Sunday Roundup

This week, as police shut down the Occupy encampment in Los Angeles, a trio of stories fortified the movement's fundamental argument about the two-tiered nature of our democracy. First up was a report on how, in July 2008, then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson gave a group of Wall Street cronies inside information on the rescue of Fannie and Freddie. Then came word that, in the midst of the financial meltdown, the Fed had secretly loaned banks $7.7 trillion with absolutely no strings attached -- loans the banks used to turn a $13 billion profit (while foreclosures escalated and small businesses struggled to get loans). Finally, heroic Judge Jed Rakoff's rejection of a sweetheart fraud settlement the SEC had gift-wrapped for Citigroup turned a spotlight on how the public interest is routinely sacrificed on the altar of expediency, and how the lack of accountability makes it much more likely that the wrongdoers will do wrong again and again without paying a real price.

 

 

 

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Comments

[Philipp Richter]

11:03 AM on 12/06/2011

I would like to know how the foreclosures are continuing along with a bailout. Would giving homeowners vouchers for their mortgages to pay the banks have solved this problem, or did the over-leveraging by the banks make this impossible? Either way, the monies ( $7.7 trillion worth) have been paid, so why the continued foreclosures?

[GM Thomas]

06:54 AM on 12/05/2011

The 7,7 trillion Fed money sent in secret -- is there any one who is accountable? At least someone who can explain this? I mean, somone must have pocketed real money and is buying a $20,000 watch this Christmas.

[General Public]

09:05 PM on 12/04/2011

Wait, so all you have about the violent crackdown in Los Angeles is the phrase "as police shut down the Occupy encampment in Los Angeles"? How about some more coverage? My cousin, Tyson Zoltan Heder, was covering Occupy Los Angeles as a photojournalist, and then the police kicked him down a flight of stairs, took his camera and broke it, and started beating him, like the Rodney King beating, and he didn't even do anything wrong. He ended up getting arrested for "assault" and they let him out after about 2 days, but seriously, it was a messed up situation, with a photojournalist who wasn't even a protester being savagely beaten despite not breaking any laws. Here is the video of him being beaten by police: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yInFCStepKE And here is a video of an Iraq war veteran who was there, where you can see the footage of my cousin, and hear vivid descriptions of what happened when the LAPD basically did a military attack on the civilians of Occupy Los Angeles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZiRk0_w_Ss So please don't trivialize what is going on, the people being beaten and arrested, this is serious, the police are out of control and a danger to the public.

[SeekingClarity]

09:52 PM on 12/04/2011

As you said, this is serious.

[minhajquazi]

10:10 PM on 12/04/2011

I know the Rodney matter in L.A.
I am still seeing they are alive after 20 years in the USA. It is interesting existing that
uncouth tendency here as we from third world follow you.
Now we should follow the other planet getting real dignity of humanity
Minhajquazi
www.quazisstepinenglishgrammar.wordpress.com
(just click on the address then right click and go if you face trouble.).

[Workingclassblues]

10:56 PM on 12/04/2011

Well, welcome to the U.S.A. Where have you been? You mean you didnt know about the cops? What else dont you know? For living in an information age, you people are so poorly informed. Here is some advice: Unless you are ready to recreate some scenes from the movie "Hoffa", it is best to stay away from the cops. Their violence is in the name of the courts, so it is pardoned, your resistance is a crime, and so is your violence against the police.

Look, the point is, everybody knows the above to be true, or worse, so why dont you? You cant just walk out there like you have some sort of freedom to do so! Do you really think you have rights? You only have one right...You have the right to remain silent. If you give up your right to silence, anything you say can, and will be used against you in a court of law...Try to stay focused man, the system is broken. Of course the cops are going to do what the crooked masters tell them to do. OLA is railing against the crooked masters. The last group that is going to change is the cops....So Be Careful!

[minhajquazi]

11:44 AM on 12/08/2011

Well, I think you meant me 'workingcleassblue'. Be patient man!.

I am from Bangladesh. It seems you are frustrated so much about your system. Come to here, you will face some extraordinary cops action which you people never have seen.
So be happy and cheers!
www.quazisstepinenglishgrammar.wordpress.com

[tiptop3]

08:06 PM on 12/04/2011

I've been gainfully employed since I was 15...wasn't blessed w/a family that could help me w/college so I only got a year then worked manual labor for 15 years-I was eventually blessed to work for artists who continued to employ and encourage me as I put myself through a trade school to get a associates degree in healthcare-I did well and enjoyed being able to donate to charity rather than recieve it-then the hospital I where I worked was sold out one corporation to another and now I haven't had a job in 3 mos.-reading a post like this makes me want to put the 9mm in my mouth-didn't I do what the GOP wanted me to do?

[jamenta]

09:46 PM on 12/04/2011

Well before you do anything crazy or self-destructive what do you have to lose by joining the #OWS movement? Do something ...

[si1]

08:02 PM on 12/04/2011

The country would be infitintely better off if Rubin / Greenspan / Paulson were in jail for 20 years along with

dimon/prince /rubin / mozzillo --- and the banks - citi / chase / ms/ gs /aig all bankrupt

at least we would believe there was a rule of law - and consequences instead fo the complete reliance on FRAUD as the only business tool left in the bag

obama has been the ultimate disaster and trojan horse in recorded history - he needs to resign and allow elizabeth warren to take the white house

[jamenta]

09:53 PM on 12/04/2011

Obama has been a disaster. It took an #OWS mic check for him to say anything really significant on the growing movement. And am I the only one irked that he's been abroad when so many protests have been and are taking place across the nation, a number of which have been subjected to police violence and the abrogation of free press rights?

[Zephyra]

07:49 PM on 12/04/2011

Regardless of party affiliation, this country needs to be fixed. Representatives actually need to represent us, their constituencies, versus the monied corporate interests, who actually are not people. For myself, I'd like a cadre of Elizabeth Warrens, who have the brains, insights and courage to go after those who brought this country to its knees.

[duckfan00]

07:41 PM on 12/04/2011

Remember the insider Wall Street wives Christy Mack and Susan Karches taking 220 million dollars in TALF funds....the greed and arrogance is unbelievable...worse remarkably is this behavior since the 2008 financial collapse...

[Debbie Smith99]

07:36 PM on 12/04/2011

Teachers, police officers, firefighters in fact, all of the 99% should dump their debt and file bankruptcy. The 1% might not be making so much profit after that.

[RTIII]

10:42 AM on 12/06/2011

In the waining years of W, bankruptcy laws were changed: much harder & more expensive to file, and forced drastically worse austerity for filers.

The changes were to prevent just what you advoceate.

My advice? For many of us; don't file, just don't pay them. ...I don't come to this view easily. I believe we should be honorable, keep our agreements, etc. Then, BofA sent me a statement informing me that one late payment was enough for them to raise my card's APR to 78%; that was the day I realized that THEY were the ones who had not kept our original deal.

It's not worth it for them to go after small debters with no assets. If you have nothing to lose, stiff them!

With some 23 years of records of my BofA Visa, I checked and things had really changed sharply around 1999 or so and they were gouging me. Three years previous there was a moment when they were paid in full, so I calculated from then, applied the former rates, and ensured they got ALL their principal and interest they'd have been due at said rates, and that's where I cut them off. I wasn't going to pay interest on top of interest on top of interest. So, I called them, told them I was canceling, gave them MY pay-out amount, and that was that. I've never looked back.

If you push back, the phone calls will eventually stop.

[Debbie Smith99]

05:03 PM on 12/06/2011

Teachers signed on for little pay, but a simple yearly raise, to have the ability to make a difference in the lives of human beings that benefit everyone on the Earth. They expected the general public to be HONORABLE and abide by their pay agreement not change it twenty years in. I am all for prioritizing wants and needs but when the governor of Florida is giving 750 million dollars in tax breaks to people who buy yachts and planes and other pet projects than I don't think everyone is on the same sacrificial boat. The word HONORABLE doesn't exist anymore and it's a big GUILT word to get the well intentioned people to keep lining the pockets of people who don't give a rat's rear end about people in HONORABLE jobs. They care only about GREEN and yachts and planes of course. I agree with you. Instead of filing bankruptcy they should just dump their debt and have their credit back in seven years instead of ten. Imagine just how many more crimes there would be if there were no teachers to try to alter some of the unintended paths of ignorance that all of these students are on. The big wigs care about money so we need to jump into their game and play hard ball back.

[cam1002]

07:32 PM on 12/04/2011

So, is anybody gonna' fix this? Let's hear from the candidates, including Obama. Who's his/their appointees to fix this? What are they going to do besides let this fiasco continue?

[intotheabyss]

07:20 PM on 12/04/2011

Martha Coakley, AG of Massachusetts is suing the 5 TBTF banks for shady foreclosure practices. Go get 'em Martha! And we have Senator Elizabeth Warren to look forward to next year. Take names and kick @** ladies!

[racetoinfinity]

06:54 PM on 12/04/2011

You're right about the two-tiered system of accountability and justice-see Glenn Greenwald's new book for a lot on this. I think everyone is scared to some extent, about some looming crisis, or about an #occupy mass revolt of some kind, and corruption at the top manifests from fear as much as from greed.

[ZoharWe]

06:53 PM on 12/04/2011

'Occucloud'
www.occupyholestreet.com
Graphic commentary on an Evolving Movement

[zogimperator]

06:21 PM on 12/04/2011

The only thing that stands between the plutocrats (big money exerting its will on Washington) and outright revolution is that there is a fairly large percentage of Americans who simply have no idea what is happening around them, and tend to assume what the people on television and radio say is completely accurate. But the people on television and radio are explicitly trying to keep the shadow government safe, because they're getting rich by it.

The Occupy movement has made substantial progress toward forcing the real issues to the forefront, but we're a long way from critical mass.

[SeekingClarity]

04:16 PM on 12/04/2011

It is popular for “conservative” commentators to blame loan customers for the banking crisis and to claim (in one such post) that “the banks did nothing wrong”.

By contrast, a regional vice president of chase “says that some account executives earned a commission seven times higher from subprime loans, rather than prime mortgages. So they looked for less savvy borrowers — those with less education, without previous mortgage experience, or without fluent English — and nudged them toward subprime loans.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/opinion/kristof-a-banker-speaks-with-regret.html

Some of these people would have qualified for cheaper “prime” loans but were steered into costly sub-prime loans.

When most of us approach a used car sales lot, we have our guard up for misleading claims. But banks are supposed to be responsible, and the tendency is to trust what they are telling you, as you would a doctor or other professional who is supposed to be serving you.

I have lived for many years and I still make errors, especially when I choose or am forced to make decisions in unfamiliar territory. The people mentioned would be easily exploited and too eager to trust more “knowledgeable” bankers.

[nurseattorney]

04:55 PM on 12/04/2011

6 years ago my son, a 33 year old steadily employed PhD scientist, and his wife a speech therapist, decided to buy their first home in the Atlanta area. They found a place they loved, very affordable, and they had saved the requisite 20% down. On my advice, they went out to find a 30 year fixed rate mortgage. They literally could not find a bank or broker who would talk to them when they realized that they wanted a long term fixed rate mortgage. Every mortgage broker they met with tried to sign them on for a no money down ARM. One guy looked at their application and told my son that he could afford a million dollar home, and asked why he was buying a "dump." Finally they went thru my "personal banker" who agreed to make the loan for them. But I have no doubt that a couple less determined to buy within their means would have been tempted to find a much bigger house and take one of those lousy mortgages.

[SeekingClarity]

05:28 PM on 12/04/2011

And your son and his wife were protected by advanced educations and the advice of a knowledgeable parent. Think of those with little education, possibly limited skills in English, and no experience with this type of transaction. They don’t call them “loan sharks” for nothing.

I have heard other stories of loan officers aggressively trying to upsell the applicant on a larger or higher interest loan.

[Chopin]

06:20 PM on 12/04/2011

You have just described fraudulent "white collar crimes" in epidemic proportions.
That's why this country is being dragged through such traumatic national crisis.
Should fraudulent banksters be put in steel cages, same as crack dealers,
or their luckless gullible customers foreclosed and put out into the streets, like 103 year-old Ms. Vinia Hall in Atlanta ?

[jerryengelbach]

05:59 PM on 12/04/2011

FandF.

[Mort Twain]

03:54 PM on 12/04/2011

Revolutions have been started with less reason for outrage than this. It's amazing beyond belief. I'm speechless.

[Chopin]

04:12 PM on 12/04/2011

The 99% of 300 million American people slumber like Gulliver, drugged, tranquilized, and tied down by a multitude of strands of threads woven by the 1% pyramid summit occupiers, schemers and collaborators . . .

[mlaiuppa]

05:27 PM on 12/04/2011

As long as we've got our beer, soda and chips and reality TV/sports, they figure they're safe. The more obese and uneducated each generation is, the easier to control (and profit from).

[SeekingClarity]

06:19 PM on 12/04/2011

Stare into your TV. You are getting very sleepy.....