As someone who generally acquires their news from the lame-stream media sources, I found that the information as it was presented was generally politically biased, as well as lacking in accuracy. This is especially true as more and more media outlets slant the news stories to fit their own agenda. The best way to describe this would be to say that, "Lies are being told, more by omission than by substantive facts".
From my personal point of view, I believe that the Occupy Wall Street (http://occupywallst.org/) movement is important. So much so, that I spent even some more time thinking about ways that the impact of the movement could bring greater weight to bear on Wall Street and our 'do-nothing' Congress. There's also another group, The New Bottom Line (http://www.newbottomline.com) that's getting itself set up and may have the potential to help drive the big banks and mortgage companies into submission of the will of the people.
"Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech and the right of assembly." Regardless of how the politicians try to paint these activities as 'UN-American', nothing could be further from the truth. It's about as patriotic as it can be, in that it's the practice of democracy in action. This time though, I don't believe the politicians will be able to whitewash this movement with their rhetoric. If they'd try shutting their mouths for a few minutes and start listening, they might learn something, for a change.
Since our Congress is apparently going to do nothing to help alleviate the needs of the middle class, except for sitting on their thumbs (thanks, 'President Boehner' and 'the rest of our alleged representatives' (a term which I use loosely)), it looks like it's up to us to do what they're either unwilling to do, or not competent enough to figure it out on their own. So, it's apparently up to us to take matters into our own hands. Obviously, from the rhetoric and their feigned ignorance of the issues, they haven't got a clue about what the OWS movement is all about, do they? (You can bet they do, but because of 'party line politics', these 'political geniuses' are failing to understand that we're not buying into their 'line of crap', any longer.)
The picture that the politicians try to paint concerning the protesters, is that these are movements similar to the 'Stop the War / Free Love Movement' of the sixties and early seventies. Nothing could be further from the truth and if 'certain people' would open their minds (and their ears) they'd discover that these are intelligent, well spoken and educated people, practicing their rights to peacefully assemble: That is, until the police departments make unwarranted attacks against them and then 'creatively manufacture' claims of 'unruliness and confrontation', for the lame-stream media. It seems to this writer, that if any rioting breaks out, it'll most likely be provoked by law enforcement's failure to understand that the Occupy Wall Street and The New Bottom Line protests were originally intended to be peaceful, and I seriously doubt that the first stone will be thrown by the protesters.
"UN-American?" Really? Duh! Groups like Occupy Wall Street and The new Bottom Line are doing exactly what Democracy mandates: We're demanding that our voices be heard. These protests aren't so much about politics as they are about middle class damage control, and our politicians have done more than their fair share of damage over the last few years. Now it's time for US to clean up their mess!
Oh, and they shouldn't be too smug in their assumptions that many of 'em will have a job after 2012, either. If I'm like most other Americans, I think we can all agree that it's finally time to 'clean house', so I'd advise our current political representatives to grab onto something solid, because it's gonna be one bumpy ride. Rest assured, their replacements will understand that the people have spoken and that they will have their priorities in order: They will represent us over big business. Otherwise, they can suffer the same fates when their term expires, as did their predecessors. To paraphrase a comment made in the movie, Network, "We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore!"
I'm sure that most everyone is familiar with the saying, "Payback's a bitch", right? And how are we getting 'paid back for our generosity', especially when we bailed out Wall Street and the big banks? Higher bank card fees? The 'Government sanctioned' rape of the American homeowner? The legalized theft of our homes? Not to mention, the personal loss of any accumulated equity, the loss of our jobs, along with our Government's inability (Oh hell, let's just call it what it really is: Impotence), in restoring this country's economy and standard of living? Need I go on?
So what else, besides protests, can we do to add to the pressure on these 'morally corrupt and unethical' Congressional, Wall Street and banking, 'geniuses'? Maybe there's another way to 'Occupy Wall Street' and that's through 'co-operative lawsuits' against banks, like Bank of America and others. When you think about it, it could be financially affordable for distressed homeowners and may have the advantages of being able to forestall their foreclosure activities.
Collectively, hundreds of homeowners in foreclosure or facing foreclosure, among other things, could band together and file a massive lawsuit against the banks in an attempt to 'bail ourselves out'. Let's face it: Our government seems to have no interest in doing what's right, especially where these greedy corporations are concerned and I'm of the opinion that they odds were stacked against us from the very beginning. For example, the HAMP loans, through either being told to quit making your mortgage payments to qualify, then, rejections because of lost paperwork or their unwillingness to even give them out to those who were qualified, etc., with the end result of being 'set up for foreclosure'.
And what about the mortgage insurance you paid for during your loan? Did anybody receive any benefits from having purchased it, or are you instead, being sued by the banks for the full amount of the mortgage? What happened to your insurance policy? Why wasn't it there, providing the 'insurance for your mortgage' for which you paid? Or was it some type of fraudulent scam being used by the mortgage companies to increase their capital gains?
It's time for another, new movement. Another layer; to be added to the efforts and working in conjunction with the efforts of Occupy Wall Street and The New Bottom Line. This movement should be started in every individual county (yes, that's correct......county) in the country. The reason for that is that the mortgage companies had to file their foreclosure paperwork in each individual county and if they were 'robo-signed', then chances are, the facts as claimed, attested to and notarized, may be false. But the moment you take the litigation out of the hands of the state court system and go Federal, most of those issues will likely become, moot. If you stay in the state court system and start fighting it there, then if the banks did perjure themselves, chances are that we've got a 'fighting chance'. And if the state court system fails us, we could of course, move on to the state supreme courts or possibly even Federal court system. The whole point is, that it may be possible to keep the banks tied up for years.
The 'other advantages' of creating a co-op against the banks is that the cost of the fees should be greatly reduced. The banks are counting on the distressed, underwater and unemployed homeowners to not be able to come up with the attorneys fees, and in most cases, they'd be correct on their assumptions. But, for the sake of argument, a group of a thousand (1,000) Bank of America customers got together and chipped in a hundred dollars ($100.00) each, they'd all of a sudden, have one-hundred thousand dollars ($100,000.00) to buy the best in legal representation, wouldn't they? For the struggling homeowner, that may be hard to come by, but at the same time, it sure beats having to come up with five to eight thousand dollars to fight your case on your own, doesn't it?
Just for a second, imagine what would happen if litigation was filed by countless co-op groups throughout the country. My state has ninety-two counties. Some others more, some others possibly less. Then, all of a sudden, the banks get swamped with lawsuits during the following year, in each county. To me, that's one way to keep 'em "occupied", and as I see it, it's also another way to effectively, "Occupy Wall Street" and force the banks into taking a better look at "A new Bottom Line'. In other words, settle with the homeowners and survive, or be taken own the path of financial destruction, carried on the backs of their own greed.
And what could happen if a plan like this failed? Maybe you'd still lose your home, but you were already facing that possibility, weren't you? You might have to file for bankruptcy, but if a bank wins a judgment against you for the outstanding mortgage balance, chances are, you'd be filing for bankruptcy relief anyway. And again, with a co-op, you wouldn't be shelling out thousands for legal representation either, which means that you might be able to save your home and equity for a few hundred, as compared to thousands.
We know Congress is hearing us, but unfortunately (and as usual), they're not listening. Let's face it: If we think the federal government is going to do anything to help us, then think again. The one 'good thing' a few states have done, is to 'not sign off' on a fifty state agreement, which would have allowed the big banks and mortgage companies freedom from further investigations of any wrong doing, in exchange for a few million dollars in fines, in return. (The AG's responsible for the collapse of the agreement, should be applauded. Especially New York's AG Eric Schneiderman and California's AG, Kamala Harris. Thank you!)
So how would something like this work? Using a few well known institutions as an example, let's start with Bank of America/Countrywide, Wells Fargo and J.P Morgan.
First of all, these are three separate entities and should be treated as such. One of the reasons for this is that each corporation has its own 'unique way' of handling their businesses and although many of them share the same flaws, the differences are enough to warrant filing separate actions. In addition, for each corporation, there's a similar lawsuit in court, which hopefully, will help bog the court systems down and create longer delays.
Also, it's much easier to sort out the facts and work with the individual homeowners, instead of trying to 'sort things out on the fly'. After all, we're trying to get these corporations to say, "Uncle", and the more we can cost 'em in the process, the better off we'll be. Again, remember, if you lose a judgment, the end result would most likely be the same: Loss of property ownership and possible bankruptcy, so why not just go for it?
We think it's safe to say that the big banks will take your property and sell it off for 'pennies on the dollar' to some other company, so that it can turned into rental property. Why shouldn't we have the option of settling for the same and simply have the banks 'adjust' our mortgages? We're talking about principle write-downs, lower interest rates and better terms, etc. What's the difference? Litigation could also tie up their abilities to dispose of your home, or do much of anything else with it while the cases are being settled.
Just like you, I'm angry over how the banks are manipulating the mortgage crisis and the lame-stream media to their own advantages, simply because they can 'set and change the rules' as they wish. Enough's enough! Apparently, someone has left the back door open for us (thanks again, New York, California and others) and all we need to do is, 'walk in'.
There's a lot that needs to be discussed and a lot that needs to by organized, but time's also running out. Every day we delay in getting organized and filing action against the big banking corporations, someone is in danger of losing their home, their security and way of life. We're all paying a price for something that Wall Street did, and they're apparently being allowed to walk away without having to own up to any of the responsibility. Yet they 'repay or generosity' for bailing them out with higher banking fees, not to mention, the ruination of the 'American Dream'. That's why I started this blog, where you may put forth your ideas and opinions. In addition, we have an e-mail account at: fight_back@eepnet.com. Join us, and let's get organized before any more families have to suffer the loss of their homes. It's time to fight back!
