Saturday, January 28, 2012

Obama’s next bailout

By Rebel A. Cole

On Jan. 23, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun L.S. Donovan met in Chicago with several Democratic state attorneys general (AGs) in an attempt to strong-arm them into signing up for an administration-backed agreement to settle the “robo-signing” scandal. Wall Street would pay what sounds like a large fine ($25 billion), and in exchange, the state AGs would relieve the bankers of all legal liabilities related to the fraudulent mortgage-lending practices that led directly to the 2008 financial meltdown and a 30 percent drop in U.S. home prices.

Sadly, this is nothing more than another bank bailout, in addition to the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP); the $7 trillion in loans to the banks from the Federal Reserve; and the Fed’s zero-interest-rate policy, which allows banks to borrow from the Fed at zero percent while investing in U.S. Treasury bonds at 4 percent.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/27/obamas-next-bailout/

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