Foreclosure Settlement Opens New Doors for Fighting Fraudulent Banks
by Administrator
The $25.6 billion settlement on home foreclosures reached between five mega-banks—Ally/GMAC, Bank of America, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo—and 49 states, along with the federal government, is not an It's a Wonderful Life triumph of “organized people over organized money.”
But neither is it just another one-sided swindle perpetrated by the “the banksters,” as the 1930's “Hellhound of Wall Street” prosecutor Ferdinand Pecora called them. That's the story suggested by respected progressive Wall Street observers Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone and Pam Martens of Counterpunch.
Instead, the deal puts the foreclosure-fraud struggle on a new level, demanding continued struggle in the spirit and through strategies exemplified by the Occupy movement. It's a partial setback for the banks, forcing them to cough up a sizable (but still inadequate) chunk of money while shamefully shielding them legally on some key issues. But at the same time, it creates a federal task force, headed by the aggressive New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, and more clear-cut options for victimized families and housing advocates to pursue.
Let's begin with an overview of the foreclosure-fraud crisis as neatly summarized by Zach Carter:
Posted:
February 22nd, 2012 |
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