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    The Great MERS Whitewash: Kaptur on Dylan Ratigan

    The object of this diary is twofold:  a) to show that Dylan Ratigan at MSNBC does in fact cover the issues of the banking and fraudclosure  travesty; and b) to simplify some of this for financial neophytes like myself.  It’s increasingly important that more of us learn what’s going on, and what’s at stake as these issues are either papered over or systemically made right for people, not for banks.  I’m sure that the things I have gotten wrong here, you will let me hear about.  ;o)

    A bill to legalize electronic ‘robo-signings’ that legitimized electronic notarizations of fuzzy or fraudulent documents attempting to prove clear title to mortgages prior to foreclosure proceedings was recently passed unanimously in both houses of Congress.  When consumer groups and Elizabeth Warren discovered the implications of the law, they lobbied the President hard, and he refused to sign the bill. 

    A company known as MERS had been created by the big banks dealing in mortgage-backed securities (MBS’s) to keep an electronic database of the chopped-up mortgages that were bundled for sale, and in most cases found to be based on asset bubble prices that bore no relationship to reality.

    When the housing bubble burst, these bundles were found to be close to worthless, but their losses were absorbed by the Federal Reserve to the tune of trillions of our tax dollars, which was advertised to us as a mere $700 billion delivered in two waves, the first wave occurring while Bush was still President, the second, once Obama was in office.  As we know, the Fed’s massive buying of toxic bundled mortgages allowed the Big Banks to appear more solvent; Wall Street was happy, so the stock market got happier, corporations posted huge profits…you know the other side: pensions lost value, millions lost jobs, people got behind on mortgage payments, lost their health insurance, etc.

    TARP oversight chairman Elizabeth Warren conducted investigations early on into the world of derivatives, and found that part of the beauty of them for the banks was that they were designed to be confusing and opaque; regulation would have been difficult, i.e., easy for regulators to gloss over.  Loads of subprime loans could be mixed with a few healthier notes, and the bundle could still get a AAA rating from the agencies. 

    As foreclosures on homeowners increased, consumer groups studying the problem found that often times the entity initiating the foreclosure on a particular home essentially was often unable to produce the actual mortgage note.  Digging deeper, they found all sorts of irregularities, including that often the same mortgage may have been sold multiple times, so that multiple entities might be claiming foreclosure rights.  Homeowners sometimes found that they were making payments to the wrong banks all along, or if they had gone through the HAMP program to seek relief with a lowered payment schedule or principal reduction, even while making their new payment schedules, foreclosures were proceeding nonetheless.

    At the same time, county clerks began complaining that properties weren’t being registered in their local offices (so-called ‘wet-ink recording’), bypassing recording fees that added up to some big bucks for their local budgets.  Some counties asked for investigations from their State Attorneys General.  The original complaints were mainly about MERS and the bypassing of fees, but when the AGs dug into the problem, they found much wider abuses had been at work.

    Ted Kaufmann finally held hearings.  He is now the head of TARP, and he conducted hearings under the auspices of the Congressional Oversight Panel.  Here is the video report he issued at the conclusion of his investigation.  It’s worrisome at the lowest level of potential scams; at its upper reaches, it’s horrific, and could amount to trillions of dollars worth of either questionable or fraudulent mortgages.  Kaufmann urges Treasury and the bank regulators to run new stress tests on the banks to discover the amount of their exposure.  Given that all the Big Banks passed Geithner’s stress tests post-bailout, one might wonder about the strength of those tests.

    Some economists have discussed the possibility that banks might be forced to buy back many of the mortgages, or ‘put-backs’; others claim that bills have been written and will be introduced soon in Congress that will essentially retroactively validate the MERS-generated affidavit-based mortgages, many of which seem to have had no original note transferred as the mortgages were conveyed down the line.  It is, as they say, a bloody mess.  The CNBC report I linked to above has this from ‘self-styled consumer advocate’ Neil Garfield.

    Complicating things further, the millions of mortgages and deeds being possibly fraudulent or clouded will cause instability in the real estate markets, as well as undermine the entire fabric of Property Rights as the basis of Capitalism in the Republic  Many have said that contract law in America is now dead, and that attorneys will be busy for decades sorting it all out.

    For average Americans, home ownership has generally become a large piece of their security for old age; without it, millions might be forced to face post-retirement in fear, insecurity and poverty.  Many others may fear to purchase a house if the chain of ownership is clouded; I can’t think how ordinary title insurance might be affected.

    Yves Smith at nakedcapitalism.com thinks ‘MERS Should Be Taken Out and Shot’, but doesn’t quite buy Garfield’s information on Congressional remedy.

    Keep your eyes peeled for convenient fixes of the problem FOR THE BANKS.  There would be another case made that the banks simply can’t afford to take the massive hits that would be fair if there were any consideration of the term moral hazard, which, as we know, is now simply a quaint term from the days of yore.

    That Kaptur’s bill to fund a thousand more investigators for the crisis failed is telling; I can’t find the vote as it hasn’t been posted yet at House.gov.  Her bill to prevent Fannie and Freddie from buying more MERS-involved mortgages will likely die the same death.

     

    (cross-posted at MyFiredoglake.com)

     

     

     

     

    Comments

    From another Dylan other than Ratigan:

    "Steal a little they call you a thief

    Steal a lot and they make you a king."

    The kings on Wall Street continue playing fast and loose, only now they threaten to put the entire world's economy into meltdown.

    "There must be some kind of way out of here,

    Say the Joker to the Thief."

    I wouldn't bet on it. In fact, my advice would be to sell short.

    Thanks for this analysis, stardust. It sure ain't pretty!


    But at least Homeland Security has kept us safe from Willie Nelson's six oz. of reefer!!

    The Dylan song becomes more and more apt, doesn't it?  I had hoped that this simple understanding and explanation by a financial neophyte might explain things well enough.  My mate said it worked for him (TaDa!) and FDL put it on the front page, so that's a good thing.  ;o)


    Read the comments over there, nice going. Stardust is in fact ubiquitous.

    Do you get any sense of what specific objectives people think are obtainable in the next two years to reform this mess? Would foreclosures have to come to a grinding halt in order to fix the mess? Wouldn't a larger log jam of foreclosures add drag to the economy--and I hesitate to ask this, to Obama's re-election chances/  

    As an anecdotage, I did read that the homebuilder stocks may benefit here if there are fewer foreclosed homes on the market.  


    David Dayan and others at FDL have been investigating and reporting on this mess for quite some time.  It may have seemed counter-intuitive to post this there, but it seems an explanation with less jargon and complications was a good thing.  And so many good links!  Lots of reading, and plenty of films for those able to see them.  The interview with Kaptur was spot on, too.  Readers over there claimed no one on cable was dealing with financial fraud, but Ratigan has been for a long time, like his 6-paragraph questions or not.  ;o)

    Kaufman asked for foreclosures to come to a halt, and I assume he felt that the evidence supported that while they continue investigations.  I have zero trust in Phil Angelides after his 'not-Pecora-Commission' was such an abysmal whitewash of the causes of the crash, so if their report has any merit, I'll be surprised but pleased.

    Don't know what you mean by 'logjam of foreclosures' really, but I'd say that the 'rocket-docket' court approvals by judges in Florida were wrong, but speedy.  ;o)  The mortgage servicers have some solutions, but they aren't ones we would like, I think, but as far as 'fair and just to all parties', I haven't a clue, though that's not what will happen, IMO.

    As far as Obama and reelection: it would be nice to think that if his administration really went great guns into investigations of fraud, not just insider trading (which may be widening) and hired the thousand more investigators by executive order, and prosecuted (not just bitch-slapped and fined) serious wrong-doers) it would help his chances.  Hard to see that happening, Oxy.  Though we will certainly be shown 'the appearance' of that happening.


    Thanks for your considered reply.  Maybe it is time for a Gulf of Tonkin approach, take the worst bank of the lot, focus on one egregious act, real or imagined, and invade them, striaghtening out one mess at a time and scaring the crap out of the other banks.  


    There doesn't seem to be any question that so many of those practices were fraudulent.  In most cases, fraud is criminal--except in banking, apparently.  Then there are the politicians who look on fraud as fraud except when there are exceptions.  And any sector that brings them money is an exception.  So where to we turn?  This kind of exposure makes us feel better temporarily, and we delude ourselves into believing something might finally be done about it, but even in this climate, the rich never have to pay for their misdeeds.

    Good for Ratigan and Kaptur and Warren and everyone else who works so hard to bring this to the public's attention.  Too bad the public can't be bothered with it.  Just think what might happen if they could present it as a Dancing with the Stars, Great Race, Hoarders, Biggest Loser, Law and Order, Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader production.  Throw in Sarah Palin's Alaska and you might just get somewhere.

     


    "Masters of the Universe" always struck me as a kind of theme from a sci-fi epic. You know the kind, where the space aliens manage to impress all with their superior intelligence and their natural dominance over mere mortals - and where, in the end, the world as we know it ends up looking like a molten, gelatinous mass that will never support human life forms again.

    Hollywood meets Wall Street. Grab your popcorn. Enjoy the show!


    I can't say presenting this makes me feel one whit better, Ramona, except for the fact that doing so might reach readers.  We need to know the issues, and more importantly, what's at stake, and I may only have touched the surface.  That Kaufman and Kaptur and Warren are the exception, not the rule, is a terrible thing.

    But the more we can influence lawmakers to not go for fixes that cover the banks' asses, and warn our county clerks, and friends we know who may be house-hunting, the better. 

    So: top choice for college graduates was once 'hedge funder'.  Now it may be: 'contract attorney'.  Always a silver cloud for some, eh?  ;o)


    This kind of info should be invaluable.  And it should lead somewhere.  And we'll all keep passing it along in hopes that someone with some clout will finally do something about it, but it's pretty unbelievable that everyone knows there was criminal hanky-panky going on and nobody is in jailAGAIN!!

    And not only are they NOT being punished, they're making profits from it and are still wanting more.  The only solution is to kill them by shunning and boycotting.  Join credit unions and small, local banks or hide our shrinking dollars in a sock.  We'll all thank ourselves some day.


    I wonder how effective the various 'Move Your Money' efforts have been, or the Dec. 7 'Run on the Banks Day'. 

    It seems clear by now that Too Big to Fail Banks should have been addressed early on in the Obama administration.  Turns out it's a very orderly process, and the banks stay open for business all the while.  But Obama;s remarks about why he can't do it (Treasury, rather) are alarmist and rather silly.  Now the entire system seems Too Big to Save.

    I'd imagine the next round of stress tests Kaufman and Dodd recommended to Treasury will be as goofy as the first round.  Makes you know that that it really was pretty personal when Paulson, et.al., let Lehman Brothers go under. 

    Think, too, how many of the banks were sold to others in deals made by Treasury; all it did was make fewer Too HUGE to fail banks.  A deck rigged against us, and the Federal Reserve right in their corner.  Really sucks, Ramona.


    It really is incredible. At nearly every juncture in this financial disaster, you're left saying "Aw, c'mon! Surely there's a logical explanation for what they're doing. I mean, they can't be so bold as to continue outright stealing from us in broad daylight, can they?"

    Guess what?


    I've been following some of the links folks have put on the diary at fdl, plus trying to find answers to some outstanding questions, and finding more and more unbelievable dreck.  From the get-go, the derivatives were dishonest, and could be called Triple A by Moody's or other ratings agencies.  And so on down the line.  I was just about to watcha video at this llink about a decision by the SEC that changed things for the banks to...well...you know...steal more, I suppose is the implication. 

    Some of what they do IS in fact legal, which is anly because they can so easily skirt any existing regulations, and some times they don't exist any more.  And the true fraud: will there ever be enough investigators to find it, or prosecute it?  Obama appointed a new task force, but it's hard to have buckets of confidence in it.  Felix Salmon had laughed at it, and got taken to task by Barr, who's leaving Treasury, but thinks Treasury is earnest about 'fixing things'.  Mmmm-hmmmm.

     http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2010/11/23/treasurys-plan-to-fix-the-mortgage-mess/

    Oh--here's the video link, in case it's any good.  (I was googling to remember more about Lehman Bros.) It's called 'the day the FEC changed the game'.

    http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/lehman_brothers_holdings_inc/index.html


    I remember very well all the warnings over the years about the unregulated trading of derivatives - warnings about the whole hedge fund market, in fact. It was always pooh-poohed with a patronizing pat on the head by the "experts" who assured us we simply didn't understand them, but that they were vital to our economy.

    Turns out they were most assuredly right on the first part, and a little less than truthful on the latter.


    I can honestly say that I'd never heard of a derivative until there were warnings from some of the economists that the shit was about to hit the fan.  Against my nature, I decided to at least try to learn some of the terminology to have a nodding acquaintance with the subject. 

    Then to watch and care about fin-reg and the sabotage of almost all the good pieces and amendments was literally painful, knowing how the next meltdown will go, even though we are told 'Never Again!'  It's all baffling; I'd like to think that if there are no jobs from which people can even pay taxes, how will even those at the top survive?  I suppose it's a naive question die to global economics, the Fed's ability (and apparent dictum) to make banks healthy.  And Pence wants to take away that other bothersome command about 'keeping employment high'.  Yikes.  Why bother?  ;o)


    I really boggles the mind that anyone in congress could even consider letting these banks and their management off the hook. I makes one think that congress itself is in cahoots with them in this whole debacle.

    Oh...wait a minute..they are, aren't they.

    Never kind.


    At the thread at FDL several people have said that Congress really can't make any laws that would supercede state laws on real estate.  Hope they're right, but that not be the only fixes they come up with.  I sure hope this all gets big enough to make it onto our teevees.  You know, Good Morning America, maybe.  ;o)

    Well, plenty of people think that TARP shouldn't have happened; that group includes Elizabeth Warren.  Hmmmmmmm.  Though Treasury and the Fed seem to have funneled waaaay more money to the banks than the $700 billion anyway. 


    Very good post. And I like Dylan. It seems that whoever sticks their hand into this blender is going to wish they hadn't. What was astonding to me was the figure that six institutions control two thirds of the country's capital. I had assumed something in this magnitude but had never heard specific numbers. Any idea where she got those figures. Seems like this is the dynamite(er, speaking metaphorically) Democrats need to be using in their rhetoric. I'm betting 85% of the people think that this level of capital concentration is a bad idea. Maybe Democrats' entire framing of the wealth distribution arguments has been obtuse--would that be possible? 


    Hey, Oxy.  I thought I'd heard Simon Johnson say those numbers (he wrote the book 13 Bankers).  I googled, and found this page; there were more, but I didn't check to see where the numbers were tallied.  I believe it.  Plenty of wealth distribution numbers around, but I really just know what Dems want to run on any longer. 

    They might have taken the corporate profits last quarter, next the bonus season...or the amount the wealthy spendt on luxury items recently--things that don't turn into jobs as the R's like to claim so sweetly. 

    Dylan really has stayed on casino banking, fin-reg, and all the related subjects.  It's depressing as hell, isn't it?

    Er...sleep well.  ;o)

    http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/megabanks-the-banking-oligarchy-that-controls-assets-equivalent-to-60-percent-of-americas-gnp

     


    Facts are irrelevant...it's what the GOPer's say that only matters. If MERS is in their back pocket, and I highly suspect it is, then nothing will happen. It's a sad fact, but true. Neither Obama or the majority of Democrats (I'm using that lightly)in the Senate will stand up, face them and accuse them of providing political cover for heinous acts against the public interest.

    Beetle, chances are good that I won't express this very well, but: one of the lies we live with as Americans seems to be that there are sovereign boundaries when it comes to the outer, most stratospheric reaches of capital.  It seems that political parties don't matter so much at those levels either.  Domestically, I'll grant that there are differences in the broad aims of the two parties, but the Dems seem to be willing to concede that we can only ask for tweaking around the edges of the great wealth distribution gap that's been accelerating at a break-neck pace lately, largely due to inherently unfair tax policy, regulation (lack of, or lack of enforcement), and a Central Bank whose allegiance is aimed to closely at the health (or ppearance of health) of the Big Banks, and not to good of people's employment.

    Right now it may be that the only answers lie in citizens' movements, some of which are in their infancy, and having trouble finding issues or strategies around which to coalesc, but at least people are asking some of the right questions, but we're so used to being slotted into MSM labels and functions that we don't let ourselves imagine breaking out of them too well.  For instance, Americans are now 'consumers' during these shopping days, and seem to be being good little shoppers right now, lured into lines at 4 in the morning to buy the 20 discount teevees advertised on sale.

    And politicians are constantly reminded of the tired meme of Jimmy Cater, 'malaise', energy conservation, and FAILURE.  Too bad, really, that no leaders want to tell the truth at that level any more.  I hope some will grow out of some movements I still hope for, but don't quite see yet.

    It seems something will have to break: one if fifty kids in this country is now homeless; many are hungry, millions of families can't make it on one parent working any more, sometimes not with both working.  The 99-ers are screwed, Congress is talking about not passing a freaking 3-month extension of UC; for god's sake! 


    ...And I just awoke to read a headline that said Obama's solution for what ails us is a unilateral insistence from our DEMOCRATIC President that Federal workers all take a pay freeze???

    This has gone beyond ineptitude. These jackasses really don't have a clue!

    I've stated before that going after Obama in a primary is a quixotic enterprise. NEVER could I have imagined it would become the only alternative. But how else do we ever hope to get someone into this mess who actually advocates for the middle class and the poor instead of fighting to keep pace with the Republicans in pursuing their rush to trash everything we have fought for in this ongoing class war being waged against us?

    Un-Fucking-Believable!!! I can't even begin to put into words the degree of contempt I feel for these cowardly, corrupt, and compromised bastards right now. They gotta' go! And they need to be soundly kicked in the ass on the way out the door!


    How many 'sighs' would be enough for this, Jeezus?  I thought of blogging it here; leftist sites already know.  Plus the info that 'Dems are undecided what to do about taxes' info.  Keee-rist!  Pelosi announced that she and Woolsey intended to fight Omama on a few issues.  Friggit!  They have to fight the leader of their party to give people a break???  Should I blog it today or tomorrow; I'd expect it would get about four yawns and a 'tsk-tsk!'

    I got a piece for ya to read sometime when I have time to dig it up...  A bit on the bitter side, but...well, who's not?  Oh: plenty aren't; I forgot.  I really don't get it, Tom Joad.


    Just review the reader comments attached to this article about Obama's "announcement." And this is in the mainstream media fer chrissakes!. (NBC)

    It's a common - albeit highly unfortunate - response to such a move as this by the President:

     

    Crabby Behavior

    We usually reserve the term "crab" for someone with a crusty, negative outlook. Actually, we've all been programmed to act like crabs, no matter how positive our outlook. Consider the behavior of crabs in a bucket. Crab fishermen have long known that there is no need to bother putting a lid on the bucket you are using to catch crabs. Once you've tossed in a few crabs, they'll police themselves. Any ambitious crab that decides to make a run for freedom will find it all but impossible to scale the wall of the bucket and scramble over the top. It's not that the bucket is too deep or slippery. It's the seemingly odd behavior of the other crabs. As soon as one starts making a move to scramble over the others and out, its fellow crabs will reach out those long, sharp pincers and pull the errant crab back into the fray. Nobody escapes the crab bucket. That's because no crab will allow another crab to move up and out...even if they have once entertained the same notion themselves.

    The labor movement has fought against the crab bucket for all of its existence. And in one fell swoop, Obama (A DEMOCRAT, fer chrissakes! The Party of the New Deal!) would have us all just mimic the "crabby behavior" in a hope that we won't notice just who the fuck put us into the bucket in the first place.

    Well played, Mr. President! The titans of industry and on Wall Street salute you!

    This is unbelievably infuriating, especially with Simpson waiting in the wings to expand upon Obama's initiative on behalf of bucket-owners everywhere.

     


    When I read comments like this one, I really wonder what country some of you have been living in for the last thirty years.  The average working American hates unions, and union-busting has been a political winner for both parties (see my hometown, Chicago, and it's mayor, Mr. Privatization himself, for a prominent Dem example).

     Hell, you don't even have to go to the MSM or rightwing sites to find union envy among the nonunion working classes.  On TPM, a lot of your fellow leftists were decrying the auto industry bailout, even though by most estimates it saved a MILLION good, union jobs, because they themselves (i.e., the commenters) didn't also get a bailout.  Or something.

    As policy goes, the pay freeze is not an optimal one.  But the damage it will do the the federal workforce is pretty minimal, and it's probably good politics.  There is a growing movement afoot to cut the federal payroll by up to 40%, and I think it would be an easy political sell.  Obama's doing these people a favor by trying to pre-empt that horrorshow.

    But I am left wondering where you think the political support for the federal bureaucracy is out there in the "Real America."  Because I don't see it.  You continue advocating that Obama fight the good fight when next to nobody will fight with him.  He got repaid for spending nearly all of his political capital the last two years with a collective yawn and a resurgent Republican Party.  Until people start voting their interests, and not Wall Street's, then your pointing your finger in the wrong direction.  


    Please excuse my delusion.

    I guess I've always assumed that tough times called for an inspred - and inspiring! - leadership.

    Just give me a few moments, and I'll take my place inn the bucket once again with the rest of you.

    My apologies.

    Then again, maybe I'll keep reaching forward and upwards, inspired by previous leaders who knew a thing or two against fighting back against oppression, whilst granting my adieu:

    “Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say 'what should be the reward of such sacrifices?' Bid us and our posterity bow the knee, supplicate the friendship and plough, and sow, and reap, to glut the avarice of the men who have let loose on us the dogs of war to riot in our blood and hunt us from the face of the earth? If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!”

    - Sam Adams 


    There were other such leaders in our time, and I don't think they'd be pissing all over themselves trying to accommodate those who would use our present crisis to scare us all into allowing them to consolidate their powers and their oppression of others.

    Of course, that's just a guess...


    A baby step toward the concept of controlling the news cycle. Let's hope they have something new tomorrow, and the next, and the next.....


    Not sure I understand your comment here, Oxy. Are you actually applauding Obama's announcement?

    It certainly seems to me that the Repubs could hardly have more effectively promoted their talking points in a way more effectively than Obama manages here.

    Keynesian Stimulus? "No, more deficit reduction instead!" sayeth Obama/Repub

    increased spending by consumers? "No, more tax cuts instead!" sayeth Obama/Repub

    Economic Justice? "Yeah, right!" sayeth Obama/Repub.

    Were you just being snarky here?


    Watch this video first, then read, please.

    This thread has veered away from MERS into the new and next moves from Obama and the Congressional Dems.  As I mentioned above, I had thought to write about it, but this needs to be addressed now.

    I am flabbergasted that Dems could be squishy on tax cuts for the wealthy, and wonder once again if they're ignorant of the economics of this, or just so callous that they believe that voting to extend them would dampen down their chances to win election next cycle.  Frankly, neither reason is attractive. 

    The GAO figures extending cuts for the wealthy will cost at least $700 billion over the next ten years.  How is that deficit cutting?  Do Dems and Obama really believe in trickle-down economics?  From all recent moves, I'd have to think the President really does.  That the health of the stock market is and minute rise in GDP are enough indicators of recovery that it's time to stop government spending? 

    For my money, any Dem who knuckles to the idea that it's in any way a good idea to start cutting debt is insane.  Or Machiavellian, or both.  Even Helicopter Ben Bernanke is recommending a job stimulus plan; he knows that there's nothing else he can do with monetary policy to aid Americans getting back to work, paying taxes, buying houses, affording college tuition, saving money, behaving like we have any sort of financial future at all. 

    The Dow is up; corporations showed the largest gains ever last quarter, the purchase of luxury goods has skyrocketed.  Real unemployment is 20% or higher, and many economists say that without relief it may stay that way into the next decade, or permanently. 

    We spend trillions on war and related items like nukes, and can find so much extra money that when a billion or so goes missing in any of the countries we're occupying, the government barely even blushes.  But Jesus, Mary and Joseph: when supposed Dems want to start cutting the deficit as per the Catfood Commission recommendations, which be catastrophic for actual human lives longterm, we yawn?  Because it polls well to freeze gummint salaries, and 53% asked in a push poll agree that federal workers are paid too much????  Of course people are pissed at the government, but the government should show people why that idea isn't true, not just accede to its premise.

    Maybe some of you love oligarchy, and believe we should continue to be slaves to it.  I don't.  And I'm grateful to Nancy Pelosi and Lynn Woolsey and other Dems who are trying to fight back for the tiny crumbs like tax cuts for us, not the wealthy, and a pitiful 3-month extension for unemployment compensation, though maybe you figure folks with no jobs just aren't looking hard enough, or like Alan Simpson, that seniors are the greediest generation, or that Vets should have a co-pay for their care, and that the tax exemption for home mortgage interest should be abolished.  Fine; but it ain't fair, and it ain't what Dems used to be suckered into.

    If you've watched the video, please think about Obama's announcement that his administration 'solved the financial crisis for less than the S & L crisis cost.  Utter crap; he knows better.  And if you believe that Americans should be screwed even further to help Obama''s re-election chances, then I can point you to another few revenue sources that are still available to hand to the uber-wealthy.

     


    Along the line of those bank monsters, I just read that Assange was interviewed by Forbes in London and he claims that about half of his cache of documents is related to the private sector--including the goods on some of the major banks! How about those apples? Forget about Iran, maybe the wikileak documents will take down the management of a U,S. bank or two.


    Is no one reading those? 


    Sorry, they're not yet released. I think the intention is for January.


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