In light of the mainstream media's continued refusal to cover the issues that confront America, I give you this classic moment

America gets the media it deserves.

I guess it deserves sh*t right now.

I don't get the chance to watch a lot of CNN/Fox/MSNBC anymore, but what I do catch is frankly garbage. It's all about "the race" and not about the issues that matter. Unless there's a missing white girl, then even "the race" gets second billing. The last straw was the sickening and sad Democratic "debate" performance by Gibson and Stephanopoulos.

I've gotta figure there are a good number of intelligent, informed Americans who would appreciate a news channel that actually covered news. Or TV programming that wasn't total and absolute crap (reality TV, housing porn, etc).

I think blogs have taken off like they have, and newspapers and TV are dying, simply because Americans are looking for honest, quality information and debate. What's in blogs can find its way to TV and the MSM programming if someone in the biz is smart enough to make the jump.

America deserves better. And without the Fourth Estate on guard, as we've seen the past few years (Iraq, housing bubble) we're f*cked.

The housing crash and mortgage meltdown is AP's #2 news story of 2007. Yet TIME and Newsweek have yet to put it on their covers. Go figure.

Memo to TIME and Newsweek - if you pretend to be America's news weeklies, you might want to cover the biggest story in the land - the Great Housing Crash and Mortgage Meltdown. Especially since it's a story that impacts every one of your readers (or potential readers).

Ah, screw it. We'll do it for you since you're asleep at the switch and incapable of doing your jobs. Man, something's not right there. Do REIC advertisers have TIME and Newsweek in their pocket too? Or are they just that lazy and incompetent?

It is nice to see the AP writers on the ball though this year. Too bad they all didn't do a better job reporting though BEFORE the car crashed.

Want to know who is doing a great job covering the housing crash and mortgage meltdown? Easy. Hands-down. The Financial Times. Other MSM on the ball now include the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Economist, the WSJ, the San Diego Union-Tribune and CNBC's Diana Olick. Unfortunately the list of lazy and incompetent (and REIC-ad-supported) MSM is too long to mention.

The mortgage crisis, which roiled the U.S. housing market, was the No. 2 story, and the war in Iraq placed third. Iraq was the No. 1 story in 2006, and has finished in the top three since 2002 — the year of the prewar buildup.

Here are 2007's top 10 stories, as voted by AP members:

2. MORTGAGE CRISIS: A record-setting wave of mortgage foreclosures, coupled with a steep slump in the housing market, buffeted financial markets, caused multibillion-dollar losses at major banks and investment firms, and became an issue in the presidential campaign.

FLASH: OC Register exposes that true subprime ARM default rate is 21.1%, NOT the 13% reported in MSM

Every day it seems another REIC lie is being being exposed. Watch the floodgates really open up now that the MSM has jumped off the REIC tank, put down the rolodex of realtors, and is (finally) doing their damn job.

Bravo to Mathew Padilla at the OC Register. Keep digging! Especially when it comes to the bigger story of Alt-A liar's loans. With 60% of applicants on those loans committing blatant mortgage fraud by overstating their income by 50% or more, that disaster will unfold soon enough. Plus the feds should review every liar's loan taken out and prosecute every one of 'em for mortgage fraud.

Subprime delinquencies higher than reported

Forget that 13% subprime delinquency number you heard about so much in the press and which some politicos and real estate folks turned on its head pointing out 87% of subprime borrowers are paying their mortgage.

I took another look at the transcript from the first-quarter conference call of IndyMac Bancorp, and caught this statement from CEO Michael Perry:

On subprime loans, one of the things that I think people aren’t aware of is that the Mortgage Bankers Association basically classifies the lender as a prime lender or a subprime lender. So for example, they classify IndyMac and Countrywide as prime lenders, and they classify New Century or whoever as a subprime lender. And all of their servicing portfolio is considered prime or subprime for the MBA. Ok? And so when you see that delinquency number in the press of 13% subprime delinquencies, it’s hugely understated. It is absolutely hugely understated. And the prime delinquencies are overstated.The subprime delinquencies are more like 18, 20, 22% delinquencies and that’s where I think you’re going to see the problems."

To see if Perry had it right, I quizzed the MBA and got this in response from Jay Brinkmann, vice president of research and economics:

"Mr. Perry is correct that we have to differentiate by the type of servicer rather than the type of loan. This may not be a major issue because our latest subprime numbers are 14.4% delinquent by at least one payment, plus another 4.5% in foreclosure, for a total of 18.9% either delinquent or in foreclosure.

For just subprime ARMs that number is 21.1%, so we agree with Mr. Perry's estimates of the current state of the market."