A Man Of Integrity

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has stated that he will no longer evict people who are victims of foreclosure.

Tom Dart Explains:

Where mortgage firms see pieces of paper, my deputies see people.

Yet no matter how difficult they are, evictions are part of our job.

What isn’t part of our job, however, is to carry out work on behalf of the multi-billion-dollar banks and mortgage industries.

Too many times, our deputies arrive at a home to carry out a mortgage foreclosure eviction, only to find a tenant — dutifully paying their rent each month — who is unaware their landlord stopped using that rent money to pay the mortgage. They had no fair warning that they were about to be thrown out of their home.

That’s because, in many cases, the banks have done nothing to determine, in advance, who’s living in the building — even though it’s required by state law. Instead, those banks expect taxpayers to pay for that investigative work for them.

That stops today.

We won’t be doing the banks’ work for them anymore.

[Update] A radio report says he may be in contempt of court. So, anyone who might like to send a message of support can use the phone or e-mail below.

(312) 603-6444
sheriff@cookcountysheriff.org

 

Financial Crisis, What to Do? Blame the Poor of Course.

There is a new series of misleading attack viral emails and videos that try to pin the current financial crisis on the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977. While it is quite amazing that a law passed in 1977 is suddenly now responsible for the massive failure of the credit markets, I find it even more disturbing that they are trying to pin this current crisis on the low income families.

To refresh everyone’s memory, the Community Reinvestment Act was instituted to prevent the act of redlining, where banks used to draw a red line around minority neighborhoods to indicate where they wouldn’t lend money. The Community Reinvestment Act sought to mandate that banks provide loans to qualified individuals regardless of their race or neighborhood.

Michael Moore Has It All Figured Out

Michael Moore has it all figured out. He sent this out to people on his mailing list. Click the link below to see the full plan.

Friends,

The richest 400 Americans — that’s right, just four hundred people — own MORE than the bottom 150 million Americans combined. 400 rich Americans have got more stashed away than half the entire country! Their combined net worth is $1.6 trillion. During the eight years of the Bush Administration, their wealth has increased by nearly $700 billion — the same amount that they are now demanding we give to them for the “bailout.” Why don’t they just spend the money they made under Bush to bail themselves out? They’d still have nearly a trillion dollars left over to spread amongst themselves!

Of course, they are not going to do that — at least not voluntarily. George W. Bush was handed a $127 billion surplus when Bill Clinton left office. Because that money was OUR money and not his, he did what the rich prefer to do — spend it and never look back. Now we have a $9.5 trillion debt. Why on earth would we even think of giving these robber barons any more of our money?

The Paradox of Deleveraging

While the current financial crisis has many complicated details, the basics of it aren’t. Paul Krugman over at the International Herald Tribune has a quick and concise explanation of the current situation and details why it is so important to properly negotiate this bill.

Some are saying that we Americans should simply trust Paulson, because he’s a smart guy who knows what he’s doing. But that’s only half true: He is a smart guy, but what, exactly, in the experience of the past year and a half – a period during which Paulson repeatedly declared the financial crisis “contained,” and then offered a series of unsuccessful fixes – justifies the belief that he knows what he’s doing? He’s making it up as he goes along, just like the rest of us.

Wanda Sykes On It All

Very Funny

McCain on Fiorina’s Golden Parachute

We Need A Plan That Helps Wall Street And Main Street

Read about how to fix our financial crisis: Fair and Effective

From the Cartoonist Group

It’s the Economy

Amid today’s meltdown of the McCain campaign were some really interesting nuggets. While Carly Fiorina explained to the public that John McCain and Sarah Palin were fully qualified to be President of the United States, they lacked the skills to run a major company like Hewlett Packard. Based Carly’s record with the company, she should know a thing or two about not being qualified. 

Then McCain Advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin made the claim that John McCain invented the Blackberry. This is coming from the man that doesn’t know how to use the email. That must have been back in those days when he was a member of the Canadian Parliament where the Blackberry was invented.

McCain took his biggest criticisms from his comment, “the fundamentals of our economy are strong.”

This, of course, was on the day of one of the nation’s worst financial crises. 

John McCain has been criticized for not having an economic plan to deal with all of this. I disagree. I think that he has very clearly demonstrated his plan. The United States needs to find a rich heiress nation and marry it.