Let’s get real here… Foreclosures keep the liquidity flowing; Securitized trusts promised liquidity from illiquid mortgages; pension funds can only invest in liquid assets; pension funds lost their ass in MBS; state pension funds and their delusional governors, Senators, judges and legislators that sanctioned the Wall Street investments think that foreclosures will keep the banks alive long enough to fairy dust and erase their pension deficits.
The fiscal future of New Jersey and Gov. Chris Christie’s presidential ambitions hang in the balance as Trenton finally faces the $104 billion deficit in the state’s retirement system.
“We need to fix this system or it will eat us alive,” the governor warns in a mock movie trailer that opened his “No Pain, No Gain” town hall meetings across the state.
One key is whether Christie and the Legislature can agree to plug costly loopholes and stop blatant abuses of public pensions. If not, many public officials will continue to gorge themselves at the public trough while others make sacrifices.
A long line of governors and legislative leaders — past and present, Republicans and Democrats — share the blame for decades of unaffordable promises and political favors. As a result, pensions are underfunded by $51 billion, plus the state faces a $53 billion shortfall from retiree health benefits, according to the latest official numbers.
TRENTON – Legislation died this month that would have let superstorm Sandy-impacted homeowners delay foreclosures and put off mortgage payments until 2019.
Gov. Chris Christie conditionally vetoed the proposal on the last day of the now-expired legislative session, and lawmakers didn’t take up his recommended changes. That means the idea must start the legislative process from the beginning if it is to become law.
People whose homes are being repaired or elevated and have been juggling rent payments and mortgage payments would have been able to apply to postpone mortgage payments for up to three years. Any foreclosure proceedings would have been delayed for three years, as well.
Christie’s conditional veto would have had judges, rather than the state Department of Community Affairs, decide whether to include a mortgage in the program. That’s how the idea was structured when it was originally advancing, but the details were changed in the…
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Deadly Clear 