If you know about foreclosure fraud, the mass fabrication of mortgage documents in state courts by banks attempting to foreclose on homeowners, you may have one nagging question: Why did banks have to resort to this illegal scheme? Was it just cheaper to mock up the documents than to provide the real ones? Did banks figure they simply had enough power over regulators, politicians and the courts to get away with it? (They were probably right about that one.)
The Detroit bankruptcy is looking suspiciously like the bail-in template originated by the G20’s Financial Stability Board in 2011, which exploded on the scene in Cyprus in 2013 and is now becoming the model globally. In Cyprus, the depositors were “bailed in” (stripped of a major portion of their deposits) to re-capitalize the banks. In Detroit, it is the municipal workers who are being bailed in, stripped of a major portion of their pensions to save the banks.
It’s a rule most of know and most of us ignore – and one often thrown back at borrowers by banks facing complaints over terms and conditions.
Dmitry Argarkov, a Russian man who was sent an unsolicited letter offering him a credit card, has turned the tables, however, arguably striking a blow for customers everywhere.
Instead of simply ignoring the offer of credit Mr Argarkov, 42, scanned the agreement into his computer, changed the terms of the contract and returned it to the lender, Tinkoff Credit Systems.
Video by ClearStream This is a MUST SEE video, that cuts through the illusion of the “American Dream” as it is perceived in the popular press
Time is running out for the US economy and the American people. The financial press and economic commentators, with few exceptions, do a good job of keeping this fact from the public
Wall Street can rob you indirectly too– how are Goldman Sachs and other big banks artificially manipulating the aluminum market and other commodities to make consumers needlessly pay more for everyday items, netting them billions of excess dollars? Cenk Uygur breaks down the disturbing findings.
And are ultimately destroying it!
In every era, there are certain people and institutions that are held in the highest public regard as they embody the prevailing values of society. Not that long ago, Albert Einstein was a major public figure and was widely revered. Can you name a scientist that commands a similar presence today?
For me the real value of Modernizing Money’, beyond the quality of the particular argument it makes about money and banking, is that it clearly says there IS a debate to be had, that there are workable and intelligent alternatives to the system as it is presently and, most importantly, that those who say to you over and over that “there is no alternative” are liars. And they are liars because it profits them hugely, in money and power, to keep unchanged and unchallenged, the system at whose pinnacle they sit.
“The Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, at a time when its economy was in total collapse, with ruinous war-reparation obligations and zero prospects for foreign investment or credit. Yet through an independent monetary policy of sovereign credit and a full-employment public-works program, the Third Reich was able to turn a bankrupt Germany, stripped of overseas colonies it could exploit, into the strongest economy in Europe within four years, even before armament spending began.”
In the wake of a brutal crisis that has now lasted five years, even economists ought to reconsider their ideas. Most other people would do so much more quickly, but we are a very patient and stubborn profession.
The view that was propagated at the time of the crisis was that there was a series of national problems: in the U.S., the subprime mortgage disaster; in Greece, overspending, undertaxing; in Ireland, commercial real estate; in Spain, a residential housing bubble. And somehow, all of these things seemed to come to a head and break out in a crisis at the same time. What a coincidence!
In a cross post from the Ecologist, Ian Tennant looks at a bid to change the way that money is created so that it can flow to where it is most needed, and asks what part will you play in creating a new paradigm for money?
A new report says homelessness in northern England has witnessed a 42 percent increase in just one year, with the homeless choosing to live in a network of disused sandstone caves near the town centre of Stockport, Greater Manchester
