By Matt Stoller, the former Senior Policy Advisor to Rep. Alan Grayson and a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. You can reach him at stoller (at) gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @matthewstoller
Last month we had New York Fed Board Member Kathryn Wylde whining and meddling about Eric Schneiderman’s investigation into big banks. That seriously backfired. HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan put pressure on him as well, and that didn’t go over so well. And after Tom Miller petulantly stopped allowing Schneiderman on his AG conference calls, there was a mini-media storm over the rancid character of the DOJ and bankster-owned Miller. None of the insider signals worked, so now it’s on to stage two of neutralize Schneiderman. It’s time for…. the smear campaign!
Two editorial boards are coming out and using innuendo to paint Schneiderman as a self-promoter looking to make a name for himself by unfairly tarnishing banks. It’s pretty standard – throw up rumors that have a narrative basis in the American psyche, and chip away at public faith. Here’s the Washington Post’s editorial.
The majority of the other attorneys general, led by Tom Miller of Iowa, have kicked Mr. Schneiderman out of the negotiations, accusing him of making excessive demands. Mr. Schneiderman protests that the banks are to blame, for trying to use the robo-signing case to get immunity they could use on the securities front. Mr. Miller and his colleagues respond that they have no intention of letting the banks off that particular hook.
We’re tempted to declare a pox on everyone’s house — or at least say that the banks are getting what they deserve for being sloppy, and that the attorneys general are getting what they deserve for exploiting an overblown scandal to shake down the banks.
After all, the banks will have to come up with that $20 billion somehow — perhaps through reduced lending and higher fees. That wouldn’t be a problem if the money were going to compensate victims. But it won’t, because there don’t seem to be many victims
Notice the lie (repeated below in the other editorial) – that the majority of Attorneys General threw Schneiderman off the 50 state task force. No, it was Tom Miller’s decision, period. Or at least, that’s what some newspaper called The Washington Post reported last week.
So why is the Post lying about this situation? Why the split between the news and editorial? It might have something to do with, well, money! You see, the Washington Post newspaper isn’t profitable, the company makes most of its money from its for-profit educational subsidiaries (hence the nickname “Kaplan Test Prep Daily), including its for-profit university. And guess who is investigating the shady practices of the subprime university educational racket?
Mr. Schneiderman is looking into whether the schools and their recruiters misrepresent their ability to find students jobs, the quality of instruction, the cost of attending, and their programs accreditation, among other things. Such activities could constitute deceptive trade practices or fraud.
Oops. Looks like the Washington Post has a financial interest in kneecapping the New York Attorney General. While Kaplan isn’t being investigated, the entire sector is reliant on government subsidies that are at risk should criminal charges nail a few of the schools.
Next up is the New York Daily News, a paper which has now gone after Schneiderman twice for… being an elected official. The latest hit is that Schneiderman sent out an email to his political list after getting pressure from Tom Miller and the Obama administration. The horror! A politician wants to communicate his side of the story after the President, major money center banks and the New York Fed go after him. How inappropriate! For shame!
It’s not like the regulators, banks, and Tom Miller’s office have been leaking like a sieve and lying to the press for months. Oh wait, they have. And it’s not like Tom Miller took enormous sums of money from out of state banks and then turned around to negotiate a sweetheart deal with those same banks. Oh wait, he did.
Finally, there’s Mort Zuckerman himself, the real estate billionaire who owns the New York Daily News. He wouldn’t have a financial interest in the banks, would he? Well, let’s see. In 2008, he was busted shilling for a bailout of Citigroup, because Citigroup rented more than a million square feet of space from his company. The guy went on TV and passionately advocated public policy positions that would help his bottom line, while owning major media outlets. Fascinating.
Schneiderman’s gotten on the wrong side of some very aggressive and very powerful people. It’s enjoyable to watch them flail around, at least for a little while.. They have given him hints, they have told him publicly and privately to back down, and you can hear the increasing frustration at New York cocktail parties. He should just know better, right? For now, it’s fruitless – they can’t sway him, and they can’t destroy him, and everything they try backfires. It’s not only hilarious, it’s also a window into just how these people exercise power.
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Drew my conclusion when I came across this:
“the Washington Post newspaper isn’t profitable, the company makes most of its money from its for-profit educational subsidiaries (hence the nickname Kaplan Test Prep Daily), including its for-profit university. And guess who is investigating the shady practices of the subprime university educational racket?
Mr. Schneiderman is looking into whether the schools and their recruiters misrepresent their ability to find students jobs, the quality of instruction, the cost of attending, and their programs accreditation, among other things. Such activities could constitute deceptive trade practices or fraud.
Oops. Looks like the Washington Post has a financial interest in kneecapping the New York Attorney General.”
What an old-school ass-kickng Stoller has delivered here.
Does the Washington Post have the nut sack to posit an explanation?
“… the company makes most of its money from its for-profit educational subsidiaries (hence the nickname Kaplan Test Prep Daily), including its for-profit university…”
Wrong…..! They are whores… That’s how they make their money….
But “whores” makes them sound like they only care about money.
They are really whores with cloaked agendas that go beyond mere money.
Good eye, Matt. Nicely done.
hear, hear!
Re: WaPo editorial, “…shaking down the banks”. I say, “……shaking down the banks”?? WTF? Banksters have proven themselves time and time again over these several years to be exemplary practitioners of outright extortion of taxpayer coin, and if there ever was a reason to invoke RICO indictments, the actions and tactics of the TBTF brotherhood would head the list.
Oh,BTW, how’s that Buffet investment in BAC working out? Rather bloody-awful, as Moynihan sent to the gallows two more senior staff, in a flailing effort to be seen “doing something”.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Krawcheck-Price-Out-in-Bank-nytimes-1796049170.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=
Maybe this will draw a fawning WaPo editorial.
Clearly the editors of the WaPO don’t get out much.
I doubt you’d find even two people 100 miles outside of DC that think shaking down the banks is immoral or wrong. Or even slightly off color.
The pitchforks in America are sharp.
The pitchforks aren’t even out. Not yet anyway.
In response to this accusation/smear of “shaking down the banks, Schneiderman should declare that he will go strictly for JAIL TIME for those found guilty- no fines, no settlements.
From Elizabeth Warren to Tom Miller, how many times have we built up one of these Republican/Democrat elites into a supposed anti-elite force who “might be the only elected official willing to stick his/her neck out” only to see them cave and then have to backtrack our embrace of said hypocrite. How long til we/you/I have to admit that Schneiderman is just another spoke in their wheel who is playing their game and simply faking their resistance?
I had hoped Elizabeth Warren would join with Ron Paul or something so that we could finally end this false Right/Left/Repub/Democ paradigm…and I had hoped Tom Miller really would “send some of these bankers to jail”. Now we have Warren trying to paint herself into a Democrat-pay-for-play Senate seat and of course Miller’s backtracking from prosecutor to crony is legendary now among the educated blogosphere.
Schneiderman will betray us all in a similar fashion — he is fully endorsed, stamped and funded by the same Republican/Democrat Fascist Regime as the rest of them.
Our only chance is to go post-partisan and vote exclusively away from the R/D paradigm. How hard can that really be?
Uh, Ron Paul is part of it. You don’t get the games’s rules at all, thus you don’t understand the game.
Who said Ron Paul wasn’t part of it? I said Elizabeth Warren and Ron Paul together would at least destroy the false left/right paradigm in most American voters’ heads.
It isn’t going to be elites that reform the system, and cults of personality aren’t useful. I’m with you on that. It takes the hard work of convincing people, one by one, that they need a better and different system and can have one. That means that we need better elites. It’s worth pointing out people like Schneiderman (and Masto, and Biden) are able to do things, that the current system isn’t inevitable. We do not live in the best of all possible worlds.
At the same time, the most likely path is collapse, and then the rebuilding of something somehow. Either way, it’s good to highlight leadership, as far as it goes. I don’t believe anyone is a saint, but some people deserve praise, and others, scorn.
Warren would NEVER join Ron Paul. He is refreshingly candid on many topics, but some of his views are batshit.
Warren’s strength and weakness is she is a brilliant technocrat. She is very data and research driven and will describe the pathologies of the system in great detail. But her instincts are to work within the system, and she is not willing to see that the elites as a class are deeply corrupt.
I humbly submit that this attitude (“NEVER”) is part of the problem, especially when you consider that most of what you consider “batshit” about Ron Paul are the things least likely to be implemented as actual policy.
As President, of course, Ron Paul could immediately end the wars, which, as all right-thinking people understand, is the most important policy position of all.
Never? Really?
That is exactly what I said the other day of Huffpo – he’d end the wars and prevent thousands upon thousands of potential deaths. He is firmly anti-establishment and that really has the insiders worried. There are all these webpages from liberals themselves on how the man is anti-abortion, anti-science blah blah blah. My guess is they want you to vote Obama.
What they’re forgetting is that Paul ain’t gonna be able to do much about abortion, that would require passing legislation. I don’t think that’s possible, but as President he’d have the authority to end the occupation of the Middle East, and I think that in itself would be worth it.
As much as I appreciate the fact that Ron Paul is deeply suspicious of the Fed, which is the right attitude, most of his views about economics are disastrously wrongheaded. And I’m also no fan of much of economics.
Yves,
I would like to hear from you on which economics policies that you differ from Ron Paul.
I am fairly new to your blog so i might have missed lot of your article where you made the distinction on what i am asking here. I would appreciate if you could lay out your case or point me to some of your old articles if you have covered it before. Many THanks!!
Ron Paul is a hard-money Goldbug who supports the lunatic, contrary-to-reality, proven-wrong-a-dozen-times “Austrian school”.
The elite who wrecked the country are Friedmanite “invisible hand” worshippers, which are a slightly different breed of lunatics.
Yves is a reality-based, evidence-based type.
Yves, I had the chance to meet Elizabeth Warren the other day at one of her rather low-key events. She certainly seems quite sincere in her aims. She comes across as genuine and unpretentious. I think she’s managed to make enough progress while playing nice ‘inside’ the tent to give her further encouragement to continue with the strategy. She spoke highly of the fact that the Consumer Protection Bureau exists and that she got the single page mortgage form completed. I mentioned your idea of running for President and she’s quite familiar with your blog and she seemed to think the that the idea was over the top.
I figure she’s going to exhaust the ‘inside’ strategy before going outside and running for president would obviously lose a lot of Democratic Party insiders (not that she’s got a ton on her side). She didn’t seem too thrilled at the Senate idea, but settled on it as the least bad option. There were a few local political figures there, so she didn’t say anything bad about Democrats until pressed, and certainly didn’t name names. I made a remark to her about how I enjoyed her exchanges with Geithner and she cracked a smile that looked too big to be a courtesy smile. I still think it was one of her finest moments.
Johnny
Thanks for the report.
If she is not wild about running for the Senate, she should not be running. No one is holding a gun to her head. If you can detect her lack of enthusiasm, so will others.
Yes, she shouldn’t sign anything. After all, there is no “gun to anyone’s head” when they seek basic needs..from sociopaths. But we do it all the time, yes yves? From renting a car to getting a job so we don’t starve to innocuous web posts – vicious, one sided “contracts” for lack of a better word.
(Nice Freudian slip, Vampira :)
“I had the chance to meet Elizabeth Warren the other day at one of her rather low-key events.”
Hopefully it wasn’t here in Boston when she had lunch with Menino where she stated she’s basically going to do whatever she can to support unions. Forcing a “middle-class”, aka public employees, by stealing, appropriating, redistributing, whatever the word of the day is, to keep the unsustainable fraud going on here in The Peoples (Cambridge) Republic of Massachusetts.
http://bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1363760
Please. The Herald?
Great post, thanks. My first time here. Comments are interesting, and I see that Boston papers are quoted as well as NY Times & WP. I live in Boston & stopped reading the papers here for some time now, just as I stopped watching ABC channel 5 news, & stopped CNN as well as others. It’s tough to get factual reporting today. Lots of pundits with agendas and so many “freedom” something heritage groups of thinkers of BS.
Real Journalism is being replaced with “cut & paste” types. Twitter is a stat way for me to get info from around the world quickly & how I got to this site.
One big problem for working people today is the ALEC effect and there isn’t much being written or enough written and reported on.
The “Corp. Citizen” is infecting everything from our laws to our paycheck and more. ALEC and it’s alumni, Cantor & Rubio et all, will try to take any power the people may have and strip it down to nothing.
E.Warren lost to a bunch of hit men for Alec.
Her replacement will also be lost.
The agency won’t get funded.
This is a killer for people like me who remember when we did have Consumer protection & I remember when Banks couldn’t sell investments & Ins. Co. couldn’t either.
So much noise but no one voice is being heard.
The people of this country are getting screwed by banksters and always will unless they are truly regulated.
http://articles.boston.com/2011-09-06/news/30119626_1_elizabeth-warren-democratic-candidates-bob-massie
lambert strether says:
“Please. The Herald?”
Feel better? Same quotes, same place, although I was in error on lunch, it was breakfast.
The message is the same.
“Forcing a “middle-class”…”
Say what?
How the hell do you think we ever GOT a middle class in this country? By asking politely and unctuously to the barons of hyper-wealth of pre-WWII “Pretty Please, oh Master”??
Not quite! Several hundreds (if not thousands) workers lost their lives, countless others their means of subsistence because they fought blatant injustice and exploitation.
I do not want to know what kind of country the US would be now if the Robber Barons had kept their grip on power.
Yves,
Ron Paul’s views could be bat shit but then so is the total lunacy of the MMT crowd pretending coin seigniorage can be used to generate trillions of dollars of government spending and that it would not be a hyper-inflationary doorway to the end of the U.S. dollar.
It might be a good idea to learn a bit about MMT before you disparage it.
…and about how energy underlies all economics and finance. Helicopter Ben can drop dollars but that will not create one single drop of oil, the source of modern society’s real deficits.
What are the BAT SHIT views of Ron Paul?
And if you are an Israeli First Jew… PLEASE admit the bias UPFRONT.
I’m sick of people calling Paul BAT SHIT because they are stealth operatives for murderous Jews in Israel.
Dear Marks;
I’m a gentile who lived in Miami Beach during the heyday of the upper middle class there. There were plenty of poor jews living in semi poverty down on the old South Beach.
Not many of them were rabid Zionists either. You seem to be making a basic mistake in your thinking here. The real issue isn’t race or etnicity, it’s CLASS. Let me testify to the fact that you can be treated just as badly by a rich Latino as by a rich Episcopalian. Jews are just an easier target for scapegoating because they have preserved a distinct religious culture and refuse to voluntarily assimilate into the Flavor of the Day culture of ours. After all, lots of us get a guilty pleasure from scapegoating true Fundamentalist Protestants. My point is, don’t oppose the people, oppose their policies if you disagree with them. Goodnight, and good luck.
I am old Yankee, with 11 ancestors on the Mayflower.
Ron Paul is batshit. And I’ve lost friends by arguing against Iran warmongering.
You and your bigotry can go to hell.
It’s all George Carlin’s “BIG CLUB”
And you (and I) ain’t in it.
Who can forget the health care payola. What was it, 25K for access? It’s a country club, and you ain’t in it.
“We are hurtling back into a Soviet abyss, into an information vacuum that spells death from our own ignorance. All we have left is the internet, where information is still freely available. For the rest, if you want to go on working as a journalist, it’s total servility to Putin. Otherwise, it can be death, the bullet, poison, or trial—whatever our special services, Putin’s guard dogs, see fit.”
— Anna Politkovskaya
i dont think we are there in the US…. yet…..
We’re there. Been there for a while now. But here we’re more velvet glove than Iron Fist. They don’t poison you, they just kill your career and blacklist you – which in America is essentially the same thing.
But it’s just as unsustainable, because the elite can’t manage to provide the bread (they’re doing OK on the circuses).
For more on the Soviet-US comparison, see “The Collapse Gap”, by Dmitri Orlov. Absolutely accurate, really. I think at this point we need to focus on closing the “collapse gap”.
“KURTZ (7/3/09): Washington Post Publisher Katharine Weymouth yesterday canceled plans for a series of policy dinners at her home after learning that marketing fliers offered corporate underwriters access to Post journalists, Obama administration officials and members of Congress in exchange for payments as high as $250,000.”
Matt, I would not be so sanguine about the humor in all this. Words are not machetes, but they can cut you down. This is a dangerous time for Mr. Schneiderman. They are hunting him. I am a complete neophyte at this, but having watched how this game is played, I offer Mr. Schneiderman the following advice. From now on, at any event where you may be asked a question or two, think this way: you have no ambition for higher elected office, none; your goal is to protect the people of NY by enforcing the law, period; you love your wife and children; etc., etc. Stay the hell out of bars and brothels. Put your wife on your arm and display open affection (kiss her you fool). Don’t forget what they did to Eliot. TPTB have declared open season on you – don’t expect mercy. Indeed, if you have something on these guys, some minor faux pas, bust ’em. Yes, bust em. Not as revenge, but as a warning to others not to kick dirt in your face. That is the kind of game you are in. Nice guys finish last.
And Eric? Don’t go up in small planes.
My impression is he has no ambition for higher office. That is what makes him so dangerous.
Assuming for the sake of argument that he’s sincere in all this, he still wants to work only within the same criminal system, and toward the same criminal goals, just in a “reformed” way. (He explicitly said his goal is to “restore faith” in the mortgage delusion. So he’s really pushing another version of the HAMP scam, just at the broader cultural level.)
So in that case, he’ll end up destroyed on account of that he was neither hot nor cold but lukewarm. It’s not possible to fight the elites from within their premises.
Tom “”Shitty” Deal” Montag, leaving behind the crimes committed at Goldman Sachs, is promoted to COO at BAC, reporting directly to its CEO.
Mr. Montag remarked about his promotion, “Thank god for crime, amd firms that appreciate a good sleaze-ball like Bank of America.”
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Krawcheck-Price-Out-in-Bank-nytimes-1796049170.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=
Particularly stupid when you realize the fix is to do away with all bank-friendly regulation from the past 30 years. The State Bank of North Dakota is a wonderful bank, from what I can tell, and the unemployment rate in North Dakota is extremely low.
way to out the post for being full of shit dude. another permutation of SHUT THE FOX UP and other inaccurate media outlets.
show those repugnantcunts whose boss.
xxooo
alia
In a somewhat fussbudget moment, it seems important to point out that Mr. Stoller is not, repeat not, engaging in guilt by association, those bizarre chains right wing blowhards offer with Wagnerian gravitas.
While, on paper, Kaplan and WaPo and WaPo editorial are separate and independent, the daily reality is one entity under management, with a handful of technocrats calling the shots. Nobody is going to step on the airhose.
http://www.truth-out.org/14-propaganda-techniques-fox-news-uses-brainwash-americans/1309612678
I though WaPo owned truthdig. Bazing!
So, where are the RICO indictments?
American Bankster
http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/176_173/mortgage-reinsurance-respa-kickbacks-hud-investigation-doj-1041928-1.html
Banks Took $6B in Reinsurance Kickbacks, Investigators Say
Many of the country’s largest banks received $6 billion in kickbacks from mortgage insurers over the course of a decade, according to a previously undisclosed investigation by the Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
[…]
Documents from the investigation show that the inspector general’s staff concluded that banks and insurance companies had created elaborate financial structures that had the appearance of reinsurance but failed to transfer significant amounts of risk to their bank underwriters.
Some of the deals were designed to return a 400% profit on a bank’s investment during good years and remain profitable even in the event of a real estate collapse.
Making matters worse, banks allegedly forced unknowing consumers to buy more insurance than they needed and failed to properly disclose the reinsurance agreements, another RESPA violation.
So what if . . .
Everyone who had a mortgage from one of these barons–2008 total deposit in Billions-
JP Morgan Chase & Co. New York, NY$1,0092
Bank of America Charlotte, NC$8843
Wells FargoSan Francisco, CA$7854
CitigroupNew York, NY$7745
PNC Financial Services GroupPittsburgh, PA$1936
HSBC HoldingsLondon$1617
Bank of New York MellonNew York, NY$1608
U.S. BancorpMinneapolis, MN$1599
SunTrust BankAtlanta, GA$11310
State Street Corp.Boston, MA$11211
Capital One FinancialMcClean, VA$10912
BB&T Corporation Winston-Salem, NC$98.7
-were to suddenly call up and say
“Prove to me that you’re no fool and show legit lines of ownership for my mortgage which you supposedly securitized.”
Upon failure of that little question, for those who are able, hire a lawyer and refuse to make anymore payments.
Have a credit card balance from one of these feudal-like viscounts?
Stop paying immediately
If even a small percentage of the consumers in debt, large or small stopped their payments maybe someone would wake up.
i suspect that many people have in fact stopped paying on their credit cards, far more people than the banks would like it to be known. i remember seeing the term “de facto bankruptcy” awhile back as a term for an action that will spread as people lose jobs, homes, everything. yves has noted, IIRC, that since the 2008 meltdown HELOCs have been considered uncollectable–though Treasury has instructed the TBTF banks to retain them on their books as assets (hope i remember this right). if this is true of HELOCs, it would seem likely of other forms of debt outstanding.
once your credit rating is gone, there’s not much they can do to induce you to pay up. more and more people are beginning to realize they’ve been literally robbed up down and sideways by the financial industry and that not repaying what they “owe” is a way to right the balance, without any moral compunction left. and some commenters see a debt revolt on the horizon.
some states have legal protections of debtors that prohibit garnishment of more than a specified fraction of a debtor’s income, so as to help people to some extent to meet their basic needs no matter how big their debt. people considering not paying should look into these protections in the law of their home state. the website or office of the state AG is a good place to start–no lawyer required.
banks are also making very favorable settlement offers to large numbers of such creditors. they are becoming increasingly desperate, as more and more people simply don’t have the means to repay.
I’ll let you in on a dark dirty secret about credit cards and credit ratings-the banks love us folks with bad or zero credit-the credit rating is a tool to assuage whatever smidgen of guilt the banks might have for charging 22% annual.
‘You’re a high risk so high interest is correct for your situation.’
Whatever
If wages were where they should be-
If medical care costs were in line with cost factors in other sectors.
IF – – –
Illegal garnishment is the latest tactic.
Get your pay packet in cash.
On my blog, you can see a copy of the letter Schneiderman sent to his supporters:
http://www.fraudism.com/
What’s so offensive here, I don’t see.
Also, it never ceases to amaze me that the mainstream media, in this case the NY Daily News, refuse to post documents that are the subject of stories. Clearly, they don’t want readers to be able to form their own conclusions. And they wonder why their business is dying.
Also, I started my blog after becoming an avid fan of Yves. So she should view imitation as the sincerest form of flattery.
Thank you, but already had the name and my own blog.
Every year tobacco related disease kills 400,000 people in the U.S. In 2010 The government paid tobacco companies $194,435,671 in subsidies for this service. I’m starting to believe the government might not have are best interests in mind.
Good article. Reminds me a little of Elliot Ness. Go Schneiderman!
I saw a bank analyst on CNBC yesterday afternoon say that the lawsuits against banks were hurting the economy and it was time to “let bygones be bygones”. I nearly threw up.
Yeah – We’ve got the money and you got the shaft.
And it was also said ‘with out the banks…there will be no recovery…we need them.”
Skippy…great last thought before bed time, AEST.
This is an important reason why they want to delay the collapse- let the statute of limitations run out, and use terms like, let “bygones be bygones”. This, from Law and Order type Fascists who show no mercy for any crimes committed by the underclass. Another popular meme of failed, criminal Elites is that “lessons were learned”.
Dear Friend:
You might have been following the latest developments related to the national settlement of the mortgage probe, including this story in today’s Huffington Post about our tough fight for a comprehensive resolution to this crisis.
Let me tell you directly: I am deeply committed to pursuing a full investigation into the misconduct that led to the collapse of America’s housing market, and to seeking a resolution that gives homeowners meaningful relief, allows the housing market to begin to recover, and gets our economy moving again.
Our ongoing investigation into the housing crisis cannot be shut down to accommodate efforts to settle quickly and give banks and others broad immunity from further legal action. If you have any thoughts or concerns about this critical issue, please contact me at 1-800-771-7755, or send a message via Facebook or Twitter.
Thank you for your support,
Eric T. Schneiderman
Attorney General
This sounds like standard Rupert Murdock operational procedures! The new mega-media isn’t the internet afterall. It is age-old crony corruption, same as it ever was.
The guy is a terrorist and the Seals are gonna take him out.
Interesting. Quite a few astroturfer trolls in the Huff Po comments started the smear campaign a couple of weeks ago. It was amusing to watch them get bashed. My local paper has had absolutely no stories about the settlement. Mum’s the word.
Thanks so much for this Matt. I fleshed out the Kaplan grossness a little more here: http://abigailcfield.com/?p=288
We also have to remember that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is a major stockholder in Washington Post Company — and that Buffett, before his latest purchase of Bank of America preferred stock, held and continue to hold a large stake in Wells Fargo.
On my site I noted several instances in 2009 of how Buffett became instrumental in supporting the unconditional federal bailouts of the major banks. To his own benefit, of course. Just think of what might have happened if he spoke out against them in October 2008…
Today, BofA is shuffling, tomorrow all of them will follow..They probably just love this song: http://tinyurl.com/3t234jq
If we don’t stand up right now, we may as well be dead, because this is no life anymore, this is pure slavery!
Please read about MA Essex County Register of Deeds and his fight to uncover the truth, to help us protect our basic property rights. Do you want to see what over 25,000 fraudulent, robosigned docs look like?! Be my guest: http://tinyurl.com/3dgpsox
Anytime an article is published by editorial, is an immediate scum scam campain! There is never any true journalism research done, nor analysis. All they do is cut and paste other stories and label them by editorial! A complete bunch of idiots who have no idea what they are reporting or even any interest beyond $ in reporting truth! The truth being that 20 billion $ is not even enough to pay for the pot to piss in! Furthermore, what about the millions who have already been defrauded and have had their homes stolen out from underneath them? Does anyone really think that 1 penny of that 20 billion $ will go toward helping them? I think not!
MY E-MAIL TO SENATOR BILL.
Thank you Senator Bill Nelson, for reaching out to me for my opinion and comment.
It will take a revolution of the currant monetary system, and our system of governance to reclaim the promise of America. I ask that you,
1 Put the people responsible for the misery of millions in America, and millions overseas, by committing felony fraud connected to the economic crisis in jail. This includes all the wall street players, the heads of the major banks, the pretender lenders, robo signers and the notaries of the documents, all the attorneys who proffered them in court knowing, or who should have known were fraudulent. The judges who have failed to follow the law, and the civil rules of procedure, by allowing contested foreclosures to proceed using documents known to the court to be fraudulent and/or suspect.
And yes we are talking many thousands of people. But far fewer than the number of people charged and prosecuted, for drug offenses. Jail terms should be 1 to 3 years depending on level of participation, with the confiscation of the assets of the major players. This is necessary to prevent this from happening again.
2 Set up a system for the citizenry to vote on the issues being voted on by elected officials in City, County, State and Federal Government sessions, via computer using their social security number, and a pass code selected by the voter through the supervisor of elections website in their county of residence. If a set number of voters ” 55 to 60%” oppose a ordinance or regulation or law, the measure does not , and can not pass, but can be brought up again in 60 days giving the proponents of the matter time to inform the citizenry of the benefits of the measure. But if it fails to pass a second time, the matter will be barred from vote for 5 years. This would stop 90% of all corrupt legislation. And its a idea worth fighting for.
3 End the Fed. Owned by the perpetrators and profiters of war, and criminals all.
4 End the IRS. Civilian employees of the FED with police powers.
5 Issue coin currency in denominations up to $500 ” Titanium Alloy ” Congress can have these coins issued out of thin air, just like the FED does.
6 Set & Collect all taxes as allowed by the US Constitution pre 16th amendment .
7 Investigate the events of 9/11/2001 and events prior to the event connected to it by a special prosecutor, with full subpoena powers to investigate and prosecute any perjury, or crimes, or malfeasance committed by government officials, or citizens who testified in the 911 Commission, whose investigation was a whitewash/coverup that has been exposed as a national disgrace, akin of the 50 state attorneys investigation into robo signing A/K/A “The Bank Fraud Concealment and Forgiveness Commission. We need a special prosecutor to investigate the economic crimes perpetrated on the American people, and their retirement funds. You will never find what you refuse to look for or at, and this is what these commissions and investigations represent.
This is of course just the start of what needs to be done to correct the corrupted system we live in. But if we can’t do these needed things, are we not slaves?
Looking forward to your words and deeds on these most pressing subjects.
John Anderson