A story which first appeared in the New York Times on April 11th, "Lenders Again Dealing Credit to Risky Clients", was posted on MSN on the 12th as "Big Banks woo subprime borrowers again". Summarizing, Capital One and GM Financial are issuing credit cards (they never really stopped). Meanwhile, HSBC and JPMorgan Chase are moving again into subprime mortgage lending. As always, the lenders rationalize their actions as the best interests for the consumers while watchdog groups forewarn of repeated risky practices.
This is one of those times when a reader almost bangs his head against the wall wondering why the politicians and regulators cannot/will not recognize the problems. That also is quickly understood based on the heavily bankrolled lobbies of the financial industry while the consumer and the American public have no real voice. The Consitutional intent of our elected representatives being the voice of the people has been washed away by the big money lobbies. The Republican presidential candidates have stated that the public's contempt for Wall Street is based upon envy and jealousy. Further they seek to deregulate Wall Street to allow "free enterprise" to take its course. (Sadly, to defer any assumed bias, I am/was a Republican.) The greed and arrogance of Wall Street and the banking industry has created and perpetuated this economic downturn of the past 4 years. There are times the government must step up to reign in unethical and avarice business sectors and let there be no doubt, this is one.
This topic has profound effects on our real estate industry and its future. I welcome any insight which might explain this insanity!
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