Category Archives: Uncategorized

By Pam Martens: February 20, 2012 Beginning on the evening of February 8 and throughout the next two days, every newsroom in those expensive media real estate offices was running with the government press release that the  $25 billion agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice and 49 state attorneys general was a “foreclosure” settlement.  Turns out, it was a “mortgage fraud settlement” made before the public could be informed of the depths of the mortgage fraud and how it was collusively perpetrated.  Here’s a sampling of how the story was spun.  (Italic emphasis added.)  Feb. 8 (New York Times) “…It is part of a broad national settlement aimed at halting the housing market’s downward slide and holding the banks accountable for foreclosure abuses.”  Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) – “Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and three other U.S. banks reached a $25 billion settlement with 49 states and the … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: February 16, 2012 Occupy the SEC, an affiliated group to Occupy Wall Street, has filed a 325 page comment letter on the SEC’s proposal for implementing rules pertaining to Wall Street’s practice of trading billions of dollars for the accounts of the firm (proprietary trading) rather than limiting their trading to benefit their customers.  The rule is called the Volcker Rule, after its namesake, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. The SEC and Wall Street want to carve out market making from the prohibitions against proprietary trading.  Here’s an excerpt from Occupy the SEC’s letter that has to be causing a lot of indigestion on Wall Street this week.   Market making is an indispensable component of liquid, efficient markets. This service, however, simply does not belong in banks. One of the most challenging aspects of our attempt to digest and comment on this Proposed Rule has been navigating the presupposition that banks have some … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: February 10, 2012 Another press representative from a state attorney general who played a key role in negotiating the foreclosure settlement (see post below) says there is not really $14 billion missing from the foreclosure settlement.  The difference between the $25 billion settlement reported by the United States Department of Justice, and every major business newspaper, and the cumulative total of $39 billion being reported by the 49 individual states is – drum roll – hypothetical money.  That’s right, according to this source, the foreclosure fraud that has caused more economic misery to families than any other event since the Great Depression, is being settled with $14 billion of  hypothetical money – not like the real money from the taxpayers to bail out these same institutions – but hypothetical money.  The hypothetical part is explained as the difference between what the Wall Street firms will have to … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: February 10, 2012 Why is it that whenever Wall Street and Washington are involved, money disappears?  Even under the noses of the Department of Justice and 49 State Attorneys General, there’s $14 billion missing from the foreclosure settlement announced yesterday. The deal that Wall Street agreed to, announced by the DOJ and reported widely by corporate media, is a $25 billion deal encompassing 49 states.  But just two of those states say they will get $26.4 billion – sounding very Madoffesque or MF Globalesque or Enronesque or pick from a myriad of choices in the last decade.  California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris states on her web site and in this video that California is getting $18 billion.  Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi says on her web site that Florida is receiving $8.4 billion.   It gets more interesting.  If you go to each of the 49 state attorneys general web … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens Until Occupy Wall Street gained a national stage, dialogue on the economic crisis had focused on symptoms: bailouts, corruption on Wall Street, collapse in housing prices, intractable unemployment, too-big-to-fail or manage financial institutions.  The disease itself, debilitating wealth concentration, took a backseat in the national dialogue.  Those who attempted to address the subject were regularly met with screams of being a Socialist.  An insidious process of being socialized to silence prevailed.  By moving that topic to the forefront, Occupy Wall Street has opened the mouths and the minds of a Nation. The people who were screaming “Socialist” the loudest weren’t the super rich who control the wealth; they’re part of a labyrinthine network of hired hands who function as high pitch bodyguards for the wealth hoarders.  The actual super rich are the folks who appear on the Forbes list of the wealthiest Americans; people like Charles and David Koch, each worth $25 billion, who create multi layers of front groups, … Continue reading →