Hi, everyone. We got a spit of rain yesterday. Not enough to do any real good. The cool weather continues. The cat is thoroughly disgusted because we won't leave the door open so he can come and go as he wants. He figures that if he has a fur coat we should also and the only reason we won't put it on is to spite him. Like most cats, he thinks the world revolves around him and, for the most part, he is right.

I linked to an article somewhere in the last couple of posts that referred to 'purple squirrels,' the practice now among manufacturing employers of combining jobs and writing a very specific job description which proves to be very hard to fill. Then I run across this story. Evidently not all employers are so picky. Banks and mortgage servicers were quite happy to hire anyone breathing to be 'foreclosure experts' so long as they would sign what they were told to sign when they were told to and not ask any questions. I guess if the need is great they can let anything slide--like ethics and law. Maybe, especially ethics and law.

Naked Capitalism posted an item today that asks a very good question--is the bank moratorium on foreclosure real or just PR? There is some convincing evidence that it is PR and the foreclosure steamroller continues on its merry way. Yves Smith makes a very good point in the middle of her comments. Some 75% of mortgages over the last few years were securitized and that is where most of the problems are because servicers and banks were sloppy about the legal requirements governing the securitization process primarily by failing to convey the notes properly. That leaves 25% of mortgages still held by the original lenders who have every right to foreclose on defaulting homeowners. The whole notion of a moratorium on all is ridiculously like hitting a fly with a shotgun--you aren't going to hit the intended target and you are going to do a whole lot of collateral damage. What I really, really, REALLY resent has been the notion just below the arguments by the banks and their supporters that fraud and other criminality should be given a pass because the 'fragile' real estate market can't stand another shock. I say let the courts and the however-many states attorneys general are now involved sort out the issues. How long will that take? Take a look at this piece also by Yves Smith. Also take particular note at the conclusion in the middle of her first block quote--U.S. property law has developed over the last couple of centuries to include multiple failsafes to make sure that only property on which there was a mortgage could be foreclosed on, that only the right property could be foreclosed on and that only defaulted mortgages could be foreclosed on. Unfortunately, the recent news stories demonstrated that all of those conditions have been violated repeatedly. The only way to by pass the failsafes is outright fraud.