by Zach Carter, Media Consortium MediaWire Blogger
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner rolled out his new Wall Street bailout plan on Monday and the progressive verdict is already in: This bailout doesn't look much better than the last one. In fact, Geithner's latest plan isn't much different from several other flawed proposals policymakers have floated over the past year. At its core, Geithner's program is just another attempt buy up "toxic assets" from banks at inflated prices.
by Zach Carter, Media Consortium MediaWire blogger
While the economy sinks into the abyss, some of the financial industry's most egregious scam artists are already back on the prowl looking to take advantage of troubled borrowers.
House Democrats reached a compromise yesterday on the cramdown provision of John Conyers' Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, and for a change, it was a decent compromise. Proponents of this legislation pretty much managed to keep the cramdown provision intact, meaning that bankruptcy judges will be able to modify mortgages for homeowners facing foreclosure on primary residences. Plus, there were negotiations with Senate Dems and not just New Democrats, who have been acting on behalf of their corporate interests and have made passing cramdown legislation ridiculously and unnecessarily difficult.
If you want to see what I mean, read Dday's excellent post, "Ellen Tauscher's Insatiable Appetite for More Homeless People," which lambastes Rep. Tauscher, head of the New Democrat Coalition and former Wall Street investor, for delaying this much needed legislation and then bragging about it. Then, read the hilarious message Tauscher's office sent to Chris Bowers, which took a defensive tone over the criticism Tauscher has received. Tough shit Tauscher! She's the one who put the interests of banks before her constituents. Not to mention the fact that she has a former bank industry lobbyist working in her office, and is STILL working to restrict the power of bankruptcy judges.
Chances are Conyers' compromised legislation will pass the House tomorrow. And while, as Chris noted, it was a good sign to see Senate staffers participating in yesterday's negotiations, odds are HR1106's counterpart in the Senate will still face a tough battle. That's why it's key to keep Brave New Foundation's petition going that over 17,000 people have signed in the last four days! We have to keep the pressure up on Congress and get these judicial modifications passed.
Yesterday, Nancy Pelosi announced that a housing bill which could come up for a vote this week would include the "cram-down" provision, which would allow bankruptcy judges to modify the terms of mortgages for borrowers on their primary residence (currently judges have the ability to do this on secondary residences). This is an important provision, which most economists believe will be the best tool homeowners can have for them to stay in their homes, and for lenders to agree to loan modifications. The banksters hate this idea, mainly because they know it would blow the whistle on their consistent violations of the spirit and the letter of the Truth In Lending Law, in their mania to lock as many people into mortgages as possible without regard for ability to pay, so they could sell those mortgages on as securities, and so on and so forth. This ultimately is the fault of the lender, who are clearly the irresponsible ones in the whole scenario.
Along with my friends at Brave New Films, I talked to Rep. John Conyers, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee and the author of HR 200, the cram-down bill, about this provision and why it's needed at this time.
by Zach Carter, Media Consortium MediaWire Blogger
President Barack Obama unveiled his administration's plan to fight foreclosures on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the most important element of the program will require Congressional action—and the banking and business lobbies are already on the attack. The Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan has three chief components:
by Zach Carter, Media Consortium MediaWire Blogger
In this week's Audit, we're examining Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's thoroughly uninspiring bank bailout plan, which fails on almost every level. What's more, some of the most insightful (and stinging) critiques of the proposal are coming from progressive media
I learned three things listening to Secretary Paulson on the Bailout program yesterday:
1. Paulson is a worse public speaker than Alan Greenspan (something I didn't think possible), leaving a more confused image of the Bailout Program behind him.
2. Homeowners will now not benefit from any kind of mortgage recovery from the Bailout, as it is now all going to keep banks afloat.
3. Since thee has, so far, been no oversight by Congress over the program, Paulson can do anything he wants without accountability.
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