Anderson@Large

Wells Fargo, Fraudsters and Tainted Money

For preachers and some civil rights organizations, including the NAACP and the National Urban League, no money is tainted. For them, the only thing wrong with tainted money is there t'aint enough.

But enough is enough.

Today, the Justice Department announced a $25 billion agreement with the five largest mortgage servicers: Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial (formerly GMAC). Attorney General Eric Holder said:

This agreement – the largest joint federal-state settlement ever obtained – is the result of unprecedented coordination among enforcement agencies throughout the government. It holds mortgage servicers accountable for abusive practices and requires them to commit more than $20 billion towards financial relief for consumers. As a result, struggling homeowners throughout the country will benefit from reduced principals and refinancing of their loans. The agreement also requires substantial changes in how servicers do business, which will help to ensure the abuses of the past are not repeated.

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller added:

This monitored agreement holds the banks accountable, it provides badly needed relief to homeowners, and it transforms the mortgage servicing industry so now homeowners will be protected and treated fairly.

In his remarks on the landmark housing settlement, President Obama said:

By now, it’s well known that millions of Americans who did the right thing and the responsible thing – shopped for a house, secured a mortgage that they could afford, made their payments on time – were, nevertheless, hurt badly by the irresponsible actions of others: by lenders who sold loans to people who couldn’t afford them; by buyers who knew they couldn’t afford them; by speculators who were looking to make a quick buck; by banks that took risky mortgages, packaged them up, and traded them off for large profits.

The NAACP and the National Urban League trade their credibility, such as it is, for sponsorship by banks that engaged in discriminatory and fraudulent lending practices. Pariah corporations have long sponsored civil rights organizations to buy their silence.

It's up to the rest of us to make some noise. Hey, Ben Jealous, how's your “partnership” with Wells Fargo working out?

Occupy Philly ‘Forecloses’ on Wells Fargo

Occupy Philadelphia is way past its expiration date, but I want to commend Occupiers for “foreclosing” on the Center City branch of Wells Fargo.

Sure, Occupy Philly’s direct action was symbolic. But their noise stands in stark contrast to the deafening silence of civil rights organizations, including the NAACP and National Urban League, that look the other way while pocketing the bankster’s money.

Day Tripping at Occupy Wall Street

On the one-month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, I went to Zuccotti Park to see what was going on.

The half-acre public space has been transformed into Liberty Square, a self-contained encampment of unemployed 20-somethings, homeless, progressives, anarchists and aging hippies “veteran leftist activists.” There is also a garden variety of nuts and thieves.

While it’s messy, the park has not been trashed. I was expecting a scene out of “Hoarders.” Instead, OWS is organized chaos with a “Good Neighbor Policy.”

Don’t even think about trampling the flowers:

Keep it clean. This plaza and these flowers are important to the community. Our ability to uphold the beauty of this park well represents our commitment to a better world.

There’s a kitchen that serves healthy and free food.

They were serving breakfast so I helped myself to scrambled eggs, hash browns and a bagel.

The Occupiers have everything one would need in an encampment that never sleeps, including a cellphone and laptop charging area, generator, Health Care and Comfort stations, and Sanitation Department.

They even have some kitchen sinks.

The encampment is surrounded by the NYPD. If Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave the order, the police could clear out the tent city in, well, a New York minute.

Right now, OWS is the place to see and be seen. It’s the latest tourist attraction in Lower Manhattan. A Quinnipiac University poll found overwhelming support among New York City voters.

Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a statement:

It’s a free country. Let them keep on protesting as long as they obey the law, New Yorkers say overwhelmingly. Critics complain that no one can figure out what the protesters are protesting. But seven out of 10 New Yorkers say they understand and most agree with the anti-Wall Street views of the protesters

Meanwhile, a Gallup poll found most Americans have no opinion of the Occupiers:

Given Americans’ apparent lack of knowledge about the Occupy Wall Street movement, it is not surprising to find a minority of Americans describing themselves as supporters (26%) or opponents (19%) of the movement. A majority, 52%, say they are neither supporters nor opponents, with another 4% not having an opinion.

Until the Occupiers figure out what their goals are, it is an open question whether it’s a moment or a movement.

As Occupy Wall Street celebrates its one-month anniversary, it remains a collection of grievances. If and when the General Assembly adopts goals, there is no plan to achieve them.

As the unwashed body count rises, the temperature drops and media coverage fades away, the General Assembly will be asked: Why are you still here?

Occupiers Will Party Like It’s 1969

Later today, Wall Street occupiers will take their act to Times Square.

The Occupy Wall Street drum circles will come in handy for “people who only need a beat.”

Organizers want party-goers to be “as dramatic as possible.” They want to party like it’s 1969.

(Pre-)Occupied in Philly

Sarah Palin famously said she could see Russia from her window. I can’t see Occupy Philadelphia from my apartment, but I sometimes hear the protesters.

I have not blogged much the last few days because I’ve been preoccupied with a project. I’ll get back to my regular schedule next week.

With folks in an uproar from the Big Apple to the Big Easy, a Facebook friend left this comment on my wall:

Buckle up! The pot is starting to stir. 2012 is starting to look like it’s going to be a real doozy of a year with a spectacular conclusion, considering the economy and the election, and people in the streets, and the Mayan Calendar thing and all.

While it “ain’t exactly clear” what’s going down, it’s going down all around us.

Confidence Men

Ron Suskind’s much-anticipated book, “Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President,” will be published today.

The book reportedly tells how three stooges appointees – former White House Chief of Rahm Emanuel, former Director of the National Economic Council Larry Summers and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner – “hijacked” the Obama presidency.

Frank Rich and Adam Moss of New York Magazine received an advance copy. Here’s what they had to say:

Adam: Hi, Frank. So there’s a little commotion about this new book Confidence Men, by Ron Suskind, which is being published on Tuesday. And as it happens, you and I have actually read it! So let’s talk about that this week. To give readers a super-fast overview, it’s a book, essentially, about Obama’s economic team during his first two years in office. The news of the book, according to some reports, is that Tim Geithner was insubordinate to the president, pursuing his own pro-banker agenda. Or, according to other reports, that Larry Summers was insubordinate to the president, pursuing his own — well, monomaniacal agenda. I’d add that it’s also about Rahm Emanuel being insubordinate to the president, just because. Basically, it’s about the presidency being hijacked by these three guys. And the guys thing is important because they’re pretty awful to women. Anyway, they’re the villains. Paul Volcker, Christina Romer, and Elizabeth Warren are the heroes. Bankers win, America loses. Did I get that right?

Frank: Hi, Adam, and yes, you did! I would point out that among the other heroes are more women (Sheila Bair, Brooksley Born, Maria Cantwell) and at least one man, the Princeton economist Alan Krueger, who also seems to be a serious Suskind source and who has now returned to the White House to succeed Austan Goolsbee and Romer as head of the Council of Economic Advisers. Not that that will do any good. I think the portrait of Geithner is devastating — his countermanding of the president’s wishes to make a Wall Street object lesson of Citigroup, his nasty “Elizabeth Warren strategy” to silence and neuter the administration’s rare genuine reformer. And yet Geithner is the only member of the original economic team still standing in the White House, poised to countermand any other rare independent voice that might yet speak up, like Krueger’s.

A: You think the portrait of Geithner is more devastating than the one of Summers? I guess. In that instance you cite, Obama asks to put the dissolving of Citibank on the table, and Geithner simply ignores him, “walking back” the decision, in political parlance. More insidiously, he creates the framework, borrowed from Hippocrates, of “first, do no harm,” which effectively cuts off any bold reforms for fear of their potential effects on the market. But Summers is portrayed as an egotistical nut job, single-mindedly determined to get Bernanke’s job; when he doesn’t get it, he goes bananas. He is supposed to be a conduit for the collective advice of the team, but undermines his colleagues, only passing along advice and information that supports his positions. I was kind of stunned how many officials were willing to go on the record against him.

Peter Orszag relays this eviscerating quote that Summers said to him about Obama during the worst of the economic distress. According to Orszag, Summers says, “You know, Peter we’re really home alone. There’s no adult in charge. Clinton would never have made these mistakes.” Later, Orszag says to Suskind, “Larry just didn’t think the president knew what he was deciding. Was this [obstruction of the president’s wishes] outright and willful?” In other words, asks Orszag, was Summers saying, “I know more than the president flat-out? That strikes me as ... likely.” In an amazing memo, Pete Rouse, who would replace Emanuel temporarily as chief of staff, recommends firing Summers for “Larry’s imperious and heavy-handed direction of the economic policy process.” Romer says Summers made her feel “like a piece of meat.”

In the end, nobody’s talking to Summers — not even his crony Geithner. Furious that Geithner didn’t recommend him for Bernanke’s job, he stands Geithner up at a dinner for all the former Treasury secretaries — Summers is the only living former secretary not there. Geithner says, “Larry would rather be in Davos than at dinner with me.” At least according to Suskind, the only person who could stand Summers was Obama, which — in Suskind’s telling — was a misjudgment that had a rather profound effect on the first chunk of Obama’s presidency.

Read more: Obama’s Economic Quagmire

Ask a Woman Who Knows

Last week the leaders of two civil rights organizations, Marc Morial and Benjamin Jealous, met with President Obama to discuss job creation and economic growth.

The readout of the meeting notes that Obama “congratulated the leaders on their upcoming conventions.”

As expected, my post about black female civil rights leaders being left out of the meeting sparked accusations that I am a “hater.” My response: Guilty as charged.

I hate that Wells Fargo was the “Lead Sponsor” of the NAACP’s 101st annual convention. And they’re still hooked up in Los Angeles.

The predatory lender was a “Principal Sponsor” of the National Urban League’s centennial conference, and will be back on board when the League kicks off its annual conference this week.

Now check this out: On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve Board ordered Wells Fargo to pay an $85 million fine for steering borrowers with good credit into subprime loans. I hate when that happens.

The order reads:

The $85 million civil money penalty is the largest the Board has assessed in a consumer-protection enforcement action and is the first formal enforcement action taken by a federal bank regulatory agency to address alleged steering of borrowers into high-cost, subprime loans.

[…]

The order addresses allegations that Wells Fargo Financial sales personnel steered borrowers who were potentially eligible for prime interest rate loans into loans at higher, subprime interest rates, resulting in greater costs to borrowers. The order also addresses separate allegations that Wells Fargo Financial sales personnel falsified information about borrowers’ incomes to make it appear that the borrowers qualified for loans when they would not have qualified based on their actual incomes.

I have been asked to identify the black women leaders who should have been invited. I will not name names because that would be a betrayal of their trust. Although they know their stuff, they would be ostracized and penalized for breaking the silence.

And I would really hate for that to happen.

UPDATE: The Huffington Post reports the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Wells Fargo for “allegedly preying upon African American borrowers during the housing bubble and steering them into high-cost subprime loans.”