Elizabeth Warren once again reminds us why we love her, pinning down government banking regulators on why they aren't telling the public—or even the homeowners in question—more about illegal foreclosures. In what's becoming a familiar scene, Warren first methodically asks the regulators what they do and don't know and what they're actually
doing to hold banks accountable or at least let foreclosure victims do so, and then she flatly lays out the implications of what they've just told her, making clear how weak the current oversight system is:
Warren: So I just want to make sure I get this straight. Families get pennies on the dollar in the settlement for having been the victims of illegal activities or mistakes in the banks' activities. ... You now know individual cases where the banks violated the law and you’re not going to tell the homeowners or at least it’s not clear yet whether or not you’re going to do that?
Response: We haven't made a decision what we're going to tell the homeowners.
Warren: You know, I just have to say, I thought this was about transparency. That's what this is all about. People want to know that their regulators are watching out for the American public, not for the banks. And the only way that we can evaluate whether or not you're doing your job is if you make some of this information publicly available. And so far, you're not doing that, and without transparency, we can't have any confidence either in your oversight or that the markets are functioning properly at all and that people are going to receive proper compensation for what went wrong.
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Via ThinkProgress)