Wow, there sure as hell is a whole lot of wheeling and dealing going on behind our backs that we probably should be paying more attention to, such as the fact that the Federal Reserve (Wall Street's Lap Dogs) are moving forward to destroy the Truth In Lending Act that has provided protection for Homeowners for the past 42 years. (Why am I not surprised?)
And of course, there is the recent 'deal' being made by the 50 US Attorney's with the Banks on the Illicit Foreclosure Mills. It's just disgusting, it really is. Criminal laws no longer apply for Bankers in our nation, and the Shock Doctrine is alive and well.
Good thing we have Elizabeth Warren (who apparently is missing in action because I certainly have not heard her reaction to these two monumental 'shitty deals' going down, have you?) More below the fold:
The Federal Reserve is pushing a new mortgage regulation that would effectively eliminate the most powerful federal remedy for predatory lending. The regulation would severely limit a practice called "rescission," used to strike down demonstrably-illegal or fraudulent loan contracts and void a bank's ill-gotten gains from such predatory lending practices. When a mortgage borrower wins a rescission case in court, the bank loses the right to foreclose, and has to give up all profits from interest and fees on the loan. The borrower still has to repay the principal -- the original amount of money extended by the bank -- but can't be kicked out of the house.
Under the Fed's new proposal, however, borrowers would be required to pay off the balance of the loan before the bank loses its right to foreclose -- that means borrowers could still lose their homes, even in cases where banks have broken the law. Unsurprisingly, banks support the move, but consumer advocates say this would essentially make rescission worthless to borrowers. "The ... proposal would eviscerate the single most effective tool that homeowners have to stop foreclosures and avoid predatory loans," reads a letter penned by Margot Saunders of the National Consumer Law Center and signed by 16 national public interest groups, along with 33 state housing and legal aid groups and 144 individual attorneys. "Passage of the proposed rule will considerably exacerbate foreclosure statistics in this nation."
Six Democratic senators, led by Sherrod Brown of Ohio, also urged the Fed to reconsider its rule in a Monday letter. "In this time of record foreclosures and reports of systemic problems with the operations of the largest mortgage servicers, the proposed revisions are unfortunate and unnecessary," the letter reads. "The mortgage market needs greater oversight and accountability to restore borrower confidence lost in the mortgage crisis. The proposed rules would undermine this goal." The signatories included outgoing Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd (Conn.), incoming Chairman Tim Johnson (S.D.), and Sens. Jack Reed (R.I.), Daniel Akaka (Hawaii) and Jeff Merkley (Ore.). The controversy comes as the U.S. mortgage market enters one of the bleakest years in its history. Foreclosures continue at a record pace, slowed only briefly by recent concerns that borrowers were being improperly evicted due to bank errors. At the end of September, nearly 1 million homes were in foreclosure, according to data collected by the foreclosure analyst RealtyTrac. According to the Center for Responsible Lending, 2.5 million homes were lost to foreclosure between January 2007 and the end of 2009, and another 5.7 million stand in "imminent" danger of foreclosure today.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Matt Stoller, who usually sends me everything he can on a daily basis concerning what is going on 'behind our backs,' sent me a copy of the letter written by the six Senators today:
January 3, 2011
Jennifer J. Johnson
Secretary
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
20th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20551
Re: FRB Docket No. R-1390
Dear Members of the Board of Governors:
We write today as members of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, to express our concerns regarding proposed changes to Regulation Z implementing the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) that would erode important borrower protections that have been in place since TILA was enacted 42 years ago.
The extended right of rescission has been an important home-saving legal tool protecting borrowers against predatory loans. A borrower has traditionally had the right to rescind a loan agreement that does not comply with TILA’s disclosure requirements within three years of the agreement. The statute and its implementing regulations have long been interpreted to require a creditor to cancel its security interest after receiving notice from a homeowner. The agreement is then rescinded.
The Board’s proposed rule would reverse the traditional understanding of TILA’s right of rescission by requiring a homeowner to pay off the entire mortgage amount before a creditor is required to cancel its security interest in the home. Requiring a borrower to repay the entire mortgage would render this important borrower right inaccessible to all but the wealthiest homeowners.
The Board has said that it "believes this adjustment would facilitate compliance with TILA." We disagree. The existing order of events creates a balance between the consumer and the lender. The Board’s proposal would tilt the balance in favor of creditors who have failed to comply with TILA’s disclosure requirements.
In this time of record foreclosures and reports of systemic problems with the operations of the largest mortgage servicers, the proposed revisions are unfortunate and unnecessary. The mortgage market needs greater oversight and accountability to restore borrower confidence lost in the mortgage crisis. The proposed rules would undermine this goal. We urge the Board to reconsider its proposed revisions to Regulation Z.
Thank you for considering our views on this important matter.
Sincerely,
Sherrod Brown Christopher Dodd
Jack Reed Daniel Akaka
Tim Johnson
Jeff Merkley
(US Senators, Banking Committee)
Excuse me, for asking, but who in the hell gave the Federal Reserve the right to change something so concrete and basic as the TILA? It that actually in their jurisdiction? Consider me, stunned at this turn of events, and perhaps, one of you amazing Kossacks could enlighten me on the legal ramifications of such a horrifying power grab by the Federal Reserve. I appreciate your knowledge, and of course that is one of the many reasons I love DailyKos. I learn so much from all of you, and I appreciate that deeply.
More backroom deals (while we are actually gossiping about The New Weeper in the House: Orange Tan Man, John Boehner.)
I’m not exactly surprised at the bait and switch by Iowa’s Attorney General Tom Miller, who is leading the 50 state investigation by state attorney generals into mortgage abuses. Less than a month ago promised that he would "put people in jail" Now he’s apparently decided to adopt a "move along, nothing to see here" posture. Per Bloomberg (hat tip reader Duncan B, who also sent a copy of a stinging e-mail to his state AG):
The five largest loan servicers, including Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., may be the first to settle with the 50 state attorneys general probing foreclosure practices, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said.....The group isn’t pursuing a criminal investigation, Miller said. "Our focus is to reform the servicing process and that’s inherently civil, not criminal," he said.
That’s funny, reader and former bankruptcy litigator Fractal thinks it would not take a lot of effort to come up with criminal charges. His message was directed at the activities of the foreclosure mills, but since they were operating as the arms and legs of servicers, many of these theories would presumably apply to them as well, since the communication between those law firms and their clients was frequent and ongoing. And he also points out why civil actions (or the threat of mere civil actions, since the AGs are on their way to sweeping these abuses under the rug) are inadequate:
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/...
Yeah, lots and lots of 'backroom deals going on right now behind our backs' and it it wasn't so pitiful, and transparent, it would be actually kind of funny, like this story:
A dead woman's name was signed onto thousands of affidavits produced by a credit card issuer called Providian National Corp, the Wall Street Journal reports. That deceased woman is Martha Kunkle, and she died in 1995. It's unfortunate that this isn't at all shocking. (This is more like it.) If you've been following the robo-signing debacle, aka foreclosure-gate, you know that thousands of robo-signers who worked for subsidiaries of big companies like JPMorgan and Bank of America were "signing documents left and right," not knowing what they were signing.
So because of a relaxed, irresponsible system, a dead woman's name could be signed onto a loan document (like a mortgage) pretty easily, because tons of the people responsible for checking the paperwork simply didn't read it before signing.
In this case, Providian, the company responsible for producing the affidavits with the dead woman's name, was once owned by WaMu and obviously now belongs to JP Morgan. Providian sold an unknown number of delinquent account balances to debt collector Portfolio Recovery Associates (PRA), which then sued the borrowers to collect the debt.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/...
Oh, JP Morgan, why am I not surprised at this, after reading TomP's excellent diary today:
President Barack Obama is considering naming former Commerce Secretary William Daley to a top White House job, possibly chief of staff, a person familiar with the matter said Monday.
Daley, an executive at JPMorgan Chase, has extensive private sector experience, an attractive profile for the Obama administration, which has been looking to counter the notion that the president is antibusiness.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
This entire bullshit meme that President Obama in antibusiness is like drinking KoolAid right from the package, without even diluting with it with water and sugar. It defies every fact, and reality from the get go, as to who we elected, and how we got where we are: I don't mind and I would welcome a President who is pro-business, but I sure as hell, am wondering a simple question:
Why hasn't there been one statement from the Obama Administration as to these two major turn of events: the Federal Reserve over turning the TILA (which has protected Americans from predatory lending for 42 years) and the recent 'deal' made by all 50 US State Attorney's that essentially gives the Banks (and Wall St.) carte blanch to keep on stealing with no accountability or repercussions?
Oh, whats that sound I hear from our so called Antibusiness President? Is that crickets? Yeah, I thought so.
Sometimes, when I visit the Democratic Platform Website, its like reading Grimms Fairy Tales, and often I wonder to myself, why doesn't the Powers that Be, in our own party rewrite that platform, so that it truly reflects who and what we have come to two Corporate Presidents, President Obama and President Clinton, not to mention the crappy Blue Dogs who simply do not give a shit about the Middle Class, the working poor, or the laws of this nation any longer? Wish it were not so, but here is a reminder:
For more than 200 years, Democrats have represented the interests of working families, fighting for equal opportunities and justice for all Americans.
Our party was founded on the conviction that wealth and privilege shouldn’t be an entitlement to rule and the belief that the values of hardworking families are the values that should guide us.
We didn’t become the most prosperous country in the world by rewarding greed and recklessness or by letting those with the most influence write their own rules. We got here by rewarding hard work and responsibility, by investing in people, and by growing our country from the bottom up. Today Democrats are fighting to repair a decade of damage and grow an economy based on the values of Main Street, not greed and reckless speculation. Democrats are focused on rescuing our economy not just in the short run but also rebuilding our economy for the long run—an economy that lifts up not just some Americans, but all Americans.
http://www.democrats.org/...
Democrats believe that a dignified retirement is central to the American Dream, and its foundation is built on two long-standing institutions charged with realizing that dream: Medicare and Social Security. These two institutions represent an unbreakable commitment to American workers, and for decades Democrats have fought to defend them.
In 1935, Democrats and President Franklin Roosevelt created Social Security. In 1965, Democrats and President Lyndon Johnson created Medicare. Ever since, Democrats have continually fought to defend these cornerstones of the American Dream in the face of attempts to dismantle or undermine both.
PROTECTING SOCIAL SECURITY
For 75 years, Social Security has been an enduring promise to America’s seniors. Today it remains a safety net for seniors and offers all Americans peace of mind. In recent years, Democrats have beaten back Republican plans to privatize Social Security—plans that would have exposed the retirement funds of millions of American seniors to great risk on the eve of the financial crisis. Instead, no one lost a penny of Social Security.
STRENGTHENING MEDICARE
Medicare is the second pillar of Democrats’ commitment to Americans’ retirement security. Recently enacted health reform strengthened the Medicare trust fund, expanding its life by more than a decade. The Affordable Care Act also will improve care across the board, reduce fraud, and finally close the hole in Medicare drug coverage known as the "donut hole." Seniors will continue to have full access to their doctors and, starting in 2011, will be eligible for free coverage for certain preventive services, including an annual wellness exam.
HELPING AMERICANS SAVE FOR RETIREMENT
Democrats are committed to making it easier for Americans to save for retirement on their own. Nearly half the workforce—about 75 million people—currently do not have employer-supported retirement plans. Democrats want to make it easier for all Americans to participate in retirement accounts at work and support a system where employees have pension portability, so workers don’t lose their pension if they change jobs.
Democrats believe that all Americans have the right to a secure and healthy retirement, and we will continue fighting to preserve both Medicare and Social Security for future generations.
http://www.democrats.org/...
This platform, this contract, this 'constitution' with my own party always signified to me, at least, who we are and what we stand for, where we come from, and where we draw the lines of difference in our current two party system. To me it was never about being a purist or a progressive, it was simply about being a Democrat.
I know what compromise is, but I also know the difference between what is really going on here: the greatest transfer of wealth, the Great Heist of 2008 by the Bush Administration, as sanctioned by President Obama, along with the continuation of the endless wars, and the Corporate takeover our our entire nation.
Two other articles, that caught my eye this week, that you probably should pay attention to, because the great MERS Whitewash story is not going to go away: And BTW, be prepared to find some kind of new sneaky bill to allow this travesty of justice to occur, won't you?
Anyway, the Post has some amazing factoids in it. I took particular note of this passage:
But critics say promises of transparency and of ironing out wrinkles in record-keeping haven't panned out. [MERS], which tracks more than 60 percent of the country's residential mortgages but whose parent company employs just 45 people in a Reston office building, is on the firing line now.
Emphasis mine there. Forty-five people, tracking 67 million mortgages. Does anyone wonder why the system is in chaos?
http://www.rollingstone.com/...
And this great article too:
With a $4.7 trillion bailout under their belts and no harm done to their billion-dollar bonuses, don't expect Wall Street bankers to be chastened by the 2008 financial crisis. Below we list eight things to watch out for in 2011 that threaten to rock the financial system and undermine any recovery. 1) The Demise of Bank of America WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is promising to unleash a cache of secret documents from the troubled Bank of America (BofA). BofA is already under the gun, defending itself from multiple lawsuits demanding that the bank buy back billions worth of toxic mortgages it peddled to investors. The firm is also at the heart of the robo-signing scandal, having wrongfully kicked many American families to the curb. If Assange has emails showing that Countrywide or BofA knew they were recklessly abandoning underwriting standards and/or peddling toxic dreck to investors, the damage to the firm could be irreparable.
- Robo-signers Wreaking Havoc With lawsuits abounding, new types of fraud in the foreclosure process are being uncovered daily, including accounting fraud, fake attorneys, destroyed promissory notes and false notarization. The crisis not only calls into question the legality of untold foreclosures, it also calls into question the value of trillions of dollars worth of mortgage-backed securities held by banks, pension funds, federal, state and local governments. The only government report on the topic by the feisty Congressional Oversight Panel for the TARP acknowledges that "it is possible that 'robo-signing' may have concealed deeper problems in the mortgage market that could potentially threaten financial stability."
- MERS Madness
In addition to outright fraud, numerous state Supreme Courts have questioned the legal standing of the Mortgage Electronic Registration or "MERS" system. MERS is listed as the mortgagee for 60% of U.S. mortgages. It is an electronic clearinghouse created by industry to bypass the property registration system developed in precolonial days to ensure that the King could not easily rob the subjects of their land. Wall Street turned to MERS to speed securitizations (and now foreclosures), but its legal standing is now in doubt and its shoddy processing of documents has major ramifications for the securitization process as well. Look for a rotten "MERS fix" in the new Congress. Let's hope it gives consumer advocates some leverage to demand justice for Americans being robbed by the new Kings on Wall Street.
Keep your eyes on MERS, because when that becomes 'legal,' we are all toast. The Shock Doctrine never sleeps, it just keeps getting worse, as these 'backroom deals' going on (which the MSM hopes we do not notice are taking place).
Just thought you all might want to be aware of what we are all paying attention to (here's a clue: ignore, the new Weeper of the House, John Boehner...he is a shiny object to keep us from seeing all the backroom deals going on)....
I appreciate your comments, and concerns about these new developments. I appreciate honest civil debate, and our concentrating on solidarity in our own party, the greatest party there ever was and ever shall be: The Democratic Party, and I ask you to remember our platform. Why have one at all, if it has become meaningless?
Like Richard Trumka said:
Wall Street tanked America’s economy, killed jobs, took $700 billion in taxpayer bailouts—then went right back to business as usual, choking off credit, handing out $145 billion in 2009 executive pay and bonuses and fighting meaningful financial reform.
We’re 11 million jobs in the hole and it’s time for the financial industry to pay up to create them.
Join AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and thousands of union and community activists from across the country marching down Broadway in the heart of the financial district on April 29 to MAKE WALL STREET PAY.
See you there. For information contact the New York City Central Labor Council at 212-604-9552 or www.nycclc.org.
Sponsoring Union/Labor Council/Organization for this event:The AFL-CIO
Thanks as always,
Ms. B.