"WASHINGTON — The federal authorities have opened a criminal inquiry into Countrywide Financial
for suspected securities fraud as part of the continuing fallout over
the mortgage crisis, government officials with knowledge of the case
said on Saturday.
The Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation
are looking at whether officials at Countrywide, the nation’s largest
mortgage lender, misrepresented its financial condition and the
soundness of its loans in security filings, the officials said."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/business/09lend.html?em&ex=1205208000&...
At least SOMETHING is happening about all this mortgage fraud. That little event in the Congress a few days ago was otherwise just for show. Congress has taken a lot of millions from the REIC (real estate industrial complex). The money from the REIC (through advertising) also ensured that newspapers and TV remained uncritical about the booming credit bubble that could ONLY lead to the massive crash that we're just beginning to see. (Re-insurers and commercial lenders are next. Folks, it's only 1929 so far, and we've got 1933 to get through before the 1940s ever show up.)
If you want to see how blatant the fraud was in the mortgage industry, go google "Casey Serin" and prepare to be shocked. To this day, Serin is STILL not being pulled into court for his clear admission of committing mortgage fraud. That also proves significant collusive feeling on the part of the lenders, who won't sic the authorities on somebody like Serin since the circumstances would reveal that the lenders didn't do their duties EITHER.
Home prices in America on average are going to drop until the year 2013. The more the government tries to legislate prices, the longer the drop is going to continue. Japan tried to save all their bad loans, and they bought themselves a period of drop and stagnation that happened for at least 15 years past 1990. So I guess we don't actually learn from any experience when it comes to HYPER GREED.