With the White House and Geithner's continual denial of the continued cover up of financial fraud though out entire system, and their refusal to call on a national moratorium for Foreclosure Gate in order to protect Wall Street and the Banks from homeowners who are calling into question one of the most basic tenants in our Constitution, property ownership, Geithner just got the biggest slap in his face to date:
All 50 States Attorney Generals are standing up for the taxpayers and citizens in their own jurisdiction, and demanding that the chain of title and ownership (the original notes as written by the Banks/Lenders) be unwound and shown in their own various courts of law.
Geithner and the White House have been continually warned about what was happening with these illegal foreclosure mills, and they ignored it, to protect the Banks/Lenders. Now, it's too late, because this matter is taking on a life or its own.
Regulators from all 50 states are launching a coordinated investigation into possibly "deceptive" and "unfair" foreclosure practices that may have illegally evicted families from their homes. A bipartisan group of state attorneys general from 49 states and financial regulators from 39 states will work together to comb through foreclosure filings and documents from mortgage servicers to see if any state laws have been broken in the rush by services to kick borrowers out of their homes without following various state and local laws. Homeowners, homeowner advocates and various state officials have complained that mortgage servicers have failed to follow basic procedures, like reviewing documents, properly signing them and other tasks long followed prior to the mortgage securitization boom that took off this decade.
Foreclosures are a matter of state law. If state investigators find the problems to be systemic, the nation's largest banks could face a crisis rivaling that of September 2008 when the financial system was rocked by the failure of Lehman Brothers, the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the forced marriage of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch, some analysts say. "This announcement illustrates states' ability to coordinate our efforts to protect consumers," said John Ryan, executive vice president at CSBS. "The foreclosure process in the various states is designed to ensure a basic level of due diligence and accountability occurs before taking an action that has dramatic implications for homeowners and communities.
"Our priority is to ascertain if violations of state law occurred, to re-establish confidence in the integrity of the foreclosure process, and take appropriate action to protect the rights of consumers and homeowners affected."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
I find it absolutely stunning that Timothy Geithner and the White House, did not realize that this massive fraud would eventually come to this point in our nation, and I guess, they are so drunk with power and corruption, that somehow, they still believe that as long as they keep the 'cover up' going and protect the status quo, that eventually every thing will just continue as business as usual, but that was yesterday, and today what Geithner is finding out is this simple 'dictum'...you don't mess around with State's rights, and you don't mess around with illegally throwing people out of their own homes.
The Attorney General's in all 50 States, are watching this disaster unfold in their own states, as entire neighborhoods are being turned into ghost towns where abandoned homes are putting more and more pressure on their disappearing tax revenue base, and are being forced into cutting fire, police and emergency services, laying off teachers in mass, and helplessly standing by as property values disappear right before their eyes.
I can only imagine how the phones must be ringing off the hooks in their offices today from everyday honest hard working Americans who are being illegally thrown out of their homes, because these same people cannot even get anyone on the phone from their own Banks/Lenders who are refusing to renegotiate their loans.
Then there is another darker side to the outcome in all of this chaos and mayhem which is playing out behind the scenes in our nation. Let's call it a 'nice quiet polite revolution.' Middle class Americans who played by all the rules, who continue to get fucked over and over again by a system so deeply entangled in corruption, that they are just walking away from their mortgages, or they are choosing to squat in their own homes, paying the banks as little as possible until they can finally get their day in court. They are fed up, they've had enough and are just saying fuck it, plain and simple.
Fuck the rules. Fuck playing the game the banksters want you to play. Fuck being the good citizen. Fuck filling out every form, fuck paying every tax. Fuck the government, fuck the banks who own them. Fuck the free-loaders, living rent-free while we pay. Fuck the legal process, a game which only works if you’ve got the money to pay for the parasite lawyers. Fuck being a chump. Fuck being a stooge. Fuck trying to do the right thing—what good does that get you? What good is coming your way?
Fuckit.
When the backbone of a country starts thinking that laws and rules are not worth following, it’s just a hop, skip and a jump to anarchy.
TV has given us the illusion that anarchy is people rioting in the streets, smashing car windows and looting every store in sight. But there’s also the polite, quiet, far deadlier anarchy of the core citizenry—the upright citizenry—throwing in the towel and deciding it’s just not worth it anymore.
If a big enough proportion of the populace—not even a majority, just a largish chunk—decides that it’s just not worth following the rules anymore, then that society’s days are numbered: Not even a police-state with an armed Marine at every corner with Shoot-to-Kill orders can stop such middle-class anarchy.
And this is exactly what the Attorney General's of all 50 States are watching playing out in their own neighborhoods, while Timothy Geithner continues to play this high and mighty 'fools poker game' (he's the idiot in the corner holding nothing but a hand of jokers).
The House of Cards ponzi scheme is falling down around Geithner's feet and the fact that he did not see this coming, speaks louder than anything else.
This is finally, the 'push come to shove' moment in our nation, when Americans have simply fucking had it, up to here. They are tired of paying, and paying and paying and paying for the Great Heist of 2008, and they are tired of the 'critical mass of corruption' that Geithner has rubber stamped from the day he first took office, and even before that time when he worked with the NY Federal Reserve Office.
The great William K. Black knew that what we see happening before our eyes was inevitable and he has a very 'sane' list of what President Obama could do today, without the approval of Congress:
- Appoint (on a recess basis) Michael Patriarca as head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).
[Mike was the OCC wunderkind who was in charge of supervising the largest national banks then served as head of the OTS' West Region where he served with even greater distinction. He has worked since that time in banking and insurance as a senior manager and consultant. He is known for his competence, integrity, and courage.]
The FHFA remains under the control of the (second) acting director. Both acting directors had served as the senior leaders of FHFA’s predecessor (OFHEO) and failed dramatically as regulators. FHFA is in a superb position to provide decisive leadership on a wide range of critical issues (e.g., finding the true losses on CDOs, the true incidence of fraud, and the true incidence of foreclosure fraud and abuse).
2. Appoint Paul Volcker (on a recess basis) as Secretary of the Treasury. Accept Secretary Geithner’s resignation.
3. Appoint James Galbraith as the Comptroller of the Currency.
Here are things that could be announced tomorrow and are critical, but couldn’t be completed in a day:
1. Direct the FDIC and the FHFA to conduct a scientific sample of the incidence/extent of losses, mortgage fraud, and foreclosure fraud and criminal referrals (and failure to file criminal referrals) by the regulatory agencies and institutions.
2. Create a national "hot line" to report mortgage and foreclosure fraud.
3. Direct each financial regulatory agency to make the filing of appropriate criminal referrals (by the agency and the industry) a major priority. Create a national interagency task force composed of the regulators, the FBI, and the Department of Justice to coordinate and prioritize investigations and prosecutions. Create a "Top 100″ list of the most significant cases.
Bill Black is an Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC). He was litigation director of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, deputy director of the FSLIC, SVP and General Counsel of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, and Senior Deputy Chief Counsel, Office of Thrift Supervision. He is also the author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One: How Corporate Executives and Politicians Looted the S&L Industry.
But of course, this would require President Obama to actually show some political courage and moral leadership and finally step away from the Wall Street/Banking cartel that has brought our nation into deep economic despair and ruination.
This is in fact President Obama's megaphone moment. Thus far he and Geithner have continued to 'circle the wagons' and at all costs and protect the Banks/Lenders, but what they are actually doing by refusing to deal with the corruption and systemic rotting, will in the end bring the final 'mother of all crashes' as this article below talks about:
http://www.zerohedge.com/...
Part of this article includes the testimony of one 'banking employee' for MERS....I found this beyond belief:
Make no mistake, the amount of litigation that is being thrown at these banks and service companies is significant, and they are shining lights on aspects of the banking world that were most conveniently kept secret, as in this class action suit that outlines the contradictory wording in the MERS paperwork (reference pages 10, 11 and 15). Pages 15 on makes issue of fraudulent assignments, of Robo-Signing fame – see for yourself;
[trent]
Here is a deposition of one of the "said" secretaries from another suit in New Jersey...
#000000;">Does MERS have any salaried employees?
A No.
Q Does MERS have any employees?
A Did they ever have any? I couldn’t hear you.
Q Does MERS have any employees currently?
A No.
Q In the last five years has MERS had any
employees?
A No.
Q To whom do the officers of MERS report?
A The Board of Directors.
Q To your knowledge has Mr. Hallinan ever
reported to the Board?
A He would have reported through me if there was
something to report.
Q So if I understand your answer, at least the
MERS officers reflected on Hultman Exhibit 4, if they
had something to report would report to you even though
you’re not an employee of MERS, is that correct?
MR. BROCHIN: Object to the form of the
question.
A That’s correct.
Q And in what capacity would they report to you?
A As a corporate officer. I’m the secretary.
Q As a corporate officer of what?
Of MERS.
Q So you are the secretary of MERS, but are not
an employee of MERS?
A That’s correct.
#000000;">etc...
How many assistant secretaries have you
appointed pursuant to the April 9, 1998 resolution; how
many assistant secretaries of MERS have you appointed?
A I don’t know that number.
Q Approximately?
A I wouldn’t even begin to be able to tell you
right now.
Q Is it in the thousands?
A Yes.
Q Have you been doing this all around the
country in every state in the country?
A Yes.
Q And all these officers I understand are unpaid
officers of MERS?
A Yes.
Q And there’s no live person who is an employee
of MERS that they report to, is that correct, who is an
employee?
MR. BROCHIN: Object to the form of the
question.
A There are no employees of MERS.
And even more damning, this particular suit gets right to the heart of the matter from an economic AND legal perspective (something that the previous suits have not) and that is that the banks were complicit in overvaluing both the lender and the collateral at the point of underwriting, and doing so on a broad basis. This is the notion behind my premise that a wave of losses and litigation will be coming any minute now as investors and the insurers facing claims from those investors attempt to put back loans on a wide scale and near universal basis as the rampant fraud of the real estate bubble of the new millenium is exposed and litigated throughout the court system.Those entities that swallowed loan mills such as Wachovia, Countrywide, Nationwide, Lehman, Bear Sterns, Merrill Lynch and WaMu will be feeling their indigestion
.
http://www.zerohedge.com/...
So, don't bother trying to get a hold of anyone at MERS. No body really works there.
Timothy Geithner has lost any and all credibility as the Treasurer, and for him to actually say that a national moratorium on foreclosures could be very damaging is beyond the pale. He continues to prop up the 'cover up' and lies that are being held up for one reason and one reason only:
The invisible bailout is the reason why the government isn't pushing to freeze foreclosures. If the foreclosure process is halted and lending practices are thoroughly investigated, it might eventually force bankers to own up to their own lawlessness -- and write down billions of dollars in artificially inflated assets. How are they going to pay themselves record bonuses if that happens?
How much could that cost? One in four US homes is underwater, which means that proper accounting would require a writedown of enormous proportions. And, as the AP reported, "forecasters at John Burns Real Estate Consulting predicted that 41 percent of residential sales this year would be on distressed properties." The banks have been counting on that revenue. Write down one mortgage in four? Halt nearly half of all home sales?
Illegal submission of foreclosure documents was part of a larger cover-up. People need to be arrested for it -- but that, of course, would open up a larger can of worms. The legal process could very well reveal the extent of the title problem, as well as other potentially widespread criminal practices. Still, that's no reason not to cuff 'em and book 'em. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime. Foreclosure fraud is the first domino. If it's tipped over, the "invisible bailout" would end. Banks would no longer be subsidized by American homeowners. Know what that means? Bye-bye, bonuses. Hello, increase in discretionary spending for American consumers. And hello there, new jobs. Anyone for a game of dominoes? Now that's a big effin' deal.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
What is damaging Mr. Geithner is standing by and letting this continued cover up take more and more of a toll on American citizens' who have already paid the greatest price of all, with the destruction of our entire economic system, and now the Attorney General's in all 50 States are calling you on your 'bluff.'
Let it never be said, that both Timothy Geithner and President Obama did have the opportunity and chance to finally turn this national catastrophe into an opportunity to restore the public trust in our nation. Because they did, and they still do. Now of course, the AG's in all 50 States are taking it out of their hands, and calling 'check mate' on a national disaster, because like the rest of us, they are just fucking sick of paying and paying and paying again, for the systemic corruption that Bush and Hank Paulson began in the Great Heist of 2008, which has never been honestly addressed.
Until it is, nothing in our nation will ever be the same, and William K. Black has repeatedly stated this from the very beginning. Now that day has come, and as we watch the nice 'quiet polite revolution' of hard working honest Americans simply walking away from their mortgages, leaving their own sacred dwellings, their homes and their piece of the American Dream to rot, they are speaking for all of us:
Fuck it, if we play by the rules, and you are still going to screw us, then screw you. And who can blame them?
Thanks as always.