Colorado climbs to fifth-highest foreclosure rate in nation

One in 390 Colorado homes Colorado received a foreclosure filing in October, enough to vault the state to the fifth-highest rate in the nation, up from the 10th-highest the month before, according to figures compiled by RealtyTrac Inc. Weld County led the state in foreclosures, with one in every 216 homes in some phase of foreclosure, according to the Fort Collins Coloradoan.

A false fix for the mortgage crisis

As the government, housing advocates and banks like Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase struggle to streamline loan modifications and stave off foreclosures, one tactic keeps coming back to life as a sure-fire weapon: the 90-day mortgage moratorium.

Obama cribs Tancredo ‘careless smoker’ lines on bailout

Retiring Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-English) could have a future writing speeches for Sen. Barack Obama after his term winds down in January. In a speech urging bipartisan support for the financial rescue plan on Wednesday, Obama echoed lines about the crisis from a statement Tancredo issued Monday.

Colorado delegation split on Wall Street bailout

Like Congress as a whole, the Colorado delegation is divided on how best to right the nation’s shaky economy.

But as Republicans and Democrats in Washington, D.C., belittled the Bush Administration’s $700 million bailout package Thursday as a request for a “blank check” from taxpayers, and bickered with each other about “core agreements” of an alternative to the Bush Administration’s economic bailout proposal, Colorado lawmakers took opposing stances on whether the government should intervene at all.

Kucinich introduces “voter foreclosure” bill

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) introduced legislation today to bar political parties from challenging the eligibility of voters whose homes have been foreclosed.

Transparency group posts Wall Street crisis plans for public review

The good folks at PublicMarkup.org have placed the competing $700 billion mortgage bailout plans online to allow the public to read and comment on them while Congress considers its options in the midst of the greed-fueled nosedive of Wall Street.

Perlmutter skeptical over bailout, ‘foxes guarding the henhouse’

Rep. Ed Perlmutter, a member of the key House Financial Services Committee, on Monday added his voice to a chorus urging caution in the face of a $700 billion Treasury Department proposal to bail out troubled credit markets. “[I] have doubts about the foxes guarding the henhouse or giving the Bush Administration any more authority over anything,” the first-term Democrat said in a statement.

Olbermann features Michigan vote caging scheme report

A GOP plot to disenfranchise Michigan Democratic voters under foreclosure notice by challenging their eligibility to vote continues to draw national outrage. The breaking investigative reports by our sister site, Michigan Messenger, was prominently featured on MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann Wednesday.

Watch the video and weep for our democracy.

Lose your house, lose your vote

More Election Day shenanigans are revealed by our colleague Eartha Melzer at Michigan Messenger in this breaking news story on the latest dirty disenfranchisement tactic by a Republican operative to challenge voters at the polls on Nov. 4 and how the McCain campaign stands to benefit.

Many mansions vex McCain

John McCain isn’t sure how many houses he owns — four? seven? ten? — but the Obama campaign is darn sure McCain’s befuddlement will help keep voters from handing him the keys to a certain Pennsylvania Avenue address in Washington. And you can bet the one in 390 homeowners in foreclosure in Colorado have a better grasp than McCain of the number of homes they own — or are in danger of losing.