Eastern Promises.jpgFaced with mounting lawsuits, the government is taking a page out of the Russian model and putting the screws on mortgage lenders to pick up the modification pace. As we are way past the time when the likes of Citi and BAC should have be looking at things like a borrower’s ability to repay a loan, the White House figures it might as well get some political bonus points out of its stakes in firms that would have a tombstone next to Lehman’s were it not for the Washington safety net. Throwing caution to the wind, the administration’s bogey is for lenders to produce 500,000 trial loan modifications by November 1st- which will likely convert soon after into full-blown losses and pave the way for TARP version 2.0.

Comments (13)

  1. Posted by guest | July 29, 2009 at 12:22 PM

    Good to know the government is fighting fire with fire. Weren’t these the issuers using Russian business practices that contributed to the problem?

  2. Posted by guest | July 29, 2009 at 12:35 PM

    Greggums,
    It is just so cute when you post to your own articles to make it look like people give a shit.
    Mommy’s getting her colon cleaned today at 2pm. Can you take a long lunch break and come hold my hand?
    Roast beef for dinner (and bearded clam for dessert, just for you!)
    Love,
    Mom

  3. Posted by guest | July 29, 2009 at 12:40 PM

    oooh #2, this is too nasty.
    But what a vivid imagination! You should write movies.

  4. Posted by guest | July 29, 2009 at 12:54 PM

    Now that modifications have been proven not to work….let’s throw billions of dollars at them. Your bailout dollars at work.

  5. Posted by guest | July 29, 2009 at 12:58 PM

    @2, no longer funny. You should put that schtick away for special occasions, like the Seinfeld guy did.
    It was really really funny but now it’s not, you’re straining for funny and you’re missing it.
    Just give it a little rest, a month or two? then maybe it will be funny again.
    Initially I supported you, but now you bore the shit out of me.

  6. Posted by guest | July 29, 2009 at 1:01 PM

    @Greg’s mom,
    Still funny. Carry on.

  7. Posted by guest | July 29, 2009 at 1:01 PM

    Just ignore Greg and hope he goes away. Like that time you got that tingle in your dingle.

  8. Posted by guest | July 29, 2009 at 1:07 PM

    stfu @5
    greg’s mom is still fresh

  9. Posted by guest | July 29, 2009 at 1:09 PM

    @5 – Go away. Your presence on this blog is cancerous. Please biopsy yourself in the face.
    Thanks,
    Guest

  10. Posted by NegativeConvexity | July 29, 2009 at 1:39 PM

    @5 [Greg's "best friend" (i.e., penpal from Nigeria) Ndugu Umbo],
    Financial blogging, like football, is a game of inches. Terms like ‘bearded clam’ and ‘colon cleanse’ transcend the banal and rocket #2 to comment glory status.
    Please attach one end of 20′ high-tension wire to genitalia, the other to 45lb. olympic weight, climb to top of 30′ village tree, proceed to drop weight.

  11. Posted by guest | July 29, 2009 at 2:08 PM

    that was so fucking painful to read, i’m shaking worse than michael j. fox’s left hand
    decent pic greg, though i’m surprised you didn’t use the one with viggo mortensen’s cock dangling like your blogging career in the wind

  12. Posted by guest | July 29, 2009 at 2:18 PM

    Greg > Bess
    all you Bess lovers have never gotten laid, period.

  13. Posted by guest | July 29, 2009 at 2:25 PM

    @12 yeah, but no. thanks for playing, though!

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