Cross-Posted from Chink in the Armor

In 62 BC,  the Roman Senate was in a terrible state. They functioned more like a city council than as an imperial government.  The influx of wealth and slaves from the Carthaginian wars meant business was more about banking and finance than anything else.  Business men were more interested in state contracts and the financing of games than they were in trade,  true commerce and the building of true wealth.  It was all about pleasuring their egos and pandering to the hedonistic whims of the citizenry

Ruinous taxation impoverished the people compelling them to turn to the money lenders to meet their obligations and debt collection turned them into virtual,  if not absolute slaves.  This had the effect of concentrating the real wealth,  the land,  into fewer and fewer hands and the use of slaves in farming sent the landless poor to the larger cities which became populated with wretched human beings destitute of all moral and social development.

“At bottom,  usury was the cancer of the Republic.  […] seldom had a people sunk so low.  Bereft of religion,  morality and all the social virtues,  the dole-fed masses wallowed in vice.  Luxury begot brutality and brutality licence;  licence led to celibacy,  and childlessness became more and more prevalent.  To these degenerates,  licence, spelt liberty,  but to the plutocrats,  liberty spelt power,  profit,  and an unlimited scramble for wealth,  until money became the sole link between man and man.”[1]

Sound familiar?

On June 16, 1963, Thich Quang Duc,  a Buddhist monk sat down in the middle of the street in downtown Saigon,  poured gasoline over himself and his robes and calmly set himself on fire to protest the religious persecution under the Diem regime which was supported by the US Government.  The effect in South Vietnam was electric.  Citizens who had heretofore cowered in their homes in fear of the police began to stand up in defiance of the regime.

Three years later,  in May of 1966, Thich Nu Thanh Quang, a Buddhist nun, immolated herself in the city of Hue.  By the end of the month,  the US Consulate in Hue was set afire by angry mobs.  The affect in this country was almost as dramatic.  With brute force,  it brought home to the psyche of America that we were the bad guys.

Sound familiar?

Just over a week ago,  Tom Ball,  a 21 year Army veteran from Massachusetts  doused himself with gasoline and set himself on fire in front of the Cheshire County Courthouse in Keene,  NH.  In February last year,  Joe Stack flew his small plane into the IRS offices in Austin,  TX.  Just a few days ago,  James Verone walked up to a teller at a Gastonia, NC bank and handed her a note.  It said “This is a bank robbery, please only give me one dollar.”  He did it so he could get medical care.

Just this year,  on June 23^rd,  Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told the House Small Business Committee that the Obama administration believes taxes on small business must increase.  “We’re not doing it because we want to do it, we’re doing it because if we don’t do it,   [ … we will] have to go out and borrow a trillion dollars over the next 10 years to finance those tax benefits for the top 2 percent, and I don’t think I can justify doing that.”

Ruinous taxation,  more money spent on games and pleasure than upon the creation of wealth,  money lenders driving people into virtual slavery with onerous debt;  a population bereft of religion and morality,  a vicious scramble for wealth and now money is the sole link between man and man.  Divorce,  broken families, eugenics and childlessness preached from street side bill boards,  the wealth drained from the nation so those in power can have just a little bit more,  a devastated middle class.

Sound familiar?

In 61 BC,  Rome was ripe for a man on a white horse.  On September,  29^th of that year,  that man arrived.  Pompey,  a victorious general from the wars against the terrorists (pirates) who were raiding the shipping lanes of the eastern Mediterranean rode into town to upset the power balance between  Porcius Cato and Licinius Crassus.  Pompey aligned himself with Crassus and it was a period of great political tension.  While all eyes were upon him,  Julius Caesar,  a member of the Populares party also arrived to stand for Consulship.  Cato denied Caesar the triumph he expected from his victories in Spain and added Caesar to his enemies.  In the ensuing struggle,  Crassus and Pompey agreed to support Caesar for Consulship in exchange for political favors and repeal of certain taxes.

With Cato out of the way,  it wasn’t long before the triumvirate were squabbling amongst themselves and a civil war between the forces and citizens loyal to Pompey and those loyal to Caesar broke out.  In early January of 49 BC,  Caesar “crossed the Rubicon” a shallow river in northeastern Italy forcing Pompey and  the rest of the Senate to flee Rome.  Caesar was victorious over Pompey in the ensuing civil war and he was never held accountable.

We haven’t seen our man on the white horse yet,  but is it too far fetched to imagine it will happen?  And when he comes,  can he unite or will there be terrific division between competing factions?  Could there be a military coup?  It isn’t so far fetched and to read this,  you can see it is something they are already thinking about.  If so,  would there be the counter coup? Add into that a cyclical view of history rather than a linear view and one can see historical pressures building up.

Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon and resolved the indecision and competing interests of Rome.  He did this by fashioning his military to become an instrument of his will.  His military was he and he was his military.  His was a struggle of an entire people yearning for something new.  Caesar was able to utilize all aspects of the empire: money,  trade,  propaganda and political manipulations as means to an end.  Lastly,  and perhaps most importantly,  he saw that in war,  as in peace,  opponents are equally fearful of each other and the first to set aside fears of the moment and act boldly has the best chance of victory.

Caesar saw that what Rome needed was a monarchial democracy;  freedom and democracy,  not licence and greed;  a strong hand to rend order out of chaos.  He destroyed the power of the money lenders by relieving the provinces of their money making governors and sent each of them at least 80,000 new citizens to promote democracy.  His vision for a new social order is best explained by quoting a speech he made to a group of mutinous soldiers at Placentia in 49 BC:

“For no society of men whatever can preserve its unity and continue to exist if the criminal element is not punished,  since,  if the diseased member does not receive proper treatment,  it causes all the rest,  even as in our own physical bodies to share  in its affliction.  […] For wherever the insolent element has the advantage wherever wrong-doing is unpunished,  there self restraint also goes unrewarded […]”[2]

At the root of it all is money as debt.  It nearly destroyed Rome and it is on the verge of destroying this country.  It is (one of) the duty (ies) of the sovereign to produce the coin of the realm.  In this country,  the sovereign,  which in this country is manifested by the central government in Washington DC, abdicated that power to a group of men for their private profit nearly 100 years ago.  Until this duty is reclaimed by the sovereign, just like Rome before the arrival of Julius Caesar,  the problems we face will not be solved.

Sound familiar?

_____________________________________________________________________________________

[2] Div’s Roman History,  translated by E. Cary (1916),  XLI,  29-30

Please don’t get me wrong. I really like Gretchen Morgenson and Geraldine Fabrikant but I am somewhat disappointed in today’s article High-Speed Courts Try to Rush Through Foreclosures, in which they really missed some important “key components”.

A few weeks ago our friend at Chink in the Armor said it best in his post Gretchen Swoops for the Kill, and Feints … Twice. He states “Gretchen Moregenson of the New York Times is circling the MERS story. Every once in a while she will seem to make a pass at it but at the last moment she diverts to something else, plucking a nice little morsel but leaving the main dish of MERS behind. She refrains, like everyone else, from coming in for the kill. I know for a fact she knows – from two different sources – but I don’t know why she holds her powder.”

He continues… “She had two stories this past week just like that.”

Again, don’t get me wrong, but there are other players just as important as, if not more so, than the Foreclosure Mills, such as MERS, Lender Processing Services, mortgage-backed security trusts, Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae (or GSEs??).

In today’s NYT’s article Gretchen and Geraldine did, however, manage to get in touch with David J. Stern. Of course, to no one’s surprise he “attributed any backdating to sloppiness on the part of paralegals“.

I am sure that statement will not sit well with any paralegals working there who are working hard, doing exactly what their supervisors are telling them to do.

I must say the most important statement from this article comes from the Florida Attorney General,… “Thousands of final judgments of foreclosure against Florida homeowners may have been the result of the allegedly improper actions of these law firms,” said Mr. McCollum in an interview. “We’ve had so many complaints that I am confident there is a great deal of fraud here.”

My suggestion to any journalist that fine combs this site is to please do your research and, then, write a mind blowing article that will clear the smoke from the mirrors.

Gretchen, when will you finally swoop in for the kill?

“I’m not going to be here next week” is how Mr. Geeai greeted me on a delightfully cool morning last week,  “so your readers are going to have to live without me.  You can come and hang out,  but you have to bring your own coffee.”

“Is this the annual Geeai family campout?’

“Indeed it is”,  he replied.   “Chris is coming up from California and we are all going to hang for a week.  So you and your readers have to live without me next week.”

“That’s OK.  I’ll take notes”

“So what new has happened this week?”

“Remember David Stern?”

“The jerk who is making hundreds of millions by throwing people out of their houses?  Yes,  I remember him.”

“Want to know the name of his 130 foot yacht?”

“I’m afraid to ask.”

“Su Casa es Mi Casa”

And then Mr. Geeai did something that really surprised me.  With all of the emotion of a great white shark coming in for a kill he said,  “Ok,  that’s a knee cap buddy”.  And then he formed his fingers into the shape of a pistol and unloaded on my kneecap.  “Bang”  he said,  and looked at me with dead eyes,  “That’s just for naming your boat what you did.  It shows who you are and that’s worth a kneecap without any other consideration.  Oh,  I’m sorry,  is that painful ?  Good.  Now,  let’s talk about what your real punishment is going to be.”

It didn’t surprise me that he blew away the kneecap so much as the totally uncaring,  nonchalant attitude he took towards the action.  It was as if he were telling one of his tenants they were responsible for a late payment.  Totally emotionless,  you’re a mark in a book.  ‘Oh,  it says here I blow your kneecap off.  *bang*  Scratch that one,  what’s next on the list?’  That’s not like him.  I know him as a man of great compassion but all of that was gone as he thought of dealing with the ones responsible for ripping off the whole country for their personal aggrandizement.

There is a seething anger in this country and them that are responsible best take heed.  If Mr. Geeai can seriously consider blowing off a kneecap … and then consider what might be appropriate punishment …  then there is real trouble brewing.  Mr. Geeai is as laid back as they come.

There was a MERS story this past week from www.wallstreetoasis.com.   Wall Street Oasis bills themselves as  a place where “monkeys” (their terms,  not mine) from investment banks,  hedge funds and private equity firms can come to relax,  trade barbs & quips,  rant,  and generally find an outlet for the frustrations built from breathing the rarified air of corporate finance.

In order to comment on any of their blogs,  you have to be a member and in order to become a member,  you have to fill out an exhaustive series of questions such as,  where did you go to school?  Where did you get your MBA?  What was your GPA?  I was reminded of standing in the little boy’s room in grammer school competing with all of the other boys to see who could step the furthest away from the urinal and still arc a flow into the bowl.  Doug Jones was the best at two steps away from the back wall,  his closest competition was four but then Doug was the best athlete on the playground so we weren’t surprised.  We were awed.  Qualifications to become a member of Wall Street Oasis are just as meaningless as arcing a flow into the urinal if you ask me.  I suppose some people are in awe just like I was with Doug Jones but I’ve grown up a bit since then.  I digress.

Continue Reading…Chink in the Armor

A class action lawsuit is currently being prepared and we are in need of parties in California who are interested in pursuing these devils who have done so much to destroy everything this country stands for and is.

We are looking for the following:

• The property is located in California
• Have a Pay Option ARM which names MERS as nominee (highly likely in the event of an Option Arm);
• Lender was Countrywide/BofA or broker associated with CW;
• Issued Jumbo/100% financing
• They are facing an increase via reset or recasting which will consume over 70% of the income which the same as when lender sold them the loan some time in 2010, 2011 or 2012;
• They are committed to fighting the Bad guys;
• They have their Note, HELOC Agreement, MERS disclosure

If you fit this description,  please contact this website at info@chinkinthearmor.net

Source: chinkinthearmor

Via: Chink in the Amor

We’ve talked in the past about Dueling Databases and the havoc it can play in daily economic considerations.  We’ve seen the havoc which occurs when unrecorded assignments are allowed to have parity with assignments recorded at the courthouse.  We’ve also seen how important it is for interested third parties to be able to ascertain specific ownership.  We’ve seen how MERS is keeping a very private database and only allowing peeks into it when they deem it appropriate.  We’ve seen how you can’t rely on them for accurate information.

There is a persistent rumour circulating amongst the people who are in the trenches of this fight for the sanctity of law over corporotism.  It just won’t go away and it keeps popping its head up to the point now where I feel compelled to mention it.  So far,  there is no solid proof of it but we are looking.  It’s important information.  The rumour is that when the title company filed your paperwork from the purchase of your home,  they filed a duplicate set of paperwork for the MERS system which re-created you inside the MERS network.  In other words,  there are now two of you.  At least. Read the full story

You should see these bird houses Mr. Geeai is building.   They really are fun.  He took me into his shop to show off his work.  Lined up on his workbench were a series of seven birdhouses in various stages of construction.  My favourite  looks rather like the sorting hat from Hogwarts only it is covered in beehive paper.   Only from Mr. Geeai.

After the appropriate ooh’s and ah’s  on my part (genuine,  I assure you, for I do enjoy his work) he looked up at me and grinned.  “Guess what?”

“What?” I ask.

“I checked all eight of my houses on MERS’s own website and I don’t have MERS on any of my mortgages.”  He seemed rather pleased with himself.

Something didn’t sit right with this news.  You see,  there are 60MM+ mortgages on the MERS system.  Countrywide was one of the worst offenders of the MERS system and Countrywide did bang up business in this area during the hay days.    I could see not having one house with MERS on the mortgage,  but all eight?  Something just didn’t add up.   I’m no statistician,  but I took enough of it in college to know that there was just something wrong with this information.

“Mr. Geeai”,  I said.  “Something is just not right here.”

“Hey,  I did what you said,  I checked with the website and it showed no records on my name and addresses.”

I explained to him the idea of statistical abnormalities and why it didn’t make sense that all of his houses should not be in the system.  Then I asked him if I could take his tax information,  go to the courthouse and do a little title search of my own on his behalf.  I knew he wouldn’t,  and I knew something was wrong.  He heartily agreed with this idea and  was well pleased he was going to get the information without having to deal with the courthouse.  So he gave me the information on his eight houses and I left.

As work was awaiting me,  piling up,  actually,  I wasn’t able to get to the courthouse until later that afternoon.  I finally got to the recorder’s office about 4:30.  I had to get help finding what I was looking for and I ran out of time before I was  able to look up all eight properties.    MERS was on four out of the four I was able to find before I was kicked out.

I stopped by Mr. Geeai’s house on the way home and found him happily ensconced in his workshop playing with his birdhouses.  I waved the printouts at him and said “Guess what?  You have MERS on every mortgage I was able to find.  Four out of four.    I would have gotten the others but before I was able to get to them,  the nice lady came into the room to tell me that while I didn’t have to go home,  I couldn’t stay there.”

Mr. Geeai put down his paper mache goo,  wiped his hands,  looked over his glasses at me and said,  “what do you mean?  Let me see those”

So I showed him the printouts and where the Mortgage Identification Numbers (MIN) was.

“Those numbers right there means you have MERS on your mortgage.”

Mr. Geeai was not pleased with the information.  “Now what do I do?”  he asked?

“Now”,  I said,  “you have a choice.  You can choose to do nothing with the full knowledge that you are buying into a fraud,  or,  you can take action to make sure that you aren’t.”

“What do I do?”

“Well,  the first thing you should do is file a request to your service provider in accordance with 15 USC whatever it is asking them to provide you with the name and contact information of the person or entity who holds the beneficial interest in your mortgage.  When they blow you off,  which they probably will,  you file it a second time.  When they blow you off the second time,  you hire an attorney and tell them you want to file a chain of title action to make sure your title is clear.”

He looked at me for a few moments.  I could tell his mind was ticking as he weighed information and possible consequences of various courses of action.  “What’s up?  I asked.

He shook his head.  “I don’t like it,”  he said.

“What don’t you like?”

He sighed,  pulled his glasses from his nose and looked at me for about 10 seconds.   “There are several things I don’t like,”  he finally began.  “I don’t like having to hire a lawyer,  I don’t like having to take action,  and I feel ….  weird about going down this road because from what you are telling me,  if I am successful,  I end up with my house and no mortgage.  I feel weird about that because I did borrow the money and if you borrow the money,  you are obligated to pay it back.  And I worry that if I take action,  they will foreclose on me while I go through it and I have too much to lose to risk that.”

“Well,”  I began,  “let’s look at this.  Do you see the danger of having MERS on your mortgage?”

He nodded.

“Do you understand that if they are not able to show a clear chain of title and you take no action,  you will never see clear title to your houses or worse,  that you may believe your house is paid off only to have someone show up years later claiming to have a valid assignment trying to force you to pay a second time?”

“Yes”

“And do you see that if that last part happens you will have to hire an attorney to figure a way out of it 20 years down the road?”

“Yes”

“I understand your fear,”  I said.  “But there is a way you can do away with the issue of foreclosure while you are in this lawsuit,  assuming it goes there.  There is a thing called an interpleader action which is where you pay the money to the court while the action is pending.  The court then demands your mortgage service provider not do anything until the suit is resolved.  The service provider is secure because all of your mortgage payments are going to the court.  You won’t have to pay any penalties,  that whole issue goes away.  Do you understand that?”

“Yes”

“As far as hiring a lawyer,  let me ask you something.  Supposing you spend $10K on attorney fees only to end up owning  several hundred thousand dollars worth of property free and clear.  Is that a good business decision?”

Long pause,  “yes.  But I feel weird.”

“Why do you feel weird,  Mr Geeai?”

“I borrowed the money,  I made an agreement.”

“But they are stealing from you.”

“Yes”.

“Mr. Geeai,  I understand your reluctance to pursue this because you feel you are getting something for nothing.  But I ask you,  what is the greater moral hazard,  you supporting the fraud or you calling a stop to it even though  in the process you come out ahead?  And let me ask you another question;  we talked last week about how dangerous it is to have a second,  very private database where the chain of title is hidden from view,  where there is no public,  transparent record of just who owns what.  What is the greater moral hazard?  Letting them get away with stealing all of this property AND controlling critical information with absolutely no oversight,  or you coming out ahead because you stopped them from stealing your property from you and putting you at risk from their bogus data?”

Mr. Geeai did not respond.  He just looked at me.  And then he looked at the papers I had handed him.

“And let me point out to you Mr.  Geeai,  they lied to you.  You went to the MERS website and they told you that you didn’t have anything to worry about.  They told you that their private database which they control absolutely was correct,  that you did not have MERS on your mortgage,  that you had nothing to worry about.  They told you everything was fine.  I went to the courthouse,  which is the only database that matters,  and looked.  They lied to you.  You do have MERS on your mortgage.”

Mr. Geeai just looked at me.

I looked at my watch.  “My goodness,  will you look at the time.  I have to go home and prepare dinner for the little ones.”

I started to leave.  “I hate you”  he called out in a friendly voice as I let myself through his back gate.

“I know,”  I called back.

“I don’t want to deal with this.  I just want to play with my birdhouses.”

“I know Mr. Geeai.  But while you are playing with your birdhouses,  they are playing with your real houses.”

I’ll let you know what happens.

Source: Chink In The Armor

I was told “I haven’t seen anything yet” stay tuned folks this is going to get interesting!