Meet The Squatters: Here Are The Millions Of Americans Who Live Mortgage-Free For Up To 5 Years And Counting

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/10/2011 13:14 -0400

The topic of Americans living mortgage-free in foreclosed homes on which banks do not have proper titles is nothing new – in fact we are surprised that there isn’t a robosignature app for that…yet. Neither is the fact that this ongoing reverse capital transfer provides as much as $50 billion in “rental” income for those same squatters. And while the ethical arguments for strategically defaulting on one’s mortgage can get very heated on both sides, one thing is certain: the ongoing foreclosure crisis is creating a new subclass of “entitled” people, who certainly enjoy living on the back of the banks, while not paying one cent, and not vacating the premises.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/meet-squatters-here-are-millions-americans-who-live-mortgage-free-5-years-and-counting

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Please read the whole article it has the same “refinancing” paragraph I have seen elsewhere. By my rough calculations the owners of the Florida property took out $500,000 in equity and have NOTHING to show for it and yet claim it is the bank’s fault they are broke. They say they used the money to invest in their business but I can almost guarantee that there was many, many personal purchases and a lavish lifestyle thrown in as well.

While only the US will have to disarm. From Global Security Newswire:

Russian Deployed Strategic Arsenal Below Limit Set by New START

Thursday, June 2, 2011

By Martin Matishak

Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — Russia’s stockpile of deployed strategic nuclear warheads is already below the ceiling required by the U.S.-Russian arms control treaty that took effect earlier this year, according to figures released on Wednesday (see GSN, May 19).

(Jun. 2) – A Russian Topol-M ICBM, shown on display at a parade last month in Moscow’s Red Square. Russia’s quantity of deployed strategic nuclear warheads is already below the maximum permitted by a new arms control treaty with the United States (Natalia Kolesnikova/Getty Images).

The data was included in the first aggregate accounting of both nations’ atomic armaments, released in compliance with the New START pact.

As of February 5, the day the treaty entered into force, Moscow possessed 1,537 deployed strategic warheads, according to a U.S. State Department fact sheet. That is beneath the 1,550-weapon cap the nations are required to meet within seven years.

Russia also came in under the treaty limit of 700 deployed strategic warhead delivery systems with 521 ICBMs, submarine-launched ballistic missiles and heavy bombers, the brief document states. The nation in total had 865 deployed and nondeployed bombers and ICBM and SLBM launchers. The pact calls for a maximum of 800 delivery systems in the field or on reserve.

http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20110602_6659.php

In a speech given at the Ronald Reagan Building Secretary Gates had this to say:

“As most of you here remember, when Ronald Reagan took office, there was little to joke about, or smile about for that matter.  In the previous decade we’d seen:

• A collapse in Vietnam, and the deaths of millions across Southeast Asia;
• Stagflation;
• Two energy crises;
• The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan;
• Revolution in Iran,  an embassy taken hostage, a failed rescue mission;
• Tens of thousands of Cuban soldiers in Angola and Ethiopia;
• Nicaragua was fast moving into Cuba’s orbit and there were Cuban supported insurgencies in El Salvador and elsewhere in the region;
• And by late 1980, a Soviet invasion of Poland was a very real possibility.

When Reagan became President, the Soviet Union seemed ascendant and we were reeling.  Some of you here today remember what it was like to work in national security during that time, or anytime during the Cold War – always carrying a heavy burden, always facing an existential threat not just to our country, but to the entire world.

But President Reagan – nearly alone – had the bedrock conviction that the Soviet system was rotting from within, was fundamentally vulnerable, and could be brought down.  Remarkably, again mainly alone, he believed it could happen on his watch, not at some undefined future time and he believed this from the very beginning of his Presidency.”————————————–

How many times have we heard that Obama took office with challenges “no other” President faced in history. With Gates headed out the door is this a subtle jab saying, “Other Presidents faced greater challenges AND SUCCEEDED”, unlike Obama who is floundering badly with failed economic policies and the world in chaos?

The rest of the speech:

http://www.defense.gov//speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1571

As predicted. During the run up to the ratification of the New Start nuclear arms treaty RINO’s signed up because Obama “promised” to fund modernization of the nuclear enterprise and the triad delivery systems like the Minuteman III ICBM. As the story below shows Obama seems to have forgotten to fund the Minuteman III modernization study: From Global Security Newswire

U.S. Air Force Changes Mind — Again — on Funds to Study ICBM Options

Friday, April 22, 2011

By Elaine M. Grossman

Global Security Newswire

A U.S. Minuteman 3 ICBM lifts off in a 1980 test launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The U.S. Air Force is unable to specify a planned fiscal 2012 funding level for studying future ICBM modernization options (U.S. Defense Department photo).

WASHINGTON — More than two months after the Obama administration submitted its fiscal 2012 budget request to Congress, the U.S. Air Force cannot say exactly how much it will spend to explore options for modernizing its ICBM fleet, nor where the money will come from (see GSN, March 23).

Relatively small dollar amounts are involved: probably less than $3 million as part of a $671 billion Defense Department budget for the next fiscal year.

However, repeated Air Force fumbling over whether it programmed 2012 funds to study future ICBM options has offered political grist to Senate Republicans who question whether President Obama is seriously committed to updating aging U.S. nuclear weapons and their delivery platforms.

http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20110422_4819.php

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I posted all over the internet at military technology websites that modernization would get lost in the black hole of the Obama budget. As Rush says I’ll use for my prediction, “I’m not that smart I just know how leftists think.”

My other thought is why do Republicans (see recent budget battle) negotiate like the Democrats negotiate with the Russians, that ain’t good if anyone is wondering.

I aplogize if this is not considered a proper diary post with just a link and no “guts” to it but I wanted to provide it to the readers of Redstate and to every Republican politician in America.

The media hates you and will manipulate information and use leftist talking point to frame the debate. In this interview with Andrea Mitchell and Donald Rumsfeld watch how he does not allow her to use these tactics and points out EVERY time she is misstates the facts not by saying, like wishy washy politicians, “well Andrea people have different opinions”, but by saying clearly and forcefully, “no Andrea that is factual inaccurate.” Here’s the link.

http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2011/02/22/rumsfeld-flummoxes-andrea-mitchell/

Russia launches arms race with new intercontinental ballistic missile

Russia is developing a replacement for the world’s most devastating intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in a move that risks reviving a global nuclear arms race.

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Back in the early 80′s when the arms race was heating up debate raged around the possible deployment of the US’s MX or Peacekeeper missile. The Peacekeeper was going to be “a new mega-missile loaded with 10 multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicles or MIRVs.”

This, to paraphrase the MSM at the time, was an extremely dangerous development in the arms race driven by “crazy” Reagan who was bound and determined to get us into a nuclear war with the USSR.

Being in high school at the time and not really wanting to die in a nuclear holocaust I began to research the arsenals of both the US and the USSR. Our library was limited forcing me to bike to the public library (where by roaming the aisles I began my love affair with literature and knowledge but that is another story) because it was something I obsessed over, I was really scared there would be a war.

After a few Saturday afternoons studying the fairly arcane, for a high school student anyway, language of the arms race I was becoming very knowledgeable with regard to ICBMs, SLBMs, SSBNs, B-1s and Backfire bombers, etc. in addition to nuclear warhead numbers, missile throw weights and warhead yields. What was developing in my mind was a very disturbing picture, the MSM was not telling the while story. In fact you could say they were being downright deceptive in the way they were reporting.

But to tie the above with today’s story. In my early research I came across information about a Soviet missile system called the SS-18 or Satan missile as NATO called it. I was horrified. This missile was truly a monster and not only did it dwarf any US missile deployed at the time it even dwarfed the “new US super missile, the MX”. The SS-18 could carry 10 warheads of 500 to 750 kiloton yeild compared to the US’s Minuteman III missile that carried 3 warheads of 330 kilotons. There really was no comparison. The Soviet’s had 308 of these monster missiles that I soon learned could probably wipeout the US’s Minuteman missile force in a surprise first strike. But that is not all the Soviets also had SS-17s and SS-19s (also larger than Minuteman) and were developing their own slightly larger version of MX, the SS-24. It was the SS-18, however, that became the “bogeyman” of the West.

When the Cold War ended systems like the SS-18 were “obsoleted” by events and their numbers reduced accordingly (the US also got rid of its’ MX missiles of which only 50 were ever deployed mainly because the Democrats in Congress constantly withheld funding for more and wanted future deployments “studied”)

So fast forward to today and ask yourself, “In today’s “Obama reset button New Start” era of peace and love”, why would the Russians be wasting precious defense resources developing a replacement for what many believed to be the most powerful and destabalizing weapon of the Cold War?

Why indeed? Here’s the rest of the story:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/8260460/Russia-launches-arms-race-with-new-intercontinental-ballistic-missile.html

Postscript to this, I have not yet come across this being reported in the US. It’s like I am back in the 80′s with the media once again hiding critical information that would “go against” the popular meme that New Start was a huge success for Obama and is ushering in a new age of peace with the Russians.

From Global Security Newswire:

http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20100624_3032.php

Here are some quotes (my comments are in italics)

“It is obligatory for the United States to ratify” the treaty, Schlesinger told the Senate panel. There is “nothing in the treaty that is problematic,” added the official, who served in the Nixon and Ford administrations.

Nothing is problematic, wow the perfect treaty the first time is human history this has been achieved. The Russians say it limits our missile defense but Hillary says it doesn’t good enough for me, not.

“The argument has changed” as respected Republicans have increasingly backed the document’s ratification, arms control advocate David Cohen said. Today, “it’s are you a sane, prudent responsible person? Or are you going to be on the fringe?”

You support Obama and suddenly you are a respected Republcan, but you have a different opinion you are on the fringe. The standard Leftist argument.

“The American people want to see Congress accomplish something, and START is a made-to-order agreement,” added Andy Johnson, national security programs head for the think tank Third Way. “If the Republicans delay the process, they open themselves up to the charge of putting politics over national security”

I bet MAYBE 5% of the population knows anything about this treaty other than it cuts nuclear weapons so it is great (notwithstanding it weakens the nation) And the kicker in the last sentence: You don’t support the treaty you are playing politics. Only Republicans play politics to the left.

I am so sick and tired of the “you can never disagree with Obama and the left or you are an extremist just playing politics” Never any room for dissent. I really can’t take it anymore.

From the Tampa Bay dot com.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/crists-edge-over-rubio-appears-to-be-growing/1103719

A new Florida Chamber of Commerce poll suggests Charlie Crist may be widening his lead over Republican Marco

Rubio and Democrat Kendrick Meek in the U.S. Senate race. Where other recent polls showed Crist barely edging out Rubio, the June 9-13 survey of 607 likely voters by the Florida Chamber of Commerce Political Institute and Cherry Communications found 42 percent backing Crist, 31 percent Rubio and 14 percent Meek. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.

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While it is a long way from election time (and this poll is much different than other that show the race closer) I have a question. Americans hate typical “politicians” those who will do or say anything to get into or stay in power. OK fine, so why does this election cycles biggest lying, cheating, say anything flip flopper have even 10% support. Disappointing.

From Defense News:

The Sustainable Defense Task Force unveiled its plan to cut $1.1 trillion in military spending.

The rest of the story – http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4667417&c=AME&s=LAN

They pass a new trillion dollar entitlement ask for billions upon billions for a stimulus that has failed miserably but would love to gut our national defense.

Why is it Democrats and the Left want the federal government to do EXACTLY the opposite of what its’ enumerated powers give it the ability to do. You would think they have no respect for the Constitution but wait they gave an oath…………

From the Air Force Association

Blacker Saturday?: Defense Secretary Robert Gates is expected to outline even deeper overall defense reductions in a speech he’s giving Saturday at the Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kan. The speech is part of the two-day celebration of the 65th anniversary of VE Day, the date of Germany’s surrender in World War II. Senior Pentagon officials said Gates’ speech to the Navy League on Monday—in which he warned that shipbuilding accounts will be too small to sustain the fleet at current levels—was “setting the stage” for Saturday’s presentation. Gates will outline more comprehensive reductions in force structure and, one official said, a “potential paradigm shift” in how the US will view international security. Officials compared what he will say to the presentation he made on April 6, 2009, now known as “Black Monday,” when he delineated budget cuts like halting F-22 production. Stay tuned.

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Not that we needed MORE evidence that Obama intends to destroy the US as a Superpower but there you have it at a time of war and increasing dangers from China, North Korea, Russia and Iran and Obama is going to cut the defense budget.

Trillions for more and more domestic spending, a new healthcare entitlement and nothing for National Defense. My disgust has reached galactic proportions.

Please phone, call or write your Congressman or Senator – THEY CONTROL THE BUDGET!! Oh and vote in November before it is too late.

I know healthcare, healthcare and healthcare but we can’t forget all the other things going on with this administration including disarming and weakening the defenses of this great nation. From Global Security Newswire:

New START Pact Expected in Days, Russia Says

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

From Defense News -

Obama Plans Dramatic Reductions in U.S. Nuclear Weapons

A review of nuclear policy, due to be completed this month, “will point to dramatic reductions in the stockpile, while maintaining a strong and reliable deterrent through the investments that have been made in the budget,” a senior administration official told AFP.

As everyone here at Redstate already has seen, Obama comes from the “blame America first” or “America is the problem” wing of the Democrat Left (the majority of them in this administration and Congress/Senate). Here is another example from Amb. Ellen Tauscher – she is the lead negotiator for arms control in the current Start Treaty renewal/replacement process with the Russians. In a recent Defense News article I was stunned to read quotes from her with regard to US nuclear weapons.

“We don’t want people believing that we expect to go out and build new weapons,” she said. Thus the RRW program became “dangerous” when it came to be perceived as a program to “modernize” rather than “refurbish” warheads

“We had to get rid of RRW,” Tauscher said. The perception that the United States was improving its nuclear arsenal undermined U.S. efforts to convince non-nuclear countries not to seek nuclear weapons and to encourage nuclear-armed nations to shrink their inventories.

Under the Stockpile Management program, the NNSA would maintain the nuclear stockpile without adding to its capabilities, without testing and “without causing people to be concerned about what we are doing,” Tauscher said.

Now read those paragraphs carefully, they are absolutely incredible. It basically says we can’t do anything that are enemies perceive as dangerous to THEM! Tauscher has just announced to the world that all you have to do is say the US is threatening or dangerous and we’ll disarm or curtail OUR ACTIVITIES.

This is Peace through Weakness at its finest.

From The Journal of International Security Affairs -

http://www.securityaffairs.org/issues/2009/16/thayer&skypek.php

I can only provide the link but worth the read to Redstaters. With all the other issues flying around this is not getting the attention it deserves.

The Constitution is pretty clear about “providing for the common defense” forcing us to buy health insurance, not so much.

Well when most Americans are closely following the insane rush of the Democrats to steal our personal freedoms his minions are in Moscow giving away the nuclear store. Another story from Global Security Newswire – http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20091105_8126.php  – seems to indicate that Obama is offerring the Russians whatever they want to get a new treaty so he can go to Oslo as the Great Peacemaker.

This story terrifies me!

Defense technology has always been a great interest to me. I sleep well at night because the US is the pre-eminant technological military on earth. But that is a very fragile thing. Technology moves so rapidly it has been estimated that without proper investment the US could fall behind on many military technologies in as little as a half a generation.

The Russians and the Chinese are concerned/worried/scared by our ability to produce the “weapons of tomorrow” so always try to prevent us obtaining any defensive advantage. While it started decades ago the most recent example is the elimination of the Polish ground based interceptor. These weapons were “given away” on the alter of diplomacy. Let me be clear – to coin an Obama often used phrase - these were purely defensive weapons that were absolutely no threat to Russia. Yet Russia told Obama they were destabalizing and one Russian general said the “US might secretly put nuclear warheads on them and surprise attack the Russians”, really?  The end result as we all know is that the weapons won’t be deployed and the US and it’s allies are less safe because of this decision.

Now onto stage two of the continued “weakening of a superpower program”. Some background. Back in the 80′s and 90′s as ballistic missiles became more accurate it was speculated that the “Holy Grail” of technology would be the ability to mount conventional, not nuclear, warheads on Submarine Launched and Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. The advantages are obvious. The theory was, what if Iran or North Korea was fueling s missile with a nuclear warhead aimed at Tel Aviv or Tokyo. The President’s only response to the threat – that would get there is time – was a “nuclear” armed missile. It was a choice nobody wanted to have as their only choice.

Therefore the US began to work in earnest on what it termed ”Conventional Prompt Global Strike” weapons. Basically you could take out the North Korean missile without using a nuke. Also, if you were wrong and the enemy missile was only conventional, well the US only used a conventional response, again, much better than a nuke.

So now from today’s Global Security Newswire we find out that the Russians want to include this very promising defensive technology in the latest “dangerously rushed” disarmament treaty (link here – http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20091103_3088.php ).  The Russians also have said that “We really want Obama to have this treaty before he gives his Nobel Prize speech.”

So I ask the readers at Redstate, “Do you think Obama would trade US security for the chance to look good on the world stage”?

From Newsmax:

I have worked elections in Canada and I will pass on a story that seems to be repeated in races around the US by the dozens.

I volunteered to help try and defeat a member of the Canadian Parliament who routinely won her seat by less than 200 votes. We worked very hard and on election night were leading THE ENTIRE NIGHT.

There were three polls (think precincts) still to count. All the other polls were split about 51% to 49% for either candidate. Because some larger polls went our way we were up by about 300 votes. A veteran volunteer whispered that we still might lose because those last three polls were downtown polls where the homeless shelters and soup kitchens were. She added that the incumbant wanted to make sure she KNEW HOW MANY VOTES SHE NEEDED TO WIN.

What the incumbant candidate did was register university students and the homeless at those addresses. Sounds like park benches in Ohio. Sure enough the results came in and the incumbant won those polls 90% to 10% and won by 100 votes.

My observation from last night; Why is it almost ALWAYS the Democrat controlled precincts that are last to count and miracle of miracles they overcome a small Republican lead everytime, ARE THEY WAITING TO SEE HOW MANY VOTES THEY NEED?

The other item I would like to bring to everyone attention is that someone should do a study on the voting habits of immigrants. For example:

1) Since 1988 how many immigrants have become citizens with the right to vote?
2) What are their voting habits Democrat or Republican?

Clinton/Gore naturalized 3 milllion new citizens in 2000 alone. So over the last 20 years even at 1 million a year that is 20 million new voters. Split 65 to 35% gives the Dems 13 million new voters to 7 million for the Republicans. Six million vote spread, now look at how much Obama won the popular vote by as well as how close some battleground states were. You combine this with ACORN and it is easy to see how an election can be stolen.

There are 16 million ilegals waiting for amnesty WHO DO YOU THINK THEY WILL THANK AT THE VOTING BOTH IN 2012?

Maybe I should not admit this but from time to time I go to the website Rense.com. When I first was redirected there it was concerning a
“secret Area 51 aircraft” (I have an interet in high tech military hardware)and honestly the only reason I go to the site, really I promise.

To make a long story short the site contains a lot of tin foil hat stuff, a lot of big government is listening bs. Mind control chemicals in the atmosphere, etc.

Lately some of the posts have attacked Obama as the embodiment of Big Brotherness. Many stories talk of his Marxism and his associations, much more than the main stream press has, and the articles are actually thoughful in many ways. While I warn this site is definately weird/different – there are also “Jewish banker/Illuminatti run the world” conspriacy crazies.

I guess the reason for this post is that if they can figure Obama out why can’t the rest of the people?