Archive for the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Category

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Dallas Fed Calls Out Too Big To Fail Banks

Thursday, March 29th, 2012

Too Big To Fail used to be a joke.

It became an insult hurled by Occupy Wall Street or the Tea Party at the big banks, but that’s all it was.

It was never an expression that had any legitimacy. It was just a nice little way for the media to classify the banking industry in a ready-made slogan.

Guess what? Too Big To Fail isn’t a joke anymore. It’s actual policy towards our nation’s biggest financial institutions.

The Federal Reserve of Dallas has now legitimized my scathing criticisms of the banks in their annual report and it has resonated with with everything I’ve been writing in this blog.

It was a nice early birthday present when I got home yesterday and read the report, written by the head of the Dallas Fed’s research department. Harvey Rosenblum.

When Greg Smith published his critique of Goldman Sachs, the aftershocks rang through the halls of every office on Wall Street.

After reading Rosenblum’s report, which was subtitled “Why We Must End Too Big To Fail — Now”, I can only imagine what will happen now.

It’s about time that someone on the government side validated the anger and anxiety shared by the Occupy and Tea Party movements. Right there in an official Fed paper!!

So what did I find so appealing about his critique? He spells it out, clear as day, what Too Big To Fail really is, and what’s it’s led to.

What It Is: In 1970 the top 5 banks possessed 17% of the nation’s banking assets. In 2010? 52 percent.
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Posted in Big Banks, Federal Reserve, Occupy Wall Street, Too Big To Fail | 2 Comments »

Oppenheim Looks at 2011 and beyond: Foreclosure Crisis, #OccupyWallStreet and Real Estate

Tuesday, December 27th, 2011

With 2011 winding down, foreclosure attorney Roy Oppenheim made a return visit to “The Mind of Money” to share his thoughts on the year that was with host Douglas Lodmell.

Just as Oppenheim anticipated, this year we’ve seen how big this foreclosure mess really is. There were numerous investigations, and a self-imposed moratorium on foreclosures during parts of 2011, resulting in a massive backlog of cases.

It was ludicrous, as Bank of America officials first said, that they would only need 60 days to review their inventory of files.

“It took them virtually a year to figure out that they were doing were just not kosher and had to stop,” Oppenheim explained.

There were several huge financial settlements offered to the banks over their illegitimate foreclosure practices, but the majority just did not stick. Judges told them the settlements were unacceptable and did not go far enough. With various attorneys general and the IRS among the agencies getting involved, these cases are nowhere close to settled.

“The banks literally got their hand not just caught in the cookie jar, but the lid was slammed on it, and everyone got to see the hand just hanging there,” said Oppenheim.

2011 is leaving us with a still unstable market, so people are looking for tangible investments, Oppenheim continued, and with the dollar still weak, Florida real estate is not a bad deal. When you add the fact that there is an excess of distressed properties, prices are not expected to rise anytime soon. he said.

Now every year there is an X-Factor, and this year it was Occupy Wall Street. It was a movement no one really saw coming, and despite some right-wingers attempts to limit Occupy as a fringe movement, Oppenheim said, there is no question the message of Occupy has resonated with middle America.
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Posted in Bank Fraud, Florida foreclosures, Florida Law News, Florida real estate, Foreclosure Defense, Foreclosure Fraud, Mind of Money, Occupy Wall Street, Oppenheim Law | No Comments »

Foreclosure Headlines: Robo Signer/ Whistle Blower Dead, Occupy The Street; Homeowner Holiday Reprieve, Average Foreclosure Length Up, New Mass AG Sues Banks

Monday, December 5th, 2011

Roy Oppenheim Reports on Florida Foreclosure

The Florida Foreclosure Defense Headlines via Oppenheim Law

Notary behind robo-signing scandal found dead

A whistle-blower who brought a massive case to light was found dead inside her Nevada home.

Officers found the body of Tracy Lawrence, 43, after she failed to show up for a 8:30 a.m. court appearance, Las Vegas station KSNV reported. She was supposed to be sentenced for her role in the fraud case, but she never arrived and her lawyer said he was concerned for her well-being, so the judge dispatched officers to her home.

Detectives have ruled out homicide, KNSV reported, but it’s not known if Lawrence died of natural causes or if she took her own life.

The week before, she pled guilty one criminal charge of notary fraud, after she admitted that she had notarized around 25,000 fraudulent documents as part of a foreclosure fraud scheme.

Prosecutors allege title officers Gary Trafford and Geraldine Sheppard of California are behind the scheme that involved Lawrence, both were indicted on more than 600 charges in a 439-page indictment filed on November 16. Both are still at-large.

Homeowners join OWS movement

Last week 60 Minutes shined a harsh light on the homeless problem in Florida, that one third of the homeless families in America are from the Sunshine State. And two-thirds of homeless families are living on the streets. For them ‘Occupy Wall Street’ has literally become ‘Occupy The Street’.

If there is any positive to be had from this difficult news, it’s that the social stigma attached to losing your home is now gone, Oppenheim Law reports. For some underwater homeowners, foreclosure has become a form of protest, not unlike the OWS movement. But some are walking away willingly and protesting from their living rooms, while others are forced into their cars.
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Posted in Bank Fraud, Florida Law News, Occupy Wall Street | 1 Comment »

Occupy Your Living Room! What? #OccupyWallStreet Via Foreclosure

Friday, November 18th, 2011

Some underwater and financially fractured homeowners are supporting the Occupy Wall Street movement from the comfort of their own living room.

As the Occupy Wall Street completes its two-month anniversary and demonstrators were removed from Zuccotti Park, let’s take a moment to reflect on why these demonstrations are now resonating with both Main Street America and homeowners that are underwater or in foreclosure.

Maybe because it’s a revolution born by the systemic arrogance of the banking and Wall Street community that pushed our economy off a cliff and now continues to hold the whole country at bay.

“Our political system should serve all of us — not just the very rich and powerful. Right now Wall Street owns Washington,” said participant Beka Economopoulos. “We are the 99% and we are here to reclaim our democracy.”

Flash Back – Shays’ Rebellion

If we just go back a few years to the height of the economic crisis in 2007/2008, I did a short video on Shays’ Rebellion 2.0. In that video I discuss how the farmers in Western Massachusetts ended up protesting an unfair system that forcibly foreclosed upon the farmers during a severe economic recession caused by a severe drought. Shay and his compatriots ended up storming the courthouse and judges that were allowing the banks to foreclose on the homes and farms and in fact placing some of the debtors in jail at the time.

For those who know their history the great irony of Shays’ Rebellion is that it caused post-revolutionary colonial America to reassess their government structure and was in fact a key catalyst for the formation of today’s United States of America.
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Posted in Florida Law News, Occupy Wall Street, Shay’s Rebellion | 1 Comment »

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