[Vision2020] Getting f*****d over by big banks and the gov't

Wed Apr 20 11:01:27 PDT 2011

I highly agree with you, Roger.  I understand, though, that Republicans
blocked that idea<http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/rj_eskow/28245/when_senators_vote_for_the_big_banks_we_will_name_them>
.

Are you willing to go so far as to criticize the 8 Republicans and 4
conservative Democrats who voted to protect the big banks?

-Reggie

On Wed, Apr 20, 2011 at 10:35 AM, lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com> wrote:

> If banks are too big to fail, then they are too big ro exist. We could use
> some Teddy Roosevelt style trust busting.
> Roger
> -----Original message-----
> From: "Art Deco" deco at moscow.com
> Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2011 09:10:38 -0700
> To: "Vision 2020" vision2020 at moscow.com
> Subject: [Vision2020] Getting f*****d over by big banks and the gov't
>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > April 18, 2011
> > Letting the Banks Off the Hook
> > By JOE NOCERA
> > Judging by last week's performance, it sure looks as though the country's
> top bank regulator is back to its old tricks.
> >
> > Though, to be honest, calling the Office of the Comptroller of the
> Currency a "regulator" is almost laughable. The Environmental Protection
> Agency is a regulator. The O.C.C. is a coddler, a protector, an outright
> enabler of the institutions it oversees.
> >
> > Back during the subprime bubble, for instance, it was so eager to please
> its "clients" - yes, that's how O.C.C. executives used to describe the banks
> - that it steamrolled anyone who tried to stop lending abuses. States and
> cities around the country would pass laws requiring consumer-friendly
> measures such as mandatory counseling for subprime borrowers, or the listing
> of the fees the banks were going to charge for the loan. The O.C.C. would
> then use its power to either block or roll back the legislation.
> >
> > It relied on the doctrine of pre-emption, which holds, in essence, that
> federal rules pre-empt state laws. More than 20 times, states and
> municipalities passed laws aimed at making subprime loans less predatory;
> every time, the O.C.C. ruled that national banks were exempt. Which, of
> course, rendered the new laws moot.
> >
> > You'd think the financial crisis would have knocked some sense into the
> agency, exposing the awful consequences of its regulatory negligence. But
> you would be wrong. Like the banks themselves, the O.C.C. seems to have
> forgotten that the financial crisis ever took place.
> >
> > It has consistently defended the Too Big to Fail banks. It opposes
> lowering hidden interchange fees for debit cards, even though such a move is
> mandated by law, because the banks don't want to take the financial hit. Its
> foot-dragging in implementing the new Dodd-Frank laws stands in sharp
> contrast to, say, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which is working
> diligently to create a regulatory framework for derivatives, despite
> Republican opposition. Like the banks, it views the new Consumer Financial
> Protection Bureau as the enemy.
> >
> > And, as we learned last week, it is doing its darndest to make sure the
> banks escape the foreclosure crisis - a crisis they created with their
> sloppy, callous and often illegal practices - with no serious consequences.
> There is really no other way to explain the "settlement" it announced last
> week with 14 of the biggest mortgage servicers (which includes all the big
> banks).
> >
> > The proposed terms call on servicers to have a single point of contact
> for homeowners with troubled mortgages. They would have to stop the odious
> practice of secretly beginning foreclosure proceedings while supposedly
> working on a mortgage modification. They would have to hire consultants to
> do spot-checks to see if people were foreclosed on improperly. (Gee, I
> wonder how that's going to turn out?)
> >
> > If you're thinking: that's what they should have done in the first place,
> you're right. If you're wondering what the consequences will be if the banks
> don't abide by the terms, the answer is: there aren't any. And although the
> O.C.C. says that it might add a financial penalty, I'll believe it when I
> see it. While John Walsh, the acting comptroller, called the terms "tough,"
> they're anything but.
> >
> > No, the real reason the O.C.C. raced to come up with its weak settlement
> proposal is that last month, a document surfaced that contained a rather
> different set of terms with the banks. These were settlement ideas being
> batted around by the states' attorneys general, who have been investigating
> the foreclosure crisis since late October. The document suggested that the
> attorneys general were not only trying to fix the foreclosure process but
> also wanted to penalize the banks for their illegal actions.
> >
> > Their ideas included all the terms (and then some) included in the O.C.C.
> proposal, though with more specificity. Unlike the O.C.C., the attorneys
> general had devised a way to actually enforce their settlement, by
> deputizing the new consumer bureau, which opens in July. And they wanted to
> impose a stiff fine - possibly $20 billion - which would be used to modify
> mortgages. In other words, the attorneys general were trying to help
> homeowners rather than banks.
> >
> > By jumping out in front of the attorneys general, the O.C.C. has made the
> likelihood of a 50-state master settlement much less likely. Any such
> settlement needs bipartisan support; now, thanks to the O.C.C., there's a
> good chance that Republican attorneys general will walk away. The banks will
> be able to say that they've already settled with the federal government, so
> why should they have to settle a second time? If they wind up being sued by
> the states, the federal settlement will help them in court.
> >
> > "It's a vintage O.C.C. move," said Prentiss Cox, a law professor at the
> University of Minnesota who was formerly an assistant attorney general. "It
> is clearly an attempt to undercut the A.G.'s"
> >
> > Old habits die hard in Washington. The O.C.C.'s historical reliance on
> pre-emption should have died after the financial crisis. Instead, it's
> merely been disguised to look like a settlement.
> >
> > ______________________________________________
> >
> > WayneA. Fox
> >
> > 1009 Karen Lane
> > PO Box 9421
> > Moscow, ID  83843
> >
> > waf at moscow.com
> > 208 882-7975
> >
> >
>
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