Foreclosure fraud

So as you know, during the frenzy of the mortgage boom - especially in 2006 and 2007 - mortgage mills were giving out loans like candy, using falsified paperwork, inflated property appraisals, accepting "liar's loans" (no documentation from the borrower), and so on. They could do this (so they thought) because they planned to simply sell the loans to be securitized in packages of thousands, and then sold to investors, so from the lender's perspective, it hardly mattered if the loans defaulted.

Today, borrowers are delinquent, with underwater mortgages, and the country is facing a wave of foreclosures. This has created a nightmarish backlog for the courts - which, in turn, creates a nightmare for borrowers. In Florida, for example, the system is so backlogged that they set up special foreclosure courts, headed by retired judges who know nothing about mortgage law, to push the foreclosures through, according to Yves Smith:

The problem is that an accelerated process runs roughshod over due process and allows banks to foreclose when they may not be the right party, or worse, when the foreclosure is the result of servicing error.

( Read more )

And, by the way, Census finds record gap between rich and poor:

The income gap between the richest and poorest Americans grew last year to its widest amount on record as young adults and children in particular struggled to stay afloat in the recession.
A different measure, the international Gini index, found U.S. income inequality at its highest level since the Census Bureau began tracking household income in 1967. The U.S. also has the greatest disparity among Western industrialized nations.

At the top, the wealthiest 5 percent of Americans, who earn more than $180,000, added slightly to their annual incomes last year, census data show. Families at the $50,000 median level slipped lower.

Blah blah another fic rec

per aka, Arcane Asylum is a truly brilliant Merlin modern-day AU. It starts out like a traditional prison AU (there's a prison for warlocks; Arthur is framed; he's immediately attacked and Merlin becomes his protector) but then it turns out to be so very much more.