Murky Waters

Less than a month to go before elections and last night's news was full of the discovery of thousands of potentially fraudulent loans that are overburdening homeowners and the bank's illegal foreclosure proceedings.

If the projectionists are anywhere near center on this, the legal ownership that is in question involves commercial and residential properties originally financed or refinanced during the last decade. We stand on the brink of a completely stalled national real estate market for sales, resales, and foreclosures.  Property will become investment mausoleums.

Without clear ownership rights, there are no assets, no sales, no credit, no growth. Courts will be flooded with lawsuits of those challenging the validity of paying for homes people no longer want. People will get away with staying in homes for years without paying for them while ownership is established. Banks could fail, for real this time, and the government will be powerless to assist.

I wonder about the hearts of the Wall Streeters who stood tall on technicalities and short on morals to personally profit. How can they live with themselves knowing their avarice is responsible for all of this? I shudder to think of the consequences if the shoe was on the other foot, and the consumer got the upper hand with, say, a legal loophole to crawl through that could lash back at those who have wronged us. We may know the answer soon enough...

Yesterday's article solidifies the issue ~ http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/investing/charting-the-foreclosure-crisiss-far-reaching-consequences/19673408/ ~ and a thoughtful response from a reader worth pondering: 

As a homeowner who did lots of things to pay off a mortgage and get our kids educated, I wonder if some of those folks who simply quit paying their mortgages aren't gaming the system. I know there... are many who have suffered from this economic downturn but no one, especially the major media outlets, ever pins some of this blame on the Dodds and Franks of our Congress. Quite honestly, I see this administration and the leaders of Congress looking for scapegoats around every corner when they have added to the problems because they are hellbent on redistributing wealth rather solving the real problems. It is time to put Bush to bed and start assuming some responsibily for failing to act as promised.

We are responsible for ourselves, no matter what the circumstances are, and have come to the moment to weigh the importance of character and if it is worth protecting. Will we hide behind anger at the Wall Streeters and Congressmen who put us here, and like them take advantage of the situation for personal gain? Or will we hunker down and do what it takes to see it through, go through the painful work to untangling this mess with our integrity intact?