Good mortgages Go Bad and ‘Stability of the Money Supply’

Good mortgages Go Bad and ‘Stability of the Money Supply’

Good Mortgages Go Bad: At Bloomberg.com we read this post headline, “Delinquencies Double on Least-Risky Mortgages, U.S. Report Says” by Margaret  Chadbourn. This piece discusses the mortgage crisis at the “top-end”. Here are some of the key points:

• “Delinquency  rates on the least risky mortgages more than doubled in the first quarter from a year earlier as U.S. efforts to help homeowners failed to keep pace with job losses that pushed more borrowers toward foreclosure.”
• “Serious delinquencies on prime loans, which account for two-thirds of all U.S. mortgages, rose to 661,914 in the first quarter from 250,986 a year earlier … . Overall, mortgages 60 days or more past due rose 88 percent from last year … .”
• “Mortgages modified to help struggling borrowers stay in their homes fail within nine months more than half the time, … . About 53 percent of mortgages modified in the first quarter of 2008 were 30 or more days delinquent after six months, and increased to a 63 percent default rate after a year.”
• “Rising serious delinquencies are a leading indicator of increased foreclosure actions in the future … ”

‘Stability of the Money Supply’: Washington’s Blog (georgewashington2.blogspot.com) brings us this: “Reducing the Stability of the Money Supply” drawn from a “ 22 page study of money and currency by Christopher Weber. Here are some highlights:

• “ … Weber shows that every government – from Athens, to pre-collapse Rome, to the Islamic countries in the middle ages – which stuck to the Greek standard of coins (65.6 grains of gold or silver/ coin) has been stable and prosperous.”
• “ … after the Romans and Byzantines started to whittle down the precious metal content of their coins – and after the Muslims started issuing paper money – their currency went down the drain, their prosperity plummeted and their empires collapsed.”
• “ … Weber points out that: The U.S. dollar has been depreciating for generations. Seventy years ago it was first devalued from $20.67 a gold ounce to $35. Then 35 years ago the devaluation started gaining strength. THE DOLLAR HAS LOST OVER 90% OF IT’S GOLD VALUE SINCE AUGUST 15, 1971.” (caps/PH)
• “History is repeating … Sound money is again being trashed, which is causing the collapse of the American empire.”

Next time, we plan on discussing Ug99, the wheat fungus threatening world wheat crops, from the perspective of the home gardener and home food production. It should be interesting. Until then, keep your eyes on the horizon as the weathers changing fast.