Bankruptcy Blogs

This week on The Broke and the Beautiful, Mickey Rooney’s stepson admitted to taking $2.8 million from his stepfather. Also, Ozzy Osbourne’s oldest child is occupying his brain with bankruptcy.

As the Fed contemplates ending QE3, banks will need to look beyond government debt and mortgage-backed securities to generate returns.

Breaking News This Morning ... Earnings: First Horizon, First Niagara, General Electric, SunTrust, Morgan Stanley Receiving Wide Coverage ... Taper Timetable: December now looks like the earliest the Fed will begin to scale back its purchases of mortgage-backed and Treasury securities. It's unlikely to do so at the policy meeting at the end of this month. "Fed officials have said the decision depends on how the economic data evolve, but the data won't be very illuminating into November…

It is reported in the media every day that many Miami and Broward homeowners are "upside down" or "underwater" with their homes. That is, they owe more on their mortgages than the value of the homes. Many homeowners financed their home on an "80-20" basis. That is, they borrowed 100% of the value of the home, structuring 80% of the borrowed sum into a first priority mortgage and 20% of the borrowed sum into a second priority mortgage. In many or most cases, the value of the home has fallen at least 20-30% at present and some experts expect a further substantial decline.

Even if these loans did harm consumers – doubtful as they were freely entered into – the harm would appear quite minor compared to that which has been repeatedly imposed upon the U.S. Native American population.