Black: Lenders & appraisers hyper-inflated housing bubble

Once again, two-fisted ex-regulator Bill Black takes a baseball bat to the kneecaps of the myth that "stupidity" and "greed" were to blame for the mortgage crisis.  And if that doesn't work, let's blame it all on the FMs.

Fraud.  We don't say it, you certainly won't hear it in the mainstream media, but it's there, and it remains unpunished and undeterred.

Two Sentences That Explain the Crisis and How Easy It Was to Avoid

By William K. Black

July 9, 2013 | Huffington Post

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-k-black/two-sentences-that-explai_b_3566112.html

Obama winks at financial fraud

President Obama has never had any interest in reining in Wall Street, his generous donors. Obama's "Financial Fraud Enforcement Group" proves it:

There are no offices, no phones and no staff dedicated to the non-task force.  Two of the five co-chairs have left government.  What “investigators” there are from the task force are nothing more than liaisons to the independent agencies doing their own independent investigations.  In the rare event that these agencies file an actual lawsuit or enforcement action, the un-task force merely puts out a statement taking credit for it.  Take a look at this in action at the website for the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, the federal umbrella group “investigating” financial fraud.  It’s little more than a press release factory, and no indictment, conviction or settlement is too small.  The site takes credit for cracking down on Ponzi schemes, insider trading, tax evasion, racketeering, violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act (!) and a host of other crimes that have precisely nothing to do with the financial crisis.  To call this a publicity stunt is an insult to publicity stunts.

Wall Street wins again

The secret truth: There never was a “task force” dedicated to ferreting out mortgage fraud

By David Dayen

February 13, 2013 | Salon

URL: http://www.salon.com/2013/02/13/wall_street_wins_again/

Obama's ongoing failure: $26 B fraud settlement not going to borrowers

It's stories like this that make me despair of choosing between Republican (Romney) and Republican Lite (Obama) in this November's elections.  

If Obama really cared, he would have leaned on the banks, via his HAMP program, to modify at least 800,000 mortgages, keeping 800,000 families and about 2 million Americans in their homes.  

Meanwhile, states are not giving $26 billion in settlement money from banks to help distressed borrowers; they're using that money to pay for tax cuts for the rich and to plug other budget holes.  

It's outrageous and pathetic.  Yet you won't hear about it from the lamestream media.  #OWS isn't out there protesting about it.  Democrats don't mention it in their campaign speeches.  Nay, underwater borrowers-homeowners -- the biggest drag on the U.S. economy -- are completely on their own.  

Below the Fold: Where did the $26 Billion go?

By Richard Zombeck

September 14, 2012 | Huffington Post

URL: http://huff.to/TSIPPw

Yves Smith: PBS whitewashed crisis, bailouts

If this is how the "liberal media" (PBS) takes on America's corrupt bankster-regulator nexus, then the conservative media can relax.  The fix is already in.  History has been re-written by the victors.

Frontline's Astonishing Whitewash of the Crisis

By Yves Smith

April 27, 2012 | Naked Capitalism

URL:  http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/04/frontlines-astonishing-whitewash-of-the-crisis.html

CBS investigates: Why no prosecutions of Wall St.?

All of you who think the FMs caused the mortgage crisis, you need to read this. Countrywide and Citibank both engaged in deliberate mortgage fraud. No regulator in the world can prevent the kind of fraud they perpetrated -- regulators can only prosecute them when it's uncovered. It has been uncovered. Whistleblowers from both companies are ready to testify. Yet the Justice Department hasn't opened a criminal investigation and made charges. Why not?

Is it because politicians -- including Obama -- are in the bankers' pocket? Or are federal prosecutors just afraid they'll be outgunned by dozens of high-priced lawyers? Whatever the excuse, it's not good enough. We put executives behind bars for S&L fraud, and that was mild compared to this. We need criminal cases and CEOs and CFOs behind bars, and we can do it using the 2002 Sarbanes Oxley Act.

Prosecuting Wall Street

December 4, 2011 | CBS News

URL: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57336042/prosecuting-wall-street/

German bank seizes 'sleazy bank' headlines for a day

"MortgageIT, a subsidiary of Germany's largest lender, egregiously violated federal rules that came with government backing on more than 39,000 mortgages worth more than $5 billion since 1999, according to the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court."

Finally we can stop talking about sleazy Wall Street banks, and start talking about sleazy German banks!

You know, we shouldn't prejudge, because people are people -- Americans are the same as people all over the world. And big banks are big banks -- they're all sleazy and want to cheat American borrowers and taxpayers. (Especially when the USG makes it so darn easy for them to be so sleazy!) Can I get an "Amen!"

Deutsche Bank Accused Of Massive Mortgage Fraud, Sued for $1 Billion By U.S. Government

By Shahien Nasiripour

May 3, 2011 | Huffington Post

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/03/deutsche-bank-mortgage-fraud_n_857105.html