Excerpts: "[F]or all the talk about accountability, there has been little action when it comes to holding large financial institutions accountable for breaking the law. Look at the latest foreclosure fraud scandals. For more than a year, one story after another has come to light exposing how some of America's largest financial institutions broke the law. In some cases, their blatantly illegal behavior in the foreclosure process pushed families out of their homes. In some others, families gave up and moved away under the threat of foreclosure."
Elizabeth Warren says Congress must confirm Richard Cordray to lead the CFPB. (photo: AP)
Where Is Wall Street Accountability?
08 December 11
�
�
he law applies to everyone. Wall Street protesters should be held accountable if they engage in illegal activity - and so should Wall Street banks. There is no excuse for protesters to violate public safety laws - and no excuse for powerful financial institutions to defraud their customers or investors.
Yet for all the talk about accountability, there has been little action when it comes to holding large financial institutions accountable for breaking the law.
Look at the latest foreclosure fraud scandals. For more than a year, one story after another has come to light exposing how some of America's largest financial institutions broke the law. In some cases, their blatantly illegal behavior in the foreclosure process pushed families out of their homes. In some others, families gave up and moved away under the threat of foreclosure.
The revelations about robosigning - in which mortgage servicers falsified legal documents to foreclose on homes faster and more cheaply - were followed by stories about illegal home foreclosures against military personnel serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, cases of mistaken-identity foreclosures, cases of foreclosures caused by bad record keeping and on and on.
Credit unions and most small banks followed the law. But the biggest mortgage lenders and servicers swamped the system with bad practices.
As stories of illegal behavior in Massachusetts and across the country tumbled out, Wall Street plotted its strategy. Instead of owning up, huge financial services companies took a different approach: They set new spending records hiring an army of lobbyists to shift attention away from their wrongdoing.
The big banks and their allies followed a now-familiar game plan: Launch an offensive against anyone trying to enforce the law with rigor; work overtime to block serious investigation of illegal activity; and persuade the government to accept a slap-on-the-wrist settlement to absolve their violations of the law.
But there has been some pushback recently. On Nov. 28, a federal judge rejected a government settlement with Citibank over accusations that it misled investors in the run-up to the financial crisis. Why? The judge said there hadn't been enough investigation.
Just last week, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley filed a lawsuit against the five largest mortgage servicers, bringing to a halt here in Massachusetts the stalling tactics that banks have used for more than a year as they dodged responsibility for foreclosure practices.
Does this mean the tide is turning toward real accountability - a full and fair investigation of the biggest financial institutions? A test case now lies before Congress.
New laws were put in place more than a year ago to provide some accountability over Wall Street. The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created with the power to help consumers get the clear, useful information they need to make the best decisions on their financial futures. By enforcing some basic rules, the agency can help level the playing field between families and the giant Wall Street banks that sell credit cards, mortgages and other financial products.
But to have its full powers to insist on real accountability, the agency must have a director. And here's where a showdown is coming.
Last summer, President Barack Obama nominated Richard Cordray, the former Ohio attorney general, to the post. But Wall Street's friends in Congress seized on a blocking maneuver: Forty-four Republican senators promised to stop any vote on a new director to thwart the new agency.
In other words, those who broke our economic system with crazy, dangerous mortgages aren't subject to full scrutiny because their allies in Congress are blocking Cordray's nomination.
With all the clout that Wall Street and its lobbyists have, real accountability won't be easy. But the first steps are pretty obvious.
First, confirm Cordray, and allow the consumer finance bureau to do its job. Efforts to weaken the agency before it can call a single Wall Street firm to account are shameful.
Second, demand that our state attorneys general and federal enforcement officials do more - not less - to push back against the big banks and their lobbyists and to investigate those whose illegal actions have broken the economy. And when evidence warrants, bring public prosecutions.
Third, stop the late-night budget tricks and other maneuvers designed to weaken agencies that enforce the laws. Put real cops on the financial beat in the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission, cops with the resources they need to patrol for fraud and sustain tough prosecutions.
It has been more than three years since the greatest financial crisis in three generations. It is past time that we stop talking about accountability and start demanding it from those who broke the system.
Fighting for the middle class means more than talk. It means across-the-board, consistent accountability for anyone who breaks the law - no matter where they work or who their friends are.
|
THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community. |
Comments
We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.
General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.
Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.
- The RSN Team
It isn't so much that Trump may or may not be guilty of anything, as much as it is a concerted effort by the Dems and their allies to distract attention from their own criminality. By stridently pointig to the possibility of Trump misdeeds, they only solidify the disbelief in those of us who remember their own - which they take no responsibility for.
The Republicans have certainly sown the seeds of their own destruction, but the Democratic party is following them rapidly down the drain withh the same-old, same-old tactics of shifting blame onto anyone that will serve the purpose of distraction. That's not bad, though. It's always useful to know the enemies of Democracy for who they are.
You bring him up even when it makes no sense, and you always do so with a sneer. The problem is, even as you insult him, he is STILL the ONLY politician publicly calling for single payer health care, jobs, opioid treatment centers, etc. He's the one working his heart out to win back Obama-to-Trump flippers. He's the one talking to Independents and advocating for the 99%.
Your inappropriate and obsessive taunts for a good man, maybe one of the last good pols in DC, is very weird and a bit worrisome; instead of convincing anyone to distrust him, it only makes you look irrational, petty and unhinged.
Yes, it is a tad Utopian, but if criminals high and low were actually held accountable, taxpayer money would go where it is intended to go, so we could start to achieve real social progress.
An impossible goal, unless there would be an amnesty period, say 3 or 4 years, for both rich and poor pirates to clean up their/our acts via legal or gently nefarious means. Perhaps extend it a bit for the Pentagon and its missing 2.3 trillion dollars so we don't have a military junta...
why don't you stop excusing what the DNC did and demand accountability. there's no way this country will recover until the corruption is exposed and dealt with.
No clue as to his responsibilitie s, either.
1. We suspend Trump's activities as President - no policies, executive orders or any other significant activities on behalf of the U.S. - he's a liar and cannot be trusted - trust is basic to any president
2. With Mike Pence in the picture now, same for him - suspend him
3. We set up the apparatus to do either of the following:
- declare Hillary Clinton the winner of the Nov 8th election - fair and square
- hold an "election do-over"
We must show the world - and ourselves especially, that we are smart and strong enough to deal with any crisis that comes our way.
Not only did Hillary win the popular vote by 3 million voter, but you'd have to be deaf dumb and blind to not believe that Russia, plus Comey's bogus announcement 10 days prior to the elections, did not sway the incredibly few people in the 3 states that gave the electoral college to Trump - Wisconsin, Penn., Michigan.
Our democracy is at stake and these unprecedented activities by Trump and his cabal call for unprecedented action - the courage to do what is right-throw these bums out, bring in Hillary or do the election over again, giving the Repugs 30 days to choose their candidate and then another 30 days for both to campaign - period.
I don't think we will make it to 2018 with peace in our land. There are just too many guns in the hands of our citizens and our armed forces. Perhaps, the people we have killed since Vietnam and Cambodia to Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen and Libya will come back to haunt us. What a fate, self destruction. I think we have a chance for peace but the door is closing fast. Leave it to the Republicans and we are doomed for sure. With the Democrats, even Hillary, we have a chance.
Fortunately, she is Green and also progressive and so she could not have been a dupe by Putin.
But as we can see from Le Pen - that is how it starts...
From Putin's point of view, she was a useful idiot. She helped progressives to think that both major parties are equally corrupt and so it doesn't matter who wins.
Nader caused Bush and his stupid wars and now Stein has helped cause the current mess. Progressives need to understand the actual function of elections. If you vote for a third party it means that you really don't care who wins.