Bankruptcy Hell - The Sequel to ForeclosureGate

Submitted by Michael Collins on Mon, 05/02/2011 - 05:44

Michael Collins

You're headed for bankruptcy court tomorrow. It's been a long and difficult road. You and your husband both worked. You made decent money. Then your husband became ill. There was no sick leave because he worked for himself. His disability insurance had a six-month delay and only covered half of the lost income. That was all you could afford. (Image Wikimedia Commons)

His condition was critical and required medication three times a day at a monthly cost of $2500. Your company plan covered your husband but it didn't cover the medication because the insurance company termed it experimental. It was the sole option for the crippling illness according to the three specialists consulted.

Your husband contributed 40% of the family income. The loss was a big hit but you persevered. You couldn't sell the house, even if you wanted to. It was $150,000 upside down. There was no federal or bank program to relieve that burden. After four months of cashing in a modest 401(k), it became obvious that you couldn't make it. You needed relief and time for your husband to get well.

You consulted your accountant. On his advice, you decided to file for bankruptcy.

It was hard to find an attorney to take your case. The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 made attorneys personally liable for any false claims by filers. That created a lot of extra work and a new risk for bankruptcy attorneys to serve a population that was, by definition, short of cash for legal fees.

When you did get an attorney, you found out that you had to wait an additional six months to file. The new bankruptcy law of 2005 requires credit counseling six months prior to filing.

By the time you got your day in court, you were well overdue for debt relief

Here is what happened in bankruptcy court for the Chapter 13 filing.

The Bank Challenges Your Claim Alleging Fraud

The new bankruptcy law changes things for debtors. In the past, only "substantial abuse" by debtors led to an automatic dismissal of the case. The new law replaced a "a substantial abuse" with "an abuse" Section 102. In the past, only the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee, an officer of the court, could charge fraud. Creditors now have that option (many of whom stand accused of fraud themselves).

When you got to court, you find out that your bank, MegaCorp, filed a charge of fraud claiming an understatement of your credit card debt. These charges are wrong but you lose a lot of sleep worrying about a violation that has a $250,000 fine and a nine-year prison term.

Before the favorable ruling from the court, you look at the U.S. Trustee Program web site for bankruptcy court.

It is obvious that the Department of Justice program is only interested in debtor fraud. There is no solicitation by the program for creditor fraud reports. Just debtors.

"Name and address of the person or business you are reporting.

"Identify the type of asset that was concealed and its estimated dollar value, or the amount of any unreported income, undervalued asset, or other omitted asset or claim." US Trustee Program

The Bank Leaves out Documentation Critical to Lawful Approval of their Claims against You

Kathleen M. Porter published a landmark study on bankruptcy court in 2007. Porter's research team reviewed 1700 bankruptcy rulings from federal courts across the country. Porter found that required documentation was missing in just over 50% of the cases from the extensive sample.

From, Misbehavior and Mistake in Bankruptcy Mortgage Claims, Katherine M. Porter, November 2007 p. 18

Professor Porter commented on this failure to comply with documentation requirements:

"Without documentation of the debt, the debtor and other creditors cannot verify the legitimacy or accuracy of claims, each of which cuts into the limited dollars available for distribution. Poor compliance with the claims rules effectively deflects creditors’ obligations onto cash-strapped bankrupt families, who must choose between the costs of filing an objection or the risks of overpayment." K.M. Porter, 2007 p. 36

Porter's research confirmed that only a minority of bankruptcy courts use incomplete documentation to disallow creditor claims. The failure to require proper documentation distorts over 50% of settlements. How can a bankruptcy judge set amounts owed, etc. without knowing the basis for such judgments?

The creditors with the special right to accuse you of fraud get away with filing flawed claims against you. Are their cases dismissed for errors? Hardly ever, according to the study.

You had no idea that the creditor clams were incomplete thus legally flawed. Neither the court nor your lawyer noticed.

There are Creditor Fees that You Don't Understand

The paper chase of bankruptcy often times produces conflicting claims about amounts due. Debtors face tremendous pressure to readjust their entire lives to cope with impending financial doom. The graph below shows that creditors are much more likely to state claims in their favor than are debtors.

From, Misbehavior and Mistake in Bankruptcy Mortgage Claims, Katherine M. Porter, November 2007 p. 30

Debtors often listed more than they owed. Creditor usually listed more than they were due. Porter's extensive analysis suggested the following:

"Creditors' claims may themselves be bloated and overstate the accurate amount of the debt. Such problems could result from servicers’ practices of loading claims with default fees that are not disclosed to debtors, or because of mistaken calculations of the amount due in preparing the proof of claim; case law has documented both effects." K.M. Porter, 2007 p. 34

Once again, the debtors take the hit, the very people lacking the resources to challenge what they strongly suspect are creditor overstatements of debt.

You knew something was wrong but you didn't have the time or money to challenge your creditor's figures.

The Bank Claim is Approved

You suspect errors in the creditor claims but you can't prove that their figures are overstated. You do not know that your creditors are missing documentation, an error that should nullify their claims.

When debtors make a mistake, their case is subject to dismissal and they face severe penalties. When the courts receive and approve flawed, unlawful creditor filings in 50% of the cases, the court isn't even conducting a cursory review of essential documents. With any degree of diligence, most or all of the flawed creditor filings would be dismissed.

This proves, beyond any doubt, that in many cases, bankruptcy proceedings move forward without creditor adherence to clearly stated legal requirements.

The sole purpose of the court is to enforce the law. That simply doesn't happen for at least 50% of the cases judged.

Later, You Find Out that the Critical Documents were Missing and the Charges were Bogus

How could the bank prevail in this matter, you ask. The bank made a claim that they knew or should have known was false. The bank failed to present documents required from creditors, documents essential to judging the claim and making it conform with the law. The bank also included charges that were wrong and fees that were not warranted. Will the bank be charged with fraud? You want to challenge the ruling in favor of the bank but you're out of money. You now understand why most bankruptcy not contested

Bankruptcy Hell - Abandon hope all ye who enter here

There is no justice guaranteed for the weak, disadvantaged, poor, or dispossessed. Debtors filing bankruptcy operate on a limited budget and simply want the nightmare to end. They want to get on with their lives. They often lack the ability to make legal challenges. When their lawyers don't inform them of those challenges, they have no options.

In the 50% of the cases where critical documents were missing, their lawyers fail to make the challenge. Worse still, in those and other cases where creditor filings are obviously deficient and outside the law, the court misses the error.

Wouldn't it be better if bankruptcy court operated like, let's say, an automobile manufacturer. Honda issued a recall on airbags for 2001 and 2002 models.

"Honda has expanded a previously announced recall of certain 2001 and 2002 model-year vehicles to replace the driver's airbag inflator in an additional 378,758 vehicles in the U.S. … In total, Honda is aware of 12 incidents related to this issue as of February 2010." Honda February 9, 2010

Based on 12 incidents brought to their attention, Honda recalled every vehicle suspected, nearly 400,000.

At least seven federal courts have cited Katherine Porter's study.  Her study included over 1,700 cases., half of which had a defective part - missing documentation required by law to justify the bankruptcy. Compare 850 instances of a defective part with no corrective action to the twelve instances referenced by Honda that generated a universal recall of models for two consecutive years.

Perhaps, the federal bankruptcy courts should emulate the judgment and practices of Honda.

The failure of bankruptcy courts to apply the law equally and the refusal to go back and correct every error in judgment demonstrate that we are clearly not a nation of laws. We are a nation in which the front room of the law serves the back room of The Money Party.

END

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Michael Collins: "The best news out of 2010 is that the forces in control, The Money Party, have been unable to crush the will of the people to survive and see future opportunities for improvement."

Decline and Fall (Maybe) January 1, 2011

The Happy New Year Edition (with some good news about 2011)

Michael Collins

The best thing about 2010 is that it’s over.  It was a year filled with utter stupidity, mendacity, and greed beyond all bounds on the part of our rulers, also known as The Money Party.  Lots of fiddling while Rome and the rest of the world burned.  Knowledge is power and among the ruling elite in the United States, the power was off.  Somebody forgot to pay the bill or paid with a bad check, no doubt.


A Decade of Job Stagnation In 2000, 135 million citizens were employed.  In 2010 there were 139 million Americans employed.  Given the 9.7% increase in population since 2000, we would expect to see at least 148 million citizens with jobs.  Nobody much wants to talk about this or the true unemployment figures produced by the US Census called “U6″. That measure accounts for, “Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force.”  Bureau of Labor Statistics

The “U6″ unemployment figure is 17%, well above the official 9.8% we hear all the time.  The official number accounts for 15 million citizens.  But when we use U6, we add 9 million citizens forced by economic conditions to work less than they want in part time jobs and 2.5 million marginally attached to the work force – those who gave up looking and get no benefits. That gives us a real world total of 26.5 million citizens out of work or working part time against their will.

Using more refined, politically neutral measures (closer to those in the Great Depression), the over all unemployment percentage is 22.5%, a total of 34.6 million citizens without employment.  Shadow Government Statistics calculates the real unemployment rate by adding in “long term discouraged workers” (those who stopped looking), a measure the government no longer uses.

If people don’t have jobs they suffer more, have less advantages to offer their children, and drift quickly into poverty.  They face homelessness and risk falling so far behind they’ll never recover. Thanks to the dreadful members Congress who voted for the new bankruptcy bill in 2007, those unemployed will always have their medical bills to pay.  Thoughtful bunch.

The Response – Crackpot Economics You’d think that the government would have the most able hands on deck for this economic storm.  But we’ve got the same old crew, dominated by Wall Street insiders and big bankers without credibility.  These are the folks creating MPD (multiple personality disorder) economics.  They argue that we have to focus on the deficit and get that down (even that policy was disastrous in the Great Depression).  Then they argue that we need to give away $900 billion in tax revenues so the top 1% will have enough wealth to trickle down on the rest of us.  .

They can’t have it both ways.  Lowering the deficit while lowering income at the same time is simply absurd logic.  They think nobody is paying attention.   It’s important to know that the people behind these policies know exactly what they’re doing. They just think we’re stupid, a fatal error.  The key players now include Obama, the Bush Clan, Bill Clinton, and the usual suspects from Wall Street and the big banks.

They have their own media monopoly to crank out the nonsense.  The Fed is doing its part with Quantitative Easing 2 which, as Numerian says, “… is experimental and unprecedented, except when it was used in Weimar Germany with disastrous results, or more recently in the hyperinflationary economy of Zimbabwe.”

Other Major Failings We got health care reform but Congress forgot to do anything for the people.  The elimination of “preexisting conditions” as a means to open up more coverage for adults was postponed until 2014.  The self-employed are totally screwed with their rates doubling and tripling in some cases.  And there was no action to curb the outrageous cost of pharmaceuticals thanks to a major cave in by the president.  Medicare, for example, is barred by law from negotiating discounts from big pharma. That about sums it up.  The only reform was a massive bailout for the health insurance companies.

Nothing has been done to address the rapid increase in citizens in poverty.  That would require jobs.  The only jobs those in power produce are for themselves and their cronies.

The Gulf of Mexico was polluted by the worst oil company by a long shot, BP.  The president surrendered national sovereignty over the 200 mile off shore exclusive economic zone by allowing BP to run the cleanup. That included permission for the use of a highly toxic oil dispersant, one that they knew toxic.  But it did the job required.  It kept the evidence off the surface.  Shame about the rest of the Gulf. They don’t care.  They don’t have to.

Presidential Hit Squads This year saw a radical shift in power from everyone else to the White House.  The president’s national security advisor revealed that the White House had a hit list of US citizens abroad determined to be terrorists.  Never mind the time honored process of arrest, indictment, trial, and sentencing.  If some bureaucrat nominates a “bad guy,” he’s toast.  Shame if that turns out to be one of us.  There’s no reason this needs to be limited to citizens overseas since it’s the ultimate in lawlessness from the start.  Piss off the wrong person and you’re in the cross hairs.

The United States still occupies Iraq and Afghanistan.  While China offers to invest in a top to bottom railroad system from China to the warm water port at  Karachi to distribute their goods, US predator drones bomb villages killing ordinary citizens along with whomever they’re after.   800 military bases worldwide spread ill will.  As economist Michael Hudson points out about the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China):  “When they say we don’t want to hold dollars, by that they mean, we don’t want to finance our military encirclement, which is what the dollar standard has financed.”

The Good News The best news out of 2010 is that the forces in control, The Money Party, have been unable to crush the will of the people to survive and see future opportunities for improvement.  All over the country families are helping each other weather the storm, parents and adult children are opening up their homes to others in need, adjusting their retirement plans, taking extra jobs, and working harder to stay afloat.  Ad hoc communities of care and compassion are emerging to buck the tide of government indifference, malfeasance, and fraud.

The United States has an inverted pyramid of intelligence.  The vast majority have far greater talents, knowledge, and wisdom than the ruling elite, who have failed miserably at every turn over the past year and decade, for that matter.  The goal is to wrench power from the fumblers before they do totally irreparable damage.

Perhaps those in the under thirty generation are the key.  They were told to work hard, go to school, and acquire skills. They were also sold on the magic of the stock market.  All they’ve seen over the past decade is a flat job market, stock manipulations, wasteful wars, and hysteria about terror – all at the expense of rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure (which would spark a real recovery) and producing work worthy of a people who want the best for their families, friends, and the country.
Happy New Year.  Time to throw the bums out.

END

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Some GOOD News for a Change: Bank of America and Two Executives Charged with Fraud before, during, and after Merrill Lynch Merger

Cuomo Takes on The Money Party 

Michael Collins on a major assault on the banksters.
Originally published Monday, 8 February 2010 in American Politics Journal

Andrew Cuomo's complaint filed in the New York Supreme Court, County of New York against the Bank of America and two former top executives has the potential to push that too big to fail entity off the edge of a very steep cliff. The charges of massive fraud are based on a compelling and exhaustive filing on February 4.

A trial will likely involve testimony by the current Bank of America CEO and President Brian Moynihan against defendants Kenneth Lewis, the bank's former CEO and board chairman, former chief financial officer (CFO) Joseph L. Price, and the bank itself. Price is currently in charge of BofA's credit card division.

The complaint charges fraud before, during and after the bank's merger with struggling brokerage firm Merrill Lynch in late 2008. The fraud cost bank shareholders and citizens billions of dollars. This is the first major case brought against our nation's largest financial institutions. These are the same financial institutions and executives that nearly destroyed the economy.

Cuomo's press release states clearly that Lewis and the bank  are examples of a much larger problem. It appears to be a leading indicator of future actions by the New York attorney general. Why else would Cuomo have generalized about institutions (plural) in his statement about this particular case?

If Cuomo succeeds in taking down one of the toughest guys on the block, he'll make a point to the rest of the crew: you're next, get ready to cooperate. Many of the key perpetrators are located in Cuomo's jurisdiction, although Bank of America (BofA) is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Clearly, there are others in line for some New York style law and order.

Cuomo is joined in this action by Niel Barofsky, Special Inspector General for the federal government's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). TARP provides the billions in bailouts to bogus bankers and corporations. There's a credit line of $23.7 trillion should it be needed for even more bailouts. Ever wonder why you can't get a loan? They've taken all the money.

Charges and remedies

The bank and the two named executives are charged with failing to inform the bank's board of directors and shareholders of the major red ink on Merrill Lynch's books prior to the merger. CEO Lewis, CFO Price, and other BofA officers and professionals chose to hide $16 billion of Merrill Lynch known pre tax losses prior to board approval. That's fraud, plain and simple.  Complaint filed by New York Attorney General, Feb 4, 2009

The complaint also charges that the same parties with strong arming the federal government for $20 billion to cover Merrill's debt by threatening to back out of the merger if the money wasn't forthcoming. Then Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke had encouraged BofA to acquire Merrill, apparently without a rider that BofA would get billions in the process to cover their fraudulent business practices.

The lawsuit seeks two overriding remedies. The two named defendants and the entire Bank of America are enjoined from "any conduct, conspiracy, contract, or agreement, and from adopting or following any practice, plan, program, scheme, artifice or device similar to, or having a purpose and effect similar to, the conduct complained of above."

In addition, the defendants and the bank are to "disgorge all gains, pay all penalties and pay all restitution and damages caused, directly or indirectly, by the fraudulent and deceptive acts complained of herein."

These and the other remedies promise a degree of justice and, quite frankly retribution for the mess caused by the defendants.  An unnamed and unintended remedy could be serious damage to the good will value of the Bank of America.  The spectacle of a conviction of the bank and a former CEO and current division head  for fraud would have a devastating effect on public confidence.  Too big to fail may be a notion upended once and for all by a guilty verdict.

Witness Lineup: It's Bank of America versus Bank of America

Andrew Caffrey and Todd Wallach of the Boston  Globe, hinted that Bank of America president and CEO, Brian T. Moynihan will be a key witness for the prosecution. The Globe article notes that the current BofA chief, "who was involved in negotiations (for the Merrill acquisition) as the bank’s general counsel, was not charged." Later in the same article, they quote Cuomo as saying, Moynihan, "has been candid with our office with respect to the roles he played after becoming general counsel."

Put simply, Moynihan was central to the merger, knew about the fraud, participated in it, but didn't blow the whistle. All of that is established in Cuomo's complaint. He cooperated with Cuomo and wasn't indicted. His name will be at the top of the attorney general's witness list, no doubt.

As if that's not bad enough for the bank, defendant Joseph L. Price, former CFO, is currently heading up Bank of America's credit card division.

Should Moynihan testify, we'll see BofA's current CEO helping Cuomo convict his predecessor of fraud. Moynihan's testimony will also argue for a conviction of his current head of credit card operations. Since Bank of America is charged, we'll also see its current CEO plus the “Relevant Parties” described in the complaint testifying that the corporation was also guilty of fraud. Many of the 35 Relevant Parties named are current or former BofA executives or board members.

Other key witnesses may include Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Barnanke and former Treasury Secretary and TARP architect Henry Paulson, They encouraged the Bank of America - Merrill Lynch merger as part of their efforts to prevent an alleged financial meltdown at the end of the Bush administration..

Charlie Gasparino of the Daily Beast reports that the defense counsel, former U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White, wants the case dismissed. If not, Gasparino says that "one person close to the defense” claims that White will call Paulson and Bernanke to testify. Cuomo has the facts and obviously believes Paulson and Bernanke on the sequence of events leading to these charges. Absent a “Perry Mason” moment by the defense, their testimony holds no surprises or benefits for the defendants. Mary Jo White has little or nothing at this point other than bluster.

Justice for the people?

It's been ten years since Congress and President Clinton freed Wall Street and the major banks to open a big casino on Wall Street. That resulted in ruinous schemes like the real estate bubble. It's been five years since Alan Greenspan told citizens to get an adjustable rate mortgage, cash out the equity in their homes, and jump into the stock market. It's been over a year since Wall Street and the big banks nearly ruined the economy, cost citizens jobs, savings, retirements, and countless other hard earned gains through a variety of no-win schemes sold as solid investments.

Nothing of any importance has been done to regulate the financial industry since the bailouts. Prior to the Cuomo-Barofsky charges, there have been no major cases brought against the perpetrators of our current troubles.

Hopefully, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo started what will become an era of accountability for those at the very top. This should be about more than just one case. It's an example of top down accountability.

May the bank, Mr. Lewis, and Mr. Price have the speediest of trials and the absolute maximum penalties should they be found guilty.

They knew exactly what they were doing every step of the way.
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Published by APJ with permission of the author. This article may be reproduced in full or part with attribution of authorship and a link to this article.

Next Monday: Cuomo's Lock Down – The Case in Detail

Complaint filed by New York Attorney General, Feb 4, 2009

Rep. Kucinich Grills Ken Lewis on Fed Emails, June 11, 2009

Rep. Cummings Questions Brian Moynihan Regarding the BofA/Merrill Lynch Merger, Nov 17, 2009
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Michael Collins writes about the nexus of large corporations and money at The Money Party.

Health Care Reform DOA: Triumph of the Money Party

17 December, 2009 08:32:00 Michael Collins

There are many of us who have anywhere from serious to desperate need of health care reform. How surprised are you that the current effort is about to collapse under its own weight? There should be no surprise at all. We are going off to an undeclared war again, bankers reap profits while the real rate of unemployment is 17% at least, and there's no rush to restore the Constitutional rights stripped from us over the past years. It's The Money Party 24/7 as greedy and rapacious as they've ever been.


by Michael Collins

Dr. Howard Dean, MD, just said pull the plug on the current health care reform effort. The cure is worse than the disease, according to the good doctor.

Why the surprise?

Last week the president announced that he's sending 30,000 troops to Afghanistan without a declaration of war by Congress and without Afghanistan posing a direct threat to the United States violating both the United States Constitution and international law at the same time.

The bailed out Wall Street failures are paying back just enough of their loans to the Treasury Department to allow a new round of huge bonuses. At the same time, they continue to get tons of cash through the Federal Reserve. Pay back a few billion; get 7 trillion dollars in credit. Not a bad deal.

Congress failed to pass a bill to help with foreclosures. We're at eight million so far since 2008 with another four million predicted for 2010. The beat goes on.

The Justice Department and Congress failed to seriously investigate massive mortgage fraud from the very top on down to loan officers during the real estate bubble.

The White House and Congress forgot to include a cap on credit card rates in its credit card bill of rights. How unfortunate since the credit card companies jacked rates way up shortly after the bill passed.

The official unemployment rate of 10 percent is far below the true unemployment rate of about 17 percent or higher. Why? Because it might upset us to know that we're at Great Depression levels of unemployment.

Poverty is rising at a rapid rate with no end in sight but you'd never know it for all the attention it gets. Let the markets take care of it.

The people who made the financial mess on Wall Street are now running the U.S. Treasury. The key players, Secretary of the Treasury Geithner and insider extraordinaire Larry Summers, were appointed right after the inauguration.

The constitutional rights stolen by the previous administration are still missing in action with no real effort underway to restore them. The Patriot Act is alive and well. The feds can still tap your phone and email. They can get at any of your financial data they want and it's all done in secret. But we still haven't had a real investigation of 911.

Congress is about to consider an international treaty of copyright that will turn anyone with a public blog or web site into a cop required to enforce the new laws or face prosecution.

Throughout it all, not one member of Congress or the financial elite will miss a meal, worry about their health care, lose their house, or ever face prosecution for destroying the economy of the United States.

Their Ponzi scheme is literally too big to fail. If there were ever the least bit of concentrated scrutiny on the various wars and financial rip offs over just the past decade, it would be the end of all of them.

But The Money Party is a permanent fixture in our lives. It dominates politics, the media and the economy. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy that is always accurate. Rig the game so only those with money can run for office. Hold elections with invisible ballots on electronic voting machines that nobody really understands. Allow all sorts of legal bribes for legislators. And never allow the term election fraud to be mentioned anywhere but on a few internet web sites.

Marginalize the poor, ethnic groups, immigrants, and anyone who protests the system. Kill the unions. Then intimidate those who have the courage to show up and protest with SWAT teams decked out for a serious beat down.

Take all you can from the middle class to support the big casino in banking and on Wall Street. Make husbands and wives work two jobs and be grateful for the opportunity. Provide children a lousy education that costs more every year while you talk about how much you love education.

Create false issues that pit one group against another -- race against race, class against class -- so that the great horror is never realized -- a unified public movement to demand freedom, dignity, and respect in our personal and public lives and a chance to earn a decent living in return for our hard work.

The Money Party has no ideals or goals other than to take as much as they can, at every turn, all the time and never let up.

Blame citizens for the fraud committed by the financiers.

Turn a blind eye as people lose their homes, savings, health care and jobs.

Blame humanity for pollution when it's just a few industries that create the filth that's threatening us daily.

Create side shows not worthy of a second rate carnival that you call politics and never mention that changes in administrations are really cosmetic and stylistic, not substantial. Meet the new boss, not exactly the same as the old boss, but close enough.

It's all good if you're at the top or on the take. The river keeps flowing, filthy as it is, in your direction with more and more based on the real work and the real economy of citizens who, despite all of this, strive to improve their lives and contribute to the larger good.

If things get too hot, you can just stage a big drama, get everybody upset, and make people feel grateful that they have the opportunity to be perpetual victims of the most rapacious, relentless, and callous scheme around to transfer wealth from the many to the very few.

It's only class war when we fight back and they're ready with their distracting dramas and debates on issues where the two sides are separated by just a few degrees of difference. Then demand bipartisan solutions where compromise is routinely used to break major campaign promises.

They don't care if we live or die although they do want us to be as productive as possible up to the end, as long as we don't expect to retire or enjoy the fruits of our labor.

We are nothing to them.

Michael Collins publishes Election Fraud News. His articles can also be found on Scoop Independent News, The Daily Censored  and The Smirking Chimp, among others.
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Is Obama’s administration only a presidential brand change?

The Obama Crossroads: Neo-Liberal Coup or Responsible Government

by Prof. John McMurtry

Global Research, February 1, 2009

Find full article here, see excerpts below:

When the U.S. Treasury gave away $700 billion to Wall Street banks with no strings attached in October of 2008, the Obama team gave a green light.

Obama’s new U.S. Treasury Secretary is Tim Geithner, a former chief deputy of his Democrat predecessors at Treasury - Robert Rubin (who presided in the first Clinton government and later Citigroup over the “new financial instruments” that have subsequently wrecked the U.S. and world economy), and Larry Summers (who as Secretary of the Treasury in 1999 tore down barriers between commercial and investment banks in the deregulation frenzy that set up the Wall Street crash).

Former Federal Reserve chief, Allen Greenspan, observes that “sovereign credit and guarantees put in place during the crisis [i.e., new government money to private banks] is now estimated at 7 trillion”. Yet after 1.5 trillion U.S. public dollars thrown at the Wall Street hole, not one homeowner has been relieved of bankruptcy proceedings, the banks do not lend to productive enterprises or even themselves, and no-one tells anyone in America what’s been done with all the public money.

In fact, the only democratically accountable and efficient banking system is one in which skyrocketing non-productive costs, unaccountable debt creations and pyramid schemes are made impossible inside the law. Yet most are enslaved to a false double dogma - first, that unaccountable big banks creating compound-interest debts for everyone including governments are economically necessary; and, second, that they must be left free to leverage, mix and repackage debt assets as they please without the money to back the credit or capital they allocate. Statesmen since Thomas Jefferson have not been so foolish. “Banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies”, Jefferson pragmatically observed.

Important! Do not confuse the author’s use of the term neo-liberalism with liberal Democrats. According to Wikipedia: “The central principle of neoliberal policy is untrammeled free markets and free trade.”