No Mortgage Principal Relief For Florida

The Florida law firm of David J. Stern was caught falsifying foreclosure documents to force homeowners out of their homes. The "rocket docket" foreclosure courts, set up by the Florida legislature, was found to have judges that did not review documents before evicting homeowners. Forbes reports that Florida has led the nation in reported cases of mortgage fraud two years running. Banks have been illegally kicking people out of their homes and are now trying to settle with the federal government.

Yet the Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and FDIC have entered into a consent decree with the 14 largest mortgage lenders that illegally foreclosed on thousands of homeowners. The deal includes no fines or criminal penalties. Banks must hire outside consultants to review all foreclosures from 2009 and 2010 and identify those who lost homes or were denied loan modifications due to fraud by the banks or firms they hired to assist with the foreclosure process and repay them. Does the government seriously believe that consultants who rely on the banks for their paychecks will find any home­owners who were victims?

The answer is no. The defunct accounting firm Arthur Andersen signed off on Enron CFO Andrew Fastow's money laundering hedge funds. Andersen feared losing the highly profitable Enron account. Anderson changed its name to Accenture. Countless people have been made homeless because of the big banks illegal foreclosures. The Federal Reserve's and the Obama administration's response is to file no criminal charges. It is sickening.

A bipartisan group of state attorney generals are working to provide reduction in the mortgage principal owed by homeowners. This would provide relief to about 2 million Florida homeowners. CNBC reports that Florida has the seventh highest foreclosure rate in the country.

43 state attorney generals have reached bipartisan census on banks lowering mortgage principals. One of the seven against making banks comply to this agreement is Florida's Pam Bondi. Hysterically, Bondi claimed that lowering the mortgage principal would encourage homeowners to default. What Bondi doesn't add is that the agreement would allow states to be able to fine and have other penalties against banks.

Bondi's decision to not sue BP is proof she values protecting corporate interests above the people of Florida. Bondi could care less how many people are thrown out on the streets because of fraudulent mortgages practices by banks. Floridians have an Attorney General just as horrible as its Governor.

Joel Award: Judy Biggert

It is time to give out the Joel Award. The award goes any celebrity, pundit, blogger or politician that purposely contradicts himself or herself.



"I would urge my colleagues to support — oppose this amendment. And stop talking about jobs, let’s focus on the substance of these amendments."

Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL), urging lawmakers to stop talking about the lack of new jobs.

On Feb. 25, 2010, Biggert was asking "where are the jobs" when she was attacking Democratic economic policies and endorsing Republican proposals. Shockingly: Biggert was against mark-to-market accounting. Biggert fails to say in what manner she opposes the use of mark to market. Is Biggert aware all banks use mark-to-market accounting practices? I'm guessing Biggert used mark-to-marketing in her statement because Enron used it to inflate their revenue. Biggert is implying that Democrats support Enron.




If Biggert is really against mark-to-market then she can propose legislation to ban all financial institutions from using the accounting practice. I doubt Biggert will ever do such a thing. It is also silly for Congress to start legislating accounting. There is nothing wrong with mark-to-market. Enron being an energy company wasn't suppose to use mark-to-market. Enron CFO Andrew Fastow used mark-to-market to falsely show profits that didn't exist. Fastow was embezzling pension fund money to himself. The SEC complaint makes fun wonky reading. Fastow is currently residing in prison.