Mortgage woes 'exceed forecasts'

[eppur_se_muova]

Source: BBC

Losses from sub-prime mortgages have far exceeded "even the most pessimistic estimates", US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has said.

His comments to a US finance committee come two days after the Fed cut base interest rates to 4.75% from 5.25%.

The rate cut was made "to help forestall some of the adverse effects on the broader economy", he said.

That, along with pumping cash into the financial system, aimed to counter "significant market stress" he said.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7004923.stm

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So things are worse than expected? Will this be the most often heard phrase of the Bu**sh** era?

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

1. "I Can't Recall"

That will be the most often heard phrase of the King IDIOT era.

Followed closely by "We Could Never Have Forseen Planes....."

[NC_Nurse]

2. Blah, blah, blah...

they have been predicting the shit would hit the fan for HOW LONG?
People have been on a drunken spending binge with borrowed money for years now.
Savings have decreased for a long time, it's been reported on the news for years.
Credit card companies and mortgage companies have made it seem so easy to
get what you want now - and pay later.

Guess it's time to pay the piper....or not.

:eyes:

[central scrutinizer]

3. Low expectations on steroids.

[tanyev]

4. No one could have anticipated.....

[donkeyotay]

5. We knew cronies were gaming the market and that the cost would pass thru,

but we didn't know it would be this bad. Ah, a quote for the ages. We knew they were stealing the public blind and writing bad paper, but who knew we'd have to bail the whole mess out with tax dollars? Who knew there were no WMD? Who knew they'd use planes as missiles? Who knew the piratized army would clean out the treasury? Who knew?

[peacebird]

10. We were just betting the sh*t wouldn't hit the fan til after the next prez was sworn in....

:eyes:

Sad thing is they had their eyes on the extra fees they could rake in on those mortgages, and figured they could sell the properties again and again at a profit after each foreclosure....

We are currently in the phase where the water is quietly receeding further and further towards the horizon - but the tsunami is coming.

[cliss]

6. Don't listen to him. Here's the real truth, from

Loyal DU:er Cliss. The Subprime mortgages are worthless. WORTHLESS. They have no value.

How can I make such a claim? Because they can't be sold that's why. They've already tried and they have not been able to sell them.

Last month, France's biggest bank Paribas tried to sell their portfolio of US subprime portfolios. They had been trying for weeks, but with no takers. No takers = means they have no value.

This week: Northern Rock Bank had a run on the bank. Depositors were afraid they might lose their money. The Bank of England had to intervene, in order to save the whole banking system from collapse.
Northern Rock's portfolio of subprime mortgages: worthless. If they can't be sold folks they're worthless.

[hatrack]

15. Exactly - the simplest possible definition of a liquidity crisis?

No one wants to buy your shit.

Very simple.

[kestrel91316]

7. NO ONE could have forseen this (except kestrel, who has no training

in economics and said the train was headed for a wreck two years ago....).

[tom_paine]

8. "Who could have foreseen (insert foreseeaqble calamity here)?"

Of COURSE just about everything is worse than expected. That's how it is in Totalitarian Nations like Amerikas where all government statistics are partial or total lies (I still cannot believe I am saying these things and believing them, but seven years of Totalitarian Oppression (but kinder and gentler than most other totalitarianisms...for now) will change a person in unexpected ways.

[dickbearton]

11. Impeach, convict, and execute...

Until the traitors and war criminals in league with the
Criminal Bush, are brought to justice; the American dream is
dead.

[lurky]

18. That's an interesting point!

One side effect of always fudging the numbers (whether in climate science, intelligence estimates, or economic reports) is that you will never be prepared for the actual crisis when it comes.

[eppur_se_muova]

19. It's like the boy who cried "no wolf problem". nt

[truthisfreedom]

9. The bush era: No one could have anticipated anything. Hurricane Katrina, 9-11, the

failure of the illegal Iraq invasion, the mortgage industry... the crash of the economy. NONE of it was forseeable by people at the highest levels of responsibility. The explosion of oil prices, the plummetting of the dollar against the Euro, the switching from the Dollar to Euro by all of OPEC (that's coming, just watch)...

NOTHING was forseeable, and NOBODY is accountable. Even though EVERY SINGLE MEMBER OF THIS FORUM COULD HAVE PREDICTED MOST OF THESE THINGS.

All because of a stolen election and power grab by a set of psychopathic power-hungry families that want to rule the world.

[dbt]

12. Has this been reported in the Alleged US Media?

Or must we depend on *shudder* The FOREIGN PRESS to tell us the truth?

AGAIN?

Just askin'...

[ProudDad]

13. Iraq Invasion/occupation costs "exceed forecasts"

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

This ain't a bush thing, this is a capitalism S.O.P. issue...as is Iraq -- it's all about O.I.L.

"Follow the Money!"

[ChairmanAgnostic]

14. canadians are happy. their dollar is stronger than ours.

about time, too.

they are simply much nicer than our current ruling class.

[Zhade]

16. Yep. Much as it hurts, it's not like we DESERVE to be on top.

We sure haven't earned that right!

[Purveyor]

17. Many of us 'gray-headed' laymen predicted and saw this coming

at least 4 years ago.

Many, including myself, were shocked it took this long to collapse and commented frequently that the more air you puff into this balloon, the bigger the bang...once it pops.

The 'popping' isn't over with, by no means. We are only experiencing the first wave of this economic collapse of the US economy.