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We are the 99 percent

#ows and #occupythehood March In Solidarity With Those Foreclosed On By Criminal Banks

Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 28, 2011, 5:39 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt

Jamaica Queens, NY—On Saturday, October 29th Occupy Wall Street, in solidarity with Occupy the Hood, will take action against the homelessness forced upon innocent Americans through criminal foreclosure practices. At 10:00am we will gather at Liberty Square and march to the J train, which we will take to Jamaica, Queens, the foreclosure capital of New York. Metro fare will be provided for those who need it. On the subway we will hold democratic forums on the intolerable hardships Americans have been suffering because of bank foreclosures.

“According to the Mortgage Bankers Association and the FDIC, one child in every classroom in America is losing their home because banks are foreclosing on their parents. In Queens, the reality is even worse,” said Michael Premo, a volunteer who is helping with Saturday's event.

At noon, we will gather in Jamaica Center and march through the neighborhood, winding through foreclosed homes. As we pass by foreclosed homes we will visually reclaim them with banners and signs in windows and yards, and by tracing a map of the foreclosed homes of Jamaica, Queens using our bodies.

“There are five thousand homes in Queens that are being foreclosed upon. This is a pandemic. Jamaica is ground zero for foreclosures in New York,” said Patrick Bruner, a volunteer with Occupy Wall Street.

#OccupyWallStreet is a people powered movement that began on September 17, 2011 in Liberty Square in Manhattan’s Financial District, and has spread to sustained occupations in over 100 cities in the United States and actions in over 1,700 cities globally. #OWS is fighting back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations. The movement is inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, Spain, Greece, Italy and the UK, and aims to expose how the richest 1% of people who are writing the rules of the global economy are imposing an agenda of neoliberalism and economic inequality that is foreclosing our future.

#OccupytheHood’s mission is to encourage individuals & community-based organizations to be involved. We are present at General Assembly's, sit-ins, marches and rallies. We also initiate our own protests and boycotts. We will be seen and heard on our own, along-with and in unison with all the occupy-the-world movements until we bring forth a viable solution.... no matter how long it takes. Numbers speak volumes but the most important number to note at this time is the number one... Our voices are going to blend as one.

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514 Comments


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[-] 5 points by tsdevi (307) 12 years ago

It is clear that there is a gap in understanding about the VERY unethical foreclosure of homes. A must see is an award winning documentary titled American Casino, within which one can hear the first person testimony of professionals in the finance industry candidly describe how those who created the sub prime mortgage as a financial instrument aggressively pushed this product onto borrowers without any of the traditional due diligence that would be devoted to a traditional mortgage. There is no excuse for this, as banks have a very precise way of calculating whether a person will default on their payments. Many of the people losing their homes are truly victims of a scam that has made some people very wealthy. In American Casino, they offer as evidence actual memos from rating agencies calling the sub prime mortgage scheme "a house of cards," and praying that they will be wealthy enough to retire before the house of cards falls. It is highly unethical to not disclose to the home buyer what their total fees will be, but moreover, the fractional reserve currency system that we have allows for banks to lend money that is a fiction. This drives up the price of homes. No one is guaranteed a job for thirty years, yet the banks are guaranteed a mortgage payment. There are various books written by esteemed authors who have one resounding message: the housing crisis has been a scam from the top down.

[-] 1 points by stevemiller (1062) 12 years ago

The victims protect the criminals at OWS

read more -- http://overthecoals.blogspot.com/

The Kardashians have an audience. No talent stupidity is turned into $35,000,000 confirms the complete trance that the entire country is in. The Kardashians have draw in an army of morons to watch them and generate a bonanza but no one except me notices. Was the American pet rock as dumb as the Kardashians because no one has ever noticed how stupid the pet rock was.

Steven Colbert had a serious interview with OWS spokes people who explained all their rules. Colbert made it a joke for his audience to laugh at. That's what Americans do now they want to laugh at ridiculous behavior without ever realizing that it is beyond dumb. The bottomless pit of stupidity, crimes, and lies goes buried in "political correctness" that prevents any serious criticism for stupidity. The trance is protected better than Fort Knox protects the gold by the trance that makes all Americans angry when I mention it.

The trance may never be broken as the Americans keep being thrown into the street by millions of foreclosures. The trance has them shielding the simple crimes that caused the mortgage meltdown but privileged liars and criminals are all protected by the victims. OWS is there to protest being victimized but they protect the criminals because they refuse to elect officials. They completely believe the criminals will become nice because OWS sat in the park and wrote demands. This is berserk but political correctness prevents any sensible strategy to deal with the crooks who own the government with bribes.

[-] 1 points by SirPoeticJustice (628) from New York, NY 12 years ago

The military is slowly but surely joining this movement............. They know we have been looted!

[-] 1 points by tsdevi (307) 12 years ago

Alright, you are offering up gross generalization. How many of your friends, relatives and acquaintances enjoy watching The Kardashians? It is likely that if you spoke to people they'd be in agreement that these people are a vapid disgrace.
What strategy would you offer to deal with Wall Street crooks?

In the news, MF Global files for bankruptcy, while hundreds of millions of dollars have gone missing...indeed, it is time to stop pretending that this industry is viable.

[-] 1 points by stevemiller (1062) 12 years ago

You want me to join you in the bottomless pit of ridiculous ignorance. I won't.

Read my blog to get specifics. Invite me to speak like Glenn Greenwald is invited. Its impossible to do this on a forum. I will speak for an hour and then I'll take questions until the very last question if it takes a week.

http://overthecoals.blogspot.com/

America has evolved into a country of liars in a deep trance.

Speaking directly with all Americans is impossible. The "political correctness" trance can only be removed like a cancer if a few Americans review the possibility they might be in a trance. The budget deficit is one of many issues that prove the deep trance.

"LIAR" is called flip-flop. Its baby talk for Americans in their trance.

[-] 1 points by tsdevi (307) 12 years ago

Ok, I just peeked at your blog and read the first two paragraphs. It is important when writing to 1) offer an introduction that explains your thesis and 2) let the remaining paragraphs offer support for the thesis. Your opening paragraph is muddled, the second one is about the late Nicole Simpson and your contention that foul play was her cause of death, and the following paragraph makes reference to Jon Corzine...it seems that you are in a muddle, as evinced by the lack of organization of your thoughts.

[-] 1 points by tsdevi (307) 12 years ago

When did I suggest that you should join the "bottomless pit of ridiculous ignorance"? When I suggested that you talk to your friends, relatives and acquaintances about their ideals and values? How modest of you. Invite you to speak to all those people you claim to be superior to? It seems that the spirit of the movement has escaped you.

[-] 1 points by stevemiller (1062) 12 years ago

Every OWS person on this forum or in the park including and especially you are very uninformed and illogical. It has takes OWS years to get pissed off but they can't focus on real problems like bribery. They don't even call it bribery. They are in the trance by the media which calls bribery -- money in politics.

To not know that bribery is a criminal offense is extremely uninformed. People go to school to learn. You know it all. You are arrogant. You are uninformed. You are the epitome of OWS which will make OWS fail. Sitting in a park with no plan is really uninformed.

[-] 1 points by stevemiller (1062) 12 years ago

Your spirit destroys the OWS protest.

If no one like what I have to say, I'll fail. I'm not the least bit worried.

[-] 1 points by tsdevi (307) 12 years ago

me either;)

[-] 1 points by lwillia46 (1) from Harrisburg, PA 12 years ago

I agree with some of your points, like the "no talent stupidity" trance our nation has allowed itself to fall into. But OWS is working to eradicate exactly that . . . it is citizens FINALLY waking up and taking ACTION, not sitting on the couch like you and I. You, me, and millions of regular people (the 99% as they so aptly name us) have known something has been majorly wrong in this country for years now, but I know I've just felt powerless to do anything. Just read honest journalism (which is more difficult to find then ever) from what I gathered to be credible sources, shake my head, and bitch to a few of my more intelligent friends and family who weren't completely brainwashed by the power structure.

So I ask you, what would you have them do? I understand when those whose livelihoods it is to protect the power structure (1%) or those who are just to ignorant/brainwashed to realize that they are protecting the very system that continually undermines and marginalizes them rip OWS, but people like you who actually REALIZE and ACCEPT that the status quo is not sustainable nor acceptable are who I really don't comprehend. I don't pretend to have all the answers, but I do know that hope is a starting point, followed by action, and this is exactly what these occupy movements around the world are doing for the masses that you and I readily acknowledge we are a part of.

I do know that there will have to be a massive paradigm shift worldwide from the greed-fueled rampant crony capitalism/oligarchies run amok to something more inclusive. We've been taught from birth that it cannot exist, but that should not come as a surprise. Power structures by nature as self preserving, and they want us to think that the ONLY way to get be "successful" and "get ahead" is by accumulating wealth at the expense of everyone around you. Anyone who even slightly disagrees with this mode of thought is instantly dismissed as weak, socialist, communist, lazy, or any number of other terms that simply serve the old adage of "divide and conquer". Keep the masses (99%) bickering, fighting, apathetic, and moronically entertained. All the while discourage critical thinking while those in power rape and pillage everything in sight at the expense of future generations, including their own children while they insulate themselves as much as possible from the results of their decisions.

Down with political parties. Down with divisive terms and non-critical thinking. Down with greed. Down with this current untenable system serving only monied interests that have the biggest checkbooks instead of the masses it was designed to serve. Up with inclusiveness. Up with participation by the masses. Up with governments, social, and economic systems designed by and serving those who are actually allowed to shape them. Up with manufacturing tangible goods and services by and for the masses. Up with getting ahead by hard work and fortitude without destroying every day people's lives to do it.

I don't pretend to know exactly what the road is to get to these aims, but I do know that shitting on movements like these current Occupy ones do NOT help. You and I are the 99%, and we can be silent no longer . . .

[-] 1 points by stevemiller (1062) 12 years ago

Your 1st sentence is dead wrong. I stopped reading.

[-] 1 points by billyray (5) 12 years ago

The fees were all disclosed in the mortgage documents as required by law, provided the borrower took the time to read the dcouments. The borrowers were as anxious to take out mortgages as the bansk were to make them. There was not a scheme to defraud borrowers from their homes because the banks lose money when the foreclose, usually reselling the home for less than the loan amount due.

[-] 1 points by mspam (9) 12 years ago

Right so if they are going to sell it for less anyway and get less why don't they work out the same type of deal with the current homeowner. Greedy heartless Big Banks. Thats why when its all said and done they too will be at there own demise.

[-] 1 points by SwissMiss (2435) from Ann Arbor Charter Township, MI 12 years ago

You are so wrong.

[-] 1 points by tsdevi (307) 12 years ago

"As required by law..." This is not accurate and if you watch American Casino you'll find plenty of people who surely did not aim to live beyond their means, but who "should' have been told about the full fees but were not. Pretending that home buyers aimed to be defrauded for the purpose of not being able to afford the home only to be eventually thrown out of their newly acquired home is an absurd rationalization. The real estate industry needs be heavily scrutinized and yes REGULATED in light of this debacle, as theirs is an ethical failure. But on a basic level, banks have the means to accurately calculate a persons long term solvency, so why didn't they? Because so many people were able to make money off of this unethical and unaccountable gravy train BEFORE the money actually materialized. Such is the ultimate pitfall of fractional reserve currency. Your contentions are inaccurate and it is disingenuous to say that ethics do not matter. Ethics always matter. They are what allow for business to be credible and therefore integral.

[-] 1 points by stevemiller (1062) 12 years ago

OWS has no idea we've been fleeced by Wall Street gamblers

OWS is completely uninformed about the bank traders who are gambling with all our deposits even after the banks blew $ trillions of dollars they are hiding off the balance sheet and buried the toxic assets that the TARP money was supposed to buy with our deposits. If the bank traders who took $44 billion which was an embezzlement after they blew the money at the track or playing roulette or black jack, would that be different?

Of course it wouldn't be different but OWS sitting in the park on Broadway doesn't want to know they are complete fools with no clue about derivatives. They would rather sit in the park in the snow storm and waste their time rather than admit they were clueless about the entire banking disaster.

[-] 1 points by tsdevi (307) 12 years ago

Do explain in unfailing detail what a derivative is, please, as so many people in the industry are tongue tied when they are put to the task of describing this scheme. You ought to go hang out with OWS, as you might learn something.

[-] 1 points by stevemiller (1062) 12 years ago

I did hang out with OWS. I'm on this forum. I learned first hand that OWS is very uninformed. They get angry when I tried to help them. They are arrogant liberals who are unable to process facts, not theories.

Liberals like theories, I like facts.

I was in the park 6 times. Each time got worse.

[-] 1 points by stevemiller (1062) 12 years ago

This letter to an attorney is my very best explanation. Focus on the fact that none (I mean none) of the economists and the attorneys who practice derivative fraud cases understand it.

Its very simple. If there is one sentence you can't understand, please email me at justfacts.steve@gmail.com or call me 203-612-1987

Read the letter carefully please. This is a $17 billion case. Its not a joke.

[-] 1 points by stevemiller (1062) 12 years ago

ts go to my blog and read the post THE PIMCO case update. Then please post it where you believe it will be read. Or direct people to my blog like I just did for you.

Media interviewing nitwits to be president

The media decisions to interview morons, nitwits, and imbeciles who make irrational claims over and over and over again would have no audience if Americans weren't in a deep trance. The OWS decision to not nominate candidates who could easily win elections against every incumbent in office is a ridiculous mistake.

America is doomed. read more http://overthecoals.blogspot.com/

[-] 1 points by stevemiller (1062) 12 years ago

I will be writing a post on the 60 Minutes / Madoff show that just aired. 60 Minutes portrays itself as pristine while they look down on Madoff I had a personal experience at the 6o Minutes studio about a much bigger fraud fraud than Madoff.

While the media portrays the OWS protest in a negative way if OWS USED ME as its spokesperson I would expose 60 Minutes, the NYT, AND OTHERS with specific cover ups.

No one in the OWS movement has my knowledge and experience.

[-] 1 points by tsdevi (307) 12 years ago

ok.

[-] 1 points by PeopleOverProfits (4) 12 years ago

Insulting people is usually not an effective tactic when trying to persuade them to adopt your point of view. Also, I do not think a comprehensive understanding of derivatives is necessary to observe what has gone on and come to the reasonable conclusion that the majority of the population is being screwed over by Wall Street.

For the record, I have visited your blog and read what you have posted there.

[-] 1 points by stevemiller (1062) 12 years ago

I am blue in the face trying to speak reasonably to liberals on here and sitting in the park. That didn't work at all.

I won sales contests 1 to Hawaii and the other to Rome. I know when to dump a prospect who will never take the deal that is in his own interest. Therefore my insults have no downside. My insults are meant to punish each person who is sinking my ship. Think about that.

Email to nominate Glenn Greenwald

Glenn,

If OWS fails to nominate candidates for the 2012 election, this protest is a monumental waste of time. Sitting in the park whining and demanding is howling at the moon. Depending on a bribed government for justice or anything fair is idiotic.

On 11/8 when you address the OWS movement I will attempt to draft you to be the OWS candidate for the 2012 election. Jon Stewart, Michael Moore, and Steven Colbert need to get on the ballot to run for the Senate of NJ & NY. The unions can bank roll the party and I will run for the CT 4th district Green Party. Liberals better start waking up to reality and quit voting for bribed Democrats.

Steve http://overthecoals.blogspot.com/

Media interviewing nitwits to be president

The media decisions to interview morons, nitwits, and imbeciles who make irrational claims over and over and over again would have no audience if Americans weren't in a deep trance. The OWS decision to not nominate candidates who could easily win elections against every incumbent in office is a ridiculous mistake. America is doomed.

America is too lovable to let it be destroyed

[-] 1 points by meesharoni (1) from Los Angeles, CA 12 years ago

Now that small investors (i.e. homebuyers) have invested in the infrastructure to develop most of the desirable land on the continent it's time to drive them out of their homes so that we can make them back into renters... I would call it Real Estate Recycling.

[-] 1 points by tsdevi (307) 12 years ago

Are you a landlord...that is rhetorical.

[-] 1 points by sufinaga (513) 12 years ago

precisely, from the top down, inter-departmental and acrosss agency there has been a massive ORGANISED subprime fraud through the united INTENT of the freemasons. this money has gone into arable land around the equator to dispossess the poor "there" too!! we must reclaim the freemason/knights templar/babylonian property rights and slavery based on stolen land. the whole system needs to be restructured. experience tells us that to preserve the environment our habitation then we should return ownership of the land to the women globally!!! men should be allowed their toys and games but the slavery of women and the slaughter of men should be a thing of the past. first wake up to the psychopathic nature of the society in which we live and replace it with our community!!!

[-] 1 points by stevemiller (1062) 12 years ago

OWS compared to the Tea Party

Christine O'Donnell was nominated in Delaware to be the Tea Party Republican candidate for the United States Senate. OWS adamantly refuses to endorse much less nominate any candidate to run for election. The OWS believes that they can choose demands that will be enacted by merely sitting in the park holding signs and having petitions signed.

The Tea Party demands to get government out of the lives of all except for sexual behavior. Christine O'Donnell claimed she was against masturbation. Does Christine actually know what masturbation is and has Christine ever masturbated? Christine went right down the line about gay marriage and abortion. Now that Christine has been video taped and has written a book the OWS would be wise to consider making her the poster child for the right wing nuts.

Instead of using Christine O"Donnell as the poster child for Republicans, the OWS prefers to claim that they are the 99% which mathematically includes the 35% of American Republicans who gave a knee jerk reaction applause to Rick Perry when Rick bragged that as Governor of Texas he leads the nation http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/number-executions-state-and-region-1976 by far. Perry was proud that he executed 234 and Perry believes that to be thoughtful.

Rick is welcome and cheered by the media and nothing he says is conclusive to any American that he is a ridiculous imbecile. At best they make jokes about him but the jokes ignore the stupidity of all Americans to give his candidacy any credibility.

With Obama on record for being a liar on every campaign promise, and being wrong on every decision he has made in office, the OWS fails to see any opportunity to nominate any candidate for election. During my experience with hundreds of OWS people in person in the park and on the OWS forum they are as uniformly ridiculous and naive as the Tea Party. With all of this clearly on the record, the only conclusion possible is that America is doomed. read more http://overthecoals.blogspot.com/

[-] 1 points by Emocmo (6) 12 years ago

No Cod fan and perry looks too much like Josh Brolin.

But if you think that is the extent of the tea party you simply have not done your research.

The people who make up the tea party agree with 99% of what you folks deem to be the problems. We simply disagree with your answers. Ours tend to be based on personal responsibility and personal achievement. I

We want less government, and we expect nothing from it. You see central control as the answer, and that simply scares the crap out of us. We don't like people telling us what to do either.

[-] 1 points by stevemiller (1062) 12 years ago

You're a dunce.

OWS has no idea we've been fleeced by Wall Street gamblers

OWS is completely uninformed about the bank traders who are gambling with all our deposits even after the banks blew $ trillions of dollars they are hiding off the balance sheet and buried the toxic assets that the TARP money was supposed to buy with our deposits. If the bank traders who took $44 billion which was an embezzlement after they blew the money at the track or playing roulette or black jack, would that be different?

Of course it wouldn't be different but OWS sitting in the park on Broadway doesn't want to know they are complete fools with no clue about derivatives. They would rather sit in the park in the snow storm and waste their time rather than admit they were clueless about the entire banking disaster.

[-] 1 points by luvcuffed (28) 12 years ago

It is not only unethical but it is a crime and it's called Fraud.

[-] 1 points by Fredone (234) 12 years ago

See one of the problems with what you are saying is that you fail to realize that it is the prices of home prices are also largely driven up by the intentional restriction in the supply, which is done through for example, zoning deals with developers and other mechanisms.

That's not the banksters per se doing the work of jacking house prices up, but it is still the 1% ers who own and run housing construction, real estate, etc, companies, and managed to get their fingers in the government.

If they didn't keep tampering with things, when the prices of housing went up higher than the construction cost, which does not change, people would build more housing, including infill housing etc. which would stabilize the price.

[-] 1 points by Barefootin (33) 12 years ago

The price of the home does not go up or down. It is the value of the paper required to purchase an object that changes. 100 years ago and ounce of gold was an ounce and would buy a mans suit. Today an ounce of gold is still an ounce and will still by a nice mans suit. We're not talking about the cheap suits, we're talking about a nice Italian hand made suit.

A gallon of gas will still be a gallon in 100 years. It's a "unit of measure" which is why in England their currency is referred to as a Pound, for a pound of silver.

If you go back to 1970, you'll discover the average price of material things doubled every 10 years. That's because the annual rate of inflation has been 7.5%, set by the International Bankers. They understand math very well! If you're an investor you know about The Rule of 72. If you can get 2% on your money, divide 72 by 2 and you discover it will take 36 years for your money to double. Divide 72 by 7.5% and you're at 9.67. Your money will double every 10 years.

An average car in 1970 was $3k. House $30k. Loaf of bread, gas, .30 cents. Do the math: 1980 = 6, 90 = 12, 2000 = 24, 2010 = 48.

$48k will buy a nice car, like a Hyundai! Do you know anyone who paid $480k for a house? How about a loaf of healthy bread at you local bakery for $4.80?

If we go back to 1970 and say the average person was making $12k per year, $1k per month, now we double that number every ten years and we come to a new reality check: 70=1, 80=2, 90=4, 2000=8, that brings us to the average person working a JOB today would have to be making $16k per month to keep up with inflation.

We refer to this as inflation but it's also devaluation of the currency used by the society. It takes more dollars to purchase the same item, this is basic math but since it happens slowly, no one sees what has happened. This is like the story of the frog in the water slowly brought to a boil.

Here's one last way to look at this. In 1970, you won the lottery - congratulations you won $1 million dollars in 1970!

If you're purchasing power was cut in half every 10 years - do the math: 1970 = $1M, 80 = $500k, 90 = $250k, 2000 = $125k, today your million dollars in the bank has the purchasing power of only $62,500.

So the price of houses didn't go up, the house is still a 4 bed, 2 bath house that was built in 1970. But today, it takes 4 times the dollars to purchase the same 2,000 SF home.

Thank you to the banking elite, the Fed, and politicians who know this process is slowly destroying our financial world around us!

[-] 0 points by Fredone (234) 12 years ago

Well you didn't quote any references here. I just checked, a hyundai accent is $10,000 in the us, not 48 k. The cost of material goods goes down by default over time as technology allows higher productivity, it does not stay the same. The housing developers also restrict innovation in methods etc. through various mechanisms like building codes - they like things the way they are, which is why house construction has changed so little over the last 50 years. Change costs money to keep up with.

I'm basing what I said on my experience of going to build a home. It's quite apparent when you simply look at the cost of other material goods. For instance a car such as a tata nano is cheaper, by weight, than a house. Complicated machine, concrete and wood slapped together. You do the math. Plus if you just compare the cost of the house construction, utilities running etc. to the cost of a new house in the suburbs - on land that was just rezoned from farmland, there is a massive discrepancy.

The land that 6 months ago was worth $1000 an acre or something is now got a house sitting on it and is being sold at, in effect, $200,000 for a little plot. There is land 20 feet away that is still growing corn on it. They are clearly restricting the supply of land available for housing construction. And yet that land is slated to be developed in several year's time so it is not about urban sprawl. Also, look up greenbelts, giant pieces of farmland right in the middle of cities. They are slated to be developed in the distant future, usually, with no justification at all.

And an individual cannot get a bit of farmland rezoned. Only corporations can, who can buy large amount of land and pay the fees involved, and they control the rate at which new land is doled out through the city's development plan. I looked into doing this my self.

If they weren't restricting the supply of land in that way, construction would have gone apeshit when housing prices rose.

[-] 1 points by Barefootin (33) 12 years ago

Fredone - You kind of missed the point. Yes you can purchase a car for $10k today. In 1970 you could purchase a car for $1,500. Pinto's and Chevette's. However I purchased a full blown, all options on it SAAB 99E for $4,200 in 1972. That same care today is around $70k. I was referring to a nice car and in any market, even today, we can find homes that are extremely cheap, however the average price is what I'm referring to.

Yes we can find exceptions to any example, however when we look at statistics, we want to look at the overall averaging.

Even in the farming arena we have the small family farmer, trying to break even, hopefully growing organic without any chemical garbage. The challenge is the large industrial farms are being subsidized and the small farmers are not.

The bottom line is the average price of goods from 1970 to today and the average monthly income from 1970 till today. They are not parallel lines. Thus we have both parents working, paying for child support, and still barely breaking even with a family that only sees each other for a few hours each night. When I grew up, mom was always home and dad was around on the week-end to actually go fly a kite with or play catch with my new mit or....

The slow eroding of the value of the dollar has destroyed our model of the American family quality of life!

[-] 1 points by nich (57) 12 years ago

if it was a normal mortgage where the borrower was able to negotiate with the lender instead of having the lender sell it to someone who sold it to someone else in order to bundle the mortgage into a CDO or some such product, then there would be a relationship with the original lender. Businesses break contracts all of the time especially if they are sucked into a scam. It is the practices of the banking and mortgage and real estate industries, all of whom are supposed to watch out for the borrower that have been perverted. This ethical relationship was ignored. The industry not only cut corners but eliminated the corners altogether. Yours is a sentiment that any banker would love but it is cynical and ignores the context and a sudden new relationship with a lender. Borrowers weren't just encouraged, they were patsies in a criminal scheme. All bets are off. That neat little personal responsibility bullshit cuts both ways. If the lender loans money, even being a litle suspicious that the borrower can't pay it back or doesn't care because he is going to sell the paper to someone else, then he has abdicated his responsibility as well. Collecting that debt because it is legal is no different than polluting because it is legal. It is legal because the industry wrote the law. Being legal does not make it right. If that is a random situation, it is an academic point you are making.This is a deliberate, widespread scam and there is no other way to set things straight then to demand it.

[-] 1 points by MiMi1026 (937) from Springfield, VA 12 years ago

Yes! Everyone really needs to see the documentary "American Casino" A matter a fact it was just on today. I caught the tale end of it..The idea of subprime and APR loans was created in 1989 on wallstreet by a young wallstreet broker(whose name escapes me).Arnall was the creator of the subprime mortgage rates,and a major contributor to the Bush Jr, presidential campaign.

[-] 1 points by HoodedParrot (1) 12 years ago

Here is a song I've penned about foreclosures, factory shutdowns, and bankers greed. I'm no muso, but something had to be said.

http://www.triplejunearthed.com/Artists/View.aspx?artistid=49510

[-] 1 points by SoCaliana (4) from Calimesa, CA 12 years ago

There you go.

[-] 0 points by struggleforfreedom80 (6584) 12 years ago

Noam Chomsky visited the Libertarian Socialist organization of Norway "Counterpower"/"Motmakt" September 7 2011. The theme of the discussion was (naturally) Libertarian Socialism. Watch the entire interview including Q&A from the audience here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOTBGrrDeXg


Libertarian Socialism/Libertarian Left explained:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu8J_UKKa-c

yours s. sff

[-] 1 points by tsdevi (307) 12 years ago

thanks for the post!

[-] 1 points by struggleforfreedom80 (6584) 12 years ago

you´re welcome:) I also posted some links in the comments under this post : http://occupywallst.org/article/occupy-wall-st-and-allies-rally-march-united-civil/

check´em out:)

[-] -1 points by ray4444 (69) 12 years ago

fucking commy

[-] 2 points by struggleforfreedom80 (6584) 12 years ago

if you by that mean anarcho "commy", than thanks!

btw I believe the correct way of spelling that condescending statement is "fucking commie"

[-] 4 points by smesq (4) 12 years ago

Some of you seem to forget that it was the banks who pumped up the appraisals of these properties thereby maximizing the debt which they knew they were going to securitize and sell to unwary investors with the blessings of the ratings companies (who the banks paid off)...now all have been bailed out with the exception of ....guess who? What would have been wrong with the govt giving the money to the homeowners in order to remedy any shortfalls in mortgage vs. value, thereby solving the homeowner's problems and the banks at the same time..........no, instead we did the good old trickle down crap and look what happened.......surprise......surprise

[-] 1 points by SoCaliana (4) from Calimesa, CA 12 years ago

That would have been too much like right. And "cost too much" was the claim.

This way was sooo much cheaper!

[-] 0 points by Durka223 (38) 12 years ago

And do you suppose the public would have paid that money back like the banks did?

[-] 1 points by Fredone (234) 12 years ago

Most of it has not been paid back yet.

[-] 1 points by Durka223 (38) 12 years ago

My apologies, i meant to say that many banks have or almost have. The outstanding balance today sits at approximately 40.5% of the initial outflow including interest. So yes most of it has been paid back, however there is a ways to go.

[-] 3 points by Thayabharan (34) 12 years ago

Oligarchy is political power based on economic power. And it's the rise of the Wall Street in economic terms, that it'd turn into political power. And Wall Street then feed that back into more deregulation, more opportunities to go out and take reckless risks and-- and capture huge amounts of money. The American democracy was not given to us on a platter. It is not ours for all time, irrespective of our efforts. Either people organize and they find political leadership to take this on, or we are going to be in big trouble. That's absolutely the heart of the problem. I would also say and tell you, and emphasize, these Wall Street people will not come out and debate with us. The heads of Wall Street or their representatives, they will not come out. They're afraid. They don't have the substance. They don't have the arguments. We have the evidence. They have the lobbyists. And that's all they have.

--Nalliah Thayabharan

[-] 1 points by shizzle08 (119) 12 years ago

We need to make them begin to lose money...... lots of money! That is a way to get their attention really quickly and it will cause them to reveal their true colors. They will protect their money by all costs and try to criminalize the peaceful protests and demonstrations ever more. They will paint us as villains and vagrants. Try to corner, beat, and intimidate us into submission, but we will not stop. This is humanity for the sake of the people!

[-] 1 points by frangible (67) from Albuquerque, NM 12 years ago

Thanks man, well said.

[-] 1 points by MiMi1026 (937) from Springfield, VA 12 years ago

Wow! You are on The Level. Thank you for your perspective of Wallstreet.

[-] -2 points by OccuLosersAreFreaks (12) 12 years ago

You lot couldn't organize a sock drawer. Twinkle hands? Pranks and dressing up in weird costumes to scare an unsuspecting banker?

Go home. Take a shower. Get a job.

Most of all...shut the hell up.

[-] 1 points by shizzle08 (119) 12 years ago

Instead of invading Iraq someone should invade your rightist asshole and then sell it a few times over to people with horrible credit in the worst parts of town, then foreclose...... but then again who would want to take that as collateral? Freedom of speech prick! Go back to sleep and contribute your convenient dream while we take over and change the world!

[-] 0 points by ray4444 (69) 12 years ago

deaming go back to sleep

[-] 1 points by Joe4more (165) from Cranston, RI 12 years ago

Your ignorance is really starting to show, a typo here and there, cool; you, my friend, are functionally illiterate.

[-] 1 points by MiMi1026 (937) from Springfield, VA 12 years ago

you are really scared of those words . You must be that wallstreet ceo Nalliah is talking about.Im glad you are shaking in your boots. He He :~D

[-] 1 points by Fredone (234) 12 years ago

That person is just one of their useful idiots/brainwashed minions. Don't let your guard down, they are not really like that.

[-] 3 points by MrNYM (4) 12 years ago

All of your comments that are saying it is people's own faults for taking out loans are regrettably true. HOWEVER! You are leaving out the part where banks manipulate loan agreements and structure them in such a way that it makes it VERY hard to pay aginst the principle, and in fact do everything they can to STOP you from paying on the principle in order to make you pay interest the rest of your life. This is financial slavery! Or are you the type of A-Holes who think capitalized interest is a good and just thing?

[-] 3 points by aaronparr (597) 12 years ago

The problem has been lack of adequate regulation, but it is more than that.

You'd be hard pressed to say that there is any regulation of finance. Thats why it is grossly inefficient and awash in unearned capital and also why we see these market bubbles inflating and bursting all the time. Its not just mortgaged back securities and the fraud that was rampant throughout the banks but the buying and selling of commodities which thereby screws up global trade and food prices. This is happenign at every level where every market - even markets with real goods and real value - are completely distorted by treating them like a gambling table at a casino.

We need a new paradigm to address these problems. The way liquid capital - especially when it is concentrated at these levels in financial institutions - disrupts markets needs to be addressed. What do we do? I don't know. But I think it is safe to say that we need to use the cautionary principal here and kick the richest banks out of many markets. Agricultural markets especially.

[-] 1 points by Fredone (234) 12 years ago

Oh there is more to it than that. The plutocrats are doing this sort of thing with the law and everything else too, they constantly have their fingers in the pie and keep using their capital to tamper with everything. Well no more, that is what this movement is about.

[-] 3 points by Thayabharan (34) 12 years ago

The US banks played a central role in creating the crisis, making ever-larger gambles, with the implicit backing of the US government. More alarming, they are now using their influence to prevent precisely the sorts of reforms that are needed, and fast, to pull the economy out of its nosedive. The US government seems helpless, or unwilling, to act against them.

Nalliah Thayabharan

[-] 1 points by SwissMiss (2435) from Ann Arbor Charter Township, MI 12 years ago

Governments at lower levels here are doing something. The NY State attorney general and other states' attorney generals are investigating and are going after all who are guilty. I just hope they can do something about those who caused the collapse.

[-] 2 points by AndrewTeaNation (5) from Secaucus, NJ 12 years ago

If the OWS crowd would just go out and get a job and get off the street, things would get better. How do you expect the federal government to generate any tax revenue off the fruits of your labor if you are out protesting in the street and defecating in the park? Get to work!

[-] 1 points by hughmann (52) from Benton, AR 12 years ago

Oh Andrew, didn't you read the other posts? they are saving the defecation to throw at the cops...

www.asusoeff.com

[-] 2 points by Tryagain (300) 12 years ago

Avoid foreclosure... get ready... pay your mortgage.

[-] 2 points by hughmann (52) from Benton, AR 12 years ago

Amen my friend!

www.asusoeff.com

[-] 2 points by hughmann (52) from Benton, AR 12 years ago

I think if i was committing to spend 100s of thousands of dollars on a home, and had somebody...anybody willing to loan me the money to do so, I would check out all the "fine print". Especially if it was more than I could afford. The blame does not rest on mortgage lenders. It rests witht he individuals who bought things they could not afford. Take a little personal responsibility people. NOBODY owes you squat around here. Go create somethign worthwhile with your life. And even if you screw up and you get yourself into a position like foreclosure...is that the end of life? NO. That is the time when you decide whether you will be a man and take responsibility for your actions and step up to the plate or take the road of so many panty waste weenies who are looking for a handout. Remember my friends, everytime you get something for nothing that means somebody else got nothing for doing something....Now really boys and girls...is that fair? http://www.asusoeff.com/somthing-for-nothing

[-] 2 points by freedomfighter311 (7) 12 years ago

FINALLY! A REAL book by someone with zero ties to the establishment! Wildfire: The Legislation That Ignited the Great Recession is a real find! This book calls out all scumbag CEOs and politicians responsible for America's collapse.

[-] 2 points by Romp (2) from Париж, IdF 12 years ago

Guys, you have a very mighty support from society. Maybe it's time to organize a party and try to gain your mission politically? Currently you are very unorganized - you need leaders and clear political program.

[-] 2 points by PhilArthur (54) 12 years ago

It is criminal for corporations to have forged documents to prove they own property. They (financial institutions) created these fake financial instruments to make money, it is time they paid the consequences of their actions... throw the forged documents out of court!

[-] 2 points by mels (15) 12 years ago

Guys, it seems You are going the wrong way and loosing time. Has your "march" saved at least a single family from foreclosure ? Did it hinder any "bankster" to get his regular profit ? And You lost on it thousands of man-hours + financial resources with zero result.

Let's summarize: 1) You do not have resources for real revolution 2) 99% of your "99%" are law-abiding folks (not brave guerillas -revolutionists able to send a challenge to the system) 3) Current actions are actually fruitless. Maybe it's better to organize a party (e.g. Socialist/Communist party of the United States) and try to modify the system using more efficient and legal means ?

[-] 1 points by Fredone (234) 12 years ago

This is only the start, yes, but you have to start. Also unification and overcoming propaganda and it's legacy is ultimately the largest hurdle we face.

[-] 1 points by cancerhunt (4) 12 years ago

Real Revolution needs Resources,Clear Agenda, Revolutionary Leadership and Millions of Volunteers. We support OWS Movement. www.savepakistanmovement.org

[-] 2 points by beaucphs (18) 12 years ago

Interesting ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court which could very well affect all home foreclosures across the country, long read but very well worth it. "In essence, the ruling upheld that those who had purchased foreclosure properties that had been illegally foreclosed upon (which is virtually all foreclosure sales in the last five years), did not in fact have title to those properties." "The Massachusetts SJC is one of the most respected high courts in the country, other supreme courts look to these decisions for guidance, and would find it difficult to rule any other way in their own states. It is a precedent. It's an important precedent."

http://amvona.com/blog/economics/28217-houston-weve-got-a-problem-bevilacqua.html

[-] 1 points by hughmann (52) from Benton, AR 12 years ago

Oh...well...THAT will help for sure. So the investor or new home owner who buys a foreclosure in good faith that he/she has clear title can now lose that title because the previous owner and their bank could not get paperworrk just right?

That will certainly help everybody....

Do you people not see that what you propose is pretty much anarchy?

you scare me.

www.asusoeff.com

[-] 2 points by SomeCitizen (4) 12 years ago

Let us stamp out CORPORATE GREED and unfair stock trading. Urge Congress to pass THE SHAREHOLDER EQUALITY ACT. The law shall read as follows: If Joe Average buys 1 share of Company X stock and Warren Buffett buys 1 share of Company X stock, then EVERY term and condition of those 2 shares SHALL be IDENTICAL. No exceptions! That plain, that simple!!! Show your support and get your buttons today at http://www.cafepress.com/thedirtycloset.546802414

LET EVERYONE KNOW WHAT YOU STAND FOR AND AGAINST!

[-] 2 points by MiMi1026 (937) from Springfield, VA 12 years ago

People Stay in your homes. Don't Leave. In most cases the banks that are attempting foreclosures on your homes,Do Not have the Original paperwork with your signature. This is how We The People will make our move forward...Stay in your homes! Do Not Move Out!

[-] 2 points by 6thangle (2) 12 years ago

Your forefathers win this land from Britain so why not you just claim it again from the bankers and distribute it to people!! Defy foreclosing of your or neighbour or friends home will be the biggest civil disobedience in American history!

[-] 1 points by SwissMiss (2435) from Ann Arbor Charter Township, MI 12 years ago

And the British started taking it from the Natives.

[-] 2 points by Thayabharan (34) 12 years ago

We essentially have had modern-day bank robbers -- except that they wore gray suits and not masks -- and there's been no accountability for it Every day we see energy speculators, war profiteers, managed health-care providers, media propagandists, and/or financiers given some unfair advantage over the average consumers and taxpayers, and the cumulative effect of the American people watching selfishness prevail over the public interest has been an undermining of the public's trust in government. There's no question the system is rigged against the little guy. The bigger interests have a lot more information. They jerry-rig the system so that they always win.

[-] 1 points by hughmann (52) from Benton, AR 12 years ago

Sounds like you OWS guys have a pretty big interest yourselves...maybe you should stop whining and use your collective money, creativity and hard work to fix the problem rather than just preaching anarchy.

www.asusoeff.com

[-] 2 points by johnis48 (72) 12 years ago

Bank's and the Gov't are the Enemy's of the america people. Change has got to happen. We the people who believe in a level playing field need to take action for change. Before this country is sold out and the working class can't afford to even fed there family's anymore. Greed has brought this on and it most be stopped.

[-] 2 points by nucleus (3291) 12 years ago

A Letter from Goldman Sachs

Concerning Occupy Wall Street

NEW YORK

The following is a letter released today by Lloyd Blankfein, the chairman of banking giant Goldman Sachs:

Dear Investor:

Up until now, Goldman Sachs has been silent on the subject of the protest movement known as Occupy Wall Street. That does not mean, however, that it has not been very much on our minds. As thousands have gathered in Lower Manhattan , passionately expressing their deep discontent with the status quo, we have taken note of these protests. And we have asked ourselves this question:

How can we make money off them?

The answer is the newly launched Goldman Sachs Global Rage Fund, whose investment objective is to monetize the Occupy Wall Street protests as they spread around the world. At Goldman, we recognize that the capitalist system as we know it is circling the drain. but there's plenty of money to be made on the way down.

The Rage Fund will seek out opportunities to invest in products that are poised to benefit from the spreading protests, from police batons and barricades to stun guns and forehead bandages. Furthermore, as clashes between police and protesters turn ever more violent, we are making significant bets on companies that manufacture replacements for broken windows and overturned cars, as well as the raw materials necessary for the construction and incineration of effigies.

It would be tempting, at a time like this, to say "Let them eat cake." But at Goldman, we are actively seeking to corner the market in cake futures. We project that through our aggressive market manipulation, the price of a piece of cake will quadruple by the end of 2011.

Please contact your Goldman representative for a full prospectus. As the world descends into a Darwinian free-for-all, the Goldman Sachs Rage Fund is a great way to tell the protesters, "Occupy this." We haven't felt so good about something we've sold since our souls.

Sincerely,

Lloyd Blankfein

Chairman, Goldman Sachs

source: http://www.borowitzreport.com/2011/10/17/a-letter-from-goldman-sachs/

[-] 1 points by enough (587) 12 years ago

Excellent. Checkout this one out. If you like the letter above, you will like this. It's a point-for-point exchange between an arrogant Wall Street banker and one of #OWS finest.

http://investmentwatchblog.com/main-street-answers-wall-street/

[-] 1 points by paplanner (58) from Mt Union, PA 12 years ago

At least credit Andy Borowitz for the letter, since it came from his website.

[-] 1 points by nucleus (3291) 12 years ago

Thanks - it came in the mail, I didn't have the source.

[-] 1 points by Nevada1 (5843) 12 years ago

Hi Nucleus, Excellent. You have captured the spirit of Goldman-Sachs.

[-] 1 points by debndan (1145) 12 years ago

Wow priceless

for everything else(like goldman saks souls) use mastercard

[-] 1 points by Anklam (7) from New Paltz, NY 12 years ago

Very funny. Keep plugging away and shedding light in the dark corners of our banking system. Continue to expose those that have harmed the American people so egregiously. The truth needs to be out there, no matter how awful it may be for those caught in the light. Truth always wins.

There is an old adage that states: "if it's not broke, don't fix it." Well that is not true with our banking system; it IS broke and it needs fixing.

[-] 1 points by hueyfreeman (21) 12 years ago

this is funny

[-] 0 points by ironheel1 (2) 12 years ago

Sick. But funny, and i am sure very close to the truth

[-] 0 points by OccupyAShower (3) 12 years ago

'Occupy Madison' loses permit due to public masturbation.

Just gets more pathetic by the minute.

[-] 1 points by Fredone (234) 12 years ago

Isn't there a way to block spammers? I am all for free speech but spamming is pretty much universally recognized as fair game to block...

[-] 1 points by hughmann (52) from Benton, AR 12 years ago

apparently this is a "true" story....although nothing has been proven about public masturbation....Here is an excerpt from the Madison Wisconsin Cardinal:

(The Daily Cardinal) –City officials temporarily denied Occupy Madison a new street use permit Wednesday after protesters violated public health and safety conditions and failed to follow the correct processes to renew or amend a permit.

The permit, which expired Wednesday at noon, required Occupy Madison protesters to relocate from their current space at 30 West Mifflin Street, also called 30 on the Square.

A neighboring hotel’s staff alleged voiced concerns about having to recently escort hotel employees to and from bus stops late at night due to inappropriate behavior, such as public masturbation, from street protesters.

In addition, officials agreed further occupation should not be allowed to continue without restrooms on site to avoid further public health violations.

“You can’t be affecting the safety and health of other people around you,” Madison Fire Prevention Officer Jerry McMullen said. “With the public health violations and the complaints I’ve heard, I don’t believe it meets the spirit of the ordinance to a street use permit.”

www.asusoeff.com

[-] 1 points by SwissMiss (2435) from Ann Arbor Charter Township, MI 12 years ago

Spamming and trolling.... yes, I agree.

[-] 0 points by MiMi1026 (937) from Springfield, VA 12 years ago

This could be the truth ,as Goldman Sachs see's it from their rose colored glasses.Gamble..Gamble GAMBLE on the backs of the disadvantage,middle/working class and poor.Then pit them against each other!

[-] 0 points by BreadLandPeace (359) 12 years ago

brilliant

[-] 2 points by Thayabharan (34) 12 years ago

US economic system is criminal and totalitarian capitalism lording over the exploited slave-labor class the American public has become.

---Nalliah Thayabharn

[-] 1 points by shizzle08 (119) 12 years ago

So lets take the power away from them.....

[-] 1 points by MiMi1026 (937) from Springfield, VA 12 years ago

The Truth!

[-] -1 points by OccuLosersAreFreaks (12) 12 years ago

Did you learn that in your Marxism101 class?

[-] 1 points by shizzle08 (119) 12 years ago

Marx had a point when you look at whats going on now days........ people always say that he was wrong, but how can you ever know if he is wrong? His ideas were not created in a vacuum..... time is not up yet...... capitalism and socialism are on equal terms in recent years when you look at the histories of both up until now. Capitalism with socialist tendencies will be the most reasonable outcome. The guys in charge of big business have proven once again that they are not responsible enough to be unregulated.

[-] 1 points by SwissMiss (2435) from Ann Arbor Charter Township, MI 12 years ago

I totally agree and say the same thing all the time. People ARE NOT (as a whole) evolved enough to be that responsible as to ward off greed and not want to rip people off if they have the chance to.

[-] 2 points by fiverrah (15) 12 years ago

So here’s a quick refresher on what’s happened to some of the main players, whose behavior, whether merely reckless or downright deliberate, helped cause or worsen the meltdown. This list isn’t exhaustive -- feel welcome to add to it.

I just heard that you have snow coming your way so try to keep warm! It's only frost so far in Michigan.

http://www.truth-out.org/cheat-sheet-whats-happened-big-players-financial-crisis/1319725731

[-] 2 points by IAmthatIAm (3) from Temecula, CA 12 years ago

Occupy Your Home! At all costs!

[-] -1 points by BrianC (-2) 12 years ago

Occupy A Shower!

[-] 2 points by MonetizingDiscontent (1257) 12 years ago

Occupy BrianC's Shower!

[-] 1 points by jillturnerart (3) 12 years ago

How to get in touch with OccupytheHood to collaborate on squat organizing efforts?

[-] 1 points by OccupyNews (1220) 12 years ago

Some statistics to consider. U.S. homeowners have lost 7.3 trillion dollars in home equity since the beginning of 2006. It could be as high as 9 to 10 trillion maybe more we also include the home equity lost to foreclosure (that in certain instances can go to a business associate or friend of the bank or realtor) and the loss of 401 K value.

One thing that could be done that would instantly give the 99% equal footing with the banks is to change one simple banking law regarding default.

Presently, any debt restructure, be it a mortgage, credit card debt, student loan, or medical debt, requires a default first before the person can try and negotiate a new deal.

The problem with the default is that it usually means that any new deal will be WORSE than what the debtor already has!

Change this one banking rule of law from "Debt Restructure requires a default first", to "Debt restructure DOES NOT require a default first", and the 99% can save their remaining assets from the clutches of wall street and the bankers.

www.bankprotests.com, www.occupynews.com, www.swarmthebanks.com, www.parallelforeclosure.com, www.wallstreetchange.com

[-] 1 points by PRJ (115) 12 years ago

Held in penury by property, occupy the foreclosures to actually stick it to the banks. Defend the occupations. All the resources are available to support wide occupation. Strength in #'s doesn't work well for cattle- they all end up in the slaughterhouse. Spread out and take back your homes. From there we can build.

[-] 1 points by MonetizingDiscontent (1257) 12 years ago

Dozen real estate loans at center of FDIC's $127M suit in Mutual Bank failure

"When one loan was originated, the borrower's principal and one of its guarantors was in custody awaiting trial for murder of his daughter-in-law"

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-1101-bank-suit-follow-20111101,0,2780049.story

[-] 1 points by sergeantcuinn (2) 12 years ago

This is a total fraud,

[-] 1 points by sergeantcuinn (2) 12 years ago

The Child Protection Act has an intent to protect, guard, aid all children from predators. Financial predators abuse children and Jeopardize their Health and Wefare by leaving them without food, shelter, clothing and medicine through foreclosure of their homes. The children are left in positions of serious harm. Where is law enforcement on this crime? R.I.C.O. 18 USC 1961, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act is appropriate for the criminal banking oraganizations who use Extortion and Usury to steal homes from children. Where is law enforcement on this crime?

[-] 1 points by StopForeclosure (2) 12 years ago

Want to stop foreclosure? Listen to this guy's rant!!! Awesome http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq5AdxkgkSg

[-] 1 points by StopForeclosure (2) 12 years ago

Want to stop foreclosure? This guy says it best, check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq5AdxkgkSg

[-] 1 points by ejc1212 (2) 12 years ago

I have been working my whole life and now I have nothing. Broke is my wallet, my spirit, and my back.My only hope is if congress raised the common stock for fannie and freddie mac. The people bailed them out and the people should be rewarded. My retirement fund is in those stocks and I am watching the preferred stocks that I cannot buy grow five times their original value, whereas I lose everything! They took my money in taxes and then gave people who are rich the ability to get richer!!!! They know nothing about work. But they know how to take. I have lost everything and this is my only hope... I need help

[-] 1 points by occupy2012 (13) 12 years ago

we need a COSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT , term limits for US congress ban lobbyist bring jobs back overseas

[-] 1 points by jimevanhoe (8) 12 years ago

HOW DID THIS ALL HAPPEN? >>>> IT started in March of 2000<<<<, Goldman-Sachs Board of Directors = 1Director from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 1 from intel, 1 from GE, Big Oil, the TOP executives at Goldman-Sachs, where going to collapse the TECH MARKET to level the political playing field so G.W. Bush could have a better chance to BEAT Gore, which is exactly what happened. Bush got in and STOPPED the break up of Microsoft, (Please Read about all of this), Then "CREATED" a needless War "IRAQ" which supported GE and other weapons manufacturers, BIG Oil got high oil prices because of the Wars, actually prices quadrupled, (SAME thing happen with George Bush Sr, exactly! "LIKE FATHER LIKE SON by design") NO WALL STREET FINANCIAL INSTITUTION was prosecuted for Financial Fraud, for as the Tops Guys and there Buddies Got out of TECH, the Financial Institutions of Wall Street, lead by Goldman-Sachs told there Mid to Small Cap Investors to keep investing in TECH that = Criminal Fraud, this included Merrill Lynch, and even Charles Schwab! Then Alan Greenspan who was the Federal Reserve Chairman, who came here to Teton County to party with the likes of Dick Cheney = Halliburton, Dan Cook the III = Goldman Sachs & Walter Scott Jr = Level 3 Communications, they all live here in the SUMMER, during this time Greenspan deregulated the financial institutions, which is what Bush & Cheney and their Buddies all wanted, to keep the cash following so they could keep their WARS going. Note Here: Obama once in office never FIRED anyone at the SEC for failure to protect the US Financial System, NO ONE GOT Fired !!! Do you run any business that way ? NO! OBAMA is one of them HE is an absolute PHONY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Once Bush got a free for all going on Wall Street, the Banks, the Mortgage Institutions, Wars going and going......Exxon-Mobil OIL made BILLIONS, the Saudi Royal Family it is estimated made over a 3 TRILLION. GE made billions in WEAPONS, HALLIBURTON MADE BILLIONS & BILLIONS, GOLDMAN SACHS through selling fraudulent bundled mortgages MADE BILLIONS and the AMERICAN PEOPLE when it was all said and done....were left holding the BAG an empty BAG. IT is absolutely time to CHARGE, CONVICT and in my opinion HANG, them ALL for >>> Financial Terrorism, Financial Treason, War Crimes, the death of thousands of US Soldiers, and families who have lost everything HERE, we were once a Democracy but now we are Totalitarian State. NOW it is TIME to Organize and get ready for Massive General Strikes this Summer! Until Obama steps down, Goldman-Sachs Executives and Cheney & Bush JR & SR are arrested, convicted and in my opinion Hung for their crimes against Humanity and this Country. James P. Evanhoe jimevanhoe@gmail.com

[-] 1 points by freedomofspeech (5) 12 years ago

STAND, STAY, UNITE and FIGHT!!!! Freedom is worth fighting for.....

[-] 1 points by rfrank22 (2) 12 years ago

I am one of those who fell victim to a predatory loan. We refinanced and now 11 years later with my property value very low and no chance of ever really owning this home I am waiting for the summons. I am surprised they have not yet took me to court. I am 7 months behind. I have a wife with C.P. and a 15 year old son and 18 month old son as well. I am afraid and waiting for the inevitable. I hate this capitalistic society I live in that's full of corrupt politicians. There needs to be Morality in Government. Richard

[-] 1 points by rparsad (6) 12 years ago

Abolish OR audit the Federal Reserve by petitioning the Obama Administration. Here is the official petition at Whitehouse.gov: wh.gov/bC0. Be American, love democracy!

[-] 1 points by DBUSMC (4) from Chicago, IL 12 years ago

When I bought a house in 2008 I was approved for a VA loan of $273,000. I bought a condo for $92,000. I was not required to put down any down payment, but I put down $4K. My mortgage payment is $541.00 a month. I have enough money saved up in the form of U.S. savings bonds(Deducted out of my check each month, earning interest) to cover four years of mortgage payments should anything happen. Additionally I have long term disability insurance that will provide me with 60% of my salary should anything happen that I purchased through my employer for $4.00 a month. I can also purchase unemployment insurance through the mortgage lender if i so choose that will make my mortgage payments if I lose my job. It's available to anyone. I made around 50K per year when I purchased and now make around $65K and could have easily afforded a $300K house. I pay extra on my mortgage and will have it paid off in about 6 years.

Just about anyone could afford a $541.00 a month mortgage especially a couple with two incomes. It's cheaper than renting. I could work at McDonalds and afford this place.

I plan on paying it off, buying another place and renting this one out.

Did I have to make sacrifices? Of course! I joined the Marines to pay for my college. I went to community college to lock up my general eds in an associates degree. I still don't have an I-phone, but rather a pre-paid through Virgin mobile for $25 a month. I took a job that was hard(You have no idea how hard - 12 hour days, 84 hours per week for four weeks straight, but then 4 weeks off) but had opportunity.

It's called having a plan, living within my means and personal responsibility.

[-] 1 points by LM62 (4) 12 years ago

The rich get richer and the middle and poor get poorer because citizens don't have rights beyond Election Day... Check out Direct Democracy at the national level. Watch a 4 min. film on the ability to vote on the issues not just the politicians that have their own agenda. http://ni4d.us
Keep going strong!

[-] 1 points by profitsfirst (2) 12 years ago

why do you stay? Because the unions won't pay you if you leave?

[-] 1 points by SwissMiss (2435) from Ann Arbor Charter Township, MI 12 years ago

Your name says it all.

[-] 1 points by Scottie8888 (6) from Irvine, CA 12 years ago

OWS Leaders - if you want to really do change in this country for better you have transfer this actions into a poltical entity!

[-] 1 points by Scottie8888 (6) from Irvine, CA 12 years ago

OWS Leaders - if you want to really do change in this country for better you have transfer this actions into a poltical entity!

[-] 1 points by lifesavercharities (1) 12 years ago

Please someone from New York call me 714-323-4215 or give me an e-mail so I can contact you. I am sending something to the press but I am unable to come to new york for health reasons. I would like someone to talk to the press about foreclosures. I have caught Deutsche bank located at 60 Wall st breaking the law. Keep up the good work. George Wager lifesavercharities@msn.com

[-] 1 points by DallasJeff (3) 12 years ago

This concept is simple.

Don't make your house payment: foreclosure.
Pay your house payment: no foreclosure.

If you didn't make your house payment then blame yourself.

[-] 1 points by hughmann (52) from Benton, AR 12 years ago

Yeah but i lost my job: Find another one. Yeah but i got hurt: Save money so that you can make it through the tough times. Yeah but i got a divorce: Quit cheating on your spouse.

Yeah But....Yeah But...Yeah But.....

Yeahbuts have long ears and fluffy tails but will not help you make your mortgage payment regardless of how much you whine.

www.asusoeff.com

[-] 1 points by SwissMiss (2435) from Ann Arbor Charter Township, MI 12 years ago

You are a very shallow individual.

[-] 1 points by hughmann (52) from Benton, AR 12 years ago

Those that I have helped quit their jobs so that they too could taste the freedom I have as a real estate investor and entrepreneur would likely disagree.

Let me also point out to you that I not only make prosperity for my family, i make it for many families.

When I buy a house that is in foreclosure I typically have to go in and fix and clean it a bit. The contractors I hire MAKE MONEY. Also, the fact that I clean it up helps the neighborhood and has the effect of raising property values which MAKES MONEY for all the neighbors in that community. Finally, the family that buys it gets to perhaps quit renting and start owning which through equity over time MAKES them MONEY.

I have not even mentioned the title people, mortgage people, banks and attorneys who also make a couple of bucks on the deal because i know you bleeding hearts hate them, and the truth is, compared to what the above mentioned folks get, they get nearly nothing.

When CAPITALISM happens PEOPLE PROSPER because goods or services change hands and everybody MAKES MONEY.

Miss Swiss, I would invite you to learn a bit about how money works. Let me leave you with this thought:

Poor people cannot help other poor people. About all they can do is pray for them. Not to knock prayer, but only the RICH can help the poor. If you REALLY believe all the crap you preach then become RICH so you too can change the lives that I change every day.

www.asusoeff.com

[-] 1 points by Sherry (11) 12 years ago

I was just made aware recently that counties also foreclose on homes because of unpaid property taxes, which keep climbing (despite homes losing their value significantly). It's a big business. My mother-in-law, who just passed away, received an $8,000 property tax bill on her house this year. It's a small house -- worth only about $350,000 now due to the market. She was eligible for an exemption which made it so she only paid $1500 or so, but the county did not let her know that. Her sons had to figure that out. Turns out that they mailed thousands of tax bills out to the elderly without advising them that they were eligible for the exemption which would cut their bill almost 1/8 the total bill. So many poor elderly people on a fixed income were not advised of the exemption. By law, the county was required to enclose exemption application information but they did not. So, it's not just the big banks taking over people's homes. Ayyy. Sherry

[-] 1 points by SwissMiss (2435) from Ann Arbor Charter Township, MI 12 years ago

"....worth only about $350,000 now due to the market." I don't consider THAT a small house. I just bought my house for $99,000, it's worth a little more than that, and it's over 2,000 sq. ft, and it's a really nice house. Unless your mom's house is in an area where the prices are incredibly inflated, I have a hard time feeling sorry for someone who owns a house that's worth $350,000.... unless she bought it many, many years ago and paid a fair price for it and it now is worth so much more.

Most people can't afford a $350,000 house.

[-] 1 points by hughmann (52) from Benton, AR 12 years ago

In the San Fransisco bay area 350k would buy you a house on the edge of the Ghetto.

[-] 1 points by SwissMiss (2435) from Ann Arbor Charter Township, MI 12 years ago

If that's the case in certain areas, then people should be more specific about their location in describing that..... because $350,000 in my area would buy a very nice house, and I don't live in an economically depressed area at all. Places like San Francisco, NYC, Boston, etc. aren't the norm. They are the high ends of cost of living in the U.S.

[-] 1 points by hughmann (52) from Benton, AR 12 years ago

I'm sure this was a plot to screw old people.

C'mon folks....this is a county employee, one of your 99% that was too lazy or too stupid or just plain made an honest mistake and neglected to put all the information in the envelope for the old people.

Oh, by the way, ignorance of the law is not an excuse. Even the old need to cover themselves and not expect somebody else to do it for them.

If you fail to see the speed limit sign the cop will still give you a ticket. So is it the cop's fault you did not see the sign? By OWS way fo thinking the reason you did not see the sign was due to a plot by the rich to take your hard earned hundred bucks such that they placed the sign in the exact location where you yawned as you drove by and therefore missed it....yep...it was all pre planned just to screw YOU!

Gads, people scare me...

www.asusoeff.com

[-] 1 points by Justice4all (133) 12 years ago

The U.S. school system more than anything--math, science or any topic needs to be taught ethics starting from a very early age. There are no morals or ethics in society and everything is dog eat dog and survival of the fittest (Which always works to the wealthys advantage). Those parents who push their kids and tell them they have to be #1 and you'd better never fail or lose in life to their children are raising their kids to be those corporate CEO's and Wall Street type A personalities that have destroyed and seperated us as a people. There is no morality when they keep building on a system that they have created to make everything about materialism and profit. Reminds me of the movie the Time Machine where the guy takes the rings that talk and spins them, the one voice speaking is the last person who has any sense of morals left, and when the people who spin the rings hear his message cannot understand it because they have no idea about human decency and care for one another. That seems to be the society thats being created for us. But as we are seeing people are and do have an understanding of that and are not going to let that die just so those at the top can have a system for themselves out created out of no depth or soul for their fellow man.

[-] 1 points by hughmann (52) from Benton, AR 12 years ago

Not the school system's job Justice....try mommy and daddy. BTW, it has always been dog eat dog. This is what we call evolution. You survive because you earn survival, not because it is given to you by the government or the CEO of a fortune 500 company. Yes, it is true the rich teach their children to be rich....but the information is not private. If you are on the internet then you have access to the same chance. If you can get to a library, you have access to the same chance. Create something my friend...when you create, you will profit. BTW, when you create EVERYBODY you come into contact with will profit. It is called capitalizm and it works.

www.asusoeff.com

[-] 1 points by Justice4all (133) 12 years ago

Thanks Bill O Reilly--its done one hell of a job so far! Most wealth is inherited--very very few people through creating something make it. Maybe, maybe .00000000000000000000000001% do, but, that may be a very very high number. Most these people in positions of the kind of power you speak of are there because they have dominated others by destroying them to get there. That's not the kind of society in which everyone wants to live. It can change but you have a better shot of getting struck by lightning then making it be "creating something" thats a dreamworld scenerio always used by those who simply dont want to share. All democracies have fallen because of that mindset--This one will too, those at the top better realize that if this system collapses their coming down right along with everyone else! Wont matter then if your rich or poor because money won't mean a damn at that point!

[-] 1 points by hughmann (52) from Benton, AR 12 years ago

You think?

Hmmm. Let's examine the facts for a moment shall we?

I am pretty near the 1% my friend, and I did it myself. And I do not come from money. The bulk of millionaires in this country have NOT inherited it; although if you go back 50 years that was not the case. The bulk of rich in this country have earned it through creating systems and products that all of us DEMAND every day. Think Microsoft and you will get on the right track.

You are wrong about "All democracies have fallen because of that mindset". All democracies have always fallen...that much is true, but not from the greed of the few....more from the greed of the many.

Democracies fall due to a loose fiscal policy wherein the masses bitch and the government placates them with various forms of money and "bread" from the public treasury. Democracies fall because the average citizen is too lazy to do something for themselves, they instead look to some "bigger entity" like their government to "give them a helping hand".

What this website and the OWS movement preaches is simply a cross between anarchy and socialism. They tried this in Russia with the USSR....Note that it did not work. It doesn't work because it stifles growth and creativity.

You want to change America? Get the government out of everything. Have a completely unbridled free market. Let the masses decide the prices. This is capitalism in its truest form and it works because the guy smart enough and hardworking enough to bring you what you want deserves the biggest piece of pie.

www.asusoeff.com

[-] 1 points by Justice4all (133) 12 years ago

That's good for you and I do mean that. But you found a niche that worked for you and found your way through those barriers most can't fight against. You obviously are highly intelligent and have dealt with a lot of people in your life I'm sure. Unfortunately, you know as well as I, that most people have limitations to their development. Sure, people can try to go to school and better themselves (Which is becoming aware to most that that isnt working), but what about those in life who are really good and decent people who were only given the ability to do the most minimal and tedious jobs there are. Should they be punished in this system even though they are working as hard as they can with everything they have been given to work with? The system is skewed tremendously! And those especially of a conservative mindset, put the fear of God in people by using the word socialism as a bad thing. All socialism is, is a distribution of wealth. The Soviet Union was communist and most think they are one in the same. Granted their system was based on a distribution of wealth, however, the state said OK we will house, feed and cloth you but if you do not do as we say we will destroy you. In the United States we can have socialism, and not have to sacrifice any of our most basic human rights. In your case you were given a great ability to create, and should by all means defend that and continue to give all that you have to society with the gifts you've been given. But those in our society of the poorest means or abilities should not be punished or live any lesser than anyone else I feel because of the abilities or lack there of to which they were born. There are and will always be people who use and misuse the system (on both sides) most however are doing the best with what they have been given and are living in a society which has been tilted to an extremely unfair an unjust advantage. All most people want in life is an ability to contribute and make a living but are unable to do so because those who have all the power keep gathering up greater landshares of it leaving very little for anyone else. But one other thing-- this OWS movement is a creation--those who do not believe in how things are currently run are trying to create a new level of thinking and consciessness which may be the most important way of creating something there is known to man.

[-] 1 points by hughmann (52) from Benton, AR 12 years ago

Distribution of wealth?! Dude, There is no way in hell I am going to let you or anybody else distribute the wealth I created. Who is the robber here? Let's use the guy who is good and decent as you suggest. In your system, he would be entitled to the same house, clothing, neighborhood, and car that I have worked my ass off to get. What is "fair" about that? What is unjust is people like yourself who want to level the playing field so that the janitor makes the same money as the surgeon. Sorry, but what is the incentive for a guy to go to college and become a doctor, if his efforts will not be rewarded thousands of times more than the guy who flunks out of school and mops a floor.

For the record, I was born in one of the poorest areas (at that time) of San Francisco....A neighborhood known as Bayshore... Kinda like a smaller version of Watts in LA. For the record, HALF of my running buddies are dead or incarcerated and for the record I got out by working my butt off with my body and my brain.

Food for thought: Interestingly, the last I heard about Bayshore… it is the new "yuppie" type neighborhood. It seems a bunch of investors went in, got properties at wholesale prices because they were so run down and turned the place into an upper middle class oasis… another example of capitalism in action. By your way of thinking we should burn it all down and go back to the slums.

www.asusoeff.com

[-] 1 points by Justice4all (133) 12 years ago

Again, you were born with a mind and ability to do much for society--Yes you worked for it, but it was also gifted to you by some higher power, and to those who much is given much is expected. If you only went into your field to make a great deal of money than it was your choice to misuse those gifts for the shear means of profiting from it. If you are a surgeon and someone is in desperate need of your help do you help them? Or go Um let me look at your portfolio to see if its worth it enough for me to help you. Again, that comes back to my point--ethics is everything here! Anybody who has the skills in an area is OBLIGATED to do his or her best for his fellow man. If you choose in life to make money and the pursuit of it, it is your master--then you are a slave to it and it owns you! If each individual does his or her part for society to the means in which they were given without the want for gain, the world will be far better off! You had also spoke about getting government out of our lives. Why, would someone who is a top wage earner choose for that to be the case? You own them and they answer only to the top earners in society. They have done everything for the wealthy and nothing for the common man. The system has been set up to serve money and those who control the world through finance--Id think you would be in strong favor of the government which serves you and those in your earnings category. Also, for all those on Wall Street--they made their money by capitalizing off others. But did it illegally through fraud and most walked away with if not tens of millions hundreds of millions. Is that right? If a societys government would be just and serve the people they should be locked away and never seen again. But because our government is in bed with them, they continue doing what that do--souless, and unethically.

[-] 1 points by shizzle08 (119) 12 years ago

Stand up for those who can't stand up for themselves! Speak for those too weak to speak up for themselves! Defend those who feel that it is a hopeless fight! Defend them even though they disagree with you! This is for the betterment of the world, for America not only exploits its own people, but exploits everyone's people. We must stop them now! We are not lazy Americans..... We are revolutionaries! Stand up America! Stand up with all people of the world and say NO to GREED and CORRUPTION!

[-] 1 points by hughmann (52) from Benton, AR 12 years ago

Sounds a bit like Dr Suess...."I am the lorax I speak for the trees". A nice sentiment, but just like Dr. Suees, it is a fantasy not a reality. You might want to get back to reality instead of acting like a child reading a child's book.

www.asusoeff.com

[-] 1 points by JohnBWatson (0) 12 years ago

Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry, all things easy. He that rises late must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night, while laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist and philosopher.

[-] 1 points by Juggy (1) 12 years ago

I could use your help? I have an interest only loan. In a few years the payments will balloon and become unaffordable. I have bad credit so nobody wants to give me a loan. Are there any loan programs for me or do I need to sell and join you all? I am the 99

[-] 1 points by shizzle08 (119) 12 years ago

Sell! or talk to a relative or friend who is a firefighter and ask him for advice.

[-] 1 points by hughmann (52) from Benton, AR 12 years ago

If you have a few years then you can fix your credit. I suggest you start by getting on a budget and living within your means. You may need to get a second job, or perhaps let out a room in your home to make some extra money. You got yourself into this mess, you and you alone should get yourself out. Now is the defining point of your life my friend. You can decide right now to be a slave like the 99 or an owner like the 1...Your choice. Time to man up.

[-] 1 points by eldave1 (35) 12 years ago

Concur tesdevi - one thing we need right away is a national cap on mortgage rates:

http://wordsofwhizdumb.blogspot.com/2011/08/mortgaging-our-future-you-can-bank-on.html

[-] 1 points by JPM2011 (9) 12 years ago

how's the weather out there in Zamboni park this fine evening?

[-] 1 points by JPM2011 (9) 12 years ago

...i"m afraid he might have snorted too much rat poison from the bait traps..

[-] 1 points by JPM2011 (9) 12 years ago

has anyone heard from ray4444?

[-] 1 points by GitVox3765 (1) 12 years ago

My best friend lost his house because of foreclosure. He got hurt couldn't work for awhile the bank did not work with him, took his house.

[-] 1 points by hughmann (52) from Benton, AR 12 years ago

This happens. It is unfortunate.

Could it be that perhaps he should have been in a cheaper house so that he could have been saving money for just such an emergency? Not saying this guy is a screw up; I am sure he is just a normal guy working for a living and providing for his family, however, in America we make more money than in most other countries and yet we save very little.

My grandmother used to tell me to always put back 10% of my paycheck for a rainy day. Always wondered what a rainy day was until the Real Estate Market tanked back in 2007. Boy when it rained, it poured and I nearly got wiped out. During that time I was also fighting cancer. So I had a double whamy.

I got no help from the government because I “was not sick enough”. I got no help from anybody else either by the way.

It has been a long hard road, but not only am I doing well today, I am prospering! I moved from a 1500 SF home on the edge of the ghetto into a 2500 SF home on 2.5 acres in a controlled neighborhood. Why? Because I took control of my situation, did not let circumstances control me and got very creative about the way I was doing everything.

A bit of free advice to your buddy and to everyone in this country who thinks some wall street robber baron, or government official or any other vacuous non-existent entity is out to get them. ..

YOU are your own worst enemy. Learn to think critically, work creatively, and live modestly.

www.asusoeff.com

[-] 1 points by SwissMiss (2435) from Ann Arbor Charter Township, MI 12 years ago

What happens if someone saves up ample amounts of money to be able to cover their mortgage for a year or two and then they get seriously hurt and can't work for a long time or can't do the same job and end up making a lot less.... and then they spend all of their reserve money and lose their house. Is it THEIR fault for this situation?

You live in the black and white like so many others who have negative attitudes and think that everyone should be rich and that it's easy and that's it's their fault for not being rich. Your perspective is so skewed. Most people like you, who end up having a lot of money for whatever reason, end up being completely selfish and inconsiderate and unreasonable.

[-] 1 points by hughmann (52) from Benton, AR 12 years ago

When I was young I too made statements.

Now, I make money.

Do you actually KNOW somebody who has done this...you know saved up two years of mortgage? or are you just talking smack out of fantasy land to try and prove your point?

I would think that the person savvy enough to save two years’ worth of mortgage would likely figured out a way to have his money make money and would therefore not have a mortgage

....or is that too deep for you?

BTW life IS black and white...for example you are either pregnant or you aren't. You are either male or female (regardless of those whoare confused about this). You are breathing or you aren't...in which case you will be reaching room temperature shortly...

Good luck with your statements young lady. I applaud your large compassionate heart, but I hope that soon your brain catches up.

[-] 1 points by SwissMiss (2435) from Ann Arbor Charter Township, MI 12 years ago

" You are either male or female (regardless of those whoare confused about this)." Actually, there are variations of this in both animals (including people) and plants. Have you ever heard of hermaphrodites and androgyny? Apparently, you haven't.

Who's brain needs to catch up?

[-] 1 points by hughmann (52) from Benton, AR 12 years ago

I knew that would get a rise out of somebody such as yourself. You seemed to be an academian or an intellectual type.

Yes, I have heard of both, and unless it is the norm for the species (as in plants), it is a rarity and a freak of nature.

But then that has nothing to do with Wall Street does it...we digress. The currency of this world happens to be currency. I didn't make that rule, but i live with it and take full freakin advantage of it. My best advice to those such as yourselves that want to change the world is to make a boatload of cash so that you can do the same....the poor can only have hope and pray...the rich get things done.

Be rich; then you really might change the world. I decided that a long time ago and that’s why I do what I do. Money is the great problem solver. I would invite you to get some. Believe it or not you can be rich and still not be an ass. I am very close to being a millionaire. Maybe another year....maybe two. I started as a kid from the streets. I have screwed NOBODY in the process and the biggest part of my "workday" now consists of my various duties as a Boy Scout leader. I worked my ass off for years to be able to do this volunteer work roughly 30-40 hours per week. (My businesses only take about 10-20 hours per month to run.)

So you see my dear while your OWS fellows demonstrate I teach boys to be men. While you bitch about the system, I spend time to try and fix it. While you want it all destroyed, I create...

Who is the shallow one here?

[-] 1 points by Gregg85 (26) from Queens, NY 12 years ago

Dear OWS, This is the type of financial/economic related activity that you should be focused on. Foreclosures are really family destroyers and a overhaul -- as well as an investigation -- needs to be done! These are federal laws and it will require Congressional action. You need to have people lobbying in Washington -- as well incept a Congressional Committee, made up of friendly senators and representatives who are willing to help. The march on the midtown bank headquarters was good -- as well as the letter writing campaign to CEOs. However, the running past police barricades and blocking traffic was a bad idea -- and only succeeds in generating negative media and attention.

[-] 1 points by Seven (4) 12 years ago

Wall Street is a Den of Thieves. Christians need to stand together and support Occupy Wall Street agains Corporate Greed.

[-] 1 points by SwissMiss (2435) from Ann Arbor Charter Township, MI 12 years ago

Why should only Christians stand together?

[-] 1 points by Seven (4) 12 years ago

Wall Street is a Den of Thieves. Christians need to stand together and support Occupy Wall Street agains Corporate Greed.

[-] 1 points by Clare (1) 12 years ago

Thank you from a family who has one foot on a banana peal and another one out the door. With no money and nowhere to go.

[-] 1 points by SwissMiss (2435) from Ann Arbor Charter Township, MI 12 years ago

Oh, but that's your fault (I'm being sarcastic). That's what the opponents of OWS will tell you. You should have planned better and shouldn't have run into unforeseen circumstances!!!!

[-] 1 points by Toynbee (656) from Savannah, GA 12 years ago

We are all OWS activists. If rain, snow and sleet cannot stop the US Post Office, what can the snow do to the people who are pressing for real changes in the American institutions that will ultimately decide the fate of future generations.

Press on with vigor and a stay warm. We all love you and support your effort.

[-] 1 points by Rebecca1nAZ (4) 12 years ago

We have got to make sure this is NEVER allowed to happen again to ANYONE!!! My daughter was a victim of this CARROT THEORY, and she's just so filled with shame ...and I know in my hearts of hearts she's not alone, but she can't see the forest for the trees...Plz get some hand warmers or something for U guys, the wind is going to be wicked tonight :( I thank each & everyone of you, and to me a mere thank you lacks alot., no matter what...We have got to get Wall Street out of Main Street but most importantly DC...We have the BEST system in the WORLD! it's just needs fixing...I BELIEVE AMERICA can be GR8 again...and I will NOT accept a REVOLUTION against this Country! My DNA has bn in the GR8 Country since 1686, anme only no wealth here...yet with all this talk of socialism, and Global revoltuion I am leary of supporting such notions..I believe in fixing, NOT DESTROYING Rebecca1nAZ

[-] 1 points by Rebecca1nAZ (4) 12 years ago

We have got to make sure this is NEVER allowed to happen again to ANYONE!!! My daughter was a victim of this CARROT THEORY, and she's just so filled with shame ...and I know in my hearts of hearts she's not alone, but she can't see the forest for the trees...Plz get some hand warmers or something for U guys, the wind is going to be wicked tonight :( I thank each & everyone of you, and to me a mere thank you lacks alot., no matter what...We have got to get Wall Street out of Main Street but most importantly DC...We have the BEST system in the WORLD! it's just needs fixing...I BELIEVE AMERICA can be GR8 again...and I will NOT accept a REVOLUTION against this Country! My DNA has bn in the GR8 Country since 1686, anme only no wealth here...yet with all this talk of socialism, and Global revoltuion I am leary of supporting such notions..I believe in fixing, NOT DESTROYING Rebecca1nAZ

[-] 1 points by coolowolf (4) 12 years ago

you can also throw turds on cops ...

[-] 1 points by hughmann (52) from Benton, AR 12 years ago

yeah....that will definitely help change America....lmao

www.asusoeff.com

[-] 1 points by Rebecca1nAZ (4) 12 years ago

We have got to make sure this is NEVER allowed to happen again to ANYONE!!! My daughter was a victim of this CARROT THEORY, and she's just so filled with shame ...and I know in my hearts of hearts she's not alone, but she can't see the forest for the trees...Plz get some hand warmers or something for U guys, the wind is going to be wicked tonight :( I thank each & everyone of you, and to me a mere thank you lacks alot., no matter what...We have got to get Wall Street out of Main Street but most importantly DC...We have the BEST system in the WORLD! it's just needs fixing...I BELIEVE AMERICA can be GR8 again...and I will NOT accept a REVOLUTION against this Country! My DNA has bn in the GR8 Country since 1686, anme only no wealth here...yet with all this talk of socialism, and Global revoltuion I am leary of supporting such notions..I believe in fixing, NOT DESTROYING Rebecca1nAZ

[-] 1 points by Rebecca1nAZ (4) 12 years ago

We have got to make sure this is NEVER allowed to happen again to ANYONE!!! My daughter was a victim of this CARROT THEORY, and she's just so filled with shame ...and I know in my hearts of hearts she's not alone, but she can't see the forest for the trees...Plz get some hand warmers or something for U guys, the wind is going to be wicked tonight :( I thank each & everyone of you, and to me a mere thank you lacks alot., no matter what...We have got to get Wall Street out of Main Street but most importantly DC...We have the BEST system in the WORLD! it's just needs fixing...I BELIEVE AMERICA can be GR8 again...and I will NOT accept a REVOLUTION against this Country! My DNA has bn in the GR8 Country since 1686, anme only no wealth here...yet with all this talk of socialism, and Global revoltuion I am leary of supporting such notions..I believe in fixing, NOT DESTROYING Rebecca1nAZ

[-] 1 points by bern (4) 12 years ago

loved main st answers wall street see http://investmentwatchblog.com/main-street-answers-wall-street/ sent it to my senators/rep when i asked them to work to pass hr1489 glass stegall restoration act of 2011.

[-] 1 points by votenoconfidence (1) from Phoenix, AZ 12 years ago

VOTE NO CONFIDENCE. It's time the average american still has the right to be in office. SWITCH ELECTIONS TO A LOTTERY. No more career politicians. No more corporate money put into buying their puppet. Look at all the money saved, for anything else, by not having any elections. ANYONE who wants to be in congress adds their name to the lottery. Have a reasonable minimal qualification for being in the lottery. CORPORATIONS are using OUR GOVERNMENT as a TOOL for themselves. It's WE THE PEOPLE not we the corporations or the 1%. THOSE IN POWER WILL DO ANYTHING AND EVERYTING TO STAY IN POWER. We have the numbers to tell them NO FRICKEN WAY. This is our country and our government. Power to the 99%.

[-] 1 points by hughmann (52) from Benton, AR 12 years ago

Ah, finallky a man with common sense. I don't know if I agree on a lottery, but remember all you OWS folks that your VOTE counts. It sure would be nice to fire the morons we hired to handle government operations. Wrote an article about that myself some time back. The link is here if anybody is interested.

http://www.asusoeff.com/democrats-and-republicans

[-] 1 points by darla333 (2) 12 years ago

I support the cause, but I don't agree with this. If they can't pay for the house, maybe they should leave the house and rent like the rest of us. If people stop getting conned and enslaved into going into so much debt to buy houses, prices would drop and homes would be more affordable. If you can't afford the house, screw the bank and just leave it.

[-] 1 points by hughmann (52) from Benton, AR 12 years ago

THANK YOU DARLA!

Yeah guys, maybe all of you people losing houses should regroup and try living within your means! Take a bit of responsibility for your actions. YOU signed up for that loan. YOU bought that house. Rent for a bit if you need to. Get on a budget. Save some money. Buying things for cash is fun. In 2006 I bought a Dodge Ram straight off the show room floor for cash....I felt like a rich man that day!

www.asusoeff.com

[-] 1 points by darla333 (2) 12 years ago

I support the cause, but I don't agree with this. If they can't pay for the house, maybe they should leave the house and rent like the rest of us. If people stop getting conned and enslaved into going into so much debt to buy houses, prices would drop and homes would be more affordable. If you can't afford the house, screw the bank and just leave it.

[-] 1 points by BigV (5) 12 years ago

Sorry, but people need to take personal responsibility on this one. If you borrowed more than you could ever hope to repay, then don't expect to keep the house. Just move on and rent something you can afford for seven years until your credit heals.

[-] 1 points by BigV (5) 12 years ago

Sorry, but people need to take personal responsibility on this one. If you borrowed more than you could ever hope to repay, then don't expect to keep the house. Just move on and rent something you can afford for seven years until your credit heals.

[-] 1 points by BigV (5) 12 years ago

Sorry, but people need to take personal responsibility on this one. If you borrowed more than you could ever hope to repay, then don't expect to keep the house. Just move on and rent something you can afford for seven years until your credit heals.

[-] 1 points by Mary5989 (1) 12 years ago

We should be more focused on the mandatory paying for air-jordans via welfare checks in Jamaica, rather than the loans they volunteered to take out.

[-] 1 points by michael4ows (224) from Mountain View, CA 12 years ago

Certainly not all foreclosures are "criminal". I would venture a guess that the majority are not. What "criminal" foreclosures are you talking about?

The following article asserts that banks charged fees that should not have been charged for VA loans which is improper and i would assume illegal under the VA loan rules and generally sounds like a despicable practice. But it does not follow that a foreclosure on a loan tainted in this way is "criminal".

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/suit-alleges-banks-and-mortgage-companies-cheated-veterans-and-us-taxpayers/2011/10/04/gIQATp4RLL_story.html

[-] 1 points by dandiamond (2) 12 years ago

5 million people @ the mall in dc on the 4th of july 2012. take our government back march. YES!!!

[-] 1 points by MDK (3) 12 years ago

I'll be there!

[-] 1 points by pvhonk (2) 12 years ago

Proposing theme song for the cause:

'Talk'n about a revolution'. by Tracy Chapman

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/talkin-bout-a-revolution/id79565550?i=79565502

[-] 1 points by pvhonk (2) 12 years ago

Proposing a theme song for the cause:

'Talk'n about a revolution'. by Tracy Chapman

[-] 1 points by ramous (765) from Wabash, IN 12 years ago

People who have been foreclosed on become homeless. No home=homeless. Damn it, we better start walking the walk, and feeding the homeless more than peanut butter and jelly and bitching about them all the time. they ARE US only more so.

[-] 1 points by JesseHeffran (3903) 12 years ago

Some claim this movement is about the redistribution of wealth. I believe what we are doing is not a moral hazard. It is a deterrent from future crimes. What better way to teach a crook the meaning of fair play than to punish him for his actions. What better way to take the moral hazard, which is already ingrained in to the system, out, than to punish the unethical behavior. Any thing less, is a continuation of market insecurities.

[-] 1 points by occupyfairmont (5) from Fairmont, WV 12 years ago

Stand with you in Solidarity. Thank you for standing. This is reprehensible and needed addressed. You have our support!

[-] 1 points by InvestorLlew (2) 12 years ago

BTW, I see some people arguing that it is immoral but not Criminal to give loans that are bad. That is true unless if the loans were sold as if it were not bad. Later on, it became bad and thus was investigated. The Selling Materials had a different claim than what was actually done in Underwriting for these loans.

So, it was actually Criminal if the loans sold were mis-represented. Stop saying that it is IMMORAL but not CRIMINAL. Those that believe it wasn't criminal can say that it is ALLEGEDLY Criminal.

The problem is that the Government may be settling out for a fraction of the damages done with the Banks being guaranteed that they don't have to admit wrong doing.

What the readers here have to decide is if the Government settles and while there were wrong doing but the Banks don't have to admit it, is it still Criminal?

So, if a tree falls deep in a forest and no one hears it, did it really fall? Of course it did. So, in my opinion, The Banks committed Criminal Acts.

[-] 1 points by InvestorLlew (2) 12 years ago

I see this agrument time and time again:

"A Homeowner who buys a house that is obviously too expensive for him and gets forclosed upon deserves what he gets and the Bank is innocent and infact, a Victim of the Homeowner's bad decision."

Those that agrue this point of view has failed to understand that the Bank's Underwriting Process is there to ensure that they write loans to only those that should be able to afford those loans.

The Banks decided to lower their Underwriting Standards to allow a large % of those who cannot afford their homes because their Modelled changed from making money on the interest of the loans to making money on the commission of selling the loans to the Government or Private investors.

When the Banks decided to lower their Underwriting Standards, thus fully allowing and being completely aware that they are creating loans that are basically guaranteed to default (and those who took out their loans were unaware of this and therefore are actually the victims), in order to make more and more profits off of commission and pass the liability to the Investors, this is where it became Criminal.

The Banks fully understood that their Underwriting standards changed to become worse. They sold those loans as if it were at the same standards as before the Crisis. The Investors, including the Government, were generally unaware that such standards were lowered or if they were aware, they were in Collusion with the banks to generate higher profits.

Ulimately, when the Investors started losing from defaulted loans, which the Banks had set up but pitched them as Tripple A to Investors, they tried to keep themselves insulated from the Liabilities as they had already passed the loans to the Investors, which were both Private and the Government.

So, there are huge Class Action Law Suits as well as various other activities that are going through the system today. If it were that it was as simple as the Homeowner defaulted, bank foreclose, and everything is the way it should be, then we would not have all these lawsuits.

If you believe that the banks were innocent, you are in denial or just Ignorant, or, in the case of most people making the above agrument, BOTH Ignorant and in Denial, a very dangerous position. The problem is that Wall Street has a lot of Money to brainwash the Voting Public into believing it was the Homeowner's fault entirely.

This is where I throw my lot into OccupyWallStreet. I dig deeper than the surface knowledge that the general public has and understand the financial system and how cruel it has become. I have worked for them, saw their true nature, and fight to correct it before we find it difficult to get out of the new Fuedal System that they have created for themselves. The 1% are now the Kings of our time. The revolution has begun.

[-] 1 points by SandorE (12) 12 years ago

Time to Occupy the BOE Board of $Election: they do NOT represent us, our vote do not count and are not counted in NYC unless we are registered Democrat/Republican with the winner-take-all gerrry mandered 2-party system. Occupy our Votes!?

[-] 0 points by ray4444 (69) 12 years ago

bulls

[-] 1 points by littlebiggygirl (26) from Hesperia, CA 12 years ago

day#40, what advice would you offer to the #OWS protesters? http://littlebiggy.org/4660547

[-] 1 points by blobbitty (2) 12 years ago

People, close your bank accounts down ASAP. Do not feed the very beast we are trying to destroy.

[-] 1 points by blobbitty (2) 12 years ago

People, close your bank accounts down ASAP. Do not feed the very beast we are trying to destroy.

[-] 1 points by nograve (23) 12 years ago

I can't be there with you-- yet. But those of us who are fragmented out in the middle of nowhere, still do what we can. We're still with you. Never give up.

[-] 1 points by mspam (9) 12 years ago

Organize a BOYCOTT and take each and every bank down one at a time flip it on them like they did on us. Lets start with them in alphabetical order. First of all stop doing all your business on the internet. Don't do any electronic business, especially any money related business don't give anyone permission or access to your bank account. Say goodbye to plastic ATM, DEBT, CREDIT CARDS, USE CASH AND CARRY. STOP ALLOWING COMPANIES WHO PAY TO PAY ELECTRONICALLY, EVEN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT THEY WANT TO GO 1005 PAPERLESS FOR A REASON. THEY CONTROL U 100%. IF THERE IS ANY KIND OF PROBLEM ELECTRONICALLY SUCH AS STORM AND YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE ACCOUNT DUE TO SYSTEM UP DATES OR ANYTHING THEY CHOSE TO SAY WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE YOU "THINK ABOUT IT"

This is our Country We The People For The People By the People. Stop bending over to accommodate those who have not and will not fight for this country they just fight to get here to take from this country and send it back to there country. Enough is Enough. It is what it is. BANKS, BIG CORPS, RICH PEOPLE and the GOV too just want cheep labor and they don't care where it comes from. If its not made in America don't buy it. If they claim to be American and they are employing or have employed people else where don't do business with them, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi Bank, Wells Fargo, any company you call and you can't understand what the person is saying and the call sounds like it went elsewhere hang up and don't do NO MORE BUSINESS WITH THEM. Get you friends and family not to do business with them either when that bottom line gets hit change with automatically come about.

[-] 1 points by BillionairesSon (3) from Queens, NY 12 years ago

Bunch of retards It wont change anything My dad works at wall street Making jobs for people and supporting the economy of your country And all the people and his work know it wont change anything Poor lazy folks and there little protest wont effect anyone but them

[-] 1 points by shizzle08 (119) 12 years ago

Well tell your dad to stay home buddy.........

[-] 0 points by ray4444 (69) 12 years ago

every body not like you lazy no good american free loader

[-] 0 points by ray4444 (69) 12 years ago

your dad is pure american

[-] 1 points by BillionairesSon (3) from Queens, NY 12 years ago

Bunch of retards It wont change anything My dad works at wall street Making jobs for people and supporting the economy of your country And all the people and his work know it wont change anything Poor lazy folks and there little protest wont effect anyone but them

[-] 1 points by obscurium (9) 12 years ago

A billionaire's son and yet basic spelling and punctuation seem to be beyond you. I smell a troll...

[Deleted]

[-] 1 points by DBUSMC (4) from Chicago, IL 12 years ago

How can you be 99% of the population if you exclude Republicans, conservatives and Christians?

I identify with Republicans, I am a conservative on many issues, but a liberal on others and I am also Christian.

I'm mad as hell at the direction this country is heading. Mad as hell at illegal dealings whether they be on Wall street or main street. I oppose bailouts for Wall street, banks and for student loans and foreclosures. I want money out of politics both corparate and union. I want term limits for politicians and a limited federal government. I want greater accountability for and to the individual, but I will fight forever against Communism and Socialism in this country. I want a true Capitalist system with stiff penalties for all crime whether it be financial or rape, murder and assualt. I don't care how many people are incarcerated. If you commit a crime, you should do the time.

I won't support OWS as long as it is lead by Socialists, Communists, Anarchists, wealth re-distributers, racists and hypocrites.

Democrats are as crooked as Republicans. Unions steal the taxpayers money for their own constituents and pump union dues into political campaigns. George Soros is as much a so called 1 percenter as the head of Goldman Sachs is. If your against business as usuall apply it evenly...fairly or you are just a hard left movement.

In your current form you are about 10% of the population and that is being generous. If you choose to be fair and equal you just might garner the support of 80% of the population. Calling yourselves the 99% is based on a statistical figure of income, not ideology.

The ends do not justify the means. Be honest, be fair, be equal and apply your praise and criticism evenly or you just look like a Barack Obama re-election campaign.

[-] 1 points by shizzle08 (119) 12 years ago

Although I may not agree with these guys who are not in support of OWS I still think they have the right to blog anywhere they want...... We are Americans! Freedom of speech, freedom to engage in dialogue and debate! We want these guys to see what we think! We want the weasels to know how we feel! Uphold and support the constitution even when those types of people would not do the same for us! That is what it means to be American.

[-] 1 points by occupygo2work (13) from Nashville, TN 12 years ago

If one signs a contract for a term or length of time and the variables outside of that contract change does that mean the contract should be null and void? Were the banks complaining and not performing their contractual obligations when the roles were reversed and people were making substantial profits on property several years ago? Sure- the banks are a responsible party in this situation, not disagreeing there. However if one thought after a bankers "sales approach" to a mortgage, that they could FEASIBLY and REASONABLY afford a $650,000 property on a $50,000 salary- wouldn't that person have some culpability in this situation? Is the vast majority of the public that blind and naive that they would believe a banker has their best interest in mind? Sounds to me like "some people" are angry about a situation THEY created for THEMSELVES and need to take responsibility for it, no matter how much it sucks. The bottom line is a contract is a contract. If one fails to perform and meet the obligations of a contract, that under their own free will they signed- unfortunately there are repercussions. What would OWS think if they were granted a permit but then the police and public officials didn't honor the terms of that permit? I bet y'all would feel slighted. See, when we give our word or sign a contract it comes with responsibility. Often times it sucks and is less than easy to perform our duties under that responsibility, however it is the MORALLY RIGHT THING TO DO. If you say your going to do something, do it.

Think for yourself and question authority. Remember the truth is the truth, even if no one believes it. A lie is a lie even if everyone believes it.

[-] 1 points by DBUSMC (4) from Chicago, IL 12 years ago

Well said!

I'm to busy to occupy Chicago. I'm busy occupying a job so I can pay my mortgage.

[-] 1 points by Deadream (2) 12 years ago

It would be interesting to see the statistics regarding just how many of the foreclosed properties are actually resold or profitable in any way. You would think that many will sit empty and eventually deteriorate to the point they are worth very little.

[-] 1 points by Thisisthetime (200) from Kahlotus, WA 12 years ago

Keep up the Good Work. Fair-ness.

[-] 1 points by geneellis (10) 12 years ago

At the end of the day, you should know what you can afford. Instead of doing some meaningless chanting, people should be educated on the mortgage securitization on how you can use that to your advantage. For example, if a bank has turned your mortgage into a security and it is sold to investors, then guess who is the only person that can foreclose on you in court? THE INVESTOR!!! And a lot of them are not even in business anymore. However, if you go to court and go with "I can't pay my mortgage" instead of "You aren't even allowed to sue me", then you'll lose the house. And if the bank HAS NOT sold it to an investor, make them produce the note. A lot banks fraudulenty didn't keep all of their records so they won't even have it! I know people personally that have beat banks with one or both of these methods.

[-] 1 points by Outlier (115) 12 years ago

There is a sweet spot of greed. It is located within a regulatory schematic that ensures the rich get richer, the middle class get to keep their homes and the working class mostly stay employed. When below the sweet spot, the rich maintain their relative economic superiority, there is a little too much upward mobility and near full employment results in greater bargaining power for labor. This situation necessitates a corrective increase in greed. When above the sweet spot, disparity in wealth accelerates to the speed of national attention, there are too many middle class foreclosures, the unemployment rate reaches a critical dimenssion…and there is marching in the streets.

The old guard of the plutocracy understood this. http://outlierideas.com

[-] 1 points by luvcuffed (28) 12 years ago

I just wanted to wish all of the protesters the best in their march today. Thank you for all of your hard work and sacrifice. You are already making a difference.

[-] 1 points by gmoneygross (205) from Brooklyn, NY 12 years ago

Criminal banks? Don't you mean criminal Clinton?

[-] 1 points by Fredone (234) 12 years ago

OMG, the victim blamers in the comments section here are such idiots.

The cost of renting an apartment varies from about $750 a month to $2100 a month, the median being $900 or so. The price of a house in new york city was about $350,000 median, and from $180,000 to $500,000 typically (bottom 15th percentile vs. to 15th percentile). In Oregon, just an example I happen to have on the top of my head, the median market price of a foreclosed home is $184,000. Not much. That's a quite modest house.

And most apartments in NYC are god-awful, when you look at it in perspective, with more than 35% of them in NYC having dangerous lead paint, many don't have ventilation systems, have infestations, abusive landlords. You don't get any long term security of tenure, and you are dependent on lazy landlords to fix important things you are depending on, this is not how the population of America should be forced to live. To anyone who says somebody who works hard all day and has for their whole life cannot "afford" their own home, even if modest, I say bullshit. Think about things in perspective: a house is not all that hard to build. If you spent a few hours a day you sure as shit could build a house in a couple years. The productivity of someone working for a living IS high enough to have a house, and so if they cannot afford a house then there is something wrong with the economic system that is not our fault. The fruits of their labors are not going to them the way they should, and we all know where they are really going: fatcats.

And once you factor in the equity, the cost difference between an apartment and house goes way down too.

In other words, most people were just trying to get a decent place to live, the reason they could not pay the mortgage is because housing prices have been jacked up by plutocrats: speculation, minimum building sizes inserted by the building industry to force people to buy more product if they are to own their own home at all, (yes for real, the minimum house size allowed in new york city for new construction is 1800 square feet!), zoning and other regulations meant to jack up prices by restricting the supply of land etc.

This is why the banksters and other plutocrats really laugh, not because people are stupid enough to buy overpriced houses, but because the people in this thread are too stupid to understand what is really going on. They know most people will be bamboozled into blaming their fellow citizens instead of the system the plutocrats have set up. They know most people don't see the forest for the trees.

[-] 1 points by Susan1945 (1) from Livingston, NJ 12 years ago

Senior citizens should be made aware of the perils of reverse mortgages that some banks are offering today to seniors. They are charging three to four times the rate of a mortgage offered by banks currently. The banks are nothing more than wolves dressed in sheep's clothing feeding off of the elderly. The banks make sure that they will become the heirs to the estate when that senior dies, not the senior's family. Henry Winkler and Robert Wagner should be ashamed of themselves for endorsing this outrageous gimmick drummed up by banks to rip off the elderly when they are most vulnerable.

[-] 1 points by rarara (27) 12 years ago

rock on! this sounds great!!

[-] 1 points by proudhon (3) 12 years ago

People signed contracts to pay a certain amount of money at a certain time. If they can't pay it , they lose their house. Its fundamental. Why are you protesting this?

[-] 1 points by Tommiethenoncommie (211) 12 years ago

Stop criminalizing the banks. If you're going to blame anyone or anything blame yourself for feeding the economy and blame the math used in economics.

[-] 1 points by DonHawkins (37) 12 years ago

From a historical perspective, the upcoming major Northeast winter storm could prove to be unprecedented in terms of its early arrival in the season and the amount of snow it will drop. Accuweather

The simplest way to explain it is due to the warmer Arctic weather pattern changes and because of a warmer Earth more energy in the form of heat in the atmosphere still time to slow this down not much about five years then all bet's are off..........

[-] 1 points by DonHawkins (37) 12 years ago

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/earth-2100-final-century-of-civilization/ Watch this movie again and so far right on tract although with the last few years a bit faster and ask yourself will it play out this way the way human's react...

[-] 1 points by DonHawkins (37) 12 years ago

ScienceDaily (June 5, 2011) — The rate of release of carbon into the atmosphere today is nearly 10 times as fast as during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), 55.9 million years ago, the best analog we have for current global warming, according to an international team of geologists. Rate matters and this current rapid change may not allow sufficient time for the biological environment to adjust. Why is a record storm now seen in New York City today the Arctic was a tad bit warm this summer.......

[-] 1 points by ori3621 (2) 12 years ago

A scene from a move that draws an interesting parallel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVHf2hnwZSA

[-] 1 points by thebigbankmusical (1) from New York, NY 12 years ago

The Big Bank is the anti-foreclosure musical. Please check it out. You will see that we are with the occupation and aim to get to Broadway to spread the message and spirit of the revolution. Please help us get there by liking us on http:/www.facebook.com/thebigbankmusical. You'll see... it's really a cool and fun funny musical about a bank that loves to foreclose on people... it's kind of perfect for our time... check it out, like us, spread the word...

[-] 1 points by MicheleBell (2) 12 years ago

The Best documentary series I have seen on the financial crisis ... a comprehensive and engaging overview that solidifies the purpose, and spirit of 'Occupy Wall Street.' It is a 4 part series, and ALL of it is worth watching. 'Meltdown' takes a closer look at the people who brought down the financial world. http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/meltdown/2011/09/2011914105518615434.html

[-] 1 points by uungud (1) 12 years ago

suggested manifesto for the occupy movement:-

  1. we are not against Democracy, we are against Demagoguery.
  2. we are not against Capitalism, we are against Corruption.
  3. we are not against Reward for Work, we are against Greed.
  4. Protect the Planet
  5. Uphold Human Rights
  6. Participative Democracy for All
[-] 1 points by GenJackRipper (3) 12 years ago

"If you don't lend to minorities - your a racist" - Barney Frank Characters in this play- 1- Jimmy Carter - Started the CRA 2- Bill "Slick Willy" Clinton- Kicked the CRA up a notch Jannet Reno AG under Clinton - DOJ will come down on any lender who doesn't

[-] 1 points by gestopomilly (497) 12 years ago

The idea of the banks recovering the loss thru selling the property is, at this time, ludicrous

Idea: Banks should be required to ' Suspend' payments and interest accumulation if a person loses their job during an 'economic downturn' until that person finds a comparable paying job or until the national unemployment rate is less than 5%.

[-] 1 points by Fredone (234) 12 years ago

No that's stupid, didn't you post that somewhere else? Stop spamming, especially stupid stuff.

[-] 1 points by markarecio (26) 12 years ago

Occupy Wall street has enough money to rent a big facility hall for the winter. I don't see why they need to be out sleeping in the cold to practice their freedom of speech and movement.

Why not have the Occupy Movement Foundation

[-] 1 points by markgw2011 (1) 12 years ago

yeah.....more homeless people......you moron.

[-] 1 points by victoriousg (3) 12 years ago

I think many of you are missing the point: The RENT/the COST of HOUSING is TOO DAMN HIGH!!!

The increase in rent/home prices has skyrocketed since the 70s, but salaries have NOT!

Affording a decent home should be a RIGHT not a PRIVILEGE! Of course people will sign up for easy loans because they NEED a HOME!

[-] 1 points by Fredone (234) 12 years ago

Yeah I have said this too, albeit with a bit more data and backgrounder and giving the whole "right" thing a miss, since that tends to lead to some pretty silly stuff when rights bump up against reality.

It is true though that the price of housing is greatly, greatly inflated.

The particular tools used by the wealthy to inflate market prices range from the abuse of zoning and building codes to anti-competitive practices of large development companies. Ultimately it still just comes down to plutocracy instead of democracy. Get the money out of politics, as they say, and we can go about fixing these things.

One great illustration of the inflation going on is that to build a house - not including the land okay - cost only about half as much as new, by weight, in many cases. Only half. In fact you can buy a brand new car, the tata nano, that is actually cheaper by weight than a house! A highly sophisticated machine like that is supposedly easier to make, on a weight basis than a bunch of wood and concrete that is a house? I don't think so. And this is easy to verify BTW, of course, just look up the weights and prices.

[-] 1 points by LiberalTreeHugger (11) 12 years ago

I hope you dumb idiots get to Jamaica and get robbed! I'm sure all the criminals who live in Jamaica will welcome you stupid idiots with open arms!

[-] 1 points by markgw2011 (1) 12 years ago

Finally someone with common sense......

[-] 1 points by beaucphs (18) 12 years ago

Interesting ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court which could very well affect all home foreclosures across the country, long read but very well worth it. "In essence, the ruling upheld that those who had purchased foreclosure properties that had been illegally foreclosed upon (which is virtually all foreclosure sales in the last five years), did not in fact have title to those properties." "The Massachusetts SJC is one of the most respected high courts in the country, other supreme courts look to these decisions for guidance, and would find it difficult to rule any other way in their own states. It is a precedent. It's an important precedent."

http://amvona.com/blog/economics/28217-houston-weve-got-a-problem-bevilacqua.html

[-] 1 points by ccairns (2) from New Hyde Park, NY 12 years ago

This is really very funny! Who wrote this? Well done!

Chuck Cairns

[-] 1 points by cancerhunt (4) 12 years ago

We support OWS Movement,Your demands must be clear and any renouned Social Activisit as Leader of this Movement.Demands suggestion like this: 1-Save Ameria from Corruption.2-Save America from Greedy Cororates.3-Give jobs to all unemployed people.Provide Food,House and Clothes free to each unemployed person in Ameria. www.savepakistanmovement.org

[-] 1 points by DBUSMC (4) from Chicago, IL 12 years ago

Provide food house and clothes free to every un-employed person? I thought OWS was against bailouts?

TARP and stimulus are no different from welfare and unemployment benefits.

[-] 1 points by desolationpress (11) 12 years ago

For that one child in every classroom in America:

http://www.desolationpress.com/finmeth/finmeth.html

My humble attempt to explain this mess to the kids ...

[-] 1 points by BarbaraNH (35) 12 years ago

A lot of people took on too much debt, this is true. But that's not what caused the financial crisis. So focusing on certain individuals as being the main issue here just gets in the way of seeing the bigger picture. It may feel good to blame people for being foolish, but it doesn't solve the country's problem, which is an out-of-control financial industry, combined with a corrupt political process, that's taking all of us down with it. The bigger picture is this:

  1. The financial industry is too big, interconnected, unregulated, and powerful
  2. Too much of the country's GDP comes from too few global industries
  3. Too much money influences politics, from campaigns to legislation
  4. Too many people have to take on too much debt just not to lose ground
  5. Upward mobility has become a thing of the past for most Americans.

It didn't used to be this way, and it doesn't have to stay this way! Our country used to be a powerhouse with an ever-growing middle class.

Let's make our government and our economy work for the benefit of us all, not just a tiny minority. If we don't, we'll lose not only the American Dream but our democracy.

Money = Power. Too much power in the hands of too few is the enemy of democracy.

[-] 1 points by frangible (67) from Albuquerque, NM 12 years ago

Well said. Thanks.

[-] 1 points by JDub (218) 12 years ago

Its always been this way.The sad fact is, that they have been so successful at hiding the past from people.

[-] 1 points by Fredone (234) 12 years ago

That is not really true, but even if it were that does not bother me in the least - let's do it now then!

[-] 1 points by BarbaraNH (35) 12 years ago

A lot of people took on too much debt, this is true. But that's not what caused the financial crisis. So focusing on certain individuals as being the main issue here just gets in the way of seeing the bigger picture. It may feel good to blame people for being foolish, but it doesn't solve the country's problem, which is an out-of-control financial industry, combined with a corrupt political process, that's taking all of us down with it. The bigger picture is this:

  1. The financial industry is too big, interconnected, unregulated, and powerful
  2. Too much of the country's GDP comes from too few global industries
  3. Too much money influences politics, from campaigns to legislation
  4. Too many people have to take on too much debt just not to lose ground
  5. Upward mobility has become a thing of the past for most Americans.

It didn't used to be this way, and it doesn't have to stay this way! Our country used to be a powerhouse with an ever-growing middle class. Not anymore.

Let's make our government and our economy work for the benefit of us all, not just a tiny minority. If we don't, we'll lose not only the American Dream but our democracy.

Money = Power. Too much power in the hands of too few is the enemy of democracy.

[-] 1 points by Truthsayer (1) from New York, NY 12 years ago

To OccuLosersarefreaks: Interesting to see how many seemingly short but negative comments you have made on this thread. I am presuming that you are a paid-up internet troll contributing on behalf of the 1% who is intentionally trying to undermine any worthwhile debate. No-one is fooled by what you are doing here.

[-] -1 points by BrianC (-2) 12 years ago

No one is fooled by the rebaked hippy scum parading as 'occupiers' either. You should all be washed off the streets with fire hoses.

[-] 1 points by JDub (218) 12 years ago

Sad. Very sad. Get a life.

[-] 1 points by Thayabharan (34) 12 years ago

The US manufacturers who can't compete with low priced Chinese goods must either lower their costs or go bankrupt. To lower their costs, many US manufacturers are outsourcing to India and China, adding more unemployment in the USA. Manufacturing jobs in the USA declined 35% between 1998 and 2010. Since manufacturing industries declined in the USA, the US competitiveness in the global marketplace is also declined.

The US economy is in a deep hole and US shouldn’t dig any more. Reckless money printing known as “Quantitative Easing” and economical stimulus packages introduced in the aftermath of the Credit Crunch, has made very little impact on the growth of the US economy. Current US economical growth is not adequate enough to create jobs and to get an economy back on track.

Nalliah Thayabharan

[-] 1 points by johnis48 (72) 12 years ago

It all comes down to Greed.

[-] 0 points by goodoleUSA (-6) 12 years ago

And many were greedy unqualified buyers. Waitresses buying 5 beddroom homes with jumbo ARM loans. You people are just as greedy and corrupt as the 1%, you just don't have the power to implement it.

[-] 2 points by JDub (218) 12 years ago

God forbid someone wants the "American Dream" and own a home. Most of these people were told over and over by the lenders and the Salesmen that they could afford it, while those lenders knew that even if they couldn't, well, we can just foreclose and make more money. Its not like you get back what you've paid when they foreclose, its just gone. While for them, the house itself is still there, and sadly, they didn't own it in the first place, and paid no real money to give it to you.

[-] 1 points by Fredone (234) 12 years ago

Evidence please that is a silly claim often bandied about which last time I checked was baseless.

[-] 1 points by johnis48 (72) 12 years ago

You poor soul.

[-] 1 points by bugbuster (103) from Yoncalla, OR 12 years ago

Mortgage writers acted irresponsibly because they had no risk. They knew they could package the bad paper in bogus "securities" and pawn them off to the next sucker, aided by fraudulent ratings agencies. It was a criminal racket. Borrowers wrongly assumed good faith, that is, they wrongly trusted these criminals. They were scammed. And no one should even think about leaving their house until they see the original promissory note. The banks don't have those. My house is paid off, but it won't surprise me if some bandit shows up at my door and claims the right to "foreclose" on my house on behalf of some fraudulent bankster.

[-] 1 points by SwissMiss (2435) from Ann Arbor Charter Township, MI 12 years ago

I had that happen to me at the house I used to own.... back in 2006. Someone came to the door claiming my house was in foreclosure and that I moved out of the house and moved back in, making it "legal" for someone to take my house from me. There was a LOT of scamming going on.

[-] 1 points by Thayabharan (34) 12 years ago

Wall Street Corporations don't make anything. They don't produce anything. They gamble and bet and speculate. And when they lose vast sums they raid the U.S. Treasury so they can go back and do it again. Never mind that $50 trillion in global wealth was erased between September 2007 and March 2009, including $7 trillion in the U.S. stock market and $6 trillion in the housing market. Never mind that the total amount of retirement and household wealth trashed was $7.5 trillion or that we saw $2 trillion in 401(k)s and individual retirement accounts evaporate. Never mind the $1.9 trillion in traditional defined-benefit plans and the $2.6 trillion in nonpension assets that went up in smoke. Never mind the job losses, the foreclosures and the 35 percent jump in personal and small-business bankruptcies. There are bundles of new money, taken again from us, to make deals and hand out outrageous bonuses. And when these trillions run out they will come back for more until our currency becomes junk

Nalliah Thayabharan

[-] 2 points by beaucphs (18) 12 years ago

Well said and very true. They produce NOTHING. They are parasites on humanity.

[-] 2 points by BreadLandPeace (359) 12 years ago

thank you for this information

[-] 1 points by Fredone (234) 12 years ago

Well there is certainly a place for banks in the productive economy, but yeah the vast majority of the stuff that is actually going on is useless and parasitical. Criminals are parasites, what can you say.

[-] 1 points by frangible (67) from Albuquerque, NM 12 years ago

Another good post. Good job, man.

[-] -2 points by OccuLosersAreFreaks (12) 12 years ago

You're a lunatic.

[-] 2 points by JDub (218) 12 years ago

Stop looking in the mirror before you type, its not healthy.

[-] 1 points by CorporationNotPerson (129) 12 years ago

End corporate person-hood! Support the Human Worth Amendment! Learn more at: http://occupywallst.org/forum/human-worth-amendment/

[-] 1 points by Thayabharan (34) 12 years ago

The US economy is in the last chapter with all the chips on the table. Either the US public will demand their political and economic leaders end the fleecing because they took the cops off the beat, or the US middle class will devolve to live from paycheck to paycheck as Wall Street’s debt peons, and the game really will be over. Nalliah Thayabharan

[-] 1 points by MiMi1026 (937) from Springfield, VA 12 years ago

This is Food for Thought. Ive been calling it"New Millenium Serfdom In America. The shackles of Debt caused by 2008 TARP Economy"

[-] 1 points by hueyfreeman (21) 12 years ago

giving people loans that you are expecting them to be unable to pay is morally wrong, but not criminal. PLEASE STOP CALLING IT CRIMINAL. THERE IS NO LAW

[-] 2 points by Eye4Eye (19) 12 years ago

It all depends on your viewpoint. You can side with the police and bankers then destroying your own country and ripping off citizens is not criminal, but protesting in a park against it is...

Or you can choose the people side and then "giving people loans that you are expecting them to be unable to pay" is a punishable crime and it's called Treason. In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation.

[-] 1 points by Concerned (455) 12 years ago

In order to take the second viewpoint, you have to ignore certain facts. Were there folks given loans that the lender probably knew couldn't be repaid? Yes, but WHY were there these loans? Because of the governmental decision to make it easier for EVERYONE to become a homeowner regardless of credit or income which was accompanied by governmental pressure and pressure from groups like Acorn to make sure that you made it easy enough. Under Bill Clinton, credit processes were no longer the criteria for whether a lender was complying with this, he changed it to how many were being written to low income folks. If the government felt that you weren't writing enough loans to low income and minority groups, then you were prosecuted and fined. The focus on whether or not the people could repay the loans was overshadowed by focusing on avoiding a federal lawsuit for discrimination.

That is only ONE part of this mess - but it is the beginning of it all falling apart.

[-] 1 points by Eye4Eye (19) 12 years ago

Nicely put. However, there is a flaw here. Not only "low income folks" could not pay back, but the vast majority of borrowers and some of the upper middle class including highly paid professionals. I think what you stated above is the only one reason of what is happening now, but there are definitely other like irresponsible speculative practices.

[-] 1 points by Concerned (455) 12 years ago

@Eye4Eye, agreed and that was largely my point. There were many layers to what took place; those layers took years to develop...at the heart of it was a well intentioned goal to make more folks able to be homeowners rather than renters. As long as that meant that no one could be turned down for a loan simply because of where they were hoping to purchase or for their race that was fine. As long as the reasoning behind the denial of a loan was for credit or income reasons, that was fine. But when the goal changed from making it illegal to turn down a loan for any reasons other than credit worthiness to making it illegal to not grant a predetermined number of loans to minority groups, then the whole thing became more risky. Out of that grew ways to limit the risk the backers of the mortgage took which added another layer - then came the fancy financing that folks didn't truly understand - that group included those who were, as you put it, upper middle class highly paid professionals....the fact that fancy financing would allow you to purchase more home than you really could afford led to more buyers than sellers which helped to inflate the cost of those houses....! And out of all of that came the financial meltdown that meant that not only those who had not understood their home financing were hurt, but those who had bought homes under traditional mortgages who lost their jobs were hurt. There really is no one reason why we are where we find ourselves....but you have to at least try to find out the causes to avoid them in the future.

[-] 1 points by Eye4Eye (19) 12 years ago

Your comment is definitely educational and shed the light for me on things I was not aware of. However, my position is still the same. I disagree with that the main reason of economical collapse is the shortsighted decisions of socialist democratic government, as I acknowledge the existence of opportunistic irresponsible practices in the current financial institutions. In the same time I acknowledge the budget cuts in the educational and healthcare systems in the favor of the military spending, which are clearly not distributed properly and are used as the loophole for taxpayers money laundry. In the same time I acknowledge the mishandling of women and elders by the radical law enforcers. In other words it’s the growing immoral abuse all around this country. Seeing all this with my own eyes I believe that only organized violent uprisings can bring the real change into the current state of affairs. Most likely these statement will not be generally accepted by you and by the majority of this site audience, for it means that people are not frustrated enough to stand up for the rights and freedom… yet.

[-] 1 points by gluttonsbedamned (18) 12 years ago

Spot on!

[-] 1 points by hueyfreeman (21) 12 years ago

in the constitution, treason consists of declaring war against the us from within or aiding their enemies

[-] 1 points by hueyfreeman (21) 12 years ago

im not siding with them and i disagree with them. im just saying, there is no law and there needs to be

[-] 1 points by Eye4Eye (19) 12 years ago

when a subject is destroying his own country he is siding with the country enemies by default. We can speculate for quite a while here, but aren't protesters already called terrorists by some radical law enforcers?

[-] 1 points by Fredone (234) 12 years ago

There is actually a lot of scientific research on how people conflate moral crimes and legal crimes. Look into it. Or rather, any bystanders that see this, who might actually understand it. Besides, they actually did break a ton of laws.

[-] 1 points by MrNYM (4) 12 years ago

Also-you can trust private banking and the government. Just ask Iceland, or the Ojibwa.

[-] 1 points by Thayabharan (34) 12 years ago

The political and economical leadership of the US has chosed to cartel profits and transformed the US economy to serve the colluding and unlawful oligarchy. The US banks are borrowing money at near zero interest from the US government, then lending it to the US government at even mere fractions higher interest than they are paying. The net interest margin made by the US banks by lending the money back to the US government in the first 6 months of 2011 is $211 billion.The US banks also been collecting interest on money they are not lending—the "excess reserves" they have at the US Federal Reserve. The US citizens are on the road to permanent serfdom under a police state from oligarchs’ rapacious looting and their purchase of a politically-protected luxurious lifestyle. Nalliah Thayabharan

[-] 0 points by OccuLosersAreFreaks (12) 12 years ago

Let me guess...you're vomiting all this up out of some communist manifesto that you found while dumpster-diving?

Please go back to whatever shithole you were born in.

[-] 1 points by Thayabharan (34) 12 years ago

The US President Barack Obama launched his primary anti-foreclosure plan, the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) in 2009 to encourage the US banks to rewrite mortgages of about 4 million homeowners at risk of losing their homes. But the fight against foreclosures continues to muddle and underwhelm. Only 300,000 homeowners received a mortgage modification in the first six months of 2011, while 600,000 houses fell into foreclosure.

[-] 0 points by OccuLosersAreFreaks (12) 12 years ago

Keep spewing your propaganda you lunatic.

[-] 2 points by JDub (218) 12 years ago

Thats not propaganda. That is fact dipshit.

[-] 1 points by mrschroeder13 (5) from Lombard, IL 12 years ago

Do you understand the difference in definition between fact and fiction OccuLosers? There's little to no likelihood that you are one of the oligarchs yourself, so the evidence of your posts is that you are in fact one of the poors who yourself was duped into being a mouthpiece for the oligarchs yourself.
Seriously consider the difference between whatever it is you do for a living and what someone who does absolutely nothing for insane amounts of prosperity, opulence and luxury does. Then consider if this difference is right in the framework of fairness and the American way.

[-] 1 points by Thayabharan (34) 12 years ago

President George Washington’s Farewell Address, the culmination of his 45 years of political experience, warned of the primary threat to America as “the impostures of pretended patriotism” from people within our own government who would destroy Constitutional limits in order to obtain tyrannical power: “All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency.”

--- Nalliah Thayabharan

[-] 0 points by OccupyWallStreetButtons (16) 12 years ago

OCCUPY WALL STREET Pinback Buttons!

A portion of proceeds will go toward the local movement in the form of food and water. If you have a few extra bucks, drop off a box of apples or anything you can to the folks outside in your community!

Free Shipping Offer! http://buttonbasket.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=25

[-] 0 points by bobby (58) from Quincy, CA 12 years ago

The "All Party System (and independents)" Introduction

http://www.nycga.net/groups/political-action/forum/topic/introductions-please-introduce-yourself-to-the-group

The Sainte-Lague parliament seat distribution system for 100 seats has a guaranteed satisfaction level of 99% plus 100 votes. But we're going too slow and we're too small. So on 1/1/2012 we're launching the 8th USA Parliament Election of 2012 and inviting all voters and non voters as we increase our size to 1000 seats with a guaranteed satisfaction level of 99.9% plus 1000 votes.

[-] 0 points by ray4444 (69) 12 years ago

i guess they should call for immigration becuse half of them are illigal aliens

[-] 1 points by JPM2011 (9) 12 years ago

Raynbow!! how you doing buddy?

[-] 0 points by USCitizenVoter (720) 12 years ago

Foreclosure of as many properties as fast as possible is the banks goal.

[-] 0 points by USCitizenVoter (720) 12 years ago

Where is the scam? Zoning deals with developers to build over sized homes to sell at higher prices (profit is a percentage of price). Higher than normal interests rates on sub prime loans (take advantage of those that have a lower credit rating).
Loan officers set up a second loan account "credit card" on the home with a varible interest rate The second loan lowers the cash down payment that is due to purchase the home. The credit card / second loan may take you and your family down when the payment goes from "for example" $200 a month to $600 because of the varible interest rate.

[-] 0 points by ray4444 (69) 12 years ago

go to hell you bunch of homo and fucking no good american and mexicans ,blacks,chinis, and fucking lazy bomb whome dosent wants to work and wants free money to get hi fuck you all

[-] 1 points by shizzle08 (119) 12 years ago

kiss our asses you peace of @*&$&##$#@@ and have a nice day

[-] 0 points by ray4444 (69) 12 years ago

didnt like it fucking no good american bitch

[-] 1 points by shizzle08 (119) 12 years ago

Where are you from anyway? I see you are cursing us all across the board! At least you are universally racist. The last time I heard someone curse an American like that I was buying vegetables in Beijing.

So what is your beef with Americans anyway? I don't want to make any assumptions, but are you from China? I only ask because I am aware that many of the 福二代 in China share a similar view of America and Americans.

[-] 0 points by jameschesterfiel313 (0) 12 years ago

Get a grip people. Yeah, people are being foreclosed on. Would you like to know why? Our economy has went straight to crapsville. So how about you sell that tent and 150 dollar pair of sunglassess you're wearing and invest in our economy? How about it then? Because you Occupy movers are coming dangerously close to starting a second civil war. That is the last thing we need. A house divided against itself cannot stand.

[-] 1 points by mrschroeder13 (5) from Lombard, IL 12 years ago

James Chesterfield - have you stopped for a moment before posting to consider why the economy went to crapsville? Could it be that the banking industry simultaneously bet against the loans it was making - making huge profits off these deals - , while obtaining recompense for the "losses" it set itself up to experience?

In every day, personal experience it would be like whoever your boss is investing all the company's capital in it's primary competitor and then when your company goes out of business, you find out that the boss not only didn't pay for unemployment insurance but also that he looted the 401k, severance and final payroll. Three weeks later you get served with a lawsuit for a year's pay from the guy. That's what happened.

[-] 1 points by Fredone (234) 12 years ago

Rolleyes.

[-] 0 points by jameschesterfiel313 (0) 12 years ago

Get a grip people. Yeah, people are being foreclosed on. Would you like to know why? Our economy has went straight to crapsville. So how about you sell that tent and 150 dollar pair of sunglassess you're wearing and invest in our economy? How about it then? Because you Occupy movers are coming dangerously close to starting a second civil war. That is the last thing we need. A house divided against itself cannot stand.

[-] 0 points by Norway (6) 12 years ago

Be Watchful of CIA infiltration and influence. Arab Spring may not be totally what it initially seemed to be. Their could have been some destabilization activities in steps toward Globilization. Sometimes it's very difficult to seperate the good guys from the bad guys....

[-] 1 points by Anklam (7) from New Paltz, NY 12 years ago

There is absolutely no question that we (American political and military establishment) had a hand in helping bring about these profound global political changes. To think otherwise would be naive. I agree watch out for the 'man' or 'woman'...it would be naive to assume you are not being watched. Stay safe.

[-] 0 points by Libertarianliving (149) 12 years ago

"Criminal foreclosure practices"???? People are loaned money. If they can't pay it back, they lose what they couldn't afford. Nobody FORCED them to take loans they couldn't afford. Banks aren't charities!

"""According to the Mortgage Bankers Association and the FDIC, one child in every classroom in America is losing their home because banks are foreclosing on their parents. """

Who forced them to take loans they couldn't afford? Are they entitled to more than what they earn? Were they under the impression they were being given money by a charity, like a church, or some pro-minority organization? What is the issue here. In the real world, YOU don't get to live paid for by SOMEONE ELSE. Or do you feel you should get to live with someone else paying for your thing?

What is your proposed solution? Lenders just GIVE people these homes?

[-] 2 points by Eye4Eye (19) 12 years ago

Banks built the financial pyramid out of real estate and ripped the hard working citizens out of the right of owning the property. They brought our country into recessions. They made us poorer, they made YOU poorer and they made themselves bankrupt and dysfunctional by the shortsighted race for the quick cash. Time to wake up, brother.

[-] 1 points by Libertarianliving (149) 12 years ago

How did they make us poorer? By paying us interest on our accounts, CDs, etc.?

How did they take away our right to own propety? By lending us money so that we could someday own our own property outright, when we didn't have all the money to purchase it at the time we wanted it?

[-] 1 points by Eye4Eye (19) 12 years ago

If you cannot see how we all poorer today than 10 years ago than I cannot really explain it here. You can start by reading this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_united_states

..or you can open your eyes and just look around.

[-] 2 points by karenpoore (902) 12 years ago

Jerk, What about the people who worked all their lives and they have lost their homes because they got duped out of their pension and their jobs went to China! I realize this does not exactly relate, but not all foreclosures are because of the greed of real estate and banks.

[-] 2 points by johnis48 (72) 12 years ago

very good, and not just those whose job's were taken oversea's but about all the job's in this country that don't pay a good enough wage to live on. There are people out there who work 2 or even 3 jobs just to get by on.

[-] 1 points by Libertarianliving (149) 12 years ago

Then they shouldn't be buying what they like. they should be buying what they can afford. The "problem" is, because of Unions, and Government regulations for so many years, we inflated the value of the worker, and businesses saw they could get people to do the work better and for less. Americans need to get over their beliefs that because they go to a job, they deserve the American Dream. Minumum Wage should be set by market value for one thing. Unions demanding a bathroom cleaner make 60,000/year, "well because the CEOs got raises" doesn't help our situation. All minimum wage and seniority type pay is make whatever the minimum wage is, worthless.

[-] 1 points by johnis48 (72) 12 years ago

If it was only that simple.

[-] 1 points by Libertarianliving (149) 12 years ago

It IS "that simple"?

[-] 2 points by aaronparr (597) 12 years ago

The solution is to adequately regulate the trade of securities so as to cut down on these bubble economies.

[-] 2 points by SoCaliana (4) from Calimesa, CA 12 years ago

Agree. Interesting, the nonprofessional borrower being offered the loan is blamed more, it seems, than the professional lender who should have known better than to even offer to lend! Or maybe it was all just a scam, or something. What was the whole point of offering to lend, again?

[-] 1 points by Libertarianliving (149) 12 years ago

Did George Bush not FORCE the issue? Anyway, you people have warped thinking. The one who CHOOSES to take a loan, makes a promise to pay it back with interest in a certain time frame, and then doesn't meet his/her end of the bargain, IS the one to "blame". The LENDER help up his/her end of the agreement by LENDING the full amount. How can the breaking of the agreement be HIS fault? that is the problem with Ameirca anymore right there. Nobody takes FULL PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for his/her own actions and choices. Someone else always should have "protected them" from stupidity, "helped them", "have known better", etc etc.

[-] 1 points by Fredone (234) 12 years ago

You are missing the forest because you are standing with your face right up against a tree. The problem extends well beyond the loans themselves. Very well beyond, to the ballot box stuffing equivalent behavior of the 1% ers in general.

Although I certainly agree that people should not be able to simply keep the homes for free, only some fringe nutcases really suggest that. Refinancing the loans is the sensible approach, there are essentially no cases of people who truly cannot afford to pay when they have a job again. And we can pay for any long term damage issues with money from the bonuses and salaries of the banksters, that sounds fair.

[-] 1 points by Libertarianliving (149) 12 years ago

Why should the "Banksters" have to pay. They help up their end by lending the money. If refinancing was profitable for them, that would be the course of action they would take. That is why they loaned the money to begin with, to make a profit. O that's right, I am having a discussion with a bunch of OWS people who believe big businesses shouldn't make profit. That is greedy. Everything should be done for "the little guy", and EVERYONE should be the little guy. No one should be filthy rich.

[-] 1 points by gluttonsbedamned (18) 12 years ago

YOU don't get to live paid for by SOMEONE ELSE." Would that wall street would learn this!

[-] 1 points by Libertarianliving (149) 12 years ago

People aren't FORCED to pay for anyone on Wall Street. People VOLUNTARILY invest with the hopes of growing their own finances, but they are not FORCED to do it. As of now I have NO MONEY invested in Wall Street since making a killing on FORD stock. Now I will wait until the market really crashes again and reinvest. As investors realize that Obamarx will be reelected, the market will drop substantially, and I will choose my investments wisely. Instead of whining about the system, why don't you take advantage of it? I know it takes capital. If you don't have any, THAT IS YOUR FAULT. You should have done better with your education so you could find a job in which you could save money to invest and capitalize.

[-] 1 points by mrschroeder13 (5) from Lombard, IL 12 years ago

Libertarianliving - Except for the trillion or so dollars of tax money that goes directly to Wall Street pockets every single year. This is not including the several hundred billion in tax rebates given to the world's most profitable corporations.

Also, you offer the advice to "take advantage" of the system. Many of us do not feel it is right, proper or just to "take advantage" of a broken and corrupt system. The system itself is morally repugnant to most Americans - taking advantage of it would only make us reprehensible as well. The problem is people like you, and many more on a much more massive scale than you, taking advantage of the system.

The goal of this movement is, in fact, to disallow people like YOU who take advantage of the corruption inherent in our system for their own profit with no concern of the consequences for other people from doing so.

[-] 1 points by BreadLandPeace (359) 12 years ago

that's a very racist comment--"or some pro-minority organization"

[-] 1 points by Libertarianliving (149) 12 years ago

Aren't "pro-minority" organizations RACIST in their own existence? It would appear to me they are.Make some of the existing organizations, events, awards, etc. for WHITES ONLY, and they would be labeled as "racist". SO racist is racist. NAACP- racist. UNCF-racist. Miss Black America- racist. Black Caucus- racist. Hispanic Caucus- racist.

[-] 1 points by BreadLandPeace (359) 12 years ago

Dear Libertarianliving,

Hi, thanks for your comment, and it's actually a very, very important point for discussion. In fact, I think it's central to understanding what we're doing. You don't have to agree with this, but I do think affirmative action is absolutely necessary because of the long history of racism and the realities of the society we live in. In fact, you could draw a direct parallel with OWS--the economic inequality we face isn't going to go away by itself. Without proactive, deliberate actions to change the system, it's only going to get worse. We're mobilizing because we have to.

As a white person, the closest I came to experiencing racism myself (rather than theoretically, by reading about it, watching it on the news, or hearing accounts from others) was long ago when I was a temp in New York City. The business I was working for had advertised for what must have been a receptionist-type job. My boss told me to screen the calls to eliminate anyone with an accent you could tell was nonwhite. It's pretty hard to prove racial discrimination in a case like that, but it obviously happens all the time, and it's never going to go away on its own.

So using the OWS analogy, the .01% don't need any affirmative action, and doing nothing's not an option. With the kind of competition for good jobs (or any job at all) that workers face, people who have been the victims of historic gerrymandering of voting and school districts, impossibly dysfunctional schools because of the neighborhoods (more like ghettoes) they live in; entrenched prejudices, on and on.... That's why CUNY (City University of New York) instituted open admissions several decades ago in response to movement struggles, because otherwise "minority" kids wouldn't have a chance for a college education, thus only perpetuating racial inequality. (Re the term minority, Malcolm X wisely said that if you look at the population of the world, nonwhite peoples are the MAJORITYy--same very same point we're making as the 99%!)

COMPLETELY SEPARATE IDEA: The following doesn't apply to your comment, but I'd like to get this idea out wherever I can:

MOVE THE OCCUPATION INDOORS FOR THE WINTER, with regular demonstrations outside, of limited duration--several hours--SO activists don't freeze to death. There's absolutely no need to martyr activists, especially those who don't have medical insurance. Why do we have to get pneumonia to prove our ideas?

Rent spaces as MOVEMENT CENTERS--for educational programs, such as OWS Boston has already done with speakers like Noam Chomsky; use the centers to establish stronger, lasting internet contacts with other OWS and movement groups all over the world on a larger scale than presently exists. Set up more internet video streams, broadcast from the center, maybe even set up a radio station to broadcast the same points we're making right now with the People's Mic.

Dig in so when spring comes we're even more established, stronger than ever. We have to be absolutely ruthless about taking on the capitalist class and preserving our strength.

RICO LAWS? POTENTIAL LAWSUITS. Also, does anyone know if the huge campaign contributions and lobbying can be fought under the RICO anti-racketeering laws? If so, lawsuits (plural) directed at large contributors around the country would be a powerful action, which, even if they didn't win in the courts, could be a rallying cry, get lots and lots of attention and supporters, educate the people--and at the same time expose the reality that unless there's a powerful movement in the streets, the judicial system is likewise controlled by the rich. Especially if corporations are 'persons," I'd think you could go after them for racketeering, or maybe under some other statutes.

Thanks everyone!

[-] 1 points by bugbuster (103) from Yoncalla, OR 12 years ago

In this unique case, yes, and those who wrote the mortgages should pay the difference. They took the profit, now they can take the risk. That's pure free market capitalism at its best.

[-] 1 points by tsdevi (307) 12 years ago

This is not a matter of force. The Sub prime mortgage was a lucrative product that was heavily promoted, largely to people who were ignorant to its perils. Sub prime was where the money was at. The solution is for lenders to work with the homeowner to refinance. Otherwise the home is simply sold for a fraction of what the person bought it for anyway. Keeping people in their homes helps to maintain property values in the neighborhood. What we ought to be complaining about is the money that was just given to the banks for failing at what they preached was good business.

[-] 1 points by Libertarianliving (149) 12 years ago

So because people CHOSE to live above their means, private business is at fault?

[-] 1 points by tsdevi (307) 12 years ago

How did people choose to live above their means?

[-] 1 points by Libertarianliving (149) 12 years ago

By taking out loans they couldn't afford!

[-] 1 points by tsdevi (307) 12 years ago

I posted another question below...unless you are not a sentient being but a device that only repeats itself.

[-] 1 points by Libertarianliving (149) 12 years ago

By taking out loans they couldn't afford to pay back! Hello

[-] 1 points by tsdevi (307) 12 years ago

So you approve of offering and approving these loans to people who, you allege, "aimed to live beyond their means"? Why?

[-] 1 points by mrschroeder13 (5) from Lombard, IL 12 years ago

You do realise, I hope, that it wasn't a matter of being unable to afford to pay back the loans on their homes... It was a matter of they were able to afford to pay back the loans on their homes, until 26% or so of our 235 year s-old economic value was wiped out in the course of a quarter, because of the banking industry's giant scam of the economy, and that 26% of our economy being wiped out lead to about 25% of all small business and 35% of all jobs in the us being obliterated. This, in turn, led to many people being unable to afford to pay their mortgage.

This was not, by any means, a case of people going to the bank thinking they were pulling a sly one by getting a 40 year mortgage on their house at a low interest rate for $200 a month more than they can afford... that'd just be stupid. This was a case of the bankers pillaged the economy, there were no jobs to be had due to this, so people lost their homes.

[-] -1 points by markgw2011 (1) 12 years ago

you all are idiots.....you want what others WORKED FOR....youre thieves.....and lazy ones at that.....LEAVE THIS COUNTRY.......YOU ARE NOT NEEDED.....OR WANTED. lets see......i make 12$/hr......the bank says i can afford a $275K house....ok....i'll take it......geez.....really??!!....REALLLLY??!!!!

man up for what you signed on the dotted line for......idiots.

[-] 1 points by SirPoeticJustice (628) from New York, NY 12 years ago

Mark - You Are Obsolete!

[-] 1 points by Eye4Eye (19) 12 years ago

So you think it's totally fine to have 1/6 (50M) of the population in poverty without access to modern medicine and education and keep collecting empty houses throughout this country? They're just lazy idiots who don't want to work!......geez.....really??!!....REALLLLY??!!!!

[-] 1 points by mrschroeder13 (5) from Lombard, IL 12 years ago

You're confused markgw - the people who thieved and took what others made are the ones being protested against. Or do you not believe that the government handing over a trillion dollars a year to the banking industry out of taxpayer money, allowing the most profitable corporations to get billions in tax rebates, and paying interest on money loaned for nothing to the banks which they borrow back as thievery? Convoluted thievery, but nothing different than an alleyway mugging.

[-] -1 points by tinklequeen (-2) 12 years ago

Everyone had the choice to apply for a loan, and ALOT of people knew they wouldn't be able to make the payments, thanks to FANNIE/FREDDIE

[-] -1 points by tinklequeen (-2) 12 years ago

Everyone had the choice to apply for a loan, and ALOT of people knew they wouldn't be able to make the payments, thanks to FANNIE/FREDDIE

[-] 1 points by gluttonsbedamned (18) 12 years ago

For your own protection as a consumer, please try to see the bigger picture of the fraud that was perpetrated. You may fancy yourself "too smart" and/or "too responsible" to ever be in the same situation as those who were foreclosed upon, but predators have protections and resources that enable them to engage in these activities with reckless abandon. That's a problem for all of us, even the smart and responsible.

[-] 1 points by Libertarianliving (149) 12 years ago

"Predators"????? Are you friggin kidding me!!!!!! They didn't go out kidnapping people, holding them against their will, and force them to sign a contract!!!!! How are they predators? My gawd do Americans of such a sense of victimization and entitlement.

[-] 1 points by SirPoeticJustice (628) from New York, NY 12 years ago

Ethics Matter Regardless of What is Legal and What is NOT... That is the Point Here. I Myself Have Libertarian Leanings but I recognize that MBA programs spend too much time teaching how to abuse the system and what laws you need to know how to get around and not enough time teaching secular ethics - RIGHT AND WRONG. In a civilized society right and wrong are much more important then money. fuck yourself.

[-] 1 points by Libertarianliving (149) 12 years ago

Yeah "ethics" of the common person matter to. And education. And NOT taking out loans they aren't going to be able to afford because they want what the Joneses have. Educating people to not feel that they are just good little boys and girls and "victims" of an unfair world. What about teaching people the "ethics" of RESTRAINT, and saving money to purchase things or have later money later in life or for emergencies? No, we teach people, "Hey, borrow everything you can. If you can't pay it back, it isn't your fault. It is the fault of the people who loaned you the money. You are just a common ordinary person who shouldn't be expected to know any better".

[-] 1 points by sierra7 (7) 12 years ago

Respectfully, I guess you missed the most important point in the fraud: Who was aware when they "voluntarily" signed closing papers on their mortgages that those same mortgages, so many specifically designed for those who were not particularly aware of the "predator" relationship between "agreeing" business deal signers, would then "package" those same mortgages with millions of others and then resell them as "triple A" rated paper to "unsuspecting" investors, which in the end when those mortgages began to be defaulted on for various reasons, not less that so many good paying jobs were being intentionally eliminated by those same investor forces, defaulting global investor confidence in those same markets cascaded DOWNWARD to pile onto more and more absolutely triple A rated borrowers who had lost complete control of the process. Obviously you have not done any research into the basic fraudulent processes and not watched any of the horrible government hearings where the largest bankers in the world admitted that they had no "downside" risks modeled into their paper! Also I guess you missed Alan Greenspan's admission that he was totally wrong (2009 before another congressional hearing) about his concept of "capitalism" and how it was operating under his supervision. Yes, Fraud; OUTRIGHT fraud.

[-] 1 points by MDK (3) 12 years ago

It is true that people are stupid for not knowing what they are signing and things like that... but does it take away blame or guilt away from those who lie and cheat to get ahead? The point of this is to fight those people... peacefully. I mean, say a big, muscly guy sold ya a wagon in the stone age. you pay one skin a day. He then exposes that unbenouced to you, he can change this to two skins per day, and in fact he planned it all along. Even if you gave him 25 of 30 skins, he will stab you with a spear and take back the wagon, keeping the skins. Well, besides being stabbed in the chest by spear, this is exactly what is happeneing to the American people during the adjustable rate forclosures and wall street market crash manipulation. I mean if you got hurt on the job, couldn't pay, and were thrown out onto the street, I am Sure you would use similar words, if not harsher ones. The idea of Democracy is power pf the people to stand together, so that we don't have to live like the stone age anymore. If you like the idea of civilization, support honesty and focus on the real problem. It is foolish not to read up on a contract, but no more foolish than to think lying and stealing is o.k., just because some paperwork backs it up. Paperwork once backed the oppression of women and minorities in this country... Did that paper somehow make these deeds acceptable as well?

[-] 1 points by Libertarianliving (149) 12 years ago

"""The point of this is to fight those people""""

So we are supposed to "fight" the people who give us large sums of money to buy the things we want but don't have the money for??? What don't you understand? People sign an agreement VOLUNTARILY. It is they(you) who then wants to change the rules AFTER the agreement is made and they realize they can't afford the three story colonial instead of the modest ranch home.

[-] 1 points by SirPoeticJustice (628) from New York, NY 12 years ago

You know the banks are EVERY BIT as much to blame for the credit default swaps and ARM loans ... Don't dishonor the libertarian party with your unethical shit for brains mentality. Dr. Paul would be ashamed of you. Even he has ethics you complete douche. Go learn right from wrong. The dollar is not almighty. It isn't even real. IT'S FIAT. Money is not GOD and we do need a new system.

[-] 1 points by Fredone (234) 12 years ago

Ditto, even those of us who are informed still have to live in this ecology, this environment in which the criminals are thriving. I don't want my neighbors attracting burglars to my neighborhood or failing to do pest control. This is a massive thorn in our side.