Sunday Schooled: Banksters Score One More

Once again, the enormous, bright pink elephant in the room is about to be ignored as the Fed prepares to "deal" with the banksters to allow said banksters to walk away from their responsibility of being complicit in the demolishing of the American and global economies.Via The New York Times:

Prepare for a disappointment. As early as this week, federal bank regulators and the nation’s big banks are expected to close a deal that is supposed to address and correct the scandalous abuses. If these agreements are anything like the draft agreement recently published by the American Banker — and we believe they will be — they will be a wrist slap, at best. At worst, they are an attempt to preclude other efforts to hold banks accountable. They are unlikely to ease the foreclosure crisis. 

All homeowners will suffer as a result. Some 6.7 million homes have already been lost in the housing bust, and another 3.3 million will be lost through 2012. The plunge in home equity — $5.6 trillion so far — hits everyone because foreclosures are a drag on all house prices. 

The deals grew out of last year’s investigation into robo-signing — when banks were found to have filed false documents in foreclosure cases. The report of the investigation has not been released, but we know that robo-signing was not an isolated problem. Many other abuses are well documented: late fees that are so high that borrowers can’t catch up on late payments; conflicts of interest that lead banks to favor foreclosures over loan modifications. 

The draft does not call for tough new rules to end those abuses. Or for ramped-up loan modifications. Or for penalties for past violations. Instead, it requires banks to improve the management of their foreclosure processes, including such reforms as “measures to ensure that staff are trained specifically” for their jobs. The banks will also have to adhere to a few new common-sense rules like halting foreclosures while borrowers seek loan modifications and establishing a phone number at which a person will take questions from delinquent borrowers. Some regulators have reportedly said that fines may be imposed later.

For those of you who thought there was justice in America: it's time to wake up, because no such thing exists any longer. This country reached its peak, and now it's on the decline, as wealthy and corporate interests rape and pillage it for all that's left. We're just American trash, people; hopped up on a celebrity culture and a train-wreck society that strives to keep us dumbed down and ignorant, not to mention silent.

Which brings us to our first Sunday Schooled segment: American Trash. Who do you think you are?