Big Finance's Pathology Compels the Logic of Socialized Banking

Big Finance's Pathology Compels the Logic of Socialized Banking | Common Dreams

Countrywide Investigator Fired for Doing Her Job While Rampant Fraud Was Concealed

The Whistleblower's Tale: Countrywide Investigator Fired for Doing Her Job While Rampant Fraud Was Concealed | | AlterNet
Countrywide Financial was one of the subprime lenders at the heart of the financial crisis; its predatory lending practices resulted in disgustingly large payouts for executives while sticking low-income borrowers with explosive mortgages they hadn't a hope of paying back. The New York Times' Gretchen Morgenson called Countrywide, “Exhibit A for the lax and, until recently, highly lucrative lending that has turned a once-hot business ice cold and has touched off a housing crisis of historic proportions.”

Wall Street's Biggest Heist Yet?

Wall Street's Biggest Heist Yet? How the High Wizards of Finance Gutted Our Schools and Cities | Economy | AlterNet
Wall Street banks have hollowed out our communities with fraudulently sold mortgages and illegal foreclosures and settled the crimes for pennies on the dollar.  They’ve set back property records to the early 1900s, skipping the recording of deeds in county registry offices and using their own front called MERS.  They lobbied to kill fixed pension plans and then shaved a decade of growth off our 401(K)s with exorbitant fees, rigged research and trading for the house.

As Evidence Mounts, DC Insiders Worry About Holder's Inaction on Wall Street Crime

Richard (RJ) Eskow: As Evidence Mounts, DC Insiders Worry About Holder's Inaction on Wall Street Crime

More and more Washington insiders are asking a question that was considered off-limits in the nation's capital just a few months ago: Who, exactly, is Attorney General Eric Holder representing? As scandal after scandal erupts on Wall Street, involving everything from global lending manipulation to cocaine and prostitution, more and more people are worrying about Holder's seeming inaction -- or worse -- in the face of mounting evidence.
Confidential sources say that the President's much-touted Mortgage Fraud Task Force is being starved for vital resources by the Holder Justice Department. Political insiders are fearful that this obstruction will threaten Democrats' chances at the polls. Investigators and prosecutors from other agencies are expressing their frustration as the ever-rowing list of documented crimes by individual Wall Street bankers continues to be ignored.

Solving Foreclosures - Main Street Matters

A Solution to the Foreclosure Crisis
Not since the Great Depression have so many homes been seized in foreclosure proceedings. With no end in sight, our country and local communities are faced with the realization that neither Washington nor Wall Street is willing or able to solve the problem.
National Commonwealth Group has developed a set of solutions that can be initiated at the local level independent of outside help. They entail local governments, in particular counties and larger cities, using two sets of laws that will allow them to seize control of their local foreclosure problem and bring about a halt to the devastation they cause to the community and all participants. The first set of laws related to the eminent domain powers of government bodies and the second set of laws relate to banking.

Occupy the Neighborhood: How Counties Can Use Land Banks and Eminent Domain | Truthout

Occupy the Neighborhood: How Counties Can Use Land Banks and Eminent Domain | Truthout

Delaware Attorney General Sues Mortgage Electronic Measuring System, Calls for Halt to Foreclosures | Truthout

Delaware Attorney General Sues Mortgage Electronic Measuring System, Calls for Halt to Foreclosures | Truthout
The mortgage securitization industry has just had a new major front open on its battle with those who are less than happy with the way it has run roughshod over the law. While there are a significant number of court rulings questioning foreclosures in the name of MERS or other practices commonly associated with the use of MERS (for instance, in Oregon, its violation of recording requirements mandated at the state level), no major regulator or public official (beyond county registers of deeds) has gone after MERS in a serious way (New York’s AG has opened an investigation, but it has not led to any litigation).

This has changed with the Delaware attorney general Beau Biden’s filing. The suit takes the interesting angle of pursuing MERS for engaging in deceptive consumer practices. Nevada’s attorney general has also used the deceptive practices argument in suing Countrywide for violation of HAMP procedures.