The Score is: Banks ( 10 ) Taxpayers ( 0 )

The Banks Continue to Win in Congress, as Corruption Never Ends.

Again, as is traditional, the U.S. Senate has caved in to the banking lobby and refused to allow bankruptcy judges to modify primary residential mortgages for homeowners facing foreclosure. This would have been the only way to prevent the millions of foreclosures coming down the pipe, because the threat of court-mandated modifications would have prodded more banks and loan servicers into negotiating in good faith with struggling homeowners. President Obama also caved in under the strong bank lobby and lavish grants of financial aid, given to them and their party from our taxpayer funded bail out money.

As this author has been saying all along, the Senate would never pass legislation favoring the people over the banking interest, accordingly the Senate defeated an amendment last week to give bankruptcy judges the power to alter the terms of home mortgages. The opponents who sided with the mortgage industry over homeowners included 12 Democrats and 39 Republicans.
The banks fought hard to send this initiative down in flames and prevent federal judges from lowering interest rates, extending payment periods or reducing principal — known in banking parlance as a "cramdown." Primary residential mortgages are the only type of loan that cannot be restructured in bankruptcy court.

Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D) of Illinois, who was the measure's chief champion, declared that banks "are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place."

Many of these banks, including Wells Fargo, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, are recipients of taxpayer-funded bailout money. Essentially, they are using taxpayers' money to fight against a public policy that would have helped multiple of thousands of taxpayers throughout the country. And the Republicans and a contingency of Democrats in the Senate who went against their own party mandate let them win!!

Durbin Continued, “We won’t get out of this recession until we deal honestly and forthrightly with this foreclosure crisis. And I just don’t know what it will take to bring people around to the belief that these bankers don’t have the right formula for the future of this country,” “I am sick and tired of being asked to give billions of dollars to these banks when they won’t in any way help people facing mortgage foreclosure,” he added, “They’re not renegotiating these mortgages. If they have no sympathy for 8 million families facing foreclosure in this country, I don’t have any sympathy for them.”

Durbin says that he won’t support any further requests for taxpayer bailouts for banks under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). However, he is only one man and he is without the support of his own party when it comes to the Banks interests.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D) Nevada added, “This is an issue that Democrats, Republicans, and Independents in the country all want something done about, and I feel kind of sorry for senators that don’t support this legislation, because I think that can really backfire”

Well it should, but only if the voters ever wake up in the real world and become educated about the banking system, its fraud from its inception and demand change. Without this bankruptcy provision, President Obama's plan to address the housing foreclosure crisis will essentially be limited to federal subsidies - which cannot do a lot of good. There is a reasonable argument that everyone, banks included, would benefit from the bankruptcy provision but only Citibank has endorsed it. All the other banks ganged up to defeat it.

There is a moral to this story. No matter what measure President Obama proposes, it will not become law because of a rift in the Democratic Party over favors and financial aid from the Banking interests. Simply stated it will continue to be business as usual on Capital Hill with our elected officials taking their bribes from the Banks, as usual, in the form of lobby money paid by the Banks from us.

The following Democrats should be removed from office at the next election. They are the Democrats who voted against the Durbin amendment: Max Baucus (MT), Michael Bennet (CO), Robert Byrd (WV), Tom Carper (DE), Byron Dorgan (ND), Tim Johnson (SD), Mary Landrieu (LA), Blanche Lincoln (AR), Ben Nelson (NE), Mark Pryor (AR), Arlen Specter (PA), and Jon Tester (MT).

Bankers control everything in our society, “even the media”. In the forward to Ellen Brown's book "Web of Debt:" banker/developer Reed Simpson said:

“…Although many banks follow high ethical practices, corruption is also rampant, (especially) in the large money center banks” , "Credible evidence (reveals) a world (banking) power elite intent on gaining absolute control over the planet and its natural resources, including its subservient human (ones)." Money is their "lifeblood," and "fear (their) weapon." Ill-used, they can "enslave nations and ensure perpetual wars and bondage." Brown exposes the scheme and offers a solution.

It’s time to wake up!

Jack Ferm has written several books which can be downloaded from his web presence at www.usjusticefoundation.org They include: “Goliath Must Fall”; an expose of the Banking system and the media, “Project MKUltra”; and “Into the Darkness”