This just in from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Flanked by officials from the state attorney general?s office, postal inspectors, the IRS and the county sheriff, U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan announced a joint task force to look into what she said is widening evidence of fraud in the region.
?We are looking at certain people within the industry who have helped to perpetrate hundreds of frauds,? she said at an afternoon news conference.
The announcement comes as a meltdown in the subprime mortgage market continues to roil global financial markets, threatening the U.S. economy as hundreds of billions in loans sold as investments on the bond market continue to default.
Twenty-four people were indicted for fraud, with more to come. Most of the fraudulent activity surrounds supplying false or misleading information to secure loans that would not have otherwise been approved. You have to believe the dominoes have only begun to topple.
Here we have just one more illustration of how a few cheaters (relatively speaking) can impact the masses. 2008 is sure to be an interesting - and possibly troubling - year as various markets correct themselves and millions of consumers dig their way out of the deep trouble they found by getting into (in many cases) adjustable-rate mortgages they had no chance of keeping up with.
As with the housing industry, so it is with other markets, including Wall Street. Manipulative, conniving cheaters adversely affect the welfare of so many. To reverse the trend, measures must be taken; the limbs upon which the vultures perch must be shaken.
America must get her house in order. While we?re at it, let?s clean up the Street, too. Everybody grab your broom. It?s time for a clean sweep.
That?s the Word on the Street.
Veracity Jones