“…she has trouble acting normal when she’s nervous…”
— ‘Round Here, Counting Crows

Just to really, really wanted to brighten up your morning.
First, the International Monetary Fund admits that Europe, and the US, is stuck in a nose-dive slump hung close to a depression.
From the UK’s Telegraph: We are seeing a pattern — first in Ireland, now in Greece and Portugal – where cuts are failing to close the deficit as fast as hoped. Austerity itself is eroding tax revenues. Countries are chasing their own tail.

And chasing tails is only good with cute, tender doggies.

Meanwhile, the US home-foreclosure cesspool has been sucked up into a shit-storm.
From financial writer, Ellen Brown (h/t: The Baltimore Chronicle):

On September 20th, Ally Financial Inc., which owns GMAC Mortgage, the nation’s 4th largest lender, halted evictions and resale of repossessed homes in 23 states. This was after a document processor for the company admitted that he had signed off on 10,000 pieces of foreclosure paperwork a month without reading them. The 23 states were all those where foreclosures must be approved by a court, including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida and Illinois.
…
On September 24, Representatives Alan Grayson (D-FL), Barney Frank (D- MA) and Corrine Brown (D-FL) directed a letter to Fannie Mae questioning its use of “foreclosure mills,” which were described as “law firms representing lenders that specialize in speeding up the foreclose process, often without regard to process, substance or legal propriety.”
…
On September 24, California attorney general Jerry Brown asked GMAC to halt foreclosures in his state until the lender could prove it was complying with a law that prohibits lenders from taking steps to foreclose a home before making an effort to work with the borrower. California is a non-judicial foreclosure state, meaning foreclosures do not require the prior approval of a court.
On September 28, JPMorgan Chase said it was halting 56,000 foreclosures because some of its employees might have improperly prepared the necessary documents. All of the suspensions were in the 23 states where foreclosures require court approval.
On September 29, the Washington Post reported that a top federal bank regulator had directed seven of the nation’s largest lenders to review their foreclosure processes, after learning about widespread mishandling of homeowner evictions. Besides JPMorgan Chase, they included Bank of America, Citibank, HSBC, PNC Bank, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo.

And what does all this shit mean?

But if the holdings in recent court decisions are upheld, it will not be just a question of hiring extra staff to clean up some files. For all those mortgages filed in the name of MERS, say these courts, the chain of title has been irretrievably broken.
Humpty Dumpty has had a great fall and cannot be put together again.

Most likely more TARP-like bullshit.
From the New York Times:

Given the multiple bailouts of 2008, it is to be expected that the line of institutions clamoring to join the cannot-fail party will grow longer.
That’s the definition of moral hazard — if you rescue one group, others are sure to want the same treatment and behave in a way that ensures they’ll get it. The losses that taxpayers may endure in the next debacle, meanwhile, mount higher.

So, folks just open your wallet, insert vacuum cleaner.