Turn On The Lights, Watch The Roaches Scatter, Part 8

Here's a video recap of Foreclosuregeddon where CNBC's Larry Kudlow, who knows nothing, and CNBC's real estate commentator Diana Olick, who is actually pretty knowledgeable, talk it out. Luckily Olick's around to explain things in pretty easy terms to the brainless Kudlow, and her explanation is actually very well done and worth watching.



Bottom line, Olick thinks a 90-day national moratorium on foreclosures is coming very, very soon and that it will annihilate the housing market. She's right on both accounts.

Also, ending said moratorium is going to be very difficult politically. At some point during that moratorium, I'm betting another TARP program will be on the way, as the banks are going to get stone cold murdered the second that moratorium is announced.

Meanwhile, thirty California House Dems have joined Nancy Pelosi calling for investigations into the mortgage banks.  D-Day has the goods:

Crucially, the letter links the violations by lenders in dealing with mortgage modifications and foreclosures, painting a picture of an industry unwilling to take a smaller profit on their homes and unable to operate in a scrupulous way in foreclosing on homes, resorting to document forgery and outright fraud. And the California Democrats aren’t just armed with a letter, but a series of case studies from their constituents, showing problems with untimely and inconsistent communication from lenders to borrowers, misrepresentation of trial modifications and other bad faith dealings by the banks. The 20-page document is a treasure trove of stories not unlike my portrait of HAMP failure, showing the banks screwing with their customers repeatedly.

So yes, that foreclosure moratorium does seem in the cards.