Art Levine
Contributing editor of The Washington Monthly
Posted: March 3, 2011 08:21 PM
Led by Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who has apparently abandoned promises to put bank officials in jail, dozens of state officials from around the country are meeting in Washington next week to finalize a multibillion-dollar settlement with bank executives for allegedly widespread mortgage and foreclosure abuses. But with two million homeowners already evicted and five million more facing foreclosure this year, advocacy and policy groups, including BanksterUSA and the National People’s Action network, are stepping up pressure for a settlement that imposes stiff sanctions, criminal penalties and forces banks to renegotiate mortgages—and helps financially those who were alreadly illegally forced from their homes.
But there are mounting signs of disputes among federal oversight agencies over the scope of any punishment and fines for bank officials, and that’s considered an ominous sign by critics of a likely weakening of the ongoing state attorneys-general settlement talks with the banks. As George Groehl, the executive director of National People’s Action told The Huffington Post: “There’s no reason to go to all this trouble and not take that final step. It’s mind-boggling for them to be considering letting all these guys off the hook.”
Continue reading … Huffington Post
Until the current administration cleans house, changes ALL bank management and/or takes over these banks there is no way that investor or public confidence will return any time soon. A start would be by giving each state all of their foreclosure and REO properties from 2003-2008 as part of a settlement. Strip the banks of the negativity they created as part of the settlement for the fraud. Everybody wants to know why they guys aren’t going to prison… where do you put 4000 bank/MERS member CEOs? Just like the banks can’t hold 67 million loans their books – the US doesn’t have enough prison space for all the crooks.
Money is a bandaid at this point on a cancerous sore. Bandaids only last so long. In this case, the wound continues to grow on a daily basis. My beautiful country is on the verge of econimic collapse caused by greed and political idiocy. A civil penalty for criminal acts sets a very dangerous precedent. Every day, the same criminal behavior continues. There is nothing being done to stop it at any level, except for a few brave judges who swim against the tide despite pressure from lobbyists and other criminal agents to do otherwise. Bernie Madoff went to jail for stealing from the rich. Someone needs to go to jail for stealing from the poor. The blind are leading the blind down a path to ruin.
This would be a great place and time for ALL foreclosure advocacy groups to meet together and firmly protest. This is a pivotal time . There’s no turning back to yesteryear. Post time and place.
It is just a matter of time before the anti-government violence we are seeing in the mid-east and parts of Europe come to the U.S. and Mexico.
The politician’s,and the courts, and the news media, will come to understand that when fraud is ignored by the courts,aided by the legislative branch,and portrayed by the bought off media as a choice between economic collapse “If the banks must follow rule of law” and deadbeats getting a free house.
Fraud in any transaction coming from a plaintiff before the court is covered under the “Clean Hands Doctrine” that says
” A person who has acted wrongly either morally or legally – that is who has unclean hands – will not be helped by a court when complaining about the actions of someone else”
The people will lose their respect of the courts, when they see the rocket docket position of the courts in respect to foreclosure action in favor of financial entities who are allowed to skirt the law, file fraudlent assignment of mortages and get away with it.
The people have already lost their respect for our legislative bodies, because of their disregard of the will of the people, and the 2 party system, that are both owned by the same moneyed fraudsters, that have gave away our jobs thru trade agreements, reduced our rights as citizens, and are engaged in wars that are not for the purpose of protecting the American people, but are in fact just a vehicle for ripping them off. Bailouts for banks, that they did not need, especially the ones that paid it back in a year.
They screwed my business by declaring a fake “economic emergency” and issuing stimulus checks that had the opposite effect. My business was slow but nothing like after the president came out giving everybody $300 to $600 and saying there was a problem. It had the same effect as running into a theater and screaming fire.
I have been self employed for over 35 years at same address, doing the same thing, and they can’t piss in my face and tell me its raining.
Soon violence will come to a American city near you, and we will see how Wall St types, Judges and Politicians fair.
It’s time for a march on every city, state and federal agency/capital to DEMAND they listen to the people. They have ignored us for too long. It’s all about the money running this country that IS the banks. We need to end the money control and start printing our own money, not rely on the crooks to print it and then charge us interest to do so. They don’t “lend”, they issue pieces of paper, then steal our labor!
I am totally disgusted with our “government”. Time to stand up for our rights and fire them all, and then WE can come in and deal with the banksters if the wimps/crooks in DC can’t or won’t. To hell with the “law” there is no law, only statutes and codes of their corporation that they change to suit them.
The judges, attorneys and DC so-called representatives are all working for the banksters. We need to cut off THEIR money. Stop sending our money to DC. Wall Street is rich, let them pay for the government expenses. Thomas Jefferson warned us about allowing Lawyers to hold positions in government. He knew they worked for the banks. All they do is write laws to figure out new ways to get more of our money. Time to stop it. Only 1% of the people fought in the Revolutionary war. There are 545 of them in DC and 300,000,000+ of us!