No one needs to be told this, as it may be the most obvious statement ever made: the mortgage industry, the real estate market and the United States economy are all in crisis-mode. Home values are down, people are underwater on their mortgages, foreclosure numbers are skyrocketing, the unemployment rate continues to rise, and there does not seem to be an end in sight. So what is being done by the government to punish the nation’s three largest mortgage companies for failing to comply with the current federal foreclosure-prevention effort? Read more