THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: Report details HUD failures to protect FHA insurance fund from bad loans. “The Office of Inspector General found these lenders did not properly underwrite 140 of 284 loans reviewed, or 49%, because they weren’t following FHA requirements. For the 140 loans that did not meet FHA requirements, the borrowers made an average of only five payments before defaulting.” (Via NewsAlert).

UPDATE: C.J. Burch emails his suspicions: “Hmmm. A smart investigator would take a close look at the sellers and the real estate agencies and the closing attorneys and the bank’s attorneys. A real, real close look. A lawyer or real estate agent involved in enough of these would take all sorts of chances to cover them up. They’d figure they had nothing to lose in the covering. And no entity but a government would be this careless with other people’s money. Might pay to see how politically connected the real estate people and attorneys are too. A mayor or a governor or a congressman might really be in a position to profit. In the future everyone will be a friend of Angelo for fifteen minutes.”