Economy

New Committee Chair Gets Ready to Serve -- the Banks

by Mary Bottari — December 15, 2010 - 1:30pm

After 18 years in the House, Republican Alabama Congressman Spencer Bachus will finally take over as House Finance Committee chair come January. The committee has wide jurisdiction over banks, capital markets, housing, consumer credit and the health and stability of the financial system. Bachus explained to his local paper the new attitude he plans to bring to his job: "In Washington, the view is that the banks are to be regulated, and my view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks," Bachus declared. Before he even takes over the committee, Bachus is already on bended knee threatening to gut funding for Elizabeth Warren’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, working to postpone the implementation of the "Volcker rule" ban on Goldman Sachs-style proprietary trading, and pledging to weaken the derivatives reform portion of the bill, calling it "overly expansive."

Main Source: 
Birmingham News, December 9, 2010

Trapped in Bank of America Hell

by Mary Bottari — December 15, 2010 - 10:13am
  • Topics: Banking, BanksterUSA, Economy, Real Economy Project

    • Are you one of the lucky ones? Have a good job, live in a nice neighborhood, enjoy your cozy home? Think foreclosure only impacts the reckless or the unemployed?

    Think again.

    George Mahoney worked and saved and built his cozy colonial-style home in Lynnfield, Massachusetts in 1981. There, he and his wife raised three lovely daughters. For many years, the Mahoneys paid down their relatively small mortgage with their local bank -- a division of Bank of America (BofA). In 2007, they took out a second mortgage to help a daughter start a small business. Two wage earners, a great credit record -- the loan was a breeze. That was when the trouble began.

    About a year after getting the second mortgage, BofA started notifying George that his payments were late. Soon they jacked his credit card interest rates from seven percent to twenty-eight percent. Next, they ruined his credit record. His Sears card dropped from a $10,000 limit to a $500 dollar limit. Then one day in the fall of 2009, BofA initiated foreclosure on the house he had built and owned for 28 years.

    The only problem? The Mahoneys had never missed a single payment on either their first or second mortgage.

    Quietly Ticking Time Bomb in Fed Data

    by Mary Bottari — December 10, 2010 - 8:40am
  • Topics: BanksterUSA, Economy, Real Economy Project

    • Last week, the Federal Reserve was finally forced by law to release some (not all) of the details of its back-door bailout of the global financial system. The Fed data focuses on the emergency lending programs initiated in 2007/2008, but it also includes data for the Fed's more recent purchases of mortgage-backed securities (MBS). These later purchases represent the real risk for taxpayers in the Fed's continuing bailout activities, but have received the least coverage in the mainstream press.

    Obama Economic Team Passes Out the Kool-Aid

    by Mary Bottari — November 3, 2010 - 8:43am
  • Topics: Banking, BanksterUSA, Economy, Real Economy Project

    • It’s the day before a hotly-contested national election, where it appeared the rabble was well positioned to deliver a colossal spanking to the elites who have for too long ignored their plight, so what does Team Obama do?

    They have a press conference to talk about their eagerness to complete the Korea Free Trade Agreement negotiated by President Bush. "The president has long said we want to try and address the outstanding issues regarding the Free Trade Agreement in order to bring it forward for approval," said Mike Froman, Obama’s deputy national security advisor for international economic affairs. “[W]e're going to put every effort into achieving ... an acceptable agreement, a satisfactory agreement, by the time the president comes to Seoul," he told a news conference on Monday.

    Are these people nuts?

    Ask Your Bank to Produce the Note!

    by Mary Bottari — October 19, 2010 - 12:26pm
  • Topics: Banking, BanksterUSA, Economy, Real Economy Project

    • Do you know who holds the promissory note to your mortgage? The legal document that shows that you really owe that debt? Really, are you sure? So many mortgages have been securitized, sliced and diced, sold and resold, that the paper trail from your local bank to Wall Street is murky and flawed. In some instances, the promissory note may even have been destroyed.

    Every day the financial crisis continues to hit home for families being foreclosed upon. Last month, there were 347,420 foreclosure filings across America, and the rate shows no signs of slowing. The unemployment rate is now driving these tragic foreclosures and 11 million Americans are at risk of losing their homes.

    Take Action! Demand a Freeze on Foreclosures!

    by Mary Bottari — October 11, 2010 - 10:00am
  • Topics: Banking, BanksterUSA, Economy, Real Economy Project

    • In recent weeks, it has been revealed that the nation’s largest banks have been fraudulently foreclosing on tens, if not hundreds of thousands of families. The big banks financed the predatory mortgage firms that caused the crisis in the first place, an now they are foreclosing on families, the unemployed, the sick, the elderly and even veterans using slipshod foreclosure mills to do their dirty work.

    If you are as infuriated as we are call your State Attorney Generals Office today! Click here for a complete list of phone numbers.

    Bailout Not Over, Taxpayers Still Owed $2 Trillion In Federal Reserve Loans and TARP Program Funds

    by Mary Bottari — September 29, 2010 - 7:00pm
  • Topics: Banking, BanksterUSA, Economy, Real Economy Project

    • On October 3, 2010 the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) will end. The expiry is likely to generate many celebratory claims from federal government officials that the bailout is over, and that taxpayers have been made whole or will be made whole in short order.

    Tell Larry Summers, "Don’t Delay!"

    by Mary Bottari — September 22, 2010 - 12:01pm
  • Topics: Banking, Economy

    • Larry Summers is confirming rumors that he plans on leaving his job as the President's chief economic adviser at the end of the year.

    Already Elizabeth Warren Deserves a Promotion

    by Mary Bottari — September 21, 2010 - 10:18pm
  • Topics: Banking, BanksterUSA, Economy, Real Economy Project

    • So the Washington insiders tell us that Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren was named as a "special adviser" to the President in order to dodge a lengthy confirmation battle in the Senate. Rather than nominate her to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on a permanent or even interim basis, Obama instead announced an odd, hybrid appointment where she works for both the White House and U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. In theory, she will have full authority to set up the CFPB, but does not have the title of "Director" that goes with it.

    Hmmm. She appears to be happy about all this, but it leaves us here at BanksterUSA unsatisfied. This is a temporary appointment. What is she? A Kelly Girl? We are sick of temporary jobs. We prefer permanent things like a title, a salary, benefits, five years guaranteed, and most importantly, power.

    Already Elizabeth Warren deserves a promotion and in this GRITtv interview, Mary Bottari proposes a new role for America's favorite consumer advocate.

    March as "One Nation" on October 2, 2010!

    by Mary Bottari — September 21, 2010 - 4:14pm
  • Topics: Activism, Banking, BanksterUSA, Democracy, Economy, Education, Real Economy Project

    • Join as "One Nation" on October 2, 2010 for a giant march in Washington D.C. to demand good jobs now. One Nation describes itself as "a movement of individuals and organizations committed to putting America back to work and pulling America back together." Their key demands are job creation, equal justice, and quality public education for all. Only the Banksters would disagree with that agenda. Learn more about the civil rights, labor and consumer groups supporting this giant mobilization and where you can find your seat on a bus.

    Syndicate content