By Kevin Zeese
The massive mortgage settlement announced by President Obama yesterday is a victory for the Occupy Movement and others who have protested bank foreclosure and mortgage practices. Protests at federal housing agencies, at Attorneys General conferences and the Occupy the Homes movement are among the actions that showed the public was organized, mobilized and angry. President Obama had been on the brink of a settlement with the banks that would have given them broad immunity from prosecution. Instead the immunity was a narrow one and criminal investigations will continue and homeowners will be empowered to sue the banks.
While this is a large settlement, when compared to other settlements of corporate misbehavior, it is a tiny settlement in comparison to the damage done to individuals and the economy. The Occupy Movement and others who want real justice need to continue to push for more. The mortgage crisis created $700 billion in losses in the housing market; $25 billion lets the housing bubble profiteers off cheap. For the 750,000 people who lost their homes to foreclosure from September 2008 to the end of 2011 they will receive a check for about $2,000 – not much for losing the biggest investment of their life. And, only a small percentage of current homeowners will get relief, the estimate is about $20,000 to each homeowner when the average underwater home is $50,000 underwater. So, even those that get relief will get insufficient relief. President Obama called this settlement “a start.” He’s right, that is all it is, and it comes in the final year of his first term – a bit late for many who suffered bankster corruption, but in time for the election year.
New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, once a lone voice against the initial deal, gradually convinced others to join him and along with Kamala Harris of California, was the last to sign the deal. They could not have succeeded without the threat of angry and mobilized people demanding justice for the bankers and a fair deal for the American people. Schneiderman said in reaction to the deal, that criminal investigations would continue.
President Obama noted some of the unethical and very likely illegal practices of the financial industry including: lenders who sold loans to people who couldn’t afford them; speculators looking to make a quick buck; banks that took risky mortgages, packaged them up, and traded them off for large profits and fake documents, robo signing and questionable foreclosures. The people need to demand accountability.
On the day the president announced the settlement, Occupy LA held a protest against it. They made the point that the settlement was too little too late and questioned why the settlement came before the investigation.
Occupiers have been protesting the foreclosure issue in a variety of ways. Occupy Washington, DC protested at the Federal Housing Finance Agency with National People’s Action demanding that housing bubble mortgages be reduced to reflect the real value of houses, not the false bubble prices created by unethical lending practices. Why should banks continue to profit from false housing bubble prices they created?
These are a few among many examples of protests that have been held nationwide against the banks for their mortgage and foreclosure practices. Activists in the street are a key reason why the settlement announced with the banks did not protect them from criminal prosecution and litigation by ripped-off homeowners. Now, that we have had a small victory, it is time for housing and economic justice activists to escalate their protests against the big banks and push for more accountability for their actions.
Kevin Zeese is co-director of It’s Our Economy, works with Occupy Washington, DC and is an organizer for the National Occupation of Washington, DC.