Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- “States that balked at bank liability releases in a proposed $25 billion nationwide settlement over foreclosure practices must decide by today whether its mortgage relief and reforms are worth the legal claims they’ll give up.
“While some states have already announced their intention to sign the deal, others including California Attorney General Kamala Harris have yet to publicly commit in part due to terms that protect the banks from future litigation.”
So we've reached the first deadline. Will the brave six continue to shed light on the fraudulent, sometimes criminal, conduct of the major banks, or will they come to heel as so many others have done? Politicians like Mayor Villaraigosa are under intense pressure by lobbyists like the Central City Association to restore their version of order which means stifling the OWS message.
The banks are dirty. They know it. So how do they contain such a volatile message, the requisite being only an appetite for knowledge about how banks have systematically become racketeers as opposed to a traditional business in terms the rest of America understands? And how long can they lull the general population into a blissful state of ignorance that shields them from the threat of public opinion shifting against them in meaningful numbers?
This is the point where leadership can either shine and lead, or fall back, becoming useless bystanders, witnesses that are unwilling to make waves in the face of powerful opposition. There is something to be said for the benefits of actually demonstrating leadership. The challenge of moral leadership is to take on fights that others won't. It distinguishes those that are capable leaders from the sheep that, in general terms, populate the corporate boardrooms and congressional offices in America.
Taking a stand is fraught with dangers, political and physical. Martin Luther King, Jr. for example, predicted his own demise, yet never wavered from his principles or his leadership. Many of us that have strived to educate others on these subjects have been under attack, passive and otherwise, from useful idiots that won't be named here, but their origin and tactics are well-known.
Now with the courage demonstrated by Eric Schneiderman and Kamala Harris, we have another opportunity to watch leadership in action, or watch it crumble before the powers that be. Today is one of the first sign-posts on the road to justice. The message is clear. Americans in numbers have become fed up with being victims to crooked bankers. Every day they learn more about how they became victims. Every day the challenge for the banking public relations kooks is to stifle and oppress that message. Who will prevail?
Your move Ms. Harris.
Schneiderman sues:
“The banks created the MERS system as an end-run around the property recording system, to facilitate the rapid securitization and sale of mortgages,' Schneiderman said in a statement. 'Once the mortgages went sour, these same banks brought foreclosure proceedings en masse based on deceptive and fraudulent court submissions.'”
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-06/bofa-jpmorgan-ubs-foreclosure-deal-goldman-in-court-news.html
More on robo-signing
“That is where the robo-signing came in. Foreclosure defense attorneys armed with the tools of discovery have discovered that robo-signing -- involving falsified signatures assigning mortgages back to the trusts allegedly owning them -- occurred not just occasionally or randomly but in virtually every case.”
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/02/05
Occupiers meet with Wells Fargo representatives today in Los Angeles. Updates here later.
Sign the petition:
The petition to save an occupy supporter from eviction needs your support. Ms. T has offered to help the movement and the foreclosure proceedings initiated by Wells Fargo appear to be flawed. Ms. T wants to make her payments. Wells Fargo has refused and seeks to evict her from her home. Call to action. Please sign her petition found at this link and look for updates here:
http://www.change.org/petitions/wells-fargo-bank-reinstate-borrower?share_id=iytujdcEoT&
Where's Eugene? Globetrotter in Harlem
Bernal Heights: Feisty occupiers save homes, scrap tents
“Despite the park with the great view, however, they pitched no tents . . . Now, that spark has spread to a grassfire of foreclosure resistance that involves dozens of threatened homes on Bernal Heights alone. The movement is pressuring banks, especially Wells Fargo, which is headquartered in San Francisco, to declare a moratorium on home evictions and auctions and to instead come up with a fair deal for financially stressed homeowners.”
Anti-social fringe group? No tear gas
“The WOWs quickly became the core of the Occupy Bernal action work group and stepped up their protests, staging a weekly picket of Bank of America at noon on Thursdays. The Bank of America branch regularly locked their doors in response to the seniors approaching with their walkers, canes and protest signs.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stardust/not-tents-but-homes-for-o_b_1253610.html?ref=politics
CBS local: Is a moratorium a 'demand'?
“The group is calling upon Attorney General Kamala Harris to force Wells Fargo and other banks to impose moratoriums on 'all foreclosures until full investigations into lending institutions’ policies and practices are pursued showing the extent of fraud on innocent homeowners.'”
ALEC left in legislation: Big secret
No typos
“No, that's not a typo: 1.2 million people dropped out of the labor force in one month! So as the labor force increased from 153.9 million to 154.4 million, the non institutional population increased by 242.3 million meaning, those not in the labor force surged from 86.7 million to 87.9 million. Which means that the civilian labor force tumbled to a fresh 30 year low of 63.7% as the BLS is seriously planning on eliminating nearly half of the available labor pool from the unemployment calculation.”
Thanks to TAF for the pic:
“Derish Wolff, the former President of the Louis Berger Group, has been criminally charged with conspiring to defraud the U.S. Agency for International Development by inflating overhead and other indirect costs, over nearly two decades, on hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
http://www.taf.org/whistle331.htm
Grumpy
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