Obama, Holder and state attorneys general take banks to the cleaners and don’t even mention government complicity in the housing crisis. The leaders of the Fed, Fannie, and Freddie along with Barney Frank are the ones who should be in jail for this crisis. I guess it too much to ask the Washington Post reporters to mention their complicity.
Holder excoriated lenders for behaviors that he said “pushed borrowers into foreclosure” and “fueled the downward spiral of our economy.” He called the deal the country’s latest step forward in “righting the wrongs that led to our nation’s housing-market collapse and economic crisis.”
President Obama, in an afternoon briefing at the White House, lauded the effort that led to the settlement. “We have reached a landmark settlement with the nation’s largest banks that will speed relief to the hardest-hit homeowners, end some of the most abusive practices of the mortgage industry, and begin to turn the page on an era of recklessness that has left so much damage in its wake,”
To their credit, the Post reporters recognize the political implications and I have added the political details below.
The participation of California and New York helped ensure a key election-year victory [read: by handing out $2,000 checks to irresponsible homeowners paid for through the banks by responsible homeowners] for the Obama administration, which has been intent on finalizing an agreement that officials argued would deliver much-needed aid to ailing homeowners. The backing of California and New York also means a much larger settlement than banks otherwise would have been willing to sign [Read: and 84 electoral votes from these big states.]
