It is time to occupy the banks. From this morning’s Financial Times (“US taxpayers set to subsidise banks’ mortgage abuse payments,” February 17, 2012) comes the following news:
US taxpayers are expected to subsidise the $40bn settlement owed by five leading banks over allegations that they systematically abused borrowers in pursuit of improper home seizures…a clause in the provisional agreement – which has not been made public – allows the banks to count future loan modifications made under a 2009 foreclosure-prevention initiative towards their restructuring obligations for the new settlement…
In other words, the banks will be able to use an existing initiative, the $30bn Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) under which taxpayer funds are provided to banks as an incentive to modify loan agreements, towards the $40bn settlement.
This settlement is an atrocity, and those who are a party to it should be charged with defrauding US taxpayers.
Richard Watson 
So frustrating — and so hard for me to understand, as a financial dummy — it just feels like even with financial degrees the powers of greed will find ways to disguise these atrocities.
sharing on twitter forthwith…
Well done Son. And thanks again for the great dinner last night.