Morgan Stanley, Lone Star Stick Taxpayers on Defaults

[Pale Blue Dot]

Boston taxpayers spent $10,120 last year maintaining a derelict condominium building on Hendry Street. According to public records, one of the three apartments belongs to Morgan Stanley and another to Dallas-based leveraged buyout firm Lone Star Funds.

While Morgan Stanley disputes its ownership of the property and says it only held it for a day before selling it back to the original lender, the Suffolk County, Massachusetts, title deed filed in June 2007, and examined today shows the top-floor unit was transferred to FV-I Inc., a subsidiary of New York-based Morgan Stanley. The first-floor condominium was repossessed in July by Lone Star's Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co., according to public records.

The public's bill for maintaining foreclosed properties abandoned by lenders and investors may reach as much as $50 billion this year, according to Peter Sepp, vice president of the National Taxpayers Union in Alexandria, Virginia. The U.S. Congress is considering various bills to help cover some of the costs to towns and cities for securing and policing the empty homes, Sepp said.

``Housing is now infecting all corners of the economy, including our local governments,'' said Mark Zandi, chief economist of West Chester, Pennsylvania-based Moody's Economy.com, an economic forecasting agency and unit of Moody's Corp.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aveyF_JnvjSo&refer=news

[Warpy]

1. Meanwhile, people are still going homeless, even if they have jobs

What the fuck is wrong with these "leaders?" What is wrong with this country?