So I was glad to see the delivery of the petitions and messages to Speaker Pelosi's office the other day. We do have her back, and she's been showing us why lately.
Now there's a new job to ask her to do, that won't be very easy - don't let a retroactive get-out-of-jail-free card bill bailing out MERS or any of the other criminals in the foreclosure fraud machine.
Get Ready for the Great MERS Whitewash Bill
When Congress comes back into session next week, it may consider measures intended to bolster the legal status of a controversial bank owned electronic mortgage registration system that contains three out of every five mortgages in the country.
[...]
[S]some critics say that sloppiness at MERS—which has just 40 full-time employees—may have botched chain of title for many mortgages. They say that MERS lacks standing to bring foreclosure actions, and the botched chain of title may cast doubts on whether anyone has clear enough ownership of some mortgages to foreclose on a defaulting borrower. The problems with MERS system led JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon to stop using MERS for foreclosures in 2008. [Too much even for Jamie Dimon?!?]
Now it appears that Congress may attempt to prevent any MERS meltdown from occurring. MERS is owned by all the biggest banks, and they certainly do not want it to be sunk by huge fines. Investors in mortgage-backed securities also do not want to see the value of their bonds sink because of doubts about the ownership of the underlying mortgages.
So it looks like the stage may be set for Congress to pass a bill that would limit MERS exposure on the recording fee issue and perhaps retroactively legitimate mortgage transfers conducted through MERS private database.
(CNBC)
Which is really no surprise - back in October, this same writer, John Carney, was predicting that all the outright criminal fraud would vanish as not much of a much:
So here’s what I expect will happen. The lame duck session of Congress will pass a bill that essentially papers over the misdeeds of the banks that originated mortgage securities. Every member of Congress and every Senator who has been voted out of office will cast a vote for the bill. And the President will sign it.
Will the public be outraged? Probably. Financial bloggers will scream from the high heavens against another bailout of the banksters. Congress may try to create some cost for banks in exchange for the forgiveness, perhaps requiring more mortgage modifications.
But the much feared put-back apocalypse will be laid to rest.
If you’re skeptical about the possibility that this will happen, you have greater faith than I do in the ability of the political system to resist doing favors for bankers.
There are a lot of issues good and bad clamoring for the limited attention span and comprehension of Congress in these waning days of the year. I have no doubt that they'd all eagerly line up to polish the bankster's, uh, trophies. But it has to come up for a vote first.
That seems like a realistic thing to ask for. Bury that bill, block that vote. If and when Congress does white out "rule of law" and write in "rule of RAW CASH MONEY", at least let the Republicans be the ones forcing it through.