The fraudulent foreclosure mess is a nightmare for Americans and it's going to cause another major meltdown because of the corruption that is rooted in the actual foreclosure process.

Ellinorianne has a great post up at DKOS called: Foreclosure Fiasco - What to Do for the Homeowners? HELP THEM! She outlines the problems and abuses and then offers some assistance.

People need legal help to keep their homes. And many of those people don't have the means to pay for that help. But there are resources but they need funding.

I started here: Institute for Foreclosure Legal Assistance. The crisis of fraud has grown so large that we have a new kind of legal assistance focussed on just helping people keep their homes.

IFLA Mission Statement and Goals
As the nation's foreclosure epidemic continues to worsen, the Center for Responsible Lending has formed the Institute for Foreclosure Legal Assistance (IFLA) to support groups giving legal representation to families facing foreclosure and financial ruin because of abusive subprime mortgages. The National Association of Consumer Advocates will manage the project, which recognizes that one of the biggest barriers families face to avoid losing their homes is the lack of access to quality legal services.

The Institute, launched with a $15 million grant from investment management firm Paulson & Co. Inc., will provide funding and training to organizations that help homeowners negotiate alternatives to foreclosure. The majority of the funds will be grants to support direct legal assistance to borrowers in 10 or more states to fight foreclosure, predatory lenders and abusive loan servicers. It will do this primarily by providing money to top non-profit legal-aid groups and law school clinics.

The IFLA then lists the many Legal Aid Foundations in various states. They need money to hire more lawyers so they can help people keep their homes.

That's it. Donate to your local Legal Aid Foundation and if you have the legal ability to help, please do. If you know the law, get training to help people keep their homes.

As progressives we have a responsibility to help people stay in their homes, we can help them do so. So I'm asking you to help.

This is a worthy cause. Please help if you can because who will?

Elizabeth Warren is so sensible and credible. Why don't more people in the Obama administration listen to her?

Banks and homeowners alike need to take a more realistic view about how to stem the tide of foreclosures overtaking the housing market and the economy, the head of a government watchdog panel told CNBC.

The more than $700 billion the government allocated toward dealing with foreclosures has only made a minor dent in the problem, said Elizabeth Warren, chairwoman of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

That's because those on both sides of the equation are not taking a proactive enough approach, she said.

"We have to sober up on this and say, 'Look, it's time to get realistic,'" Warren said. "It's time for the banks to get realistic about the value of the second mortgages, it's time to be realistic about doing some principal writedowns."

But the onus is not entirely on banks. Homeowners with distressed mortgages also may need a reality check.

"Some of you should stay in your homes...and some of you don't belong in those homes and you've got to be moved out," Warren said. "And frankly, those houses need to get back onto the market and get into the hands of people who can afford them."

"In other words, acknowledge the problem, deal with it, write off the losses and start rebuilding an economy on solid ground."

Isn't it ironic? Don't you think? Good thing for these Republican voters that the bleeding heart liberals are in charge now, huh.

Today's losers losing their homes are Republican districts. At least according to the Center for Responsible Lending, who has just issued a new report that shows nine of the top ten districts with the most foreclosures are Republican and most likely to receive the bulk of any homeowner bailout, and thus, at least according to one On Air editor of a major cable network, fit the definition of "losers".

Things look a little better further down the list. However, only six of the 22 districts with more than 10,000 foreclosures projected are represented by Democrats, and only two of those have served a full term. So 20 of the 22 have been in Republican hands until very recently.

In other words, "Since the Rick Santelli's of the world have been complaining about how the people who would be helped by this bill are so 'irresponsible' and are really just a bunch of 'losers.' .... Rick Santelli's 'losers' may turn out to be the people who are supposedly his ideological fellow travelers."

Via Brave New Films:

Joan Adams is living out of a Motel 6 in the suburbs of Orange County, California. She lost her home to foreclosure. There's no one out there to help, Joan says: "Billions of dollars to all the banks for bailouts for something they caused, and yet we're the ones that are homeless."

On Tuesday, Congress will vote on whether or not to level the playing field between the banks and struggling homeowners. Representative John Conyers has introduced legislation in the House that authorizes judges in bankruptcy proceedings to require banks to reevaluate mortgages of homeowners in distress.

Sign the petition to let Congress know that you support Conyers bill, H.R. 1106. Then, call your Congressional Representative and ask him or her to vote for it.

Sign petition here.

Find your Congressional Representative here.

As the American economy plunges deeper into crisis, the conservative chattering classes are hoping for a replay of their 2001 blame game. Having successfully perpetuated the myth that President Bush "inherited a recession" from Bill Clinton, right-wing mouthpieces from Rush Limbaugh to Fred Barnes began blaming Barack Obama for the Bush recession literally within hours of his election. But as a quick glance at the data shows, across virtually economic indicator from GDP, unemployment and consumer confidence to home prices, foreclosures and manufacturing output, ownership for this mushrooming economic calamity squarely belongs to George W. Bush.

Gross Domestic Product. U.S. GDP shrank by 0.3% in the third quarter (July through September), a decline which followed the downward revision of the Q2 number from 3.3% to 2.8%. But while "recession" is traditionally defined as two consecutive quarters of GDP contraction (which is almost certain to occur), the quarterly Survey of Professional Forecasters by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia concluded that the United States entered a recession in April.

Recession at the State and Local Level. While there is debate as to whether or not the United States has technically slipped into a recession, at the state and local level there is no doubt at all. According to Moody's Economy, by the end of September 30 states were in recession, up from just five in March. 19 more states were deemed "at risk." (Only Sarah Palin's petro-state of Alaska was forecast to experience economic growth.) 276 of 380 metropolitan areas measured by Moody's had also sunk into recession. Combined with the downward spiral of home prices, these regional economic contractions are having a devastating impact on state and local tax revenue - and government services.

Unemployment. In October, the American economy shed 240,000 jobs, catapulting the losses for the year to 1.2 million. At 6.5%, the unemployment rate hit a 14-year high. The percentage of the adult population now working dropped to 61.8%, its lowest level in 15 years. The Philadelphia Fed survey forecast 222,000 more lost jobs per month through the end of the year. With some analysts now predicting unemployment will hit 8% by the middle of 2009, President Bush's reversal on extending jobless benefits could not come a moment too soon.

Jobless Claims. Of course, the corollary to skyrocketing unemployment is an explosion of new jobless claims. The Labor Department today released figures showing new unemployment claims jumped to 542,000 last week, a 16-year high. First-time jobless claims have now remained above the 400,000 for 17 straight weeks.

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