Governors siphoning mortgage settlement money: It's disgusting

[n2doc]

By Ted Rall
March 20, 2014, 6:00 a.m.
As a news junkie and student of the human condition, it takes a lot to make my blood come to a full boil. It takes even more to make me sympathize with wealthy corporations. Hand it to Gov. Jerry Brown — he managed to pull off both feats with the news that he diverted more than $350 million from California's share of the 2012 national mortgage settlement with the banking industry to reduce the state's 2013 budget deficit.

Now that California is enjoying a budget surplus, a coalition of homeownership advocates and religious organizations has filed suit against the state to force Brown to restore the money.

Back in 2008-09, the real estate bubble burst, taking the global economy with it. By many measures, especially real unemployment and median wages, we still haven't recovered.

By 2010, a political consensus had formed. Though politicians were partly to blame, the worst offenders were the giant "too big to fail" banks that had knowingly approved loans to home-buyers who couldn't afford to pay them back, sold bundles of junk mortgage derivatives to unsuspecting investors and secretly hedged their bets against their clients. After the house of cards came down, the banks played the other side. They cashed in their chips, refusing to refinance mortgages even though interest rates had fallen. They deployed "robo-signers" to illegally evict hundreds of thousands of homeowners — including people who had never missed a payment — and to ding them with outrageous late fees, while the banks profited from the subsequent foreclosures.

more

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-rall-gov-brown-mortgage-settlement-money-20140319,0,2739538.story

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Political evolution.

From Governor Moonbeam to Governor Asshole.

[jsr]

2. They had to file a lawsuit.

WTF.

[seveneyes]

3. Gov Brown stole citizens money to make his budget look better?

It was just recently he was praised for his budget expertise. How can he get away with this?