I was heartened to see a group of Democratic Senators write this great letter to Ben Bernanke and administration officials on the foreclosure fraud issue. They came out strongly for several important things regarding homeowners' rights, and they framed the issue perfectly: this is not some minor technical problem regarding some mislaid paperwork in a few cases, this is fraud by bankers on a massive scale. Along with this letter, check out this great op-ed by Sen. Whitehouse on the subject. Once again, in keeping with the pattern Digby first reported, this is all Democrats doing the right thing, and not a single Republican lifting a finger to help. Another bit of great news: Elizabeth Warren echoed the Senators message, calling the foreclosure issue "big and serious". This puts the administration clearly on the side of the idea that this problem isn't just a minor paperwork hassle, and that it matters a lot.
This foreclosure fraud issue is yet another domino falling, where once again the big Wall Street banks are wreaking havoc with our economy in order to come away with outlandish profits at the expense of poor and middle-class people. These huge banks are so powerful both politically and economically that they haven't worried about playing by the rules and following the law. Their thinking is that because they are too big to fail, and too influential in Washington, they can just get Washington to change the rules as they go along and bail them out whenever needed. They were shocked that their sneak attack at changing the mortgage rules got exposed by progressives and vetoed by the President, but they almost certainly still assume they can eventually get the rules changed to save them from their own fraud one more time.
This issue is example number one on why progressives need to remain focused on cleaning up Washington and standing up to the special interests who still act like they own the place. And our message has been getting through. Check out this striking new poll from MoveOn.org:
• An overwhelming 84% of voters polled, including 80% of Republicans and 81% of Independents, believe voters have a right to know who is paying for ads for a particular candidate.
• Fifty-six percent of voters overall (including 53% of Independents) are less likely to vote for a candidate if they know the ads supporting that candidate are paid for by anonymous corporations and wealthy donors.
• Forty-seven percent of all voters are more likely to support a candidate who insists that voters have a right to know who is paying for ads, with only 9% of total voters saying they are less likely to support a candidate who holds that position.
• Almost two out of three voters (63%) do not believe that the anonymous groups running ads hold the voters' best interest in mind. This belief is held by 65% of Independent and 70% of Democratic voters.
• A straight majority of total voters (53%) are less likely to trust a candidate to improve economic conditions if that candidate is supported by anonymous groups.
Those are very big, very dramatic numbers. People want to know who is behind these ads, and they want to kick the special interests off their throne of power. This message of changing and cleaning up Washington, challenging big corporate interests, and standing up to the banks on behalf of the middle class has the chance to come through in spite of the swarm of corporate money flowing into attack ads.
Whatever happens in the elections, this foreclosure crisis is ugly, and the economic dominoes that could fall as a result should scare all of us. It may well be that this fragile economy gets pushed into another crisis. The question then will be do we again arrange some kind of backroom sweetheart deal for the big banks that got us into this mess, or do we go the opposite direction, and save the economy by helping middle class homeowners first. If the bankers still "own the place" in Dick Durbin's famous words, we will get screwed again. If voters say no to these secretive special interest ads, and elect some more good down home Democratic populists like the Senators who wrote this letter, we might just win this round.
Elizabeth Warren is now a minor, mid level functionary in the Obama Administration. If you want to find out the real opinion of Obama, David Axlerod would be a much better source. And he said this: "No need for a national mortgage moratorium".
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/10/foreclosure-moratorium-obama-administration_n_757356.html
In fact, the White House has bought the banker line that this rampant fraud was only a minor paperwork problem and that foreclosures should be done as expediently as possible WHETHER THERE ARE PROBLEMS WITH THEM OR NOT.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/06/the-new-republic-lays-on-hot-and-heavy-jp-morgan-pr.html
Obama and the rest of the White House team are clearly and unambiguously on the side of rich Wall Street banker on this issue (as in all other issues) and no amount of spinning that FACT is going to change. So your assertion that ALL Democrats are on the right side of this issue is clearly false. Yet another reason for Democrats to sit home or vote third party.
You have to keep in mind that Wall Street now owns Obama and most of the Democratic party, you cannot blame the Republicans for that! We have to hope that enough democrats lose their seats this election to FORCE the party to work with the Republicans to the benefit of the American people instead of to the benefit of Wall Street which is what IS GOING ON.
Obama has reached across the aisle for almost 2 years and the Republicommies have spit in his face every single time. Your party has done nothing, not a single day's work since January 20th, 2009. Repubs have completely sat on the sidelines trying to make our country fail and all because they hate the black man in the White House. Imagine people sick enough to throw their own people and their country under the bus just because they hate the colour of a man's skin. That's exactly what it comes down to. They've sold their own country out and none of you has the backbone to call them on it. There isn't a single patriot among those on the right. They're nothing but sellouts, the lot of them.
FORGET THE REPUBLICANS MR. OBAMA AND MOVE FORWARD WITHOUT THEM. THE GOP HAS BEEN BOUGHT AND PAID FOR BY THE COMMUNISTCHINESE. THEY ARE GETTING PAID FOR THE MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF OUR JOBS THEY'VE SOLD TO THEM.
VOTE DEMOCRAT IN NOVEMBER AND TELL REPUBLICOMMIES OUR COUNTRY IS NOT FOR SALE.
It is humorous for liberal regressives to demand the special interests be controlled after 4 years of a democrat controlled congress.
We could look at this for what it is. The baggers are eating the Republican party for lunch because the right is sick of their own party selling us all out. The baggers haven't done any damage to the Dems and likely won't.
We are not that stewpid we would vote in a bunch of right wing hillbillies.
As I look out at the 21st century economic landscape of America I see some familiar landmarks; dark ghosts of the sort we as a people wanted desperately to escape in the 1700s. The pervading sense today is that our leaders have deeply disappointed the people, managing in just over 200 years to give away most all of the real wealth of this country to foreign powers and a few elite corporate big wigs. There is a deep sense of moral loss as well. Did we drive native people off their lands for THIS? To wait for wealth to trickle down from some corporate/governmental bureaucratic mess of a system while the powerful relentlessly wrest every last means of production from the population and hand it to interlopers, foreign lands and the wealthy elite? What a shame. It seems unbelievable, incomprehensible and even obscene. Corporate leaders' salaries go up and up to astronomical levels--seems the more efficiently they give away the common man's livelihood, the more they get paid. This is not right and any patriotic American would make it their top priority to stop this nonsense and commend power to the fair, just and proud people called the American Middle Class. Note to banks, lobbyists and leaders: The corporate dream is no longer compatible with the American dream. Corporations do not serve the American people so the government should no longer serve corporations.
Bennett Graham,
www.bensartshop.com
The only contributions a candidate may accept are those from people who are US citizens registered and eligible to vote for the candidate.
A candidate's campaign may not accept contributions or loans from the candidate, his/her wife, children, parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles, aunts, nieces or nephews or their spouses.
No political party, PAC, business or other entity may contribute to any candidate directly or indirectly including any advertising or PR whatsoever.
A contributor may give a maximum of $2,500 each to the candidate's primary and general campaigns There is no limit on the time any resident of the candidate's district may contribute to the campaign provided they are under 18 or registered to vote if over 18. Nothing should keep middle and high school students from volunteering and seeing how a campaign works up close and personal.
In-kind contributions--as in the use of a home, food, drinks and catering--by an individual must count toward that voter's total contribution limit.
All voting districts must be drawn by an independent commission of the US Geological Survey based on strict GPS co-ordinates, logical boundaries and the most recent census data. No more gerrymandering to create "safe" districts.
This system would get a lot more participation by local residents in the political process. A process which they currently feel completely shut out of.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPPRaKIO-jA