Jonathan Weil: Saving Americans Requires Sticking It To Them

Bloomberg:

The banks were saved by the American people. Now who will save the people from the banks?

Read the whole story: Bloomberg

Comments

[blueskybigstar]

03:35 PM on 09/25/2010

that is if the rich can really be considered American, seeing that they love money more than our country

[floodmfx]

08:05 PM on 09/23/2010

Uncle Scam is at it again

[jws2346]

01:13 PM on 09/23/2010

Has anyone ever noticed the dude/dudette saying everybody needs to be stuck ain't gonna' be stuck themselves?

[MeinNH]

10:50 AM on 09/24/2010

Oh so true...I for one and sick of having it stuck to me.

[planetmondo]

12:41 PM on 09/23/2010

Break the Banks! they are NOT our friends.(tellers yes -Bankers no)
Make All home loans 3% no Qualifying ,no paperwork, no B.S. starting next payment.
*presto!* Many foreclosures averted, House values buoyed,economy stimulated,no taxpayer money used -all at the expense of the Banks. And even those crooks get to make some money.
Why is this so hard? Why these convoluted plans that remain skewed toward the banks?
America is at war with the banks- they have ruined more American lives and done more harm to America than Al Queda could ever do in it,s wildest wettest dreams. Find the banks henchmen in congress and have them removed.

[floodmfx]

08:07 PM on 09/23/2010

They own Congress - there is no breaking the banks without revolution.
And Americans are way too content with their bread and games for anything like that.

[MeinNH]

10:51 AM on 09/24/2010

They don't let common sense get in the way of their greed.

[Nosybear]

12:24 PM on 09/23/2010

Basically, the story is about privatizing gains and socializing losses. Don't let the Right tell you they don't like socialism, they love it when the society picks up the tab for their mistakes. They just don't like paying for socialism. As our friends, the former USSR, proved, you can't have socialism without paying for it unless you want bankruptcy. Seems to be where the financiers are taking us....

[propitiousmoment]

10:31 AM on 09/23/2010

Time for the death penalty for corporations. When they violate the law and cause grievous harm to other persons, they should have their corporate charters revoked, and their assets sold and distributed to victims and shareholders, and the parties that created and ran the corporation should be barred from re-incorporating under another name in the same line of business.

[planetmondo]

12:44 PM on 09/23/2010

That is not propitious at all seems about right

[nikky]

10:27 AM on 09/23/2010

WELL AS LONG AS THEY WANT WHAT THEY HAD FOR THE PASS EIGHT YEARS YOU CAN;T SAVE THEM UNLESS YOU GIVE THEM A LABOTOMY

[Norm]

10:23 AM on 09/23/2010

Holy Cow.

[mikey09]

09:27 AM on 09/23/2010

Catch 22...American taxpayers cannot recoup bailout funds without allowing banks to screw over American citizens...WOW

Who screwed up is that?

[DJlaysitup]

10:24 AM on 09/23/2010

Patronizing the big banks these days is about like going to the sideshows at a carnival...you know it's all about getting your money... (main difference is you don't get to see bright lights and throw darts at balloons at the bank).

[Rick Eriksen]

09:17 AM on 09/23/2010

I wonder why people call them banksters...

[usna73]

08:49 AM on 09/23/2010

Another one:

“When Jason Grodensky bought his Fort Lauderdale home last December, he paid cash. But seven months later, he learned that BofA had foreclosed on the house, even though Grodensky had no mortgage.

Grodensky knew nothing about the foreclosure until July, when he learned that title to his home had been transferred to a government-backed lender. “I feel like I’m hanging in the wind and I’m scared to death,” said Grodensky. “How did some attorney put through a foreclosure illegally?”

BofA has acknowledged the error and will correct it at its own expense, said spokeswoman Bauwens.”

Court records show Countrywide filed a foreclosure in Broward County court against the former owner of the home on Southwest 14th Street in 2008. BofA took over Countrywide at the end of that year.

The following year, Grodensky and his father bought the house for cash as an investment property. Jason Grodensky’s brother Kenny Sloan lives in the house now. They negotiated a short sale, which means the lender agreed to accept less than the mortgage. Documents show the sale proceeds were wired to BofA. The sale was recorded in December 2009 at the Broward County Property Appraiser’s Office.

The foreclosure continued, the records show. There was a motion to dismiss in July, followed the next day by a motion to re-open it. A court-ordered foreclosure sale took place July 15. The property appraiser’s office recorded the transfer of the title to the FNMA the same day.

[WaveRhydr]

09:05 AM on 09/23/2010

WTF?!?

[nikky]

10:28 AM on 09/23/2010

WTF IS RIGHT WHO DID THE TITLE SEARCH

[YouWreckMe]

11:45 PM on 09/23/2010

here's the link to the original, full story in all it's heinous details: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-wrongful-foreclosure-0922-20100921,0,36776.story

[DebtNavigation]

07:57 AM on 09/23/2010

Banks have gone rogue on Americans. Americans should return the favor. Massive, coordinated, strategic default, followed by civil disobedience to thwart repossession and collection.

In Mexico in the mid-'90s Wall Street engineered a currency coup that tripled the debt owed by small businesses and family farms and also allowed for them to be massively ratejacked on top of it. Mexicans consequently formed the "el Barzon" movement and pushed back Wall Street and deposed their ruling party of 60+ years. In this country YouTube phenom Ann Minch has already declared the debtors' revolt and begun going after them http://www.revoltstartsnow.com

If you've been pushed under, you can read every other page of my book for free: http://www.scribd.com/doc/25443175/Debt-Hope-Down-and-Dirty-Survival-Strategies-Evaluation-Version-Complete

[familydamato]

07:51 AM on 09/23/2010

Institutional bailouts do not help we the people.

Housing & employment go together like a horse & carriage - you can't have one without the other.
We have an excess supply of labor & housing because there is a lack of demand.
We the people can increase housing demand while dramatically decreasing the foreclosure and unemployment problems while creating private sector jobs.

Help for the shrinking middle class is way overdue.
The trick is to create demand for houses and jobs without going into debt.
Here's a plan that would work:
Millions have seen their retirement savings decimated by the recent stock market crashes. Many had been dreaming of buying a primary or second home. Why not let them realize their dream and jump start the economy at the same time?

Instead of borrowing and increasing our national debt, let those 50 and over withdraw their retirement savings TAX FREE if:
1. Funds are used to pay CASH for a primary or second home costing less than $250,000.
2. They must keep the home for at least 3 years or pay back the tax free incentive.
3. Renting to a foreclosure victim would be a plus!

This would reduce the foreclosure blight, put cash in the economy, increase consumer confidence and spending, provide much needed employment as well as increasing state and local revenues.
Because purchases would be all CASH, banks & mortgage companies would not be involved.

NO NEW DEBT & a 100% American incentive (unlike the clunker program).

[jjtx]

08:44 AM on 09/23/2010

- after hearing the once-beloved phrase "we the people" thrown around like pool water, I am becoming sick of it

You, O'Donnell, Angle, Palin are not "we the people" as if you own the Constitution

as far as I can tell, the Republicans and their off-brand, the Tea Party, have somehow managed to:
1. claim patriotism (anyone who doesn't agree with us in unpatriotic),
2. claim the Consitution (anyone who disagrees with us disagrees with the Constitution and we can interpret it the way we see fit - for those of you "enlightened TP members the phrase "we the people" is from the Constitution's Preamble),
3. claim the founding fathers (anyone who disagrees with us hates the founding fathers), and
4. claim values (anyone who disagrees with us doesn't have good old American values - ok, I might agree with that one since I don't have the good old values of racism, discrimination and poverty in old age)

It is enough to make you want to vomit. For all you people out there who speak this, I am part of the people too, I have a heritage and culture of the Constitution and founding fathers, I have values too albeit probably we don't share all of the same values.

Quit claiming these things as your personal property for those who agree with you.
Just because you don't agree with me does not mean I want to take them from you so why do you wish to claim them for yourself.

[DJlaysitup]

10:27 AM on 09/23/2010

Yeah jjtx...I also love "The American people want: blah blah blah (a bunch of stuff not in their best interest).

[INDIVIDUALTERRY]

11:48 AM on 09/23/2010

Maybe because you support people and policies that would take those freedoms from us .
Policies like the first ever cradle to the grave tax on Americans and calling it Obama care.

[2lib4oh]

07:41 AM on 09/23/2010

The government got in "this business" when Greenspan refused to regulate mortgage origination. The indignation is belated, misdirected, and pretty stupid. Did this author EVER write an article on mortgage origination, the GOP, and liar's loans?

[Sundialsvc4]

07:23 AM on 09/23/2010

"Saving the public's investment?" Snicker.

What's "too big to fail" a code-word for? That's easy ...

Swindling. Securities Fraud. Racketeering. Extortion. Money laundering. Drug trafficking (especially Afghan opium, which becomes the Oxycontin you're addicted to). Usury.

Bribery.