Cairo’s Garbage People

A tour of a Christian district in Cairo where the garbage collectors live in squalor amidst sewage and garbage:
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/279-82/6031-garbage-people

European Corporations Treat U.S. Homeowners and Workers Like Slumlords

In Europe, corporations treat workers with some respect, but in the good, old USA, those very same corporations act as slumlords and bully workers. This shows how important government actually is in protecting our standard of living.  Who else will protect working people?

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-meyerson-europeans-20110515,0,3990894.story

Banks Continue to Bully Homeowners

This is an excellent survey of the many ways in which banks bully homeowners and decimate the middle class:
http://dailycensored.com/2011/04/20/beyond-foreclosuregate-it-gets-uglier/

Goldman Sachs’ Sleazy Behavior

More on Goldman Sachs and how it bet against bet against sub-prime mortgages without informing its clients. And once again no one pays a real penalty.
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/14/business/la-fi-crisis-probe-20110414

Wachovia Launders Drug Money

Not only do big banks screw homeowners over, invest in high-risk securities, treat regular people like chattel, and suck up taxpayer money, but we now learn that they launder drug money. Yes, further deregulation sounds like a great idea.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/03/us-bank-mexico-drug-gangs (via Dianne Bazell)

Video of a Woman Evicted from Her Home and Handcuffed

Here watch a video of a woman taken from her home: another illustration of the abuses of our system of foreclosure and the mega-banks such as Bank of America. Is this really America?
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/video-this-is-not-america

State Banks

Here’s more on how state banks can heal state budgets and provide liquidity for strapped homeowners:
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/279-82/5423-local-economies-an-alternative-solution-to-the-budget-crisis

Bank Criminals Get Off–Only Regular People Get Punished

The pillaging of the middle class continues: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/opinion/14krugman.html?_r=1

Wealth and the Middle Class

What’s happened to the middle class?  That’s the question we need to ask in light of the bailouts and the crushing of workers’ unions in Wisconsin.  Does work matter any more or only shuffling paper?  Those of us committed to spiritual exploration need to recognize that the exploration of meaning and purpose in life requires that people are not always in survival mode. Spiritual truth is also connected to justice.

David Koch and Rupert Murdoch battle the middle class through Fox and the Wall Street Journal
http://www.alternet.org/story/150047/rupert_murdoch_and_david_koch_collude_against_wisconsin_workers?page=entire

The Wisconsin battle is part of a 150-struggle to break unions, now with the Koch Brothers leading the charge: http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/gov_walker_does_something_big_20110304

Bob Herbert discusses the financial crises facing ordinary, working, middle-class Americans:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/26/opinion/26herbert.html

This essay argues that we need to increase upper income tax brackets in order to prevent the concentration that would destroy democracy in this country.  While I do not agree with the authors (and others) that decreasing government waste is not an important issue and that we need to figure out how to make medicare work more efficiently (social security is in fact basically sound), I cannot fathom why we keep lowering tax rights on the wealthy.
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2011/022411.html

Robert Reich makes a similar argument:  http://robertreich.org/post/3591689800

Ellen Brown argues that a state bank would solve many of Wisconsin’s and other states budget/pension issues–of course, that presumes that Walker and others are actually concerned about the budget rather than crushing labor http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/wisconsin.php

In the meantime, the percentage of underwater mortgage are on their way up:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_underwater_mortgages

Richard Trumka, the head of the AFL-CIO lauds the 14 Wisconsin Senators who stood up for workers’ rights:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-trumka/todays-heroes-the-wiscons_b_831749.html

More and more cities are broke:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/magazine/06Muni-t.html?_r=1 (via Dianne Bazell)

Jackob Hacker and Paul Pierson, in their book, “Winner Take-All Politics,” discuss the rising inequalities in the US economic system: http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/inequality-and-political-power/?scp=8&sq=middle%20class&st=cse (via Dianne Bazell)

Robert Reich argues that the real issue is not jobs, but wages:  http://robertreich.org/post/3638565075

Arizona Bill Would Ban Foreclosues Without Full Title History

A positive development that would diminish the overwhelming power of banks in the housing loan industry:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-23/arizona-bill-would-void-home-foreclosures-without-complete-title-history.html

Why Isn’t Wall Street in Prison

No one from Wall Street ends up in prison.  Why?  Because the the politicians and government bureaucrats are bought off.  This analysis of Matt Taibbi says it all.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-isnt-wall-street-in-jail-20110216?print=true

MERS Mortgages Rejected by Court

This is a move toward some kind of fairness (I hope).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/15/merscorp-decision_n_823302.html

California Aid Program for Homeowners Facing Foreclosure

This is what more states and the federal government should be doing.  Unfortunately, many people don’t want to help out, because they believe that homeowners should take responsibility for their poor judgement.  However, government failed to protect home buyers from predatory banks and loan agencies, while massive foreclosures are driving down prices for everyone (not just those facing bankruptcy).   Therefore, we have both moral and practical reasons to support this kind of aid to those facing the trauma of losing their homes.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-keep-your-home-20110210,0,2404099.story

Food Speculators (Banks) Have Driven Up Commodity Prices, Fueling Hunger and Poverty

This is illuminating.  Bank speculators not only caused the crisis in the US and Europe through dubious housing deals, but they have sparked unrest all over the world, now in Tunisia and Egypt, by artificially ginning up the commodities markets.  Blessings, Larry

http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/egyptian_tinderbox.php

Foreclosures: Owners Represent Themselves

Perhaps this is the beginning of a much larger movement toward self-empowerment.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/business/economy/03class.html?pagewanted=all

Foreclosing on On-Duty Soldiers

This is just another example of how many large corporate institutions have lost their moral compass.   Over the past several years, large banks frequently subject soldiers called to duty to unlawful foreclosures.  This is precisely why some regulation is necessary if we want to preserve a healthy, functional free market.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/business/27foreclose.html?_r=2&hp=&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1296353099-/N1TWrh0XYHJWyudn8MalA

Judges Berate Foreclosure Lawyers

Many judges are particularly critical of foreclosure lawyers who use sloppy and improper documentations on behalf of lenders:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/business/11lawyers.html?hp=&pagewanted=all

MERS and Foreclosures

A vast pyramid scheme: http://www.ourbroker.com/foreclosures/the-real-foreclosure-crisis-who-owns-the-mortgages/

Bank Auditor Scandal

FYI:  http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/crisis-dominoes-start-falling-with-lehman-auditor-20101220?print=true

Bank Break-Ins

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/22/business/22lockout.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all

This is not the way a stable society acts.   It is not good for the residents–or the banks in the long run.

MERS and the Housing Crisis

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/l-randall-wray/merss-smoking-gun-part-1-_b_794713.html?view=print

We need to fix this not only because it’s wrong, but because it is destroying the middle class and will destroy the banks as well.

“Ellen Brown: Publicly Owned Banks Can Help States and Residents

http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/reviving-the-local-economy-with-publicly-owned-banks

“The Fed may have played all its cards, but state and local governments still hold a few aces: publicly owned banks that could funnel credit where it is needed most, directly into the local economy.”

Banks over Homeowners

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/232611

How the foreclosure courts in Florida heavily favor banks over homeowners.  Another illustration of the growing power of corporate institutions.

Map of a Mortgage

This is something else:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/16/mortgage-security-chart_n_784274.html