The US no longer has capitalism in any sense of genuinely free markets. Instead, we have the Fed propping up thuggish banking entities who never seem to have criminal charges files against them and who just receive modest civil penalties for doing things the rest of us would be arrested for.
JP Morgan Chase illegally foreclosed on military families. But cheer up, Chase “feels badly” about doing it. I’m sure the military families gouged and foreclosed upon without justification are deeply appreciative of such a gesture.
Banks abandon foreclosed homes because they can’t recoup the costs. This is mainly happening in areas where subprime mortgages were foisted on unsuspecting low-income people by bottom-dwelling subprime predators. So far the banks seem to be ignoring municipality regulations that they keep up foreclosed properties.
Utah’s “Quiet Title Law” awards homes free and clear; One homeowner had $417,000 debt forgiven. This was because the paperwork was so sloppy, probably deliberately so.
Fed President Charles Plosser says Fed helpless to reverse sharp decline in home prices. But the Fed and the US government sure knows how to send hundreds of billions to the big banks, right?
The financial crisis won’t end until the TBTF banks do just that and the financial felons in high places go to prison.