Bottoms up ! CB
^^^^^^^ http://www.michigancitizen.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=8262&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1070&hn=michigancitizen&he=.com Rev. Jackson joins call for foreclosure moratorium -- 1/31/2010 Victims, organizers plan to take struggle to shareholders, streets By Diane Bukowski Michigan Citizen DETROIT — The demand for a moratorium on foreclosures, first raised several years ago by Detroit’s Moratorium NOW! Coalition, is now being advanced nationally by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, leader of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. He was the keynote speaker Jan. 24 during a day-long mobilization against banks and mortgage companies at Central United Methodist Church in downtown Detroit. Jackson recalled that Michigan’s legislature declared a five-year halt to foreclosures during the Great Depression of the 1930s. He said the nation’s five largest banks have 3.3 million mortgages eligible for modification (monthly payment reduction), but have modified only 30,000. He castigated the U.S. Department of Justice for refusing to enforced recently enacted laws against foreclosures. These include President Barack Obama’s Helping Families Stay in Their Homes Act and the Home Economic Recovery Act, which require modifications in exchange for what may soon amount to $1 trillion in taxpayer bailouts. “Haiti has been devastated by a physical earthquake while we face an economic earthquake caused by greed and not governed by law. It’s time to revive the movement of the 1960s, to take our battle to shareholders’ meetings and the streets, to restructure the banks, not repossess churches and homes,” Jackson said. “The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing corporations to bankroll elections has emboldened Wall Street,” he observed. “Stocks for banks and insurance and pharmaceutical companies are on the rise, along with unemployment, foreclosures and poverty.” Jackson said banks make more money on foreclosures than on mortgages. In addition to government bail-out dollars and excessive fees, they profit by processing loans, bundling or securitizing them, and getting 80 percent of their value through foreclosure insurance paid for by the homeowner. During the administration of President Franklin Roosevelt, Jackson noted, it was illegal for banks and securities firms to be under the same roof, but laws against such combinations were struck down during President Bill Clinton’s term of office. Rainbow/PUSH is targeting Bank of America’s shareholders’ meeting Feb. 23 in Charlotte, North Carolina, for its first action, after a Feb. 20 gathering in Detroit. Bank of America (BOA) has 1.2 million homes facing foreclosure, but has granted modifications in only 100 cases. Michelle Hart said she and her elderly mother, who is suffering from pancreatic cancer, have experienced Bank of America’s greed first hand. They got an adjustable rate home loan from Countrywide through Bank of America and their payments increased dramatically. But BOA refused them a modification despite her mother’s illness. “We have been fighting Bank of America to stay in our home for almost two years,” Hart declared. “Meanwhile the market value has dropped, and the government is just backing the banks. I want everyone to contact the governor and their legislators. Homelessness is not something that should make profits for the banks.” Rev. Edwin Rowe, pastor of Central United, and attorneys Vanessa Fluker and Jerome Goldberg, who have devoted most of their practices to fighting foreclosures, reinforced Jackson’s call for a moratorium, to be won through marches on Washington and other tactics. “The banks signed contracts to keep people in their homes, but instead they are using our tax dollars to throw out our neighbors,” said Fluker. “As a result of a drop in property values, the total tax base of our communities is being destroyed. Why should we have to keep going to court to stop foreclosures and evictions?” She asked people to pack a State Court of Appeals hearing on the eviction of her client Marvin Morris. The hearing is to take place Tues. Feb. 2 at 10 a.m. at Cadillac Place, the state’s Detroit headquarters (formerly the GM Building) on W. Grand Blvd. Goldberg said more than 50 percent of foreclosures are now being carried out by the government itself, on mortgages insured by the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac agencies. Those entities were taken over by the federal government in 2008, costing taxpayers $400 billion, with another $400 billion currently being contemplated by Congress. The Center for Responsible Lending projects nearly 326,000 more foreclosures in Michigan from 2009 through 2012, and says that nationally, $1.9 trillion in homeowner wealth will be lost during the same period. “A moratorium on foreclosures can be declared through executive order by the President, and by Governor Jennifer Granholm declaring a state of emergency,” said Goldberg. The Moratorium NOW! Coalition planned to rally for their demands at the City Council meeting Jan. 26 and then proceed to Mayor Dave Bing’s office to demand he request that Granholm declare a state of emergency in Michigan stemming from foreclosures. They also plan to demonstrate at Granholm’s State of the State address in Lansing on Feb. 3. Others speaking at and attending the rally included U.S. Rep. John Conyers, State Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith, who is running for governor, City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson, and many victims of foreclosures. The Moratorium NOW! On Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shut-offs Coalition can be reached at 313-887-4344. Its website is at www.moratorium-mi.org. _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
