The United States is on the verge of witnessing the largest bankruptcy filings in recorded history. One of the reasons is due to the new Mortgage Restructuring Bill (now named The Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009) passed by the House of Representatives on Thursday, March 5, 2009 with a vote of 234 to 191.

The "Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009 allows bankruptcy judges to alter the mortgage terms so as to assist homeowners in avoiding foreclosure. Think about it folks! If you lost your job (like millions of Americans) and you could file bankruptcy and save your home; what would you do? You would file bankruptcy, of course. This will blow the doors wide open for those homeowners who are "under water". This is true "Relief" for many hurting families.

Homeowner's must renegotiate their current principle loan with their lender before filing bankruptcy. This may be difficult for some people and we offer foreclosure mediation services which will be required to complete this first stage at least 30 days before filing bankruptcy.

Once your bankruptcy case is filed, the judge will make the determination, based on your income against the payments made before deciding whether an interest rate or principal reduction will be applied. The value of the home will be determined by using federally approved appraisal guidelines.

If you thought the filings in 2005 (before the law changed) pushed the envelope to historical proportions you can't imagine what's going to occur within the next few weeks and continue for many months and years to come. President Obama announced last week that the economic crisis has caused a bankruptcy filing every 30 seconds! It is to your advantage to get the training you need to work in the field of debtor bankruptcy law so you will be in a position to earn a good living while helping others.

Interested in becoming a "VBA" Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant?

Not Just February 14th

Cut out 365 pink, red and white hearts from copy paper. Set out on the daunting yet loving task of placing a special message on each one (Examples) . . .

Some scripture notes from the Bible to give encouragement or verses that are special. Some date notes: movie of your choice, dinner out, dinner fixed by me, a drive to the beach, etc. Some chore or help notes: I do the dishes for a week, I'll clean the bathrooms, I'll watch the baby this weekend, etc. And some sweet nothings: back rub, take a long bath, take a nap while I take the baby, let's look at our wedding photos and reminisce...

Once all the hearts have a message, fold and place each in a large jar decorated with appropriate Valentine's colors and shapes. Wrap her/her special gift, which she/he will open and then place on the counter where she/he could reach for each day's note, to be used at her/his discretion. 

It is a simple yet wonderful way to keep us aware of each others needs

Against all odds, Barack Obama persuaded a majority of Americans to believe in their own better natures and, by electing him President, the people helped make it true. 

We've just elected this country's first Black President, Barack Obama--a leader who will work to serve all Americans. It's a profound moment many of us thought we'd never see. What makes it even more special is that it couldn't have happened without all of us.

And we feel great--we were personally inspired by Obama and witnessed history we never thought we'd see. We moved our friends and family to get involved in the political process and made new friendships along the way that will last far beyond November.

What an incredible night for America! We're filled with joy. We're sure you are just excited and looking forward to the Obama era. Many of you sent us messages about what you've done for this election. We are proud to know you.

Our fight is not over.

If you're looking to take advantage of lower home prices and historically low interest rates, credit is still widely available for borrowers who qualify. Qualifying for mortgages today simply means being prepared to provide documentation that supports your application. If you do have credit issues, you might want to consider government loans offered by the FHA, USDA, and VA.

If you're a first-time home buyer (someone who hasn't owned a home in the last 3 years), you may qualify for the new $7,500 tax credit. This incentive could be a valuable tool in helping you reach your homeownership dreams in today's buyer's market. There is one catch - This incentive is temporary, and expires in 2009, so don't wait.

It's important to note that Congress recently passed other legislation banning certain down-payment assistance programs, There are some VA and USDA loans that are insured by the government and allow for 100% financing to qualified borrowers. There's currently a bill in the House to overturn the ban but Congress ihas been too busy and may not get to it before the end of the year. This bill may never pass, so  don't count on the government's help when you're planning your future.

If you are trying to sell, it's important to understand there are a lot of potential buyers looking to buy a home who may need creative financing options to get the deal closed. We can help and you won't have to lower your home prices. Call us we can help!

What kind of issues or problems are you facing?

September was a historic month in the financial markets. What started a year earlier as the subprime mortgage collapse had morphed into the perfect financial storm that wiped out some of the biggest financial firms on Wall Street. There was a general and genuine concern that the financial system was coming apart and could virtually shut down.

First, the Feds took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two government-sponsored mortgage giants that own or guarantee about five trillion dollars in home loans, or nearly half of the total US mortgage market.

Then Lehman Brothers, a prominent securities firm founded in 1850, filed for bankruptcy.

Bank of America, which earlier this year acquired Countrywide, acquired Merrill Lynch, another prominent financial firm.

The Feds were then forced to bail out insurance giant American International Group (AIG), the largest insurance company in America, which needed some $70 billion just to stay afloat.

By the end of the month, JP Morgan Chase, which bought out Bears Sterns in June, would also acquire Washington Mutual and, in a similar move, Citigroup would acquire Wachovia.

In the end, amidst the worst September in the financial markets since 2001, each of these prominent companies had failed to secure investor confidence as liquidity concerns forced their stock prices to levels that ultimately led to their demise, despite a major effort by the government and other central banks around the world to offer unprecedented financial support.

Throughout the month of September, the Federal Reserve not only injected billions into the financial market, the US Treasury was forced to guarantee nearly $2 trillion in money market mutual fund assets. The European Central Bank, Swiss National Bank, and Bank of England also pitched in a combined $90 billion in cash infusions.

Banks and Wall Street firms had essentially stopped loaning money to one another in recent weeks. That choked off the money being made available on Main Street in the form of mortgage loans, business loans, and other consumer borrowing.

To avoid further downward pressure on stock prices, the Securities and Exchange Commission banned naked short-selling and temporarily banned short-selling 799 financial companies for 10 days. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac increased their purchases of illiquid assets, including mortgage-backed securities, that have been clogging up our financial system and further tightening the availability of credit.

Finally, to avoid an all-out credit freeze, a plan to create legislation for an unprecedented bailout of our financial system was put in place by representatives from the Federal Reserve, the US Treasury, the Bush Administration, Congress, and even the Presidential candidates - a controversial $700 billion plan that, had it passed, would have cost tax-payers for years to come.

The plan, however, came up 13 votes short of the 218 votes necessary for passage. The House vote shocked financial markets, which expected the house to approve the plan - a decision that sent the Dow Jones industrial average down more than 700 points, the largest intra-day drop in history.

At the time of the writing of this blog, a new plan has already been announced in the Senate and passed last Friday.

What do you think about the decisions of the government to bail out these Corporations?

"Job creation" is always a winning political phrase, but it's especially powerful in tough times like these. And though the campaigns may vary on strategy, one thing is clear in the U.S. and around the world: green jobs are booming. A new study predicts 4.2 million domestics jobs in renewable energy by 2038.

The Renewable Energy Job Creation Act of 2008, as the tax credit measure was previously known, is one of the few real pieces of economic encouragement that got bundled into the early-October package.

The world's wealthiest investors are invested in green markets.

Our national renewable energy policy got a nudge towards those goals in the bailout bill that passed last week. A separate measure to expand a more than $17 billion renewable energy tax credit program for solar, wind, and other sources was included in the financial rescue plan.

$148 billion was invested in the renewable energy sector last year. Are you getting your share of those profits?

They told us everything was going to be OK.

They told us the finance industry was still healthy. And they told us that the equity markets were just fine and dandy... that our 401Ks were safe... and that we shouldn't be worried about keeping our money in the banks.

At best, they were stupid. At worst, they lied.

In the past 12 months alone, the losses in equity value from Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and Lehman Brothers total approximately $200 billion.

That's $200,000,000,000 erased from existence. Gone.

The fallout from these losses are catastrophic to those who tried so desperately to pacify the public. Banks are now so scared of getting stuck they will not lend to each other.

The next bank to fail is anyone's guess. But make no mistake about it, there will be billions more lost.

Fannie, Freddie and Lehman Brothers are now dead in the water, while Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch and "too-big-to-fail" AIG got lucky bailouts.

We are going to have to work the rest of our life and can't retire. Despite a lifetime of working and saving, like a thrifty squirrel burying acorns in the backyard, now we're broke!

A lot of us buried acorns at AIG, thinking it would be hard to find a more conservative, rock-solid place to put retirement money than into preferred shares that were guaranteed to pay dividends are ideal for retirement.

Something the experts didn't let us know was that somewhere along the way, AIG had stopped being rock-solid. The government has now bought AIG and wiped out the stockholders. We get to read in the papers that AIG's new owners will not be paying preferred stockholders their promised dividends.

Most of us have cut back on spending and have seen the value of our homes drop and our mutual funds and 401(k)s, less secure.

Inflation is getting almost no public attention. As prices go up and wages do not, we have no choice but to buy less!

Fear has made it next to impossible to borrow for anything. A couple of years ago Bankers were begging people to take money off their hands and now banks are scared of getting stuck. They won't even lend to each other.

If this freeze continues there is no avoiding the Great Depression II.

BAIL OUT, BAIL OUT . . .

The government is expected to take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in a monumental move designed to protect the mortgage market from the failure of the two companies, which together hold or guarantee half of the nation's mortgage debt.

Freddie and Fannie are private companies the government is again bailing out. Banks saw their stocks sink and worry they could be swept up in the turmoil surrounding the mortgage finance giants.

Preferred Stock Holders (China & Japan) want to be made "Hold". Preferred and Non Preferred Stock Holders should take equal loss in this acquisition since everyone who pays taxes is stuck with the tab including me, you, our children and grandchildren! Here is another "Bal Out" of a private company we wind up paying for.

We are hurting across the board. Job losses recorded so far this year is 605,000. Statistics are even greater because there are those trying to find employment and given up because (1) there are no jobs in the market place (2) those unemployable due to a variety of personal circumstances are not counted (3) Some of those working are "under paid".

 Since 2006 there are 282 major US lending operations that have imploded. The stock market fear more "Hedge Fund" collapse and those employees are too "out of work". A cross section of individuals and corporations (including builders) are filing for bankruptcy.

American's are all broke. There are "Two Classes" (1) The Have and (2) The Have Not.  (No More Middle Class) The Middle Class Is "suppose" to be the back bond of America!

Why won't the government bail out "Us" American's?

John McCain puts Country First with his choice for VP??? It terrifies us!!! He must think American's have the collective IQ of a squirrel

Exactly WHAT qualifies her to run the United States of America? She is one heart beat away from being President if McCain becomes President with all his medical issues, not to mention his age. It's horrifying enough to think John McCain could be running the country after George Bush and now this hasty selection . . .

She is No Hillary Clinton!!!! (1) Fomer beauty queen, runs marathons, hunts, fish and eats moose burers (2) Has 5 children/puts country first (3) Embarrasing baby story - She preaches abstinence and her 17 year old daughter is 5 months pregnant and her boy friend, Levi Johnston, proudly claims to be a redneck who doesn't want kids (5) Ongoing trooper scandal with X brother-in-law (6) Right wing Christian anti choice extremist who oppose abortion for any reason (5) Expected to stand up to world leaders but dodging the press since selected (7) Supports tax increases (8) Supported the Bridge to Nowhere and now denies she did so (9) As Mayor fired people for political reasons and anyone who doesn't agree with her (10) Currently under investigation for firing a man who refused to fire her brother-in-law (11) On the board of the 527 Group for Stevens who was indicted in July 2008 on seven counts of corruption (12) Only Mayor of a smal township of less than 9,000 people (13) Barely have served 2 years as governor (14) State Creamery Board wanted to shut down the unprofitable Matanuska Maid dairy. Palin wanted it kept open so she fired the entire Board and replaced them with her buddies and approved keeping he Dairy opened which failed anyway later in the year (15) Received passport in 2007 and been out of the country once (16) FBI was not consulted on her vetting (17) No foreign policy experience or knowledge - wait til she faces the debate with Joe Biden (WOW)!

She makes Barack Obama's resume look as thick as Winston Churchill.

How insane does it get? Is this woman the best possible choice to be a heartbeat away from the Oval Office?

A dear friend, Lloyd Wynn, wrote an article for the Black Commentator that I'd like to share with the community.

My comment is this kind of information is not always shared "front and center" in media coverage. How will the financial market navigate going forward?

The stone, hard, cold reality is this economy is about go into a tailspin, unlike anything you have witnessed. The recessions of 1980-82, 1990-91 and 2001 were minor in comparison with the imminent decline of this economy. This one will be characterized by massive job lost. The good news is the downward spiral we are in will not be as catastrophic as the Great Depression (1929-1941).

Let us start near the top. The bond insurers are on the ropes. There are primarily three types of bonds (Federal, Municipal-state, local and quasi-governmental agencies - and corporate). Essentially a bond is a loan made to one of the three above. Bond insurers, American Capital Access (ACA), Municipal Bond Insurer Association (MBIA), Financial Guaranty Insurance Corporation (FGIC), American Municipal Bond Assurance Corp. (Ambac), etc. provide insurance policies called credit default swaps in complex transactions. So if Citigroup, BearStearns, Florida State University, Port Authority of

the bond insurers to split their alleged profitable municipal bond portfolio (Warren Buffet offered $800 billion) from the structured finance side, which is bleeding money from the subprime crises. FGIC is pursuing this course while MBIA and Ambac are opposed. All of the bond insurers are undercapitalized but FGIC has greater exposure to the subprime debacle. FGIC has 54% of its collateralized debt obligation tied to the subprime industry as opposed to less than one-third by the others. Legal analysts are saying litigation is in the offing. The problems do not stop here. The groundwork is being laid for a bailout of the bond insurers and/or the Port Authority of NY/NJ, Baltimore or Anytown, USA were selling bonds to finance improvements such as bridge repair, building a new stadium with public funds, adding a wing to a hospital or a new dormitory, the bonds would be sold to investors backed by the rating of the bond insurer.

The corporate bonds (structured finance) include instruments collateralized with subprime loans. Well, over the next two years, bond insurers will be required to payout an estimate of $200 billion, due to subprime defaults. This is only the beginning of the deterioration. Because of the losses accumulated to date from the subprime crisis, rating agencies (Standard & Poors, Moody's and Fitch) are threatening to lower the AAA rating on their bonds. FGIC, the third largest bond insurer, has been downgraded by Moody's, Ambac was lowered to AA by Fitch, Security Capital Assurance has been lowered to A by Fitch. But all 7 of the bond insurers are under review by the rating agencies. When one of them is lowered below AAA by all three agencies, you will see a huge swing in the stock-market because pension funds cannot invest in securities or bonds with a rating less than AAA. The issue is multi-layered.

The NY Insurance Commissioner and Governor are proposing a split within the bond insurers. Remember, bonds are public and private. NY wants the bond insurers to split their alleged profitable municipal bond portfolio (Warren Buffet offered $800 billion) from the structured finance side, which is bleeding money from the subprime crises. FGIC is pursuing this course while MBIA and Ambac are opposed. All of the bond insurers are undercapitalized but FGIC has greater exposure to the subprime debacle. FGIC has 54% of its collateralized debt obligation tied to the subprime industry as opposed to less than one-third by the others. Legal analysts are saying litigation is in the offing. The problems do not stop here. The groundwork is being laid for a bailout of the bond insurers and/or the Port Authority of NY/NJ is behind the idea of a split. Bershire Hathaway would not have offered to purchase the Municipal Bond side if they (Warren Buffet) did not think there was some leverage in the deal for them.

Please be outspoken about what you think? Thank you very much.