Pay dirt

When the housing crisis sent the American economy to the brink of disaster in 2008, millions of people lost their homes. The banking system had failed homeowners and their families. New investors soon swept in — mainly private equity firms — promising to do better. But some of these new investors are repeating the mistakes that banks committed throughout the housing crisis, an investigation by The New York Times has found. They are quickly foreclosing on homeowners. They are losing families’ mortgage paperwork, much as the banks did. And many of these practices were enabled by the federal government, which sold tens of thousands of discounted mortgages to private equity investors, while making few demands on how they treated struggling homeowners. The rising importance of private equity in the housing market is one of the most consequential transformations of the post-crisis American financial landscape. A home, after all, is the single largest investment most families will … [Read more...] about How Housing’s New Players Spiraled Into Banks’ Old Mistakes

Gone. Photo: Eric Thayer/Getty Images Among people of a certain age, the sudden and strangely explained firing of FBI director James Comey by President Donald Trump brings back memories of another sudden action that portended more trouble for the president than the objects of his wrath. That would have been the Saturday Night Massacre of October 1973, when Richard Nixon ordered his Attorney General — and when he refused, his Deputy Attorney General, who also refused — to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox. Finally Solicitor General Robert Bork — of later Supreme Court fame — did the deed in firing Cox. But Nixon never quite recovered his equilibrium in coping with the Watergate scandal that ended his presidency nine months later. There is no way to know what the future holds for the 45th president, and it’s possible the publicly offered rationale for this firing — pent-up bipartisan frustration with Comey’s handling of the Clinton email investigation at various … [Read more...] about Sudden Firing of Comey Brings Back Memories of Nixon’s ‘Saturday Night Massacre’

Taiba was being hunted by the men she had put behind bars. The death threats came as the Americans withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban marched across her country, she said. In the chaos, cell doors were flung open, freeing the rapists and abusers she had helped send to prison. “We will find you,” the callers growled. “We will kill you.” Taiba’s entire life had been shaped by the American vision of a democratic Afghanistan: She had studied law, worked with the Americans to fight violence against women and ultimately became a top government official for women’s rights, gathering testimony that put abusers away. But after saving so many women’s lives, she was suddenly trying to save her own. She and her husband, Ali, pleaded for help from a half-dozen nations — many of which they’d worked with — and found an American refugee program they might be eligible for. Taiba said she sent off her information, but never heard back. “They left us behind,” she said of the Americans. … [Read more...] about The U.S. Left Them Behind. They Crossed a Jungle to Get Here Anyway.

“Don’t get too hung up on appearances,” Frank Rolfe reminded us as our tour bus made its way to the first of several trailer parks we would visit on a bright Saturday afternoon in Southern California. “Remember, you don’t have to live in these homes.” It was Day 2 of Mobile Home University, an intensive, three-day course on how to strike it rich in the trailer-park business. Seventy-five or so students had signed up for the class, which Rolfe offers every other month in different places around the country. Most of the enrollees weren’t real estate speculators; they were jittery members of a hard-pressed middle class. They were nervous about retirement. Or they were worried about their jobs moving overseas. Or they were making $100,000 a year, maybe even $200,000, but felt the need to earn more. All of them, though, had somehow come to see the lowly mobile home as their vehicle to financial freedom. “It’s about self-preservation,” one 42-year-old attendee told me. He had flown down … [Read more...] about The Cold, Hard Lessons of Mobile Home U.

0 Community Corner If you're on the hunt to appreciate all of the natural beauty OC parks and beaches have to offer, mark your calendars for these events. Miranda Ceja , Patch Staff Posted Reply RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, CA — Are you looking to get out more in Orange County? OC Parks announced a whole slew of scheduled events for the month of November designed to get Orange County residents out and engaged with all of the natural beauty the county's parks, beaches and trails have to offer. For a full list of November events being held by OC Parks, visit the county's website. Here's a rundown on the schedule of OC Parks events for November near Rancho Santa Margarita: Event : Wilderness Access Day Location : Black Star Canyon Wilderness Park, 13333 Black Star Canyon Rd., Silverado. Date, Time : Nov. 5, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Info : Black Star Canyon, part of OC Parks’ Irvine Ranch Open Space, offers … [Read more...] about Get Out In Rancho Santa Margarita: OC Parks Events Near You This Nov.

Some people decide to climb out after falling into a hole, and then there’s CNN. In the aftermath of the disastrous Trump town hall , CNN’s brilliant leadership has decided to dig down and double down in its Sisyphean quest to cater to “both sides” and attract conservative eyeballs that would rather watch paint dry. Assessing the damage, CNN has decided to embrace masochism and continue bending the knee to an increasingly radicalized MAGA base that views it as “ the enemy of the people .” If at first you don’t succeed, fail again and again. Next week, CNN will host Nikki Haley for a town hall, and on June 7 they’re inviting Mike Pence . Platforming two GOP presidential hopefuls, who voluntarily and proudly served in the Trump administration and have yet to crack double digits in polling, will surely turn around CNN’s fortunes. This means CNN will eventually invite Senator Tim Scott, who just launched his dead-on-arrival campaign with an embarrassing Howard Dean moment … [Read more...] about CNN Can Never Wash Away the Trump Disaster Stench