The Federal Reserve, under orders from Congress, today named the counterparties of about 21,000 transactions from $3.3 trillion in aid provided to stem the worst financial panic since the Great Depression.

Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. were among the biggest borrowers from one program, the Term Auction Facility, with as much as $45 billion apiece. Some aid went to U.S. units of foreign institutions, including Switzerland’s UBS AG, France’s Societe Generale and Germany’s Dresdner Bank AG. The Fed posted the data on its website to comply with a provision in July’s Dodd-Frank law overhauling financial regulation.

“We owe an accounting to the American people of who we have lent money to,” Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker said today in an interview on Bloomberg Radio’s “The Hays Advantage,” with Kathleen Hays. “It is a good step toward broader transparency.”

Full Article Here

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As if the fact that the world economy has once again taken a turn for the worse (rising inflation in China, sinking everything in Europe, endless QE in the US) wasn’t enough, that pesky problem of robosigning and fraudclosure just refuses to go away. And even though the major banks are doing their best to remove any reference of this problem, which will eventually be the final nail in the coffin sealing the first truly global great depression, from the mainstream media, here is a sampling of some of the choicest admissions by robosigners, which will continue to serve as the basis for thousands of lawsuits (both RICO and otherwise) to come. While we know that BofA’s Reps & Warrantees reserve is woefully underfunded (with everyone and their grandmother now seeking to putback RMBS to BofA, anything less than ‘infinity’is underfunded), we hope Bank of America has set up a sufficiently large legal expenses reserve. It will need it.

1. ‘Just Sign The Documents

Video deposition of alleged robosigner Crystal Moore of Nationwide Title Clearing. Deposition taken by attorney Christopher Forrest of The Forrest Law Firm in Pinellas County, Florida, Nov. 4, 2010

2. A Vice President At More Than 20 Companies

Part 2: Video deposition of alleged robosigner Bryan Bly taken by attorney Christopher Forrest in Pinellas County, FL on Nov. 4, 2010.

3. “Just Look For My Name, And Then Sign”

“Do you have any understanding as to what that term means, ‘for good and valuable consideration’?”
“I don’t usually read the docs when I sign.”
“So it’s not part of your job to review the document. Your job is just to sign it.”
“Just look for my name, and then sign.”

4. No Experience Necessary

“What did you study [in the one year of college]?”
“Nothin’. It was just the basic.”
“General courses?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you have any other additional training or education in banking or finance?”
“No.”
“Real estate?”
“No.”
“Law?”
“No.”

5. Signing 5,000 Documents Per Day At Less Than A Minute Each

“Can you tell me on any given day how many assignments or other documents you sign?”
“Are you looking for a ballpark average?”
“Ballpark. I certainly don’t expect you to remember exactly.”
“I’d say 5,000.”
“Would that be an average day for you?”
“That would be average.”
“Would it be fair to say that during your tenure at NTC you’ve probably signed an excess of 50 or 60 thousand documents?”
“Yes.”
“Could be higher than that?”
“Yes.”
“With signing so many on any given day, can you estimate for me the amount of time you spend on any given document?”
“Less than a minute.”
“When you’re presented with a document to sign or notarize, do you take any steps to verify any of the information contained in the document?”
“Not in the body.”
“When you say ‘not in the body’are there any other steps that you take?”
“I’m just looking to make sure it’s been fully signed.”
“Would it be accurate to say that you are presented with a stack of documents to sign, and your practice is to look at the document, see if it’s been signed, affix your signature to it and then move on to the next document?”
“Correct.”

6. A Disturbing Lack Of Experience

“When you say ‘financial’are you referring to matters relating to banking?”
“No. We don’t do mortgages in my country. … I don’t have any idea about mortgages when I started here.”

7. A Strange Definition Of A Mortgage

“Did you take any steps to verify any of the information contained in this assignment before you signed it?”
“No.”
“Do you ever take any steps to verify any of the information in the documents you sign at NTC?”
“No.”

[...]

“What is your understanding of what exactly is a mortgage?”
“When somebody goes to buy a house, they take a loan. And then the mortgage is their paying the banks bank.”
“Can you tell me what your understanding is of the term ‘promissory note’?”
“That’s just the note. Like it says the interest rate and stuff like that on it.”

8. Management May Have Electronically Signed Documents For One Employee

“Do you play any role in the creation of the documents to which your signature is electronically affixed?”
“No role.”
“Do you have any idea what documents or how many documents your signature has been electronically affixed to?”
“No.”
“Do you ever review those electronic documents after your signature has been affixed?”
“No.”
“So would it be accurate to say that entire process takes place outside of your presence and knowledge?”
“That would be fair.”

[...]

“You play no role in the determination as to whether or not you should be signing the document physically, or whether your electronic signature should be inserted?”
“No.”
“Who makes that decision?”
“That would be someone in management.”
“So someone else in management is making a decision as to whether or not to use your signature to affix it electronically to a document?”
“Yes.”
“And you have no role in that process?”
“Correct.”

9. Signing More Than 50,000 Documents

“Have you signed assignments or other documents as vice president of any other companies?”
“Yes.”
“What companies have you signed as vice president?”
“I don’t know.”
“You can’t recall any?”
“Mm-mm [No].”
“Can you estimate for me the number of different companies that you’ve signed assignments as vice president?”
“I don’t know.”
“Can you estimate for me how many assignments or other documents in total during your tenure at NTC you signed as an officer or a vice president of a company?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is it more than 10?”
“Yes.”
“More than 500?”
“Yes.”
“More than 5,000?”
“Yes.”
“More than 20,000?”
“Yes.”
“More than 50,000?”
“And out of those 50,000, the only company that you can recall signing as a vice president or an officer is City Residential Lending?”
“Yes.

All Videos Here:

The Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing programs, QE for short, is not inflationary, said Chairman Bernanke to Jacksonville University students on November 5th, 2 days after Bernanke and company launched QE II.  These asset purchase programs, he said, are not inflating the money supply.

Not so says THE CONTRARIAN TAKE to those same students.  Says THE CONTRARIAN TAKE to Chairman Bernanke, it may be time for Money Mechanics 101, for it appears you do not understand the money creation process.  If you did we don’t think you would have said this:

What the purchases do… is… if you think of the Fed’s balance sheet, when we buy securities, on the asset side of the balance sheet, we get the Treasury securities, or in the previous episode, mortgage-backed securities. On the liability side of the balance sheet, to balance that, we create reserves in the banking system. Now, what these reserves are is essentially deposits that commercial banks hold with the Fed, so sometimes you hear the Fed is printing money, that’s not really happening, the amount of cash in circulation is not changing. What’s happening is that banks are holding more and more reserves with the Fed…

HAHAHAHA…. ok.

Full Article here:

Growing criticism of U.S. Federal Reserve policy is fueling global tensions as leaders of the world’s largest economies prepare to meet in South Korea Wednesday.

Last week the Fed announced it would pump another $600 billion into the U.S. economy through the purchase of long-term Treasuries, a move known as quantitative easing, or “QE2,” since it is the second round of such purchases.

The move sparked fears that it could reignite inflation pressures, cause a new global asset bubble or spark a so-called “currency war” in which nations devalue their own currencies to keep their own exports competitive.

President Obama will hear those complaints later this week when he arrives at the G-20 meeting in South Korea, a summit of heads of state of the world’s leading economies.

The harshest criticism came Friday from German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, who told reporters at a conference that, “With all due respect, U.S. policy is clueless.”

“It’s not that the Americans haven’t pumped enough liquidity into the market,” he said. “Now to say let’s pump more into the market is not going to solve their problems.”

Original Article Here

Goldman Sachs anticipates that the real cost of the second round of quantitative easing will be in excess of $2 trillion and will continue well into 2012, while other prominent economists have denounced the Fed’s actions.

The Fed announced yesterday that it would purchase $600 billion in Treasury securities in a statement that left open the possibility of the real cost rising much higher.

“The Committee will regularly review the pace of its securities purchases and the overall size of the asset-purchase program in light of incoming information and will adjust the program as needed to best foster maximum employment and price stability.” the statement read.

As pointed out by Tyler Durden at the Zero Hedge blog, Goldman Sachs has predicted that the real cost of the Fed’s plan will sky rocket.

“We believe that the program will grow significantly beyond the initial $600 billion” remarks Goldman’s Jan Hatzius.

Original Article Here

With the world on the verge of a currency war as the Federal Reserve follows through on its dollar-killing quantitative easing program, rumors are once again swirling of a “bank holiday,” during which US citizens will be prevented from withdrawing money or at least limited in the amount of the withdrawal they can make.

The bank holiday is rumored to be set for next week, with Thursday November 11 pinpointed as the likeliest date.

According to radio host Steve Quayle, a pastor was told by one of the managers of a prominent east coast bank that banks would close for an undetermined amount of time, and that when they reopened, “all withdrawals

Original Article

Foreclosure timelines continue to increase, thanks in part of the recent robosigning allegations and related moratoria, according to the September Mortgage Monitor report released byLender Processing Services.

The average number of days mortgages are delinquent in five judicial states (New York, Florida, New Jersey, Hawaii and Maine) now exceeds 500 days.

Judicial foreclosures generally take longer to process because they are handled through the courts, and we all know how that goes…

Full Article Here: