A smear is a smear, and an exaggeration is exaggeration. Somehow the words “Cut it out” were nowhere in her ‘famed’ Wall Street admonition. “Please play nicely” would be closer to the tone and tenor of that “were-all-at-fault” campaign speech.
…..
Democrats Are Fuming About Hillary Clinton's 'Smear' Line
They say it's a tacit embrace of Citizens United.
by Zach Carter, Senior Political Economy Reporter, The Huffington Post -- 02/09/2016
[...] "I went to Wall Street in December of 2007 before the big crash that we had, and I basically said, 'Cut it out!'" Clinton said in an October 2015 debate.
The actual speech was pretty easy on Wall Street. After repeatedly emphasizing that financiers only bore partial responsibility for problems in financial markets, she urged Wall Street players to reach a "voluntary solution" to the mess. If they couldn't, Clinton said, she would "consider" legislation. The tool she said she might eventually support -- lawsuit protection for mortgage servicers who modified loans -- wasn't particularly strong, since servicers were already required to offer troubled borrowers relief if doing so would prevent bigger losses from foreclosure.
Hillary Clinton: Remarks on Wall Street on Housing Crisis
December 5, 2007 -- The American Presidency Project
Thank you all very much. It is a real pleasure to be here and I appreciate those kind words. It's wonderful being back in the city — and to have a chance to come here again, I believe for the fourth time, and to have a chance to speak with you about an issue that is on the minds of everyone, whether I'm here in New York or in New Hampshire, or in Iowa or any of the other places I've been traveling to lately. It's a topic of conversation that has to be put at the top of our nation's agenda.
Now we know that not far from here Wall Street is humming. The phones are ringing, the blackberries are buzzing. And people are making billions of transactions that raise capital for corporations and deliver value to shareholders every day.
And what happens on Wall Street today — like every day — will ripple across the country and the world. I'm proud to represent New York, to represent the financial capital of the world. I see a lot of people who I recognize in this audience that are integral to what happens in our markets, how we create wealth, how we provide a dynamic economy that will hold out the promise of a better life for so many of our fellow citizens, but indeed for people far flung from here. I do want to recognize Speaker Silver, Shelly Silver, thank you very much for being here with me.
And we in New York, probably more than anyone anywhere, know how critically important is it for our economy and for the global economy, that Wall Street stay on the cutting edge of finance and remain what it always has been, the global finance capital of the world. But we know that the standard for any economic system is not just that it creates growth, but that it lifts up families across America who work hard and dream big every day.
[...]
Hillary, after warming up the Wall Street contingent, delves into the ‘stern warnings’ portion of her Wall Street visit ...
[continuing ...]
Now, who's exactly to blame for the housing crisis? Well, that's always a question that the press and people ask and I think there's plenty of blame to go around.
Responsibility belongs to mortgage lenders and brokers, who irresponsibly lowered underwriting standards, pushed risky mortgages, and hid the details in the fine print.
Responsibility belongs to the Administration and to regulators, who failed to provide adequate oversight, and who failed to respond to the chorus of reports that millions of families were being taken advantage of.
Responsibility belongs to the rating agencies, who woefully underestimated the risks involved in mortgage securities.
And certainly borrowers share responsibility as well. Homebuyers who paid extra fees to avoid documenting their income should have known they were getting in over their heads. Speculators who were busy buying two, three, four houses to sell for a quick buck don't deserve our sympathy.
But finally, responsibility also belongs to Wall Street, which not only enabled but often encouraged reckless mortgage lending. Mortgage lenders didn't have balance sheets big enough to write millions of loans on their own. So Wall Street originated and packaged the loans that common sense warned might very well have ended in collapse and foreclosure. Some people might say Wall Street only helped to distribute risk. I believe Wall Street shifted risk away from people who knew what was going on onto the people who did not.
Wall Street may not have created the foreclosure crisis, but Wall Street certainly had a hand in making it worse. [...]
I urge Wall Street and the mortgage industry to voluntarily agree to the following three steps:
First, we need a moratorium of at least 90 days on foreclosures of subprime, owner-occupied homes. The moratorium will stop foreclosures until lenders and servicers have contacted borrowers and frozen mortgage rates. It will also give financial counselors time to work with families.
Second, we need to freeze the monthly rate on subprime adjustable rate mortgages, with the freeze lasting at least five years until the mortgages have been converted into affordable, fixed-rate loans. [...]
Third, the mortgage industry must provide status reports on the number of mortgages it is modifying. Accountability is essential. Despite all the media coverage, despite all the hearings, despite the Secretary of the Treasury, despite all that has gone on in the last 30 to 60 days, the mortgage industry has only modified about 1 percent of at-risk mortgages this year. That' is simply not enough.
Now, I hope everyone will voluntarily agree to these steps, because we cannot fail at this. The costs are just too high.
If we cannot reach a voluntary agreement, I will consider legislation to address the problem. Mortgage servicers can work with borrowers to modify their mortgages. In the process, they can save families their homes, save investors from losses down the road, and help the economy.
But this is unchartered territory for them, and many are worried about opening themselves up to lawsuits from the investors who actually own the loans. I'm prepared to consider giving legal protection to servicers and others who administer these loans and who do the right thing by balancing the interests of homeowners, the investors, and our economy.
[...]
What I'm proposing is a comprehensive "work out" — not a "bail out" — of our most pressing economic problem. And I do hope that many of you here and a lot of our leaders on Wall Street will join with me and others in helping to find these solutions. I was pleased that Mayor Bloomberg announced today a fund that will be a non-profit fund along the lines that I've been advocating to help homeowners here in the city facing foreclosure. Because addressing this issue with the right leadership and a commitment to shared responsibility will solve the problem.
But let's remember that addressing the housing crises is only one piece of what has to become a broader agenda for creating shared prosperity for Americans again.
[...]
What we need always to be ready to do is to respond as Americans. We need to start acting as our best selves again. We need leadership who will summon us to do that. And I'm calling particularly on those who are so able and so smart and so resourceful to help us find our way forward here. Don't wait for the Administration or Secretary Paulson to call. Call yourself. Make sure that you're part of this ongoing "work-out." It's the right thing to do for the economy, but even more importantly it's the right thing to do for America.
Thank you all very much.
Citation: Hillary Clinton: "Remarks on Wall Street on Housing Crisis," December 5, 2007. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=77081
Volunteer compliance, protection from lawsuits, appealing to the ‘better angels’ of Wall Street moguls — Yes, that’ll get them to “Cut-it-out!”
[continuing with the intro article about “Fuming Democrats” ...]
By December of 2007, bank watchdogs in Congress had long since given up hope that Wall Street could fix things on its own. The subprime mortgage market had imploded 18 months earlier. It had been five months since two Bear Stearns hedge funds had collapsed. On Capitol Hill, Rep. Miller and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) had already introduced foreclosure relief legislation that would have allowed bankruptcy judges to reduce the amount that borrowers owed on their mortgages -- just as they can for credit card balances and other debts.
Banks were fighting the proposal tooth and nail. If Clinton had wanted to be tough, she could have voiced support for her colleagues' legislation. She didn't.
…..
It wasn’t long after that stern talking-to, before the Wall Street ‘angels’ got the legal immunity they were looking for. And a ton of Bail Out cash to boot — to help pay those pesky parking fines:
It’s a Flawed Settlement
Editorial, NYTimes.com -- August 22, 2011
[...]
The deal has been in the works for nearly a year, after the state attorneys general announced an investigation into a robo-signing scandal in which banks were found to have filed false foreclosure papers in state courts. It was widely believed that the scandal would lead to a broad inquiry into how banks inflated the housing bubble, profiting as it expanded.
[...]
Shaun Donovan, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, however, says that a settlement on the narrow issue of robo-signing would not preclude other investigations by individual attorneys general. But, clearly, once the robo-signing issue is off the table, investigators would lose leverage to pursue remedies for other possible illegalities in the packaging, marketing and transferring of mortgage securities.
The administration also says that the proposed settlement would require the banks to write down the principal balance on underwater loans. According to news reports, the banks are likely to pay around $20 billion in the deal. With 14.6 million homeowners owing $753 billion more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, how far does the administration think $20 billion would go?
Let me see, $20 billion in “settlement funds” divided by $753 billions in problem mortgages — that equals about 2.5 cents on the the dollar to go around. Heckvua Job there Banker Lobbyists!
No wonder, Senator Clinton was looking for those volunteer, non-profit solutions, to “help out” all those ‘burned’ home owners, trying desperately to tread all that water. Someone was going to have to take the 97.5 cents hit (ie. loss) — and you can bet your last two and half cents — that “someone” wasn’t going to be those over-zealous Wall Street mischief-makers.
They afterall, they pay to have some “serious friends” in high places.