Friday, November 25, 2011

Mortgage Insurer PMI Group Declares Bankruptcy


More housing market carnage was reported this past week with the bankruptcy of a mortgage insurance company:
Mortgage insurer PMI Group Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday, following the seizure last month of its main operating unit by Arizona insurance regulators.

PMI's filing came one day after Richard Gama, an Arizona Superior Court judge in Phoenix, rejected its request to overturn the seizure by the Arizona Department of Insurance.

That department took control of PMI's main unit, PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., on Oct. 20, and directed that it pay claims at just 50 cents on the dollar.

The seizure came two months after Arizona told PMI to stop writing new policies because the company did not have enough capital.
The article continues:
PMI's bankruptcy reflects broad deterioration among mortgage insurers, many of which suffered big losses as the nation's housing downturn and weakened economy left the industry facing large claims on unpaid home loans.

In its bankruptcy petition, PMI said it had more than $225 million of assets and $736 million of debts as of Aug. 4.
More than half-a-billion dollars in the hole? THAT'S gonna leave a mark on a few creditors' balance sheets. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the housing industry is kaput. There is no driver for good jobs in this economy, especially for young adults looking to enter the marketplace for the first time.

That's what those not among the one-percenters who have been ridiculing the Occupy movement need to get through their thick skulls. You can deride the protesters as smelly hippies all you want, but at heart the protests erupted because millions of these kids are waking up to the fact that they have no future in this economy. And guess what? If THEY don't have an economic future, neither do you. Because there won't be anybody to buy your house when you retire so you can cash in your equity, or to pay the Social Security and Medicare taxes needed to support you. So if I were you I'd stop poking fun and get out there and join them before it's too late.

5 comments:

  1. Bill Hicks; I just wanted to thank-you very much for posting that clip of Lewis Black on golfing. I listened to it again and had a very good laugh. Been very ugly here at home and at work. Thanks for the laughs. Pleae keep up the good work.

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  2. But there's still money to be made in turning human waste into compost, right?

    http://holycrapfilm.blogspot.com/

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  3. @defshepard - as pessimistic and cynical as the outlook on TDS may be, I'll always try to include a few laughs where I can. We need them, or we'd all go nuts. :)

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  4. Where are the debtor prisons for these insurers?

    A 1/3 of all US states will arrest you if you owe thousands in collections. Naturally, that doesn't apply to the 1%.

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  5. Oh, damn.. I had to look at that movie, BSL, and here I thought it was going to be about a soylent green idea of turning bankers (human waste) into useful compost... :-P

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