Foreclosure Stuffing

Back in November 2010, the robosigning scandal hit in which it was made clear that when it comes to keeping track of mortgage titles, nobody really knows what belongs to whom, except maybe for Linda Green. The immediate result of this was a complete collapse in the foreclosure process as banks no longer had leverage to evict those who don't pay their monthly mortgage bills, since the banks couldn't confirm they actually had rights to the underlying mortgage, and the total monthly foreclosure total dropped from a ~330,000 average houses/month to roughly 250,000. Then in February, to much administration fanfare, the banks, and the attorneys general, signed what we dubbed the Robo-settlement: an event which was supposed to be the "resolution" to the robosigning scandal, and which should once again unclog the foreclosure pipeline. This did not happen. Instead, as RealtyTrac has been diligently reporting month after month, the monthly foreclosure total has continued to decline, and in August hit a level of 193,508 total foreclosures. The immediately spin is that this was a 1% improvement from July's 191,925. The reality is that it was a drop of 15.1% from a year earlier. As the chart below shows, ever since the advent of fraudclosure, the average monthly foreclosure total has dropped from a 330K/month average to just 219K. And declining.

So why did the robosettlement not undo the robosigning foreclosure crunch? Simple - foreclosure stuffing.
What happened is that since the properties not entering the foreclosure pipeline are effectively kept out of inventory, even shadow inventory, and thus the distressed end market, the monthly drop in foreclosures has acted as a form of subsidy to the housing market, as month after month less inventory than otherwise should, enters the market.
As the chart above shows, there is now a 2.5 million "backlog" of properties that should be foreclosed upon based on historical trendlines, but which are being completely ignored by banks. A stuffed foreclosure channel, if you will.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/foreclosure-stuffing

Follow up story...

Charting The 'Housing Recovery' Subsidy: Foreclosures Slide To Five Year Lows

A month ago, when RealtyTrac posted their latest US foreclosure numbers for the month of August, we presented what we called was the "Foreclosure Stuffing" thesis, explaining the explicit subsidy by the banks for the housing market, whereby the entire foreclosure process has now ground to a halt, and in doing so removing millions in inventory flow from the distressed end market, forcing limited buyers to chase what supply there is, and in the process boosting prices of existing inventory higher. In other words a traditional inventory removal-based subsidy. It is therefore not surprising that today RealtyTrac reported the latest foreclosure data, and lo and behold, just as we expected, the great foreclosure collapse has taken another leg lower, with the total number of foreclosures for the month of September sliding to 180.4K, a decrease of 7 percent from the previous month and down 16 percent from September 2011, and the lowest in five years!

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-11/charting-housing-recovery-subsidy-foreclosures-slide-five-year-lows


Twinsdad comment:  Banks are MF's!

Gasoline prices high, why?

So, you say demand is high?
Refineries not refining?


How about the prices are high because the economy is so bad no one is going anywhere?

Why would that make prices so high?

Well if you were a refiner you have paid upwards of...(see below)   over the last year, but since the economy sucks thanks to Obama no one is driving anywhere, how do I know this?

Digest this data....

Crude Oil and Commodity Prices
October, Thursday 11 2012 - 16:53:05

WTI Crude Oil
$92.40	▲0.33		0.36%

http://www.oil-price.net/

Now digest this data....

U.S. Total Gasoline Retail Sales by Refiners (Thousand Gallons per Day)

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1983	46,218.3	48,906.1	54,111.7	49,093.7	52,021.3	52,517.2	51,898.0	51,905.6	52,676.3	50,724.3	51,150.8	51,879.1
1984	54,148.6	55,651.7	57,636.0	56,937.0	58,755.9	60,075.0	59,055.7	59,378.3	56,947.3	57,386.5	58,075.3	56,765.8
1985	54,584.3	53,829.7	57,297.6	59,075.2	57,563.7	58,832.1	58,563.3	58,096.1	56,979.0	56,949.0	58,100.7	60,295.9
1986	55,283.0	58,546.4	61,250.4	62,628.9	65,578.7	63,294.1	62,861.8	61,342.4	60,341.9	60,946.1	61,880.4	62,290.2
1987	56,488.6	60,641.1	61,627.2	61,733.5	61,750.0	64,315.2	62,404.8	62,643.9	59,339.3	60,707.9	58,877.0	61,720.2
1988	57,041.0	59,900.3	61,577.5	61,584.1	60,701.3	62,884.1	61,873.2	62,450.0	61,036.1	60,385.3	59,783.1	63,099.8
1989	55,556.8	58,492.6	60,500.1	60,242.0	62,088.7	63,521.0	62,335.0	63,362.0	61,922.8	61,973.6	61,339.0	63,182.4
1990	58,138.0	57,909.4	59,847.0	59,600.5	60,572.2	63,108.6	61,531.0	63,182.0	60,912.1	60,295.1	60,550.6	58,382.1
1991	56,924.5	59,384.5	61,553.8	61,982.0	62,244.9	63,319.4	62,600.6	62,534.0	60,346.2	61,181.3	60,442.9	61,521.7
1992	56,410.9	58,308.6	59,639.5	59,980.2	59,615.2	60,353.3	60,400.3	59,083.7	58,579.1	59,011.8	56,877.6	59,287.9
1993	53,826.6	57,305.3	57,624.8	58,138.7	57,465.8	60,391.1	58,807.7	58,453.0	57,462.3	55,432.4	55,743.5	56,074.7
1994	51,533.7	54,270.1	55,363.8	54,962.1	55,523.0	57,165.3	55,834.5	56,393.4	54,992.9	54,240.5	54,480.4	55,612.3
1995	51,200.2	54,138.2	55,592.4	55,456.8	56,242.2	58,547.4	56,944.0	58,296.8	56,580.9	55,610.5	55,907.4	56,471.5
1996	53,039.9	54,566.8	56,388.2	57,183.4	57,796.4	59,170.9	58,909.8	59,651.5	57,845.3	58,456.2	58,101.4	59,200.7
1997	54,440.6	57,313.3	58,443.8	58,854.0	57,840.1	59,820.3	65,294.2	64,803.7	63,680.2	64,355.2	62,252.8	66,017.1
1998	59,905.7	62,399.8	64,533.5	59,012.3	59,509.7	60,837.0	67,183.3	66,831.0	65,146.9	65,121.8	63,846.8	65,401.5
1999	60,254.0	62,779.7	63,320.2	63,722.4	63,464.7	64,458.4	62,669.7	61,363.0	59,265.4	60,415.4	59,078.1	62,719.0
2000	54,421.0	59,107.2	60,573.0	57,911.6	60,300.4	63,275.5	62,278.2	63,621.8	63,098.0	61,954.7	62,184.7	62,014.2
2001	58,139.5	61,731.0	62,859.5	62,301.3	62,878.9	65,417.0	62,534.2	64,390.5	62,214.2	60,864.4	60,024.8	60,793.5
2002	60,211.7	63,942.2	62,828.5	63,953.3	64,537.0	64,874.0	64,594.2	66,683.5	62,352.4	63,344.8	63,255.8	63,109.4
2003	60,247.9	60,803.4	60,815.8	61,728.4	66,315.5	66,426.5	66,803.1	66,812.7	63,949.0	64,615.5	63,778.4	63,394.5
2004	57,143.8	58,381.7	59,186.2	59,352.6	58,565.7	58,992.8	59,012.0	59,664.1	57,327.4	57,977.1	57,017.9	58,013.6
2005	54,938.7	58,368.8	58,330.0	59,093.3	59,474.5	61,731.9	61,109.4	61,220.9	57,866.5	57,075.2	59,094.7	59,426.1
2006	56,531.8	59,960.4	59,859.7	61,020.8	60,234.0	61,980.4	61,445.8	62,015.9	59,783.4	60,233.2	58,860.2	57,862.5
2007	54,698.1	56,954.9	57,278.7	57,354.7	58,719.6	60,865.7	58,806.7	60,178.5	57,912.9	57,843.2	56,579.0	54,650.0
2008	53,994.1	56,157.4	55,494.8	56,307.4	56,390.6	55,938.5	54,802.5	55,628.2	53,405.9	55,210.7	54,080.6	53,931.5
2009	51,108.7	50,968.4	51,298.4	51,215.6	50,957.0	50,419.6	49,677.9	49,966.5	48,669.6	48,461.0	47,454.3	47,441.4
2010	44,012.3	44,227.1	45,482.4	46,234.2	46,016.2	46,765.3	45,755.3	45,082.6	43,876.0	43,624.1	42,857.0	42,417.1
2011	40,331.0	40,924.9	41,608.1	41,555.0	41,172.9	42,477.2	42,448.3	42,351.8	41,972.6	32,015.0	30,971.6	30,413.9
2012	28,389.9	29,546.8	29,496.5	29,684.0	30,292.5	31,458.8	30,970.7

http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=A103600001&f=M

Lots of data you say, focus on Jan 2009 to July 2012, notice anything?  Since Obama took over gasoline Retail Sales by Refiners has gone down 21,000 gallons!

Anyone want to explain the high prices at the pump? Ask Obama, if the economy is so great why no gas being consumed?

Back to the topic -- Gasoline prices high, why?  Because the Obama adminstration has failed so miserably that no one is willing to travel, no one is willing to do anything but the bare minimum in driving, just to buy food etc., and then go home and bar the door.  But the refiners need to show a profit to the shareholders, so they refine less and jack up the price!

Any more questions?  Ask them in the voting booth

Two No-Brainer Ways To Play Rising Food Prices

Submitted by Simon Black of Sovereign Man blog,

Last summer, two researchers from the New England Complex Systems Institute published a short paper examining the correlation between rising food prices and civil unrest. It was a timely analysis, to say the least. A number of food riots were occurring throughout the world, not to mention waves of revolution sparked by the high cost of food.
This is nothing new; throughout history whenever people have struggled to put food on the table for their families, social unrest has been a common consequence.
The French Revolution is a classic example; after decades of unsustainable fiscal and monetary practices that wrecked the French economy, the harvest season and subsequent winter of 1788 were particularly harsh. People went hungry, and it ultimately started the revolution.
The researchers' analysis went a step further, though; they modeled the relationship between food prices and social unrest to reach a simple conclusion-- whenever the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)'s global food price index climbs above 210, conditions ripen for social unrest.

Today, the FAO's food index is at 213... and rising. Netherlands-based Rabobank recently published its own analysis, forecasting further rises in food prices well into the 3rd quarter of 2013.
There are so many factors driving food prices higher. From a demand perspective, world population is growing at an extraordinary rate... plus the rise of billions of people from developing countries (especially in Asia) into the middle class is quickening demand for resource-intensive foods like beef.
From a supply perspective, drought, soil erosion, and reduction of available farmland all put significant pressure on global agricultural output. And finally, from a monetary perspective, the enormous amount of paper currency being printed in the world is finding its way into agricultural commodities.
I cannot envision a slowdown in any of these factors anytime soon. Central bankers will continue printing, people will continue procreating, developing countries will continue becoming wealthier, etc. So we should absolutely expect rising food prices for quite some time.

Follow the link for more info, including tips on how not to starve, so much...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-09-27/guest-post-two-no-brainer-ways-play-rising-food-prices

Didn't I read somewhere that the government recently purchased millions of rounds of ammunition?
Bought your bullet proof vest yet...?

Empty chair 'lynchings': Anti-Obama protests gone too far?

By James Eng, NBC News

At least two recent incidents in which empty chairs were hung from trees by rope have critics decrying what they say are racially offensive displays meant to symbolize the “lynching” of President Barack Obama.

In Austin, Texas, a homeowner hung an empty folding chair from a tree branch in front of his house and later attached an American flag to it. He reportedly told a Democratic political blogger who said she had concerns, “You can take it and go straight to hell and take Obama with you.”

---

In Centreville, Va., an empty chair with a sign reading “Nobama” was strung from a tree in or near a park. “In short, this appears to be a crude metaphor for the lynching of President Obama,” wrote the blogger who posted the photo.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/20/13989510-empty-chair-lynchings-anti-obama-protests-gone-too-far?lite