The last few years have been replete with stories of fraudulent and possibly criminal acts for banks in the mortgage crisis. Thousands have lost their homes and faced financial ruin. The Administration is yielding to demands from lobbyists for the banks and particularly targeting Eric T. Schneiderman, the attorney general of New York, in demanding support for a deal that would offer just civil fines rather than criminal penalties.
Various organizations have denounced the actions of the Obama Administration as caving into this powerful lobby — as it has caved into the oil/gas lobby on offshore drilling, pharmaceutical lobby on health care legislation, and telecom lobby on immunity from privacy lawsuits.
Schneiderman and other state prosecutors want to hold bank officials liable for the harm that they have caused. They believe there are strong cases for criminal prosecution. Shaun Donovan, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and various other Administration officials have been pressuring the states to give the industry a pass on any crimes. Bank officials are known to have contacted Donovan and other Administration officials to pressure prosecutors. The industry (and the Obama Administration) wants to force attorneys general to grant waivers from criminal liability in exchange for civil fines.
Among other possible cases, Schneiderman objects to giving a pass to New York Mellon and Bank of America that would cover 530 mortgage-backed securities containing allegedly fraudulent Countrywide Financial loans.
Source: NYT
Nate,
you may want to take a second look at your words when you are talking about a President. Annihilation is quite a threatening choice of words.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-25/berkshire-hathaway-to-invest-5-billion-in-bank-of-america-shares-surge.html
http://dailybail.com/home/matt-taibbi-on-iowa-ag-tom-miller-the-best-way-to-raise-mass.html
“Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller (glasses) increased his campaign contributions from the finance sector this year by a factor of 88!” – with credit to Taibbi, I believe…
Mr. Spindell,
Regarding your comment concerning a solution being a new 3rd party…
I would certainly support that but I don’t personally see the solution as laying “out there somewhere.” There’s been much animosity directed towards “the rich” and the “class wars” but it hasn’t resonated with me.
I see our predicament as one of acceptance of lies. Point blank: the enemy is OUR comfort with lies.
And so regardless of 3 parties, or 2 parties, or however many, in and of itself can not repair the damage. Until people stop lying to themselves and stop accepting other people lying to them, whoever heads up the new 3rd will only end up compromised, just like Obama. Because the fix is within. It’s okay to lie.
It was only after I stopped believing my own lies that I could no longer tolerate those who lie to me. It was myself I had to overcome first.
The solution is to stop lying to ourselves, and to support politicians to don’t lie, regardless of however intolerable their views may seem. Better to have an honest disagreement directly than to have someone agree with you and end up working against you behind closed doors.
Fucking Obama.
My rage borders on annihilation.
Mike S.,
Could you elaborate…
Warren Buffett just bailed out Bank of America.
Anon Nurse,
Re: your links, everyone knows that Iowa is much more important in financial industry affairs than New York.
http://dailybail.com/home/iowa-ag-tom-miller-removes-ny-ag-eric-schneiderman-from-fore.html
rafflaw:
In the cases I’ve handled, the judges do look at the files, but that is because I specify the defects in the files. I do not believe that judges desire to clear their foreclosure dockets at the expense of homeowners, but we all know that judges review what lawyers present to them. And while there are incompetent foreclosure lawyers, there are also incompetent foreclosure defense lawyers.
There are also incompetent judges, of course, but I lay the blame for the foreclosure problems in the courts squarely on the shoulders of the bar. Here in Florida there are law firms that turned foreclosures into money machines, filing thousands of fraudulent documents, many of them generated by the firms themselves. Several firms have been investigated and lawyers have been disbarred for these actions.
But what all of this ultimately means is that the investigation should not be short circuited to protect bank shareholders.
Black Nixon.
“Inherent in Schneiderman’s warnings was an implication that officials negotiating the current deal are willing to give away too much, a suggestion that those involved in the talks describe as inaccurate and infuriating. Several people familiar with the talks said those at the negotiating table have never considered granting banks immunity from claims related to the securitization process, nor have they sought to prevent Schneiderman and others from pursuing broader investigations into other issues, such as securitization, fair housing claims and criminal fraud.”
This comment taken from Elaine’s 9:15pm posting of a Washington Post editorial infuriates me. Notice how Schneiderman’s fears are directly quoted and then denied by “several people familiar with the talks”. Who are these people? This is a typical Beltway leak article where those responsible are granted deniability because what they’re implying may well be untrue.
What I find even more bothersome though is that this Administration that lacks the guts to stand up to direct, scurrilous attacks by its opponents, ignore defections from its’ own partisans on key Democratic issues, is able to try to bring force to bear on one of its’ most progressive and courageous people. This is not the change I voted for, but it is confirmation that both political party’s leadership are under Corporate dominance.
We need a strong third party in our country to break this stranglehold. I’m not sure we’ll get one though. The problems with the Green Party and others, is that they try to build from the top down, eschewing local organization, which is the backbone of any political movement. The fight should occur in each Congressional District certainly, but also in each School Board ideally. The Right Wing has learned this lesson well, but organizing the rest of us is like herding cats. The Extreme Right naturally attracts those who respond to top-down leadership, the rest of us who are more eclectic of thought don’t like to be led, which is both our strength and our weakness.
http://jonathanturley.org/2011/01/17/spiritual-corruption-chavez-jails-judge-who-granted-bail-to-banker/
Buddha Is Laughing 1, January 17, 2011 at 10:59 pm
Months ago, Buddha Is Laughing wrote”
“It goes something like this: thievery unjustly deprives a person of their property and is inherently inequitable.
In addition, if unpunished, it encourages vigilantism and creates general conditions of lawlessness when the government does not intervene on behalf of the rightful owner to punish the thief and/or recover the property if possible. In order to be equitable and to promote justice as defined by the Constitution as an ethical duty of government, thievery must be made illegal and the police allowed to arrest thieves and the judiciary to prosecute them in accordance to the procedures and rights found within the Constitution.”
I miss that voice…
Again, to highlight this point, he wrote:
“In addition, if unpunished, it encourages vigilantism and creates general conditions of lawlessness when the government does not intervene on behalf of the rightful owner to punish the thief and/or recover the property if possible.”
Vigilantism and lawlessness are what we have, though most aren’t seeing the worst of it, yet. Left unchecked, it will only get worse. As Mike A. said, “The actions of the Administration in this instance are irresponsible and not at all in the public interest. I hope that Mr. Schneiderman stands his ground.”
So do I. But hope is waning…
Diogenes pretty much has it right:
“Welcome to the Brave New World, pals.”
http://www.salon.com/news/terrorism/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/08/22/washington_courts_911
Monday, Aug 22, 2011
How Washington lost faith in America’s courts
By Karen Greenberg
From the assassination of bin Laden to the abuse of Manning, the rule of law has collapsed in the decade since 9/11
As the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, the unexpected extent of the damage Americans have done to themselves and their institutions is coming into better focus. The event that “changed everything” did turn out to change Washington in ways more startling than most people realize. On terrorism and national security, to take an obvious (if seldom commented upon) example, the confidence of the U.S. government seems to have been severely, perhaps irreparably, shaken when it comes to that basic and essential American institution: the courts.
If, in fact, we are a “nation of laws,” you wouldn’t know it from Washington’s actions over the past few years. …..
“In the recent jury decisions, as in the growing expressions of judicial dissatisfaction, an optimist might find signs that the system is finally starting to right itself.
On the other hand, a pessimist might come to the conclusion that the government will, in the future, simply put even more energy into avoiding the court system.”
Raff, no problem. Just had a melancholy moment there. I had been thinking about him and decided to write what I was feeling. It’s still very fresh, as AY implied. The tincture of time heals all wounds…..
smell the change…
The joke / blame is on US!
Bros. Obama & Holden et al. would not have dreamed of such blatant measures if they were convinced that an outrage will sweep the whole Nation as a result of their efforts to expunge mega-perpetrators.
We, the “People” proved time and again that we’re ready to swallow anything shoved down our throat.
Some 2000 years ago, the Talmud stated that “it is not the mouse which stole the cheese, it is the hole in the wall (through which the mouse entered the house) that stole it!”
Remember our previous, illustrious president who failed to recite the all American truism “Fool me once – shame on you, fool me …. etc.” This currency ain’t good no more!!!
Welcome to the Brave New World, pals.
OS,
Sorry to bring up old wounds.
OS,
That is a kind statement…which is true for so many of us….in so many different ways….
I had to learn that this is part of the life and we are all given lessons to learn…some we succeed at, some we fail…for about 3 years, I did fail miserably…today, I realize that it is only one of the options…
“….I will be seeing my grandsons tomorrow.”
********************
I wish I could see my grandson tomorrow….any tomorrow.