New York Attorney General and co-chair of President Obama's new mortgage crisis unit Eric Schneiderman talks with Chris about his expectations for the new mortgage crisis investigations.
-Brett Brownell (@brettbrownell) is video and web producer for Up w/ Chris Hayes which airs Saturday and Sunday mornings on MSNBC.
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Over the past decade, Americans watched in bafflement and rage as one institution after another – from Wall Street to Congress, the Catholic Church to corporate America, even Major League Baseball – imploded under the weight of corruption and incompetence. In the wake of the Fail Decade, Americans have historically low levels of trust in their institutions; the social contract between ordinary citizens and elites lies in tatters.
How did we get here? With "Twilight of the Elites," Christopher Hayes offers a radically novel answer. Since the 1960s, as the meritocracy elevated a more diverse group of men and women into power, they learned to embrace the accelerating inequality that had placed them near the very top. Their ascension heightened social distance and spawned a new American elite--one more prone to failure and corruption than any that came before it.
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I think you asked a good question....why, over the past three years, have we not seen any high level investigations? Esther Armah, asks the kind of questions I or millions of us, would ask.
Your closing comment was right on! Simple...if you get busted on wall street, park ave, or the bronx, you should pay for the crime!
Props to Chris for one of the most intelligent shows on. Instead of the usual suspects of talking heads, his guests are fairly new to most of us outside the bubble and they continue to be an impressive, thoughtful bunch. As for Mr. Schneiderman's appearance... I was already impressed with his courageous stance vs the AG bank settlement proposal but am even more hopeful that he will indeed pop that Too Big To Fail bubble. It's my hope that his work will prove that it's truly our middle class that should be too big to fail, not the banks. That is the battle of the century that will define America from this point on.
this interview with mr schneiderman was outstanding. I have seen this guest on other shows and have been disappointed. chris was able to really get the information i was hoping to hear.
great job chris! kudos!
FINALLY!
It was upsetting to realize there'd be no jail time. Ester Armah had the courage to ask the Congressman, after his explaining the importance of getting restitution, "Why can't we do both?" Facial expressions are telling. As Esther brought up jail time, Cohen's expression revealed there would be no jail time and sure enough, that was the road he went down. Even Schneiderman walked back the notion of jail time.
Just another day of our government trying to tune the American people like a fiddle.
Excellent interview! Thank you Chris for asking all the right questions.
Here's my take on Schneiderman, the AG's, the President, and the foreclosure crisis:
1. The multi-state AG's settlement is a sham, focused on letting the banks off the hook for fraud. The telling fact is that the head AG, Tom Miller, stated from the outset that they had no intention of helping homeowners with equity. He said:
“To be clear, the States do not believe that every foreclosure is a tragedy that must be avoided. To the contrary, we have consistently stated over the last three years that we are only interested in modifications where the cash flow from the modification exceeds the expected proceeds from a foreclosure sale.”
This means that the easiest and arguably the most deserving homeowners are excluded, as they are under the HAMP guidelines, because the cash flow foreclosing on a homeowner with equity is great... the bank gets all the delinquent Mtg. payments plus lucrative fees and penalties from the homeowners equity. These are often seniors who have paid into their mortgages for years, and based on stats from the HOLC of the 1930's the least likely to re-default. EXCLUDED!
2. I suspected early on that Mr. Schneiderman was more interested in protecting MBS investors than homeowners. Seeing him speak for the first time, I am now fairly certain that my assessment was correct. It's just so easy when protecting the MBS investors to throw in a few words on behalf of homeowners and look like their hero. OK, it's still a great thing to go after securitization fraud. It's fantastic that he's taking a seemingly strong stance on this.
3. Then there's the President, who, in his State of The Union address, said he was proposing help for "Responsible homeowners." This is code for "homeowners not behind in their mortgage payments". So he is not only excluding those with the greatest need, he is also categorizing them as IRRESPONSIBLE! No matter why they are behind; death of a spouse, loss of a job, serious illness, no matter their personal circumstance; seniors or families with small children. According to the President they are IRRESPONSIBLE and can "go to Hell!"
So who is legitimately advocating for homeowners?
Note that the HOLC of the 1930's directly refinanced mortgages saving a million homeowners. Since their true goal was to help homeowners, they even went so far as to knock on the doors of delinquent homeowners to offer help.
A look at the New York Times foreclosure map, shows in lower income neighborhoods there are 3 homes in foreclosure on every block! And NY isn't nearly as hard hit as many other states.
This is a very sad time for America!