pkarnig’s posthaven

The failure of BOA and the other mega banks to come clean on this is what lies at the heart of our economic morass. It CAN be cleaned up and with some degree of fairness to ALL stakeholders — but not by bullying.

The only way this is going to get cleaned up is loan by loan settlements in which we do the best we can to provide the right incentives for all stakeholders to agree or be forced to comply with an equitable solution. Anything one-sided will not work.

Principal correction (that is what it is, not “reduction”) is the only impediment to getting this process rolling. Investors can strive for full par value with put-backs but we all know that the cases will be settled for less. Homeowners can strive for full ownership of their homes and that is exactly what will happen if the banks continue to insist on digging their heals in issues for which they have no legal support. Homeowners will leap at the chance to straighten this out WITH mortgages and enforceable notes and encumbrances, but only if the incentive is there for them to do so.

Call your representative and demand action against these illegal practices!

Yes, there is a "they": the captains of finance, their lobbyists, and allies among leading politicians of both parties, who together destroyed an American regulatory system that had been functioning splendidly for most of the six decades since it was enacted in the 1930s.
The big cop-out in much of what has been written about the banking meltdown has been the argument by those most complicit that there was "enough blame to go around" and that no institution or individual should be singled out for accountability. "How could we have known?" is the refrain of those who continue to pose as all-knowing experts. "Everybody made mistakes," they say.

Nonsense. This was a giant hustle that served the richest of the rich and left the rest of us holding the bag, a life-altering game of musical chairs in which the American public was the one forced out. Worst of all, legislators from both political parties we elect and pay to protect our interests from the pirates who assaulted us instead changed our laws to enable them.

Scheer really nailed it, we the people, mainly the middle class were held up by the robber baron banks led by Goldman Sachs. If this makes sense to you pass it along and keep the discussion going. It's life or death for the middle class. That's you and me.

If we as a people learn anything from this crash, however, it should be that there are no adults watching the store, only a tiny elite of self-interested multimillionaires and billionaires making decisions for the rest of us. As long as we cede that power to them, we can expect to continue getting bilked.