Oh Tommy Boy, the “wealthy” are in very, very deep trouble.

June 30 (Bloomberg) — Delinquency rates on the least-risky mortgages more than doubled in the first quarter from a year earlier as U.S. efforts to help homeowners failed to keep pace with job losses that pushed more borrowers toward foreclosure.

Serious delinquencies on prime loans, which account for two-thirds of all U.S. mortgages, rose to 661,914 in the first quarter from 250,986 a year earlier, according to the report. Overall, mortgages 60 days or more past due rose 88 percent from last year.

See, Tom, whether you have no money, no job and live in a poor area or have no money (due to being over-leveraged and lose your house, cars, etc—see: any surviving member of the Jackson 5), no job and live in Fancytown—you are still broke. And when that happens to the middle class, the Green Shoots are really going to hit the fan.

Oh, and it just started. So buckle up.

Hugging with Big Option ARMs,

The Abyss