Thread: Bush Sided with Bankers Before Crisis, Says Spitzer

It's clear enough that the whole thing boils down to both parties in cahoots one way or the other, but Bush sure isn't the good guy here. He made some noises over the last 4 years but politicians always make noises and it doesn't mean a thing. He had the majority until 2006 so if he had wanted to do something, he would have. Which doesn't take Barney Frank off the hook or Chris Dodd, or Obama or McCain. The sin is they all knew this was coming, and didn't start letting off steam from the system before it got ready to blow. They could have passed legislation to allow the renegotiation of mortgages, which was the easiest single step, and put a speed bump into the short-selling of overly-exposed instruments.

One guy who called it all along and got nailed with a hooker for all his troubles is Eliot Spitzer. Like Greg Palast says, what Spitzer was doing was wanton and lewd, but at least he was doing it with his own money. The banks were gambling with ours. This has been happening since they have been knocking down Glass-Steagel from the Great Depression, which was supposed to put a wall between investment bank funds (chips in Vegas) and our federally insured demand deposits (our hard-earned savings.)

Well what happened next isn't hard to figure out. The next thing you know ol' Jed's a millionaire. Then when home values went down we were stuck with junk and they want us to pay to get it hauled too. They'll be trying again, and this is what we get for not holding them to account a long time ago. They get brazen. In a way, we have ourselves to blame for this.

We can't impeach every one of the 205 economic traitors who voted for the bill, but common sense says you make an example out of the leadership. This will not get any better until we force a fundamental realignment in political alliances, since we know we have traitors on both sides. 95 Democrats and 133 Republicans now have a working majority to pass something like the Bernie Sanders plan, which is extremely simple: Do the bailout if we must, but make those who caused the problem pay for it, the richest 1% of Americans.

Sanders' Statement on Wall Street Bailout -- 09/21/2008

BURLINGTON, Vt., September 21 - Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Sunday he would oppose a Bush administration proposal to bail out Wall Street unless the middle class is spared from bankrolling the rescue.

"This proposal as presented is an unacceptable attempt to force middle income families (and our children) to pick up the cost of fixing the horrendous economic mess that is the product of the Bush administration's deregulatory fever and Wall Street's insatiable greed," Sanders said. "Let us be clear. If the economy is on the edge of collapse we need to act. But rescuing the economy does not mean we have to just give away $700 billion of taxpayer money to the banks," he added.

"These are the last days of the Bush administration, the most dishonest and incompetent in modern American history. It is imperative that, at this important moment, Congress stand up for the middle class and for fiscal integrity," Sanders concluded. "The future of our country is at stake."...FULL PRESS RELEASE

Those 95 Democrats are also enough to mount a strong House challenge to Pelosi's leadership, to elect another Speaker of the House. Now we know that no matter how close to the end of the legislative session, these clowns can always do real damage in a short time. We cannot take our eyes off them for one second between now and the end of the 110th Congress. If the elections shake loose a few more seats, Pelosi's situation could become very fluid. Then impeaching Bush and Cheney will no longer be off the table.

I want to congratulate ALIPACers on their victory. I believe you made the difference in this showdown. When ALIPAC speaks, Republicans listen. Stop Illegal Immigration. Stop the Bailout. Censure Pelosi/Reid, Impeach Bush-Cheney. Let's get America back.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02783.html

Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime
How the Bush Administration Stopped the States From Stepping In to Help Consumers

By Eliot Spitzer
Thursday, February 14, 2008; Page A25

Several years ago, state attorneys general and others involved in consumer protection began to notice a marked increase in a range of predatory lending practices by mortgage lenders. Some were misrepresenting the terms of loans, making loans without regard to consumers' ability to repay, making loans with deceptive "teaser" rates that later ballooned astronomically, packing loans with undisclosed charges and fees, or even paying illegal kickbacks. These and other practices, we noticed, were having a devastating effect on home buyers. In addition, the widespread nature of these practices, if left unchecked, threatened our financial markets.

Even though predatory lending was becoming a national problem, the Bush administration looked the other way and did nothing to protect American homeowners. In fact, the government chose instead to align itself with the banks that were victimizing consumers.

Predatory lending was widely understood to present a looming national crisis. This threat was so clear that as New York attorney general, I joined with colleagues in the other 49 states in attempting to fill the void left by the federal government. Individually, and together, state attorneys general of both parties brought litigation or entered into settlements with many subprime lenders that were engaged in predatory lending practices. Several state legislatures, including New York's, enacted laws aimed at curbing such practices.
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What did the Bush administration do in response? Did it reverse course and decide to take action to halt this burgeoning scourge? As Americans are now painfully aware, with hundreds of thousands of homeowners facing foreclosure and our markets reeling, the answer is a resounding no.

Not only did the Bush administration do nothing to protect consumers, it embarked on an aggressive and unprecedented campaign to prevent states from protecting their residents from the very problems to which the federal government was turning a blind eye.

Let me explain: The administration accomplished this feat through an obscure federal agency called the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The OCC has been in existence since the Civil War. Its mission is to ensure the fiscal soundness of national banks. For 140 years, the OCC examined the books of national banks to make sure they were balanced, an important but uncontroversial function. But a few years ago, for the first time in its history, the OCC was used as a tool against consumers.

In 2003, during the height of the predatory lending crisis, the OCC invoked a clause from the 1863 National Bank Act to issue formal opinions preempting all state predatory lending laws, thereby rendering them inoperative. The OCC also promulgated new rules that prevented states from enforcing any of their own consumer protection laws against national banks. The federal government's actions were so egregious and so unprecedented that all 50 state attorneys general, and all 50 state banking superintendents, actively fought the new rules.

But the unanimous opposition of the 50 states did not deter, or even slow, the Bush administration in its goal of protecting the banks. In fact, when my office opened an investigation of possible discrimination in mortgage lending by a number of banks, the OCC filed a federal lawsuit to stop the investigation.

Throughout our battles with the OCC and the banks, the mantra of the banks and their defenders was that efforts to curb predatory lending would deny access to credit to the very consumers the states were trying to protect. But the curbs we sought on predatory and unfair lending would have in no way jeopardized access to the legitimate credit market for appropriately priced loans. Instead, they would have stopped the scourge of predatory lending practices that have resulted in countless thousands of consumers losing their homes and put our economy in a precarious position.

When history tells the story of the subprime lending crisis and recounts its devastating effects on the lives of so many innocent homeowners, the Bush administration will not be judged favorably. The tale is still unfolding, but when the dust settles, it will be judged as a willing accomplice to the lenders who went to any lengths in their quest for profits. So willing, in fact, that it used the power of the federal government in an unprecedented assault on state legislatures, as well as on state attorneys general and anyone else on the side of consumers.

I THINK WE SHOULD ALSO BE PUSHING TO SEND THE BANKER CROOKS TO JAIL....ALONG WITH THE EMPLOYERS THAT HIRE ILLEGALS....ALONG WITH THE EMPLOYERS THAT BRING IN FOREIGN WORKERS LEGALLY TO REPLACE AMERICAN WORKERS. THEY SHOULD ALL BE IN JAIL. WE DONT NEED THIS SCUM IN OUR COUNTRY.

I want to congratulate ALIPACers on their victory. I believe you made the difference in this showdown. When ALIPAC speaks, Republicans listen. Stop Illegal Immigration. Stop the Bailout. Censure Pelosi/Reid, Impeach Bush-Cheney. Let's get America back.

Thanks !! YES LETS GET AMERICA BACK!!!

The richest 1% of Americans are not just the Buffetts, Gates, etc. They are made up of small businesss. I think where the 1% starts is 388,000 and this sector pays 40% of taxes as it is. I don't buy into class warfare. It's absurd to blame to lump everybody together just because they are successful. Isn't that the whole point of America....to be as successful as possible?

I say give Spitzer amnesty and turn him loose on the criminals on Wall St. He seems to know where the blood trail leads to.

Originally Posted by redpony353

I THINK WE SHOULD ALSO BE PUSHING TO SEND THE BANKER CROOKS TO JAIL....ALONG WITH THE EMPLOYERS THAT HIRE ILLEGALS....ALONG WITH THE EMPLOYERS THAT BRING IN FOREIGN WORKERS LEGALLY TO REPLACE AMERICAN WORKERS. THEY SHOULD ALL BE IN JAIL. WE DONT NEED THIS SCUM IN OUR COUNTRY.

I hear ya redpony! I'd go one further and seize all their assets to PAY to bail out the mess they created and enabled. Take their salaries, bonuses, stock options (are they any good anymore?) mansions, jets, boats, summer homes, 401k's, private school $$, EVERYTHING they own. Let them support their families on minimum wage. They won't need their illegal alien gardners, nannys and maids on minimum wage, will they?

Do the same to the politicians who were in cahoots with them!

THEN it'll be a package Americans can work with!

Originally Posted by miguelina

Originally Posted by redpony353

I THINK WE SHOULD ALSO BE PUSHING TO SEND THE BANKER CROOKS TO JAIL....ALONG WITH THE EMPLOYERS THAT HIRE ILLEGALS....ALONG WITH THE EMPLOYERS THAT BRING IN FOREIGN WORKERS LEGALLY TO REPLACE AMERICAN WORKERS. THEY SHOULD ALL BE IN JAIL. WE DONT NEED THIS SCUM IN OUR COUNTRY.

I hear ya redpony! I'd go one further and seize all their assets to PAY to bail out the mess they created and enabled. Take their salaries, bonuses, stock options (are they any good anymore?) mansions, jets, boats, summer homes, 401k's, private school $$, EVERYTHING they own. Let them support their families on minimum wage. They won't need their illegal alien gardners, nannys and maids on minimum wage, will they?

Do the same to the politicians who were in cahoots with them!

THEN it'll be a package Americans can work with!

YES!!!!! SEIZE ANY AND ALL ASSETS UNDER THE RICO ACT. SEND EM ALL TO JAIL. ONE JAIL CELL, ONE COMB, ONE TOOTHBRUSH.

Originally Posted by gofer

The richest 1% of Americans are not just the Buffetts, Gates, etc. They are made up of small businesss. I think where the 1% starts is 388,000 and this sector pays 40% of taxes as it is. I don't buy into class warfare. It's absurd to blame to lump everybody together just because they are successful. Isn't that the whole point of America....to be as successful as possible?

Well shoot nobody calls it class warfare when they are aiming at our wallets. Only when we aim at theirs. Anyway I hear you. You could start the cut-off at $500 Gs a year and not touch a lot of small businesses, or even higher. The kind of money these thieves on Wall Street are making is way beyond what most people imagine, it's obscene. Most small businessmen don't have private jets or homes in Jamaica that they plunk down $7 million for.