A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
Having created an administration that seemed designed primarily for the purpose of serving Wall Street, Barack Obama oversaw the greatest transfer of public funds to private pockets in history. Now, as the multitudinous bubble-and-bust crimes of the banksters wind their way into court calendars, Obama seeks to immunize Wall Street from prosecution, in perpetuity. Some aggrieved current and former homeowners are rushing to court, “hoping to get some chance for justice before the presidential fix is in.”
Obama and the Robo-Thieving Banksters
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
“For a measly $20 billion, the bankers buy a Get-Out-of-Jail card and get to keep their ill-gotten gains, in perpetuity.”
A friend of mine is struggling to get an early court date so she can save her home from seizure by bankster criminals before Barack Obama sells her out. My friend is among the hundreds of thousands of homeowners whose purported signatures appear on documents they never saw, much less signed. She has an affidavit from handwriting experts to prove it and, in her case, the forger even spelled her name wrong. The corporate media like to call this “robo-signing,” where banks invent documents to prove they legally own the properties they are trying to seize. It’s a bad choice of words, that tends to say that inhuman machines are the culprits, when in fact we are witnessing a multi-billion dollar criminal enterprise at work – Wall Street banker criminality so blatant it makes Wyatt Earp’s Dodge City look like a Florida retirement community.
The crime spree that was central to the housing bubble was a nasty mess, with banksters so busy fleecing home buyers and turning bad paper into Triple-A securities they created a paper-processing scheme that neglected to include all the proper documents proving ownership. The heist was quick – ultimately bagging hundreds of billions – but it was legally sloppy. The rob-signers were brought in to clean up the crime scene, but only deepened the bankers’ culpability with another layer of fraud that is now exposed for all the world to see. By any legal and ethical standard, the banks’ conduct is criminal and indefensible. They need to pay through the nose and fill up the jails.
“The rob-signers were brought in to clean up the crime scene, but only deepened the bankers’ culpability with another layer of fraud.”
But they’ve got the President of the United States in their pocket. Obama, who my friend voted for, has put together a financial “settlement” that would forgive the bankers for all their crimes – crimes of the past, no doubt including crimes, such as repossessions, that are continuing right now, and crimes that are yet to be discovered. All for the paltry sum of $20 billion, a pittance for an industry that received $16 trillion in the people’s funds under President Obama, and has benefited in trillions more in free money from his Federal Reserve. For a measly $20 billion, the bankers buy a Get-Out-of-Jail card and get to keep their ill-gotten gains, in perpetuity – a whitewashing of crime on an unprecedented scale.
When my friend heard about Obama’s dirty dealing she knew she needed to force the issue in court before the First Black President gave immunity and a Go-Ahead Card to the banksters who forged her name in order to steal her home. Certainly, many other victims of the Wall Street Mafia are also banging on the court’s doors, hoping to get some chance for justice before the presidential fix is in. What a spectacle!
Once, all 50 state attorneys general vowed to put bankster criminality in check. Today, only four are left – most notably New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman – and three of the rest are shaky. But the banks are still balking at the settlement, demanding ironclad assurances that they can never be made accountable for their robo-signing crimes. That’s why my friend is trying to beat the clock and get her day in court, before big money and Barack Obama shut the doors on justice, forever.
For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford. On the web, go to www.BlackAgendaReport.com.
BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.
Saladin Muhammad was the founder of Black Workers for Justice. He played a key role in developing Black revolutionary labor organizing.
This week’s featured author is Andrea Freeman. Freeman is Professor of Law at the University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law. Her book is Skimmed: Breastfeeding, Race, and Injustice.
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