Posted by Tina
How would you think that funds collected in settlements with banks over the housing meltdown mess should be used? Perhaps as restitution for actual claimants? How about paying down some of our debt? Or here’s an idea…how about if they funnel some of those billions to radical left activist groups and causes?
Can you spell extortion, Chicago style?
We need to back up a bit to put this in perspective. During the crisis the big banks worked with the government to contain the situation by agreeing to absorb or merger with failing banks. Bank of America acquired Meryl Lynch and Countrywide. Bear Stearns was taken over by JP Morgan Chase. Countrywide was one of the worst toxic loan culprits. It’s CEO, Angelo Mozilo, was guilty of fraud and cutting special deals with connected elites, including Chris Dodd and Barney Frank who famously poo pooed George Bush’s warnings about trouble ahead if Congress didn’t enact reforms.
The BofA deal to acquire Countrywide was called on of the worst business decisions ever made since it resulted in billions in payouts and losses for loan modifications, class action suits, trade Commission claims, security repurchases, settlement payouts to private investors, penalties, civil fraud charges, and legal fees for Angelo Mozilo, and last but not least, absorption of Countrywide losses.
Good deeds never go unpunished. Fast forward six years to Eric Holder’s sense of justice and a shake down of Bank of America:
Extortion: Radical Democrat activist groups stand to collect millions from Attorney General Eric Holder’s record $17 billion deal to settle alleged mortgage abuse charges against Bank of America.
Buried in the fine print of the deal, which includes $7 billion in soft-dollar consumer relief, are a raft of political payoffs to Obama constituency groups. In effect, the government has ordered the nation’s largest bank to create a massive slush fund for Democrat special interests.
Paul Mirengoff gives his take on the foul extortion scheme on Powerline.
Those who are naive enough to think the banks have not paid dearly for the meltdown had better think again. They have actually been paying, and paying, and paying since the scheme to pressure banks to make bad loans was first conceived back in the nineties. The radicals that have come to power in the Democrat Party operate under the same criminal tactics used by the mob ans socialist tyrants. Greed and power drive them. Control and manipulation is the game they play whether it be in making redistribution promises to the lowest citizen or extortion of bankers and business with plenty of cash ripe for the taking. None of it is honest or practical and none of it does anything to actually help people. Look at the state of our nation.
The Obama administration is using America as its personal piggy bank and we are all paying a very heavy price one way or another. Unemployment and high poverty rates have been the result for the middle and lower classes. Instead of doing honest business with the American people Bank of America has agreed to pay this $17 billion settlement even though not a single case of harm has been cited in the complaint. They pay simply because fighting Eric Holder in the courts would cost them even more money. It doesn’t help that the American people have bought, hook, line and sinker, that it is Wall Street corruption, rather then the corruption, criminality, and socialist activism of Democrat Party leaders that created conditions for the meltdown.
Related reading regarding Angelo Mozilo and the socilaist stinkin’ thinkin’ that put this debacle in motion is well articulated here:
Countrywide Financial Corporation’s failure stands as a monument as to how integrating egalitarianism and political correctness, into a business plan, is downright poisonous.
February 4, 2003 marks the day when Countrywide Financial’s shareholders should have dumped every last share of their stock. For on this day Angelo Mozilo made a presentation, at The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, titled The American Dream of Homeownership: From Cliché to Mission. This is the day that Mr. Mozilo revealed to the world that political correctness had infected his mind. He openly declared that sound credit underwriting was tantamount to judgmentalism and, therefore, anti-egalitarian. How dare anyone judge anyone else — credit standards be damned. Subprime mortgages, accordingly, were going to be a blessing for America since everyone deserves a house. Oh how political correctness feels so good. He worshiped the mortgage socialism hatched in the New Deal along with every federal-housing program introduced in the succeeding decades. A true credit professional would have been horrified by this speech; which indubitably was met with approving applause by the pseudo-intellectual, limousine liberals populating Harvard University. February 4, 2003 is the day Countrywide Financial’s Board of Directors should have fired Mr. Mozilo. (Emphasis mine)
Bank of America will survive these egregious assaults to it’s finances and business. The question is, will America survive the government corruption?
Again it matters none which party is in office. White Collar crime does not get jailed. They get a fine and the stock goes up that is capitalism all by itself.
So let us take the GOP policy of further deregulating the banks! What the heck they are raking in billions!. They get money from the fed under 1% buy some bonds so taxpayers will pay them interest and lend some of it to taxpayers at high rates.
Everything is a radical democrats fault……
Actually everything goes back to the Reagan admin and beyond….
Deregulating the banks and allowing them to use depositor funds in risky business… heck they are planning a crash right before the election to Blame Obama so get your post ready and explain how the free markets with no regulation will make them more honest.
Truth be told no President can fix this the people have to but as long as the GOP are the angels of wealth while their platform boldly suggest the opposite…….. We all loose.
Frankly I can not wait for the crash… Maybe people will stop this crap.
Subprime mortgages and all the products that crashed it before are back… If this admin tried to regulate…. what would happen the Congress would block
So Hooray! The caucus room meeting is working and there will be no middle class.. the goal…banks win!
So which is it? No regulation or regulation cause ya can not complain about the banks and then turn around and say no regulation let the free markets work.
There is no such thing as free markets. Profit is first, no rules? People loose.
Shall we jail all those radicals?
Dewey I beg to differ with you about the parties. The current crew from Chicago is engaging in flagrant abuses of power and redistribution of billions of dollars using the power, not the authority but the power, of government to harass, intimidate and extort money from banks.
White collar criminals do go to jail so that’s a flat out lie. Often justice is better served, and indeed the penalty fits the crime, when the criminal loses his shirt and pays heavy financial penalties. Obviously his career will be over as well.
But this story isn’t about white collar crime.
This is about abuse of power and an attorney general who is using his office to intimidate and extort big chunks of cash which he then distributes to wealthy donors and left activists.
“So let us take the GOP policy of further deregulating the banks!
Another damn liberal lie. Republicans have NEVER advocated zero regulation…NEVER!
Regulations should serve the people and the banks. They should not serve to empower politicians!
Regulations should protect consumers and keep banks honest.
Regulations that forced banks and lending institutions to lower lending standards are not good regulations and they should be ended! Hence the call for deregulation.
A good test about the regulations in question. Would you loan several thousand dollars to a neighbor that has no job, no credit history, and nothing to put up as collateral? Didn’t think so.
But that is what the liberal regulations forced banks to do. Next the greedy elites discovered a way to sell bad loans in bundles to F&F…Jamie Gorelick couldn’t wait to buy them up because she was making fat bonuses off the deals AND they were sold as SAFE because they were backed up by the government…what could possibly go wrong?
“…lend some of it to taxpayers at high rates”
The fed sets the rates Dewey and they have kept them artificially low (near 0%) at the behest of the president for at least six years. This left government likes low rates because of all of their borrowing. Its part of the QE scheme to keep rates low to control inflation (while raising taxes). How well has that worked out?
“…they are planning a crash right before the election to Blame Obama ”
Dewey this IS Obama’s policy. The fed are led by his guys. When/If a crash comes it will be a direct result of these policies.
“…so get your post ready and explain how the free markets with no regulation will make them more honest.”
Dewey do you care about the truth or are you just determined to continue to repeat the same garbage over and over? Does it matter to you that the people have regulations that work for everyone?
The truth is that MOST of the regulations we have WERE written by Democrats. They had control of Congress for most of a good fifty years following the New Deal. Even the No child Left Behind legislation blamed on Bush was written by Ted Kennedy’s office in Bush’s mistaken belief that Republicans and Democrats could “work together to do positive things for the American people.”
Big government IS a Democrat idea so don’t try to tell me that the millions and millions of pages of regulations that the American people are expected to understand and comply with are a result of conservative or Republican values and ideals. The most we have been able to do is come up with a few reforms. The worst you can say about the Republicans is that they don’t act boldly enough to restore government to its proper size and that’s bad enough.
“Subprime mortgages and all the products that crashed it before are back… If this admin tried to regulate…. what would happen the Congress would block ”
Dewey…the sub-prime mortgage is the democrats baby…it was created as another tool for buying votes and redistributing money. Regulations written under Carter and expanded under Clinton created the conditions for sub-prime lending. Obama was part of the legal team that harassed the banks to make those loans on threat of lawsuit!
Free markets are not free of regulation, Dewey.
“Free markets” mean markets free of government interference…free of government favoritism and cronyism.
Regulations have a simple purpose. They should protect the consumer, the depositor, and the investor. They should be designed to keep banks honest and competitive. Government’s position should be neutral! Regulations should be clear, no loop holes, and easy to understand. Compliance should not demand a team of legal experts.
Our Constitution is not that complex and yet it provides an excellent context. School children can read and understand it.
The only reason to write complex regulation is that it allows for manipulation and abuse…creativity!
People don’t lose in a system like that Dewey…they gain! People would have more opportunity to save and make interest on their savings. They would have opportunities to acquire loans for boats, cars, homes, or businesses in a safe environment.
Smart regulations create confidence in the people. Simple regulations help regulators weed out the bad apples.
When government attempts to engineer a social outcome, as they did with the housing scheme, banks and consumers soon find themselves in the weeds.
Last retort to your ridiculous pronouncement about profit: Profit is not a four letter word. There is nothing inherently evil in making profit.
Voting radicals out who use government for their own personal power and greed would suffice. Hillary and Bill didn’t have a pot to pee in when they left office to hear her tell it. Now they spend $50 million a year on jet travel. How does that happen?
I don’t like any politician that uses power to enrich himself. I hate big socialist government more because it is by its very nature unjust. Our relatives who came over on the Mayflower discovered as much the first year when they tried a communal model. It was an utter failure until they introduced private property and personal responsibility:
I urge you to read the full article.
Tina
Always so quick to call people a liar! LOL
makes me wonder where you get your info.
That is not a lie only low level white collar crime goes to jail…
You know we are talking about the financial failure, crash, and bailouts and DOJ….. Americans are pissed they did not go to jail! No matter who is president the big dogs do not go to jail. Tina I was in the industry…..
But several years after the financial crisis, which was caused in large part by reckless lending and excessive risk taking by major financial institutions, no senior executives have been charged or imprisoned, and a collective government effort has not emerged. This stands in stark contrast to the failure of many savings and loan institutions in the late 1980s. In the wake of that debacle, special government task forces referred 1,100 cases to prosecutors, resulting in more than 800 bank officials going to jail. Among the best-known: Charles H. Keating Jr., of Lincoln Savings and Loan in Arizona, and David Paul, of Centrust Bank in Florida.
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/must-read/in-financial-crisis-no-prosecutions-of-top-figures
There are many sources try using them…and dare to call Bernie a liar and it will show you do not watch Gov! In fact He is my wish for president! Hardest working long time senator in congress that has not used the office to get rich.
Dewey…the sub-prime mortgage is the democrats baby… –
Tina it is Wall Streets baby and like I said all administrations are guilty…You do not get it I am not a democrat or republican… I call it what it is
Banks run the world! Fund the wars! and are ripping us off! History? The creation of the fed? Really Read history!
That is why having politicians write laws for donors and ignore the citizens is so important an issue Citizens United sealed our fate….
Tina I have been involved in financial markets, real estate and Insurance believe me I know very well how it works! The Fed is a scam, revolving door of bank CEO’s moving between the banks and the Fed! The DOJ is full of them as well. They were not all hired by The att gen. so I will skip your explanation…
Believe what you want…. the truth is still the truth.. American Exceptionalism is a Farce
This is about abuse of power and an attorney general who is using his office to intimidate and extort big chunks of cash which he then distributes to wealthy donors and left activists. –
And I replied …That is not true that is
propaganda….
The DOJ has many the same people in it from Bush, They make backroom deals get away with it! happens no matter who is president
You are repeating propaganda! I can read that stuff anywhere in Kochland!
Oh but the recent fines have the Koch machine all fired up when in fact after the fines their stock goes up and they make $$$$!
People don’t lose in a system like that Dewey…they gain! People would have more opportunity to save and make interest on their savings. They would have opportunities to acquire loans for boats, cars, homes, or businesses in a safe environment
No Tina Conservative polices have failed us many times starting with Harding! Those were the best example of unregulated markets….
I have fingerprints up at the SEC do you? try to explain it to me? I think Not!
Look you are entitled to your views but I call Epic Fail by koch Propaganda! How many times do we have to live the failure of conservative policies
I said this is the 21st century… We are forced into a Global economy now… People have more money when they make more not attain more debt they can not pay at high interest. Simple economics.. Wages must track up in some relation to profit not higher debt!
Wage inequality was the failure of Harding’s America and remains the failure of Reagan on up to the present!
Clinton gave us nafta it failed as as all trade treaties have
Funny why are you not complaining about the new Trade treaties Bush now Obama is pushing?
have you done the research?
When Walmart is the #1 Employer of a country you will have a third world country of poverty collecting food stamps to eat!
Who said profit is bad? No one in all of America is saying profit is bad! It is how it is obtained!
And no comment on the inversions?
Just take a look at Rick perry’s laws! LOL he even tried to mandate a vaccination for 6th grade girls for std’s! and if you look behind the curtain that drug company gave mucho money to Perry Pacs but only 5K to him directly
Forget it you just believe the Brainwash…. Libertarian Utopia ! But you ignore the actual agenda which is plainly written by david Koch’s VP Platform in the 80’s
Do you even know Nixon was Prescott Bush’s Boy? Karl Rove was a Top college republican for the campaign ?
These cronies have not changed they want corporate rule and quite frankly we use the word Oligarchy cause Conservatives do not understand what fascism is. They relate it to Hitler who wrongly used the word…
Tina Sorry but No time to sit here and go through the same propaganda found on every RW Blog…
But calling me a liar is unbecoming when you know darn well the top bankers got off..
My response is to the whole premise of your story…
How many times are we going to let conservative policies destroy our country…. Bush better be the last time!
Congress is the failure here…. And the caucus room meeting? you ignore that?
Ok Thanks Obama everything wrong in the world is your fault cause they say so
I want to fix gov and do not want the markets to govern…I do not think selling our roads ect to foreign countries to charge us any toll they choose cause we have no say is better….
Independents for fixing the gov and balancing Capitalism and socialism to work together and allow America to prosper again
You act like those making Billions and paying no taxes through loopholes are some kind of wizards…
Good Day….. No more name calling and you clearly do not have the info to which I was speaking….
Dewey it took me eight years to finally use the L word. I don’t do anything quickly. You don’t have to wonder where I get my information either. I provide a lot of links. As for my thoughts and opinions I am an avid conservative and not in the least bit obtuse.
“That is not a lie only low level white collar crime goes to jail”
Sorry pal, a number of high level white collar criminals have been sent to jail:
The thing is they make headlines when the crime comes to light but when they are sentenced it only hits the back pages. Wouldn’t want the public to let go of the notion that there is no justice in America. Democrats and the liberal press have too much invested in creating resentment and class envy! Oh and by the way, that makes your statement a lie or at best a belief system you hold in error.
“Tina I was in the industry…”
So was I but gee Dewey, is there an industry you were not “in”? And so what?
“…which was caused in large part by reckless lending and excessive risk taking by major financial institutions”
Nobody denies that major risk taking happened. The point is that the tools to take that risk was MANDATED BY THE GOVERNMENT! Exuberance did fuel the creation of a bubble but there was no mechanism for monitoring the amount of risk just for creating toxic loans, bundling them, and selling them to F&F. It was all standing on a house of sand…bad regulations…and it was for the most part legal.
Had the government not written the stupid regulations that forced lowering lending standards to make bad loans NONE OF THIS would have happened! That’s why there was no jail time, but as this article demonstrates, there is a lot of room for progressive government operatives like Holder to exploit the situation and extort large piles of cash for redistribution.
Liberals and apologists for progressive government turn themselves into pretzels trying to dismiss the governments role when it is fundamental to the problem. And which party was both the creator of the regulations that made the mess and in charge of Congress as it fell apart?
” In the wake of that debacle, special government task forces referred 1,100 cases to prosecutors, resulting in more than 800 bank officials going to jail.
I thought you said white collar criminals are never punished!
I don’t know why you are so upset with me. I have not said the guilty should go unpunished.
This post is about corruption in government. It would be good if you could bring yourself to comment on that!
And the trouble with the S&L’s in the eighties began in the seventies:
And the left tries to say that Reagan didn’t face the problems Obama faced! Hooey!
“and dare to call Bernie a liar ”
As I recall you are the only person on this blog that has ever mentioned Bernie Sanders. I wouldn’t call Bernie a liar but I certainly wouldn’t support him for office. He helped establish the progressive party in Vermont and is a self-described socialist. Socialism runs counter to American ideals and against individual liberty and rights to property . Progressives believe in shared ownership, communalism and a big government elite power structure that exists to tell everyone how to run their lives. Every system that is sick or failing all across the globe is socialist in nature (Whether Marx or Mussolini)!
And please do not quote the Bible in defense of socialism either. The Bible speakes to idividuals. We are admonished to be charitable as individuals. The notion that charity is redistribution from one to another through government and taxes, and that it’s Biblical is nonesense. It is a Marxist idea with atheism at it’s heart: From each according to his means/ability to each according to his need.
“it is Wall Streets baby”
Wall Street did not write the legislation directing the banks to lower lending standards. Wall Street did not take banks to court for not making enough bad loans. Wall street didn’t threaten banks with low ratings if they didn’t play ball. Wall Street didn’t conceive of bundling bad loans , Democrats at Fannie Mae did. All of this meddling set in motion the irrational exuberance in the housing market. It was too easy to get loans for houses and then flip them as the market demand made prices go higher. Investers jumped on the band wagon! Government interference…socialist social engineering…created theconditions that produced the mess…it was their baby! Legislation has consequences. Progressives rarely think about the possible down side in what they do.
“You do not get it I am not a democrat or republican ”
Big deal. Your comments say you are a socialist. Bernie, your candidate of choice is a socialist and caucuses with the Democrats. Calling yourself an independent means nothing…you still think like a progressive Democrat and support the same causes and agenda.
” Citizens United sealed our fate….”
Whatever “fate” may have been sealed was sealed long before Citizens United.
Much of the damage that sealed our “fate” was done in 1913 when our first big progressive Democrat president, Wilson, established the Federal Reserve Bank with mostly Democrats voting yea in Congress:
As for Citizens United…we now have a level playing field with respect to big money. George Soros has covertly funneled billions into progressive causes and organizations for decades. Big unions have funneled billions into progressive causes for decades. As I wrote earlier Democrats had control of the Congress for most of the fifty years following the New Deal. Whatever sealed our fate was sealed by the progressive movement you seem to think is so great. Talk about swallowing propaganda!
“The Fed is a scam…”
Created by progressives…your heroes! Bernies mentors!
” I will skip your explanation”
Perhaps that is why you remain in the dark!
“American Exceptionalism is a Farce”
Clearly you have no idea what it is!
“Conservative polices have failed us many times”
You say that but have not shown us HOW. How did conservative policies fail? Be specific.
“People have more money when they make more not attain more debt they can not pay at high interest.”
The only time in the last seventy years when we had crushing interest rates was the Carter years when the prime rate shot up to 20% and Democrats controlled Congress.
Wages must track up in some relation to profit not higher debt!
No kidding? How have we done on that score over the last eight years with progressives in control?
“Wage inequality was the failure of Harding’s America and remains the failure of Reagan on up to the present!”
Explain HOW. All you are doing is spouting a belief without backing your words up.
“When Walmart is the #1 Employer of a country you will have a third world country of poverty collecting food stamps to eat!”
When radical progressives keep our economy in the dumper people are lucky to be able to find work at a place like WalMart. Under the control of progressives in eight years we have seen the economy bump along at less than 2% growth! We have seen poverty rise and unemployment in staggering numbers! Democrats are delivering an economy in which only the 1% make money and even they are merely surviving to grow another day. They are not making money on production. They are buying back their own stock and making mergers as a means of surviving! Wall Street is on an up swing but Wall Street is not main street.
You are standing in the middle of progressive reality and trying like crazy to blame it on Republicans (The Kochs specifically who employ 0ver 600,000 people at good wages and benefits!)
How many people has your hero Bernie Sanders put to work and offered good pay and beneifits? The Kochs are also not on Wall Street. Koch Industries is a private company.
“And no comment on the inversions? ”
We have commented many times! Both about business leaving California and to escape the federal government’s punishing tax and regulation policy.
Progressive taxation and regulation, polices driving energy, product, and comodity prices up, and the real stinker, Obamacare, are forcsing companies to exit stage right. It ‘s un-American for government to be so anti-business!. Government policy should be supportive of business so they thrive and have the means and incentive to hire people.
California progressives are adding $.15 to every gallon of gas next year…how will that make life better for anyone in terms of their budgets?
It ‘s incredible…INCREDIBLE…that Canada is now more business friendly than America!
And why is America less competitive? So that Democrats can run for election pushing the class envy schtick!
It certainly isn’t because it makes better sense.
“Conservatives do not understand what fascism is”
Of course we do. We know that it is socialist in nature. Communism and fascism are very close with the central planners of government in control and diminished property rights and freedom for people. Obama is engaging in fascism with regulations in Obamacare, regulations in the energy sector. He doesn’t have to take over the companiescompletely to control them he can do it the new fascist, nonviolent way…through tight restrictions. Thus he puts coal companies out of business and pours millions of taxpayer dollars into green energy…fascism my friend is on display right now in this government. So is communism…thats what the redistribution policies are about.
“…calling me a liar is unbecoming when you know darn well the top bankers got off…”
Make your case! Don’t think you can get away with our just taking your word for it. Tell me/us who is guilty and exactly what they did that was criminal.
You cannot because even as our president said, “Well, first on the issue of prosecutions on Wall Street, one of the biggest problems about the collapse of Lehmans and the subsequent financial crisis and the whole subprime lending fiasco is that a lot of that stuff wasn’t necessarily illegal, it was just immoral or inappropriate or reckless. That’s exactly why we needed to pass Dodd-Frank, to prohibit some of these practices. ”
Smoke screen! Dodd Frank does not prevent the practice of making bad loans. In fact as you said that policy continues. Dodd Frank simply makes banking very costly and difficult resulting in a lot of trees being used for the piles of paperwork! It has also put small banks out of business.
Lawyers are doing well though…imagine that!
“How many times are we going to let conservative policies destroy our country…. Bush better be the last time”
Bush didn’t cause the crash. He didn’t write the legislation that caused the crash. Democrats did. Progressive Democrats and their social engineering and redistribute wealth ideals were the force behind the policies that caused the crash. Progressive Saul Alinsky activists, trained and led by Barack Obama helped create the conditions on the ground. Bush tried many times to get Congress to act and the Democrats of Ways and Means blocked him.
“Obama everything wrong in the world is your fault cause they say so ”
.
NO! Not because I say so. Because I can explain how and show you the evidence. Because a little common sense applied reveals the truth in what I’m saying. I dont want you to believe me. I want you to come to your own understanding by looking at the evidence and understanding the history, the ideology and methods.
I want to fix gov and do not want the markets to govern.
Good. How?
“fixing the gov and balancing Capitalism and socialism to work together ”
Do you not see that these are at odds? What is the incentive to risk my savings or go into debt to start a business when socialist government takes 60% (and growing) away from me and writes complex regulations that cause my costs to go sky high, micro-manages my hiring, and make it difficult to conduct business? Why would I work my butt off so socialist government can take my money to give to people who don’t work or produce anything, to give to special interest groups who don’t take a personal risk but rely on governemtn grants (taxpayer money).
Socialism creates shared misery and invites corruption and fraud, waste and abuse, and big fat bureaucracies filled with paper pushers who produce nothing and are very expensive overhead. Socialism diminishes liberty and property rights.
“You act like those making Billions and paying no taxes through loopholes are some kind of wizards”
1. They have to be pretty darn smart to have accumulated their wealth. progressives don’t have any qualms about taking their money to run for election. (Hypocrites)
2. Loop holes are written by Congress…a lot of them progressives in Congress.
3. Conservative Republicans have been calling for a simplified tax system without loop holes for decades! Democrats, particularly progressives, want none of it because that’s one area where they can continue in their corporatist games and payback schemes.
4. Lawyers are also incorporated…they use loopholes too and there are a lot of progressive Democrat lawyers in and out of congress!
“Good Day….. No more name calling and you clearly do not have the info to which I was speaking”
Yeah great…come on back when you have an actual argument to put forth.
And on a final note. I just read back through my original comment above. I did not call you or anyone else a “name”… I don’t have any idea what information you are referring to…as usual your remark is incredibly vague.