"central planning" seems to be working very well in People's Republic of China... China is interesting, with empty cities, building production facilities where none are needed and high speed railways to nowhere. OTOH they keep the people working and not revolting. It is powered by masses of US currency coming in to buy Chinese stuff. Central planning did not cause that but took advantage of it.

The Finality of Foreclosure Sales http://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2010/10/the-finality-of-foreclosure-sales.html If this is correct, it motes questions of titles. That is once a foreclosure happens and a court assigns title to a new owner, that is the end of the story. Even frauds to the court and perjury is not going to change the title. Damages can accrue to the plaintiffs, but the title is unaffected.

If you got the grant deed you are likely very safe. I've seen at least one case of the same foreclosed property to two different investors but that is unique. This is not to say you may have legal costs later with lien claimants, but that is unlikely also. IMHO.

Check out http://4closurefraud.org/ http://www.foreclosurehamlet.org/ Basic advice and delaying tactics available. Yes I could see some folks getting to live in a house for 10 years without paying mortgage payment. This is especially true with the volume of mortgages. 2-3 years is common now.

There are 3 facts not in dispute. There is a loan that was defaulted, the right to the property has been forfeited and there is a title. The issue is who has the right to take title. We can rule out the present defaulting owner. Complications arise with defaulting owners able to catch up with payments but those are few and far between. Worst case, there will be a court case to assign title based on the evidence. Some property may even be abandoned title wise if the legal cost exceeds the value of the property. In the main, someone will have enough documentation to make a case.

Even with a gap in the chain of title, the defaulting homeowner is not going to get a title. The title will be given to the claimant with the best documentation. OTOH Defaulting homeowners are going to get a few more months of rent free living.

It is a known that the property in question is encumbered by a mortgage(at least in all but a very very small % of the cases). The courts are not going to give property to someone that has defaulted on the mortgage except in a very very small % of the cases. The majority of cases have good paperwork, but the banks and minions tried a shortcut to speed things along. The shortcut was a fraud against the court but does not change the reality that the borrower has defaulted and lost the property. The solution is to untangle the paperwork, assign the title to one mortgage holder, make that a recorded fact to protect subsequent title holders and go. Of course some folks are going to have a considerable legal liability and maybe a sensible standardized centralized way to track mortgages will result.

If consumption is dropping and small business are primary the beneficiaries of consumption especially conspicuous or non essential consumption, then the outlook for small business is bleak.

Assuming a minimum wage of $8. You have a worker able to produce $20 in sales now and one that is able to produce $20 in the future, which do you chose? Of course you chose the teenager that may produce $20 in the future thinking that he will produce $30 in the future, but forgetting that he will have long moved on to a new job before he even hits your $20 target.