Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime

[katty]

entire article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021302783_pf.html

by Eliot Spitzer
EXCERPT:

Predatory lending was widely understood to present a looming national crisis. This threat was so clear that as New York attorney general, I joined with colleagues in the other 49 states in attempting to fill the void left by the federal government. Individually, and together, state attorneys general of both parties brought litigation or entered into settlements with many subprime lenders that were engaged in predatory lending practices. Several state legislatures, including New York's, enacted laws aimed at curbing such practices.

What did the Bush administration do in response? Did it reverse course and decide to take action to halt this burgeoning scourge? As Americans are now painfully aware, with hundreds of thousands of homeowners facing foreclosure and our markets reeling, the answer is a resounding no.

Not only did the Bush administration do nothing to protect consumers, it embarked on an aggressive and unprecedented campaign to prevent states from protecting their residents from the very problems to which the federal government was turning a blind eye.

Let me explain: The administration accomplished this feat through an obscure federal agency called the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The OCC has been in existence since the Civil War. Its mission is to ensure the fiscal soundness of national banks. For 140 years, the OCC examined the books of national banks to make sure they were balanced, an important but uncontroversial function. But a few years ago, for the first time in its history, the OCC was used as a tool against consumers.

In 2003, during the height of the predatory lending crisis, the OCC invoked a clause from the 1863 National Bank Act to issue formal opinions preempting all state predatory lending laws, thereby rendering them inoperative.

[barbtries]

1. wow.

i never read this before, and only when i finished it did i see that it was written over one year ago. just wow.

[katty]

2. it's a stunner

[Blaze Diem]

5. The corporate mofia has spent a lot of time & money silencing the truth.

Spitzer has so much more to tell us.
Be certain of this.

Where's the Media?

[katty]

6. indeed they have ...and continue w/the charade

[barbtries]

14. yeah, i've noticed that

as soon as i saw this, i swear i said out loud, this is spitzer, i need to read this.

[Blaze Diem]

3. Sen. Dorgan addressed predatory lending in his speech to the Senate today.

He knows what we know. And he claimed the Senate floor today to "out" those who made this all happen.
------------
Here's a link:
http://www.c-spanarchives.org/congress/?q=node/77539&hors=s#

scroll down to about 16:00

[katty]

4. great thx

[Blaze Diem]

7. Must start with Dorgan's respone to Hatch. Beautiful.

He just rolls on from there.

[katty]

8. k-listening now-he's spot on-no mystery here!

[katty]

9. Dorgan is brilliant-great link-should be YouTube's top 5

[truedelphi]

12. Thank you for posting. n/t

[elleng]

13. Thanks for this.

He's quite good.

Somehow, N. Dakota has 2 good Dem Sens. (We can disagree w. Conrad when we want.) How did this happen? Does N. Dak vote Dem for Pres, and if not, why not?

[Blaze Diem]

10. k&r Great post on Spitzer. Always waiting to hear more from him.

Though this was a year ago, it is very relevant in today's crises.
tks

[slipslidingaway]

11. knr thanks n/t