Kedrosky: The Next Wave of U.S. Mortgage Defaults

I tend to be wordy so I like when pictures tell the tale. Just want to show you, dear taxpayer, what you will soon own as part of rescue 8.0. Again what people of bullish descent are completely missing is we already have had 2 years of housing bust, but that's not even the traditional bust that comes from job losses and recession. That's what's COMING. The downfall thus far has been due to shoddy lending standards and easy money. That's not even part of the normal housing cycle. We now will be entering that vortex....

But not to worry - those that walk on water will save us. Wait, that was yesterday's line. I assume Geithner did not levitate over the Atlantic as he told us how he would save us based on the market reaction. Oh well - just give it a few days/weeks and we'll have more Kool Aid thrown at us; it's hard to remember "facts" when so much red liquid is spewn on a daily basis.

Until them, enjoy the view below. And get your (your children's, your grandchildren's, their grandchildren's) pocketbooks ready. You have a lot of "investing" in mortgages to do. And don't forget the hedgies will be leveraging off your great grandchildren's tax dollars so they can make a killing. [Jan 9: Wall Street Journal - U.S. to Use Hedge Funds to Loosen Credit] Profit for them, sludge for you. "Free markets" and all.

• The risk is that this fund will provide hedge funds and other private investors an opportunity to buy toxic debt whereby they benefit from any potential upside while all the downside risk is taken by the government (taxpayers), i.e. more privatized gains and socialized risks.

(click to enlarge)