[B] Banks, Borrowers and Bad Deals

Dear Friends,

It seems as though the Obama Administration is incapable of holding anybody accountable for their misdeeds except some immigrants who are just trying to make a better life for themselves and their families.  During the collapse of the housing bubble, the banks and the mortgage servicing companies engaged in illegal and immoral behavior.  They forged documents, committed fraud on the homeowners and lied to the courts. If I had done any of those things, I would have started serving my jail term long ago and would be there for years to come, but if you are a big bank or one of their mortgage servicing companies, you get the Obama Administration to enter into an agreement which lets you off the hook for what amounts to a slap on the hand.

Fortunately, Eric T. Schneiderman, the attorney general for the State of New York, is unwilling to go along with the deal that was cut with the banks.  He and some other attorneys general are doing their best to hold the banks accountable.  But they are getting huge amounts of pressure from the Obama Administration to go along with the deal.  Gretchen Morgenson has a great article in The New York Times (here) about this issue and the pressure.  Also an editorial in The New York Times this morning criticized the deal and supported Mr. Schneiderman (here). 

I do not need to reiterate why it is such a bad deal except to say that it is very friendly to the banks and certainly will not result in helping the homeowners or discouraging such terrible behavior in the future. 

The point of this post is that President Obama is once again refusing to hold the big and powerful accountable for their actions.  He is making it clear to all that if you are big and powerful go ahead and do whatever you want, my administration will do nothing to hold you accountable.  President Obama helped to bail out the financial industry which he had to do but he got nothing in return which he did not have to do and now he is continuing to let them escape the consequences of their actions and letting all the pain fall on the homeowners who were defrauded and severely damaged by the reckless and illegal actions of the banks.  I could understand that approach from a Republican President, but the Democratic Party is suppose to support the little guy. 

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal