-- Posted Thursday, 18 April 2013 | | Comment - New! By GE Christenson Friday the 12th and Monday the 15th of April were memorable days. It is clear that both silver and gold paper markets were taken down via a devastating attack of naked short selling that triggered margin calls that accelerated the decline. Gold and silver investors panicked, and some sold into the lows. We have been there before. Using SLV prices (slightly lower than This smash-down, so far, has also seen silver lose about 55% from its high price, while gold has lost about 30% from its high price. So how is it done? Chris Martenson explained it in simple terms. Link. He stated: “So the timeline here is easy to follow. The bullion banks:David Franklin (Link) offered these comments: “The gold market has seen this before. Think back to 2008. At that time we were told that there was no reason to own gold anymore, it was no longer a safer haven and that its bull run was over. Sound familiar? … Gold subsequently bounced back from this selloff and went on to new highs.”John Hathaway had this to say (Link)” “Gold bullion prices have been subjected to a cleverly orchestrated bear raid in our opinion. Selling of paper Comex contracts on Friday, April 12th, and Monday, April 15th, totaled 1 million contracts, exceeding global annual gold production by 12%. The attack succeeded when the technical supportin the low $1500′s/oz. easily gave way and led to waves of forced selling. The volume is without precedent and has all the characteristics of a panic liquidation driven by naked short selling.” Summary
What Now for Gold and Silver Investors?
“The reason for why I own gold and why I recommended it as an essential self-defense asset is not the chart pattern of the gold price, the opinion of Goldman Sachs, or the Indian wedding season but the diagnosis that the global fiat money economy has check-mated itself. After 40-years of relentless paper money expansion and in particular after 25 years of Fed-led global bubble finance, the dislocations in the global financial system are so massive that nobody in power dares to turn off the monetary spigot and allow market forces to do their work, that is to price credit and to price risk according to the available pool of real savings and the potential for realincome generation rather than according to the wishes of our master monetary central planners.”Buy physical gold and silver at these low prices, and appreciate the insurance and safety that comes from owning physical metals stored outside the banking system and in a secure depository! GE Christenson aka Deviant Investor -- Posted Thursday, 18 April 2013 | Digg This Article  | |
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Score: Banksters Two, Gold & Silver Zero
from goldseek.com
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
If You Keep Your Money with the Banksters, They are LOL.
from goldseek.com
A Monday Morning Musing from Mickey the Mercenary Geologist
April 15, 2013
O Gold! I still prefer thee unto paper,
Which makes bank credit like a bark of vapour. Lord Byron, 1815.
It was 1:30 am on Thursday March 28 on the West Coast of North America. Still jet-lagged a week following my return from Asia, I awoke after a mere three hours sleep to an epiphany.
The thought evidently coincided with the time that banksters in Cyprus braced for a run on reserves. Their intervening measures to prevent bank failures included severely discounting the value of large investors’ deposits and radically limiting cash withdrawals for peones to 300 euros a day.
Here’s the idea that woke me up: If you keep your money with the Banksters, they are LOL.
I must question why any smart person with financial assets in any fiat currency held anywhere in the world would freely choose to keep the majority of that cash in any bank anywhere in the world.
At its very best, a bank is a 10:1 fractional reserve system; i.e., the bank backs 10% of its outstanding loans by the equivalent in
In early 1700s, England formed a joint public-private banking monopoly designed to alleviate its national debt. The South Seas Company was a conspiratorial scam involving government accountants, stock promoters, and politicians based on a purported but non-existent trade monopoly in South America. In 1720, the “Bubble Act” was designed to preserve the monopoly by outlawing competition, but it soon resulted in massive bank failures, financial panic, and economic collapse. Henceforth, the term “bubble” refers to any market that goes parabolic over a short period of time.
I know an ex-banker in Albuquerque whose hometown bank failed during the US housing market collapse in 2008. He was ruined but at least his small clients’ investments were backed and honored by central government-issued bank insurance, made whole by the keyboard creation of fiat dollars. His creditors were less fortunate, writing off huge sums of
The current Cypriot bank crisis and the resulting closure of its stock market for two weeks illustrates that banking remains an inherently risky business, often fueled by speculative
History has shown us repeatedly that all fiat money systems eventually fail and lead to government default and demise. Even the value of the United States dollar has been rolled back twice in the past 80 years.
In 1933, President Roosevelt devalued the dollar 70% by raising the fixed price of gold from $20.67 to $35.00. His executive order also reneged on the government’s promise to redeem paper currency in gold upon demand and made it illegal for citizens to own more than five ounces of bullion.
The Breton Woods Agreement of 1944 made the US dollar the world’s reserve currency and it alone was decreed as redeemable in gold and only by other central governments. In 1971, the US defaulted again when Nixon closed the gold-for-dollars option and floated its money on world exchanges. Since then, greenbacks have had no backing except the United States of America’s promise to pay.
Since the first baby boomers were born in 1946, American citizens have been taught, cajoled, and perhaps even brainwashed into thinking that the almighty dollar, the world’s reserve currency, is a stable fiat money beyond question and reproach. Acceptance of this idea requires a belief that the US government is solvent and will remain so into the future.
But this very same government has gone bankrupt and defaulted on its financial obligations twice during my parents’ lifetimes. Why would you think they will not do it again in yours? Is it your faith, belief, or a combination of both?
I kindly remind you what Mark Twain had to say about that: Faith is believin’ what you know ain’t so.
Face the truth folks, your money is not real money unless it is held in physical gold.
Let’s look at current facts about the American banking system and how it takes care of your money:
· The central bank (Federal Reserve) creates more dollars (inflation) and devalues the purchasing power of your money every minute of every day to the tune of several percentage points per year. The Fed has been doing this at an exponential rate since the financial crisis of 2008, more than tripling the dollars in circulation.
· Your local bank is paying you a tiny fraction of a percent in interest for the privilege of holding your money in checking, savings, and money market accounts. At current average rates for a $100,000 account, the bank will pay you interest income of about $110 per year, subject to federal taxes up to 39.6%.
· However, the bank doesn’t actually hold your money; it lends it out to debtors at much higher interest rates. That’s how a bank makes most of its money, or at least it used to.
· The bank also takes in money by charging you fees for its privilege of lending your money to debtors. The charges you incur for check printing, ATM withdrawals, overdraft protection, foreign transactions, wires, and exchange rate spreads have skyrocketed since 2008 and are likely to far exceed the aforementioned interest you earn.
· Banks always have a percentage of loans in which the debtor defaults. These are actually liabilities but are euphemistically called “non-performing assets”. If this percentage exceeds cash reserves and liquidity becomes a question, many depositors will try to remove their money quickly before the bank fails. That creates a bank run and the bank will default on its obligation to you.
· At that point the bank is taken over by a federal government agency and placed into receivership. Small depositors’ funds up to $250,000 per account are protected by the agency via a bank insurance program and are reimbursed simply by creating more fiat money.
· Liabilities are absolved and the bankrupt bank’s remaining assets are sold at discounted prices. Partial returns of capital are distributed to its first-in-line creditors. Most of the creditors however, are left only with bad debts to write-off against their taxes.
Despite their many flaws and shortcomings, banks are a necessary evil within our modern-day system of business. As a law-abiding citizen, you are required by the government to use a bank to move any significant sum of fiat currency from one entity to another. Transfers of funds can include not onlythe old in-out (re: Alex from A Clockwork Orange, 1962) but also the over, under, sideways, and down (Yardbirds, 1966).
If you are still reading this rant, I assume that you accept the above as more or less correct. Or perhaps you just got a chuckle out of my reference to the early to mid-1960s when US government debt was about $300 billion. Federal debt is now 56 times that figure, at well over $16.8 trillion and growing rapidly. Note this astronomical number does not include unfunded future liabilities such as pensions and health care for the old folks at home. Yikes!
The simple fact is that by keeping your money in a bank, you are losing wealth each and every day.
I have no faith and refuse to use the word believe (Mercenary Musing, December 28, 2009). Therefore, logic demands that I question the viability and longevity of our current monetary system and beg the following questions of you:
· Should you not keep only enough fiat money within the world’s banking system to carry on your daily requirements for personal and business affairs and nothing more?
· Should you not buy more gold with those constantly depreciating dollars that you remove from said banking system?
· Should you not hold your excess, discretionary, and/or emergency fiat dollars in your personal possession at all times, the same as you do with your physical gold bullion?
I’m just sayin’: If all your money is stored by the Banksters, then I surmise that they are occasionally LOL while sipping Dom Perignon and being serviced by $1000 per hour hookers in their bullet-proof Lincoln limousines at your expense. After all, much of those multi-tens-of-millions-of-dollars in annual bonuses ought to be expensed to avoid onerous government taxes, no?
If you have your fiat currency in your physical possession, the Banksters can only devalue it and that’s exactly what they are doing now. But the bank and/or the government cannot confiscate your gold or your money that you physically hold without engaging you directly.
Unless of course, you are already dead. When that happens, the government confiscates a significant portion from rich people’s heirs in another scheme called the estate tax, levied for the privilege of dying. After all, life is a death sentence.
Because of periodic wars and central bank interventions, US baby boomers and subsequent generations have never witnessed a long financial collapse. However, my long-gone grandparents lived thru en masse bank failures and an entire generation struggled to make ends meet during the decade-long Great Depression. Colored by that experience, many folks abandoned banks altogether and kept their paper money and illegal gold coins stuffed in mattresses or hidden in old coffee cans under the crawl space.
I remember that my Granny Alexander used to put her change in a piggy bank every day. Periodically she would roll the coins up and take them to the bank for exchange into paper money. Those paper dollars were then taken home and stashed away in her secret place, ready and waiting for a rainy day.
At her urging when ten and eleven years old, my brother and I collected pennies of different years and mints in little blue books. I still have that collection of pennies, some of which are worth way more than a pretty penny now. Rest assured this book is not stored by a bank in a safety deposit box that I do not own, to which I am afforded access for only 35 hours in any 168-hour week, and in which the government upon a whim can order the bank to open and confiscate its contents.
My parents’ generation lived thru the 1930s and savvies bad financial times. These old folks are not only likely to own gold but also have a considerable stash of cash in the cookie jar, a home safe, or another hiding place with easy access at their leisure or in a monetary emergency. In my opinion, that’s not a bad idea.
We came pretty darn close to a monetary emergency when the banks crashed in 2008. A bank run in the US likely would involve the invoking of martial law, the shut-down of ATM machines, lengthy bank holidays, long waits in queues upon re-opening, and severe limitations on personal withdrawal amounts.
That sounds a lot like the past month in Cyprus to me.
In the 42 years after remaining vestiges of the gold standard were dissolved, numerous countries have defaulted on their currencies and debts, leaving their suddenly poor ordinary citizens to suffer the consequences. Meanwhile, their Banksters merely re-organized and promulgated perpetual paper pyramid schemes again.
Rest assured it will happen in the good ol’ US of A once again; we just do not know when.
Please do your own due diligence and research before seriously considering my maniacal musings, radical raves, libertarian literalisms, or inane ideas.
Don’t let the Banksters’ have the last laugh on you. Buy more gold and mattresses.
Ciao for now,
Mickey Fulp
Mercenary Geologist
Acknowledgement: Michelle Lopez is the editor ofMercenaryGeologist.com. I thank Blake Desaulniers and Rana Vig for hearing out my stream of consciousness diatribe on banks and providing early feedback on ideas presented in this musing.
The Mercenary Geologist Michael S. “Mickey” Fulp is a Certified Professional Geologist with a B.Sc. Earth Sciences with honor from the University of Tulsa, and M.Sc. Geology from the University of New Mexico. Mickey has 35 years experience as an exploration geologist and analyst searching for economic deposits of base and precious metals, industrial minerals, uranium, coal, oil and gas, and water in North and South America, Europe, and Asia.
Mickey worked for junior explorers, major mining companies, private companies, and investors as a consulting economic geologist for over 20 years, specializing in geological mapping, property evaluation, and business development. In addition to Mickey’s professional credentials and experience, he is high-altitude proficient, and is bilingual in English and Spanish. From 2003 to 2006, he made four outcrop ore discoveries in Peru, Nevada, Chile, and British Columbia.
Mickey is well-known and highly respected throughout the mining and exploration community due to his ongoing work as an analyst, writer, and speaker.
Contact: Contact@MercenaryGeologist.com
Disclaimer: I am not a certified financial analyst, broker, or professional qualified to offer investment advice. Nothing in a report, commentary, this website, interview, and other content constitutes or can be construed as investment advice or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell stock. Information is obtained from research of public documents and content available on the company’s website, regulatory filings, various stock exchange websites, and stock information services, through discussions with company representatives, agents, other professionals and investors, and field visits. While the information is believed to be accurate and reliable, it is not guaranteed or implied to be so. The information may not be complete or correct; it is provided in good faith but without any legal responsibility or obligation to provide future updates. I accept no responsibility, or assume any liability, whatsoever, for any direct, indirect or consequential loss arising from the use of the information. The information contained in a report, commentary, this website, interview, and other content is subject to change without notice, may become outdated, and will not be updated. A report, commentary, this website, interview, and other content reflect my personal opinions and views and nothing more. All content of this website is subject to international copyright protection and no part or portion of this website, report, commentary, interview, and other content may be altered, reproduced, copied, emailed, faxed, or distributed in any form without the express written consent of Michael S. (Mickey) Fulp, Mercenary Geologist.com, LLC.
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Saturday, April 13, 2013
Cyprus Looting & Socializing the Losses: The Global Banksters who redefined Theft into “Haircut”
from canadafreepress.com
Shall we rename banks to 'basinos', creating our own banker slang, to avoid any future misrepresentation?
Once upon a time a haircut meant “the act or an instance of cutting the hair.” In recent years, unbeknownst to an unsuspecting, trusting public, the slang stock exchange expression of “haircut” has become an acceptable banking practice to collectively apply to your bank accounts, according to the central bankers, world leaders and shadowy banker cabals like the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the Basel Committee. Just ask the folks in Cyprus.
Shall we rename banks to 'basinos', creating our own banker slang, to avoid any future misrepresentation?
 | - Marinka Peschmann (Bio and Archives) Friday, April 12, 2013 Comments | Print friendly | Subscribe | Email Us |
Once upon a time a haircut meant “the act or an instance of cutting the hair.” In recent years, unbeknownst to an unsuspecting, trusting public, the slang stock exchange expression of “haircut” has become an acceptable banking practice to collectively apply to your bank accounts, according to the central bankers, world leaders and shadowy banker cabals like the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the Basel Committee. Just ask the folks in Cyprus.
“Haircut” in stock exchange slang means: “a percentage of the value of an asset deducted to account for possible fall in its value before it can be liquidated?” Translation: we can take your money that’s in our banks before you can get it. Ha! Ha! Suckers!
Now that we are all clued in to what the Globalist banking cabals have known and planned for years, let’s be clear. Nobody’s bank deposits are immune from the Cyprus confiscationmodel “haircut” to recapitalize the bankers’ financial institutions by taking/stealing your money if the banks become insolvent, which is just a nicer word for bankrupt. Aspreviously reported, in bankster-speak, it’s also called “socializing the losses.”
Welcome to the subculture of themoney changers; where verbal shorthand, slang, represents convoluted concepts that become policy that may affect you. It’s time you understood their language.
On Monday I introduced you to the global banking cabals, the ruling elite: the Bank forInternational Settlements (BIS), Basel Committee, the Financial Stability Board (FSB), in co-hoots with the G-20. I showed you how the Cyprus confiscation model for bail-ins includes not just Cyprus but the U.S., U.K.,Canada—the entire world. Today allow me to show you where the theft of your bank deposits became an acceptable “haircut” for the central bankers.
From the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision report dated December 2010 (revised June 2011) called: Basel III: A global regulatory framework for more resilient banks and banking systems.
In the introduction on page 1 of the 69-page report (PDF) we learn: “The objective of the reforms is to improve the banking sector’s ability to absorb shocks arising from financial and economic stress, whatever the source, thus reducing the risk of spillover from the financial sector to the real economy.”
Absorbing shocks is when a bank could fail and the bankers recapitalize it in order to save it. Financial and economic stress occurs when the banksters bets go bad. During the 2008 financial crisis, for instance, they recapitalized their banks under the auspices of saving the financial and monetary system by taking taxpayer money (your money) to bail them out.
On page 44, Section 108 we see how “haircuts” (stealing depositor money) is part of their bag of tricks to use the next time a bank fails to recapitalize them:
“Require banks to use supervisory haircuts when transforming non-cash OTC [over-the-counter] collateral into cash-equivalent.
108. To implement the supervisory haircuts for non-cash OTC collateral, a new paragraph 61(i) would be incorporated in Annex 4 as follows:
61(i). For a bank to recognise in its EAD [Exposure at default] calculations for OTC [over-the-counter] derivatives the effect of collateral other than cash of the same currency as the exposure itself, if it is not able to model collateral jointly with the exposure then it must use either haircuts that meet the standards of the financial collateral comprehensive method with own haircut estimates or the standard supervisory haircuts.”
On page 46-47, Section 104, Part B, at ii:
“Changes in the value of collateral need to be reflected using the supervisoryhaircut method or the internal estimates method, but no collateral payments are assumed during the margin period of risk (bold mine).”
Who is in charge of the “supervisory haircut method?” Naturally, it is the banksters.
Read the entire report for more on haircuts.
Now let’s look at this 162-page report called: Principles for financial market infrastructures brought to you by the Bank for International Settlements, and another globalist off shoot called the International Organization of Securities Commissions, dated April 2012.
On page 30, section 3.4.6. of the report, we are told: “Collateral or other equivalent financial resources can fluctuate in value, however, so the payment system should establish prudent haircuts to mitigate the resulting potential future exposure.”
From Page 46:
“Principles 5: Collateral
An FMI [financial market infrastructure] that requires collateral to manage its or its participants’ credit exposure should accept collateral with low credit, liquidity, and market risks. An FMI should also set and enforce appropriately conservativehaircuts and concentration limits.
Key considerations
1. An FMI should generally limit the assets it (routinely) accepts as collateral to those with low credit, liquidity, and market risks.
2. An FMI should establish prudent valuation practices and develop haircuts that are regularly tested and take into account stressed market conditions.
3. In order to reduce the need for procyclical adjustments, an FMI should establish stable and conservative haircuts that are calibrated to include periods of stressed market conditions, to the extent practicable and prudent.
4. An FMI should avoid concentrated holdings of certain assets where this would significantly impair the ability to liquidate such assets quickly without significant adverse price effects.
5. An FMI that accepts cross-border collateral should mitigate the risks associated with its use and ensure that the collateral can be used in a timely manner.
6. An FMI should use a collateral management system that is well-designed and operationally flexible.”
In other words, financial institutions/banks should be able to move quickly to grab your cash if need be to save them. Remember how in Cyprus initially the haircut/theft was9.9% for deposits over €100,000. That “haircut” percentage quickly soared to 60%?Does that sound conservative and prudent to you? Next time the “haircut” could be even higher. Whatever it takes to keep the bankers solvent.
Let’s keep this simple. When a person gambles at a casino they know they are gambling. They know they could lose their money. Now, people could lose their moneyby keeping it under the false pretense of keeping it safe in a bank. Banks used to be institutions that received, lent, exchanged and kept money for safekeeping but those days are gone. Now thanks to “haircuts” and “bail-ins” as being a part of the banking cabals bag of tricks to supposedly preserve the financial and monetary system (they created), banks are now casinos except you, the depositor, don’t get to play in the game. Just like casinos where the house always wins in the long run, so do the banks in the event of a failure at your expense. Shall we rename banks to ‘basinos’, creating our own banker slang, to avoid any future misrepresentation?
Meanwhile for those who still think that the media was the watch dog for the people, think again. Nobody needs to look further than their coverage of the Cyprus “haircut” to see the unholy alliance with the global banking cartels. Everyone from Paul Krugman at the New York Times, BBC, CNN, and the Financial Times, like a giant echo chamber, simply called the Cyprus’ depositor confiscation heist a “haircut” as though it were as common as brushing one’s teeth instead of warning people that their bank deposits could be looted next. What part of Thou shalt not steal does the mainstream media and central bankers not understand? Imagine what will happen when the banking cabals run out of other people’s money to grab. Ka-boom!
So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold doves.—Mark 11:15 (NJKV)
Following is sober reminder and reality check for those still living in blissful denial. Below is a partial list of banks complied from CNN and ehow that received bailouts funded by taxpayers after the 2008 financial crisis. The U.S. taxpayer alone, to the tune of about $200 billion, bailed out hundreds of banks through its “Capital Purchase Program.” Imagine when the next financial crisis occurs (when not if) and banks receive a “haircut” or “bail-in” to stay afloat in the glorious name of preserving the financial and monetary system. Will you be next?
$1.4 to $25 Billion
The following financial institutions received more than $1 billion: Citigroup ($25 billion); J. P. Morgan Chase ($25 billion); Wells Fargo ($25 billion); Bank of America ($15 billion); Goldman Sachs ($10 billion); Merrill Lynch ($10 billion); Morgan Stanley ($10 billion); PNC ($7.7 billion); Bancorp ($6.6 billion); Capital One ($3.5 billion); Regions Financial ($3.5 billion); SunTrust ($3.5 billion); Fifth Third Bancorp ($3.4 billion); BB&T ($3.1 billion); Bank of New York Mellon ($3 billion); Keycorp ($2.5 billion); Comerica ($2.2 billion); State Street ($2.5 billion); Marshall and Ilsley Corporation ($1.7 billion); Northern Trust Corporation ($1.5 billion); Huntington Bancshares ($1.4 billion); and Zions Bancorporation ($1.4 billion).
$200 to $973 Million
The following banks received more than $200 million: Synovus ($973 million); First Horizon National ($866 million); M & T Bank ($600 million); Associated Banc-Corporation ($530 million); Webster Financial Corporation ($400 million); City National ($395 million); TCF Financial Corporation ($361 million); South Financial Group ($347 million); Valley National Bancorp ($330 million); East West Bancorp ($316 million); Citizens Republic Bancorp ($300 million); Susquehanna Bancshares ($300 million); UCBH Holdings ($298 million); Cathay General Bancorp ($258 million); First Merit Corporation ($248 million); International Bancshares Corporation ($216 million); Trustmark Corporation ($215 million); Umpqua Holdings ($214 million); and Washington Federal Savings ($200 million).
$105 to $193 Million
The following banks received from $105 to $193 million: MB Financial ($193 million); First Midwest Bancorp ($193 million); Pacific Capital Bancorp ($188 million); First Niagara Financial Group ($186 million); United Community Bank ($180 million); Provident Bankshares ($151 million); Boston Private Financial Holdings ($150 million); Old National Bank ($150 million); Western Alliance Bancorporation ($140 million); CVB Financial ($130 million); Banner Corporation ($124 million); Signature Bank ($120 million); Iberiabank Corporation ($115 million); and Taylor Capital Group ($105 million).
$30 to $80 Million
The following banks received $30 to $80 million: Midwest Banc Holdings ($80 million); Sandy Spring Bancorp ($80 million); First Financial Bancorp ($80 million); Columbia Banking System ($76.9 million); Wesbanco and Southwest Bancorp ($70 million); Superior Bancorp ($69 million); Nara Bancorp ($67 million); Wilshire Bancorp ($69 million); Great Southern Bancorp ($60 million); Ameris Bancorp and Home Bancshares ($50 million); Capital Bank ($42.9 million); Southern Community Financial ($42.75 million); Heritage Commerce ($40 million); Simmons First National ($40 million); Cascade Financial ($39 million); Peoples Bancorp ($39 million); Porter Bancorp ($39 million); Eagle Bancorp ($38.2 million); Encore Bancshares ($34 million); Bancorp Rhode Island ($30 million); and Severn Bancorp ($30 million).
$25 Million or Less
The following banks received $1 to $25 million: Peapack-Gladstone Financial ($28.7 million); Intermountain Community ($27 million); Intermountain Community Bancorp ($27 million); LNB Bancorp ($25.2 million); HF Financial Corporation ($25 million); Heritage Financial Corporation ($24 million); Wainwright Bank and Trust ($22 million); Indiana Community Bancorp ($21.5 million); First Pacific Trust Bancorp ($19.3 million); HopFed Bancorp Incorporated ($18.4 million); Bank of Commerce Holdings ($17 million); First Financial Services ($16.3 million); Community West Bancshares ($15.6 million); Broadway Financial Group ($9 million); FFW Corporation ($7.3 million); Capital Pacific Bancorp ($4 million); and Saigon National Bank ($1.2 million).
You have been warned. What you do with this information is up to you.
Elizabeth Warren Accuses Regulators Of Protecting Banks Over Homeowners
from TPMDC
SAHIL KAPUR
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has once again used her perch on the Banking Committee on Thursday to publicly chastise federal regulators — this time for allegedly protecting financial institutions against homeowners who have been victimized by them.
In just four months as a senator, the former Harvard law professor and consumer advocate has repeatedly seized opportunities to highlight questionable banking practices and ostensibly lax regulatory responses, in a chamber frequently criticized for its coziness with Wall Street.
In the latest instance, Warren accused two top regulators at a Banking subcommittee hearing of withholding information they said they possessed about improper foreclosures or other abusive financial practices from victims of those practices seeking recourse in court.
The regulators — Daniel Stipano of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Richard Ashton of the Federal Reserve board of governors — said they haven’t made a decision about what information they will provide. They didn’t elaborate.
Warren asked, “So you have made a decision to protect the banks but not a decision to tell the families who were illegally foreclosed against?”
“We haven’t made a decision about what information we would provide the individuals,” Ashton responded. Stipano agreed.
“So I just want to make sure I get this straight,” Warren said. “Families get pennies on the dollar in the settlement for having been the victims of illegal activities or mistakes in the banks’ activities. You now know individual cases where the banks violated the law and you’re not going to tell the homeowners — or at least it’s not clear yet whether or not you’re going to do that?”
The regulators maintained that they haven’t decided what to tell the homeowners.
The video of the exchange was posted to YouTube by Warren’s office. Notwithstanding her eagerness to publicize her consumer protection bona fides, Warren has been press-shy about issues outside her policy forte. Her handlers don’t expect that to change. Unlike many senators, who thrive on the attention, she tends to avoid reporters in the Capitol. As her aides see it, her aim is to learn how to use the tools at her disposal to have the most impact.
SAHIL KAPUR
Sahil Kapur is a congressional reporter for TPM. He previously covered politics and public policy for numerous publications including The Guardian and The Huffington Post. He can be reached at sahil [at] talkingpointsmemo.com.
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