Eliot Spitzer's op-ed Thursday, February 14, 2008

[Wilber_Stool]

Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime


Several years ago, state attorneys general and others involved in consumer protection began to notice a marked increase in a range of predatory lending practices by mortgage lenders. Some were misrepresenting the terms of loans, making loans without regard to consumers' ability to repay, making loans with deceptive "teaser" rates that later ballooned astronomically, packing loans with undisclosed charges and fees, or even paying illegal kickbacks. These and other practices, we noticed, were having a devastating effect on home buyers. In addition, the widespread nature of these practices, if left unchecked, threatened our financial markets.

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Found through Crooks and Liars

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

1. Remember how Joe and Valerie Wilson were outed, well Spitzer was outed too.

There's a video up at our Political Forum about this. Look for Political Assassiation - Elliot Spitzer.

It's a laugh that the Feds are now coming in to investigate. They wanted no part of an investigation when Spitzer and other AGs were clamoring for one. He was telling a very Inconvenient Truth.

[lyonn]

2. Oh the political and powerful on wall street hate it when

there is someone dusting up their playing field, like exposing the fleecing of the people/sheep on mortgages, credit cards, cooking the corporate books to show profits where there are none, etc., or allowing some common sense regulations to keep the powerful from controlling Washington.

You mess with the bull and you get the horns. Wilson/Plame, Spitzer, the list is long where they are fair game for the powerful. Now we have this insanity going on with our economy and we all know who the losers will be. I believe McCain calls them the basic fundamentals, except we are not "sound". Wall Street will be fundamentally sound once we little people pick up the tab.

I have never felt so helpless about the direction of our country. During this a.m. hearing they were talking about how the masses would be cut off from borrowing money for the basics if we didn't pay up?! Forget health care. I am sitting ok with basicly everything paid for and some fairly good dabbles of income from investments over the years in real property. My son asked me why I was so obsessed with the political situation since my husband and I (real oldies) are sitting in a fairly safe spot. I told him my days were definitely numbered but what about you kids and your kids? I care. I care about this country. It seems that some of the 50 yr. olds and younger have no idea the ramifications of what is happening at this very moment. Ugh. He mentioned both our presidential candidates were not very smart, he's a dem. running around with repubs, Okla. doncha know. That is when I climbed all over him and told him he needed to pay more attention. Obama is anything but dumb!! Rant, rant.

Enough of my rant, two days of hearings and my head truly hurts.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

3. Thank you so much for this wonderful response. I am partially numb

at this point as I've seen this coming down the pike. I had always been politically awake until the 90s left me in a slumber and 9/11 woke me up again. I knew that we were to go to war for lies and our treasure of young people and money would be stolen for us. I knew that the stock market was being manipulated and over inflated..Las Vegas of the East but my circumstances are far from comfortable. Being divorced left me living from month to month with no health care. I do have my home of 21 years that still even with the drop in home values has much more equity in it than a mortgage (living in NY helps) and I have relied upon my home value as part of my cushion for my future.

I believe that all of what we are going through is deliberate and that Shrub and his cohorts are deliberately bankrupting us. My oldest son, who is 21 wants no part of the election system because he believes it's rigged. It's so sad as Intellectually I think he's correct and of course so sad too that such a young person sees reality so clearly and that reality is bleak. That there are just opposames. That a majority of Republicans and Democrats are controlled and although they espouse different agendas, in the end they come to the same end. Yet, unlike my son, I still have some semblance of hope that I'm wrong intellectually and with an Obama win in November, things will get brighter.

A baby boomer "girl" can dream. can't she????

[lyonn]

4. "He (Spitzer) was telling a very Inconvenient Truth". Great line! nt