Foreclosures Crisis Caused by Investors. And Lenders. And Politicians.
Bailout: $15 Billion More to Fannie Mae (and More to Come)
November 6, Pro Publica
The Treasury Department will pump $15 billion more into Fannie Mae, the company announced [1] last night. That brings Fannie’s total bailout to $59.9 billion; together with its sibling Freddie Mac, the toll has risen to $110.6 billion. (Check out the totals in our frequently updated, frequently handy bailout database.
Foreclosures Crisis Caused by Investors. And Lenders. And Politicians.
November 9, 2009, St. Petersburg Times
A St. Petersburg Times analysis of thousands of foreclosures in Hillsborough County, which has one of the highest default rates in Florida, shows individual homeowners are getting too much of the blame. The truth is that real estate speculators and revenue-hungry local governments bear just as much of the responsibility — and maybe more — for the collapse in the housing market. In Hillsborough, for example, investors and flippers account for almost half of the foreclosures filed from 2007 to 2009. Their purchases greatly inflated home prices, laying the foundation for the bust to come.
Five More Community Banks Shuttered
November 9, 2009 DSNews
Bank failures continue to mount, even as the U.S. economy is beginning to show signs of improvement. Regulators on Friday shut down five more institutions – in California, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, and Missouri. These latest closures bring the total number of FDIC-insured failures to 120 for the year so far – the most in a single year since the savings & loan crisis of the last decade. By comparison, 25 U.S. banks were seized by officials in 2008, and only three went under in 2007.