reality-based educator

Underlying the credit crunch and the subprime mess is the knowledge that we have another year and a half before the worst of the toxic adjustable rate mortgages reset. Which means a lot more foreclosures may be in the pipeline in the near term. So far, the stats bear that out:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Home foreclosures rose 9 percent in July from June and soared 93 percent from a year ago as states that once enjoyed a white-hot housing market are now seeing the greatest number of loan failures, a real estate survey reported on Tuesday.

The July foreclosures -- a tally of default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions -- totaled 179,599, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties.

Five states accounted for more than half of the country's foreclosure activity in the month and two of those -- California and Florida -- saw some of the biggest price gains during the recent housing boom.

Ohio and Michigan, two other states among top five in foreclosures in July, have seen a jump in job losses while Georgia has also suffered a high level of home losses.

As Bonddad notes, foreclosures lead to bond defaults which lead to very volatile and testy financial markets.

Although I just heard from some smirking shill on CNBC that the good news about all these foreclosures is that people who are no longer paying those mortgages (because they've lost their homes!!!) will be spending that money on retail.

Jesus Fuck, how's that for the ultimate in cynicism.

Not enough bad stuff can happen to an asshole like this.