know the following to be true, I probably would think it was some type of urban myth.

Hamilton Federal Credit Union was about to foreclose on a home and scheduled the sale on the courthouse steps for December 21, 2009. However, on December 20, Marin County Superior Court Judge Adams had granted a stay of the sale. The homeowner, concerned about previous actions of the credit union, showed up at the the courthouse to make sure that Hamilton Federal Credit Union had been informed of the stay. It was obvious that Hamilton was going ahead with their bidding war. The homeowner showed them the order “not to sell” from the Judge. They ignored it and went ahead with the sale anyway.

It gets worse: Mike Lundy from Triple Investment Company in Sausalito was there to bid. Because the homeowner had the court order to “not sell,” other bidders backed off. Not Mike Lundy. His reply, which was overhead by an associate, was “I don’t care. I have attorneys to take care of this.” He bid and bought — at a greatly reduced price, of course.

(Note: I would include Triple Investments and Mike Lundy in the Super Thieves portion of this site; however, after hearing about and observing their actions for the past several months, it seems they are, actually, petty thieves and cowards.)

Now the outcome to the wonderful story below is perched on a precipice.

What kind of people do we have here? The activities of this particular investment company are questionable at best. The person making the comment will be reported to the California Department of Real Estate. The DRE is a fine organization that we assume will look askance at such actions/statements by a investment company working under a broker who is purportedly licensed by the State of California.

If you have an issue with a real estate agent or broker in California, the DRE provides online complaint forms in English, Spanish and Chinese (hard copy only).

The home owner fought back, there is another stay, and she is still in her home after a many harrowing days. All prayers are welcome on her behalf. This, again, shows, the importance of standing up for your rights. In Marin County, F. Manuel Fernandez started a group to help save homes of residents of the North Bay. They are doing a great job. It’s a struggle because the system is against many homeowners, but it helps if you are part of a group. We think more such groups should start . . . or volunteer with a fine organization such as Neighborhood Association of America who is fighting throughout the United States to save homes.

This bears repeating as it is extremely important for all of us: This woman was told by a practicing attorney that she could NOT win. She ignored him. Her condo IS her castle and she wasn’t handing her castle to anyone.

Rather than shrug and walk, this homeowner will have her day in court. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. It’s not over until it’s over. And, as written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Measure not the work until the day’s out and the labor’s done.

Ethics for Executives In the event you are a top level executive with questionable ethics who stumbled across this site, here is a link to a selection of books that we highly recommend you read. Apparently ethics courses are not mandatory in today’s business colleges . . . that is apparent, don’t you think?

It has been an embarrassing and painful several months for the homeowner. In addition to the non-responsive lender, notices have been placed on her home and word leaked about her impending doom. Real estate agents have hovered and called.

(Editor’s note: I am a real estate agent. I consider this agressive outreach despicable. Earlier this year, a Santa Rosa agent was seen leading a crying man from his home so that the agent could show the home that afternoon to a prospective buyer! My recommendation to anyone going through this, get the agent’s card and file a complaint with your local Department of Real Estate.)

LET FREEDOM RING

My country, ’tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims’ pride,
From every mountainside,
Let freedom ring!

My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.

Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees,
Sweet freedom’s song;
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.

Our fathers’ God, to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing;
Long may our land be bright
With freedom’s holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King.

This is amazing. I saw Chase’s new site at Keeping Your Home.

Chase’s complaint record is not good — 282,000 as compared to Wells Fargo’s 300+ thousand and BofA’s numbers. Interesting ’cause Chase is not a top home lending institution and does not hold a comparable number of mortgages, so this indicates that they are in bad shape. Chase’s site HAS to be all PR, but it’s excellent PR, unless, of course, you can read through PR and its purpose. Chase rolled out earlier in 2009 on the West Coast of the Americas with a lame ad. Now they have nicely captured a face of America, albeit they are catering to Hispanics.

In any case, Chase will go on the list I contact re helping in Marin. And here’s a test I will try: “Concerned about paying your loan?” Of course, this refers to Chase, WaMu or EMC, however, I am going to test them. They do hold my second and they were polite when I first freaked about finances in December 2008. I’ll call Chase to see if they will take over the first and the second at 5% for 30 years fixed. What the hell. Chase says they have helped 750,000 foreclosures . . . I absolutely do NOT believe that . . . or perhaps their definition of “help” should needs defining.

I want to write a book entitled “You Can’t Tell Us Apart, Can You?” referring to “white” America. This because I am German Jew and Irish Catholic and do not relate to subjects of the Queen of England or the King of Spain, at certainly not any nation Denmark-north.

And because I often wonder what blacks, Hispanics, Iranians, Indians, etc. know about America and immigration. I decided early on that they most people are caught up in their own strife, don’t know, and don’t care much about anyone else.

A friend/associate, whom I adore, said this morning that it seems like we are fighting the Civil War, but admitted that he does not know what the Civil War was about. I explained that the North (under President Lincoln) wanted to abolish slavery, while the South wanted to maintain the black slaves and cheap labor for their plantations. He said, “Oh.”

What many people do not know is that plantations in the South and various Caribbean islands were also “maintaining” Irish (and probably other) “indentured slaves.” Indentured, of course, meaning once you pay off your debt you were free, however you could never pay off your debt so this was a lifetime commitment.

Bizarre what potentially losing one’s home digs up, don’t you think? My family has been in America since 1704 and here I am fighting for my rights. Absolutely bizarre.

A current favorite racial comment — this from a TV drama: The Iranian man said, “We can’t go anywhere. We can’t travel through airports. We can’t travel on subways. You look at us with suspicion at all turns. You check us for bombs.”

The black New York cop responded, “Yeah, but you can get a cab.”

The Bankers Manifesto of 1892
Distributed to a private group of elite bankers in June, 1892

The Black Book Adlai Stevenson, Adlai Stevenson II, and Adlai Stevenson III The Black Book is a primary source offering a glimpse into the minute inner workings of American politics over three generations. It began as a binder filled with anecdotes and maxims that county prosecutor, congressman, Assistant Postmaster General, and later U.S. Vice President Adlai E. Stevenson (1835-1914). He was known to jot down his thoughts on anything at hand, even menus, place cards, and napkins. The Black Book continues with writings by Governor Adlai E. Stevenson II (1900-1965) and Senator Adlai E. Stevenson (1930-). The Senator also provides commentary. The result is a treasure trove of insight into the American political machine, flavored with genuine personal convictions; the reader may agree or disagree with the expressed views, but cannot deny their authenticity, refreshing in today’s era of political sound bites and endless power mongering. “My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular. – Adlai II”. June, 2009 The Midwest Book Review

• “We (the bankers) must proceed with caution and guard every move made, for the lower order of the people are already showing signs of restless commotion. Prudence will therefore show a policity of apparently yielding to the popular will until our plans are so far consummated that we can declare our designs without any fear of any organized resistance.
• “The Farmers Alliance and Knights of Labor organizations in the United States should be carefully watched by our trusted men, and we must take immediate steps to control these organizations in our interest or disrupt them.
• “At the coming Omaha Convention to be held July 4, 1892, our men must attend and direct its movement, or else there will be set on foot such antagonism to our designs as may require force to overcome. This at the present time would be premature. We are not yet ready for such a crisis. Capital must protect itself in every possible manner through combination (conspiracy ) and legislation.
• “The courts must be called to our aid, debts must be collected, bonds and mortgages foreclosed as rapidly as possible.
• “When through the process of law, the common people have lost their homes, they will be more tractable and easily governed through the influence of the strong arm of government applied to a central power of imperial wealth under the control of the leading financiers. People without homes will not quarrel with their leaders.
• “History repeats itself in regular cycles. This truth is well known among our
  principal men who are engaged in forming an imperialism of the world. While they are doing this, the people must be kept in a state of political antagonism.
• “The question of tariff reform must be urged through the organization known as the Democratic Party, and the question of protection with the reciprocity must be be forced to view through the Republican Party.
• “By thus dividing voters, we can get them to expend their energies in fighting over questions of no importance to us, except as teachers to the common herd. Thus by discrete action, we can secure all that has been so gererously planned and successfully accomplished.”

The above was reprinted from the book, “Economic Pinch” written by the late Charles A. Lindberg, Sr. which was first published in 1923. The Banker’s Manifesto of June 1892 was not intended for public reading, but was propaganda to hold the big bankers together. Permission was not needed to reprint the above.

The Bankers Manifesto of 1934
Distributed to a private group of elite bankers in 1934

Capital must protect itself in every possible manner through combination and legislation. Debts must be collected, bonds and mortgages foreclosed as rapidly as possible. When through the process of law, the common people have lost their homes, they will be more tractable and easily governed through the influence of the strong arm of government applied to a central power of imperial wealth under the control of the leading financiers. People without homes will not quarrel with their leaders. This is well known among our principal mennow engaged in forming an imperialism of capital to govern the world. “By dividing the people we can get them to expend their energies in fighting over questions of no importance to us, except as teachers to the common herd. Thus by discrete action, we can secure all that has been so generously planned and successfully accomplished.”

The above was printed from the Banker’s Manifestofor private circulation among leader bankers only, taken from the Civil Servants’ yearbook.” The Organizer” of January, and the “New American” of February, 1934.

I know we are being manipulated but I couldn’t figure out why. And here it is:

When through the process of law, the common people have lost their homes, they will be more tractable and easily governed through the influence of the strong arm of government applied to a central power of imperial wealth under the control of the leading financiers. People without homes will not quarrel with their leaders.

That is IT, but now, next question, what is it that they do not want us to quarrel about? Their incomes? The lack of funds behind their incomes? Rising crime in America? What are they controlling us for? Out of habit? Or is there a reason?

This also helps explain the “Forbearance Agreements” being given by lenders to homeowners facing problems: The “Agreements” are unintelligible. I actually wrote to my lender today asking for a translation and although I’m sure it sounds as though I was being sarcastic, I was not. The agreement in the first paragraph is different than that in the second paragraph which is different than anything on the second page, and all is negated by the servicer of the loan writing that the lender (the entitly currently holding the note, whomever that might be) has not agreed to anything, may not agree to anything, and can foreclose on the house at any time without notice.