Sept. 25: Bail Out the People - Not the Banks Demo - Detroit

BAIL OUT THE PEOPLE - NOT THE BANKS! Not One More Penny for Wall Street! Demand a Federal Moratorium on Foreclosures NOW! Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008 4:30 PM Gather at the Spirit of Detroit statue, Woodward and Jefferson, Detroit March through Financial District

Demand that the first item in any emergency federal legislation be protection for the victims of this crisis, the millions facing foreclosures and millions of others who are seeing their communities destroyed by the foreclosure epidemic brought on by the predatory lending and fraud of the financial industry. Demand the enactment of an immediate 2 year federal moratorium on all foreclosures. Such a moratorium is mandatory under federal law, which mandates the imposition of a moratorium on foreclosures whenever there is a declaration of a State of Emergency. During the moratorium, an oversight committee of community representatives, civil rights organizations, unions should review and adjust every mortgage in the country, so people’s house payments reflect the real values of their homes and their ability to pay. Such oversight cannot be left to the bankers or even to federal judges who are often disconnected from the reality facing working people today. Demand that rather than spending $1 trillion of taxpayer money to bail out Wall Street, that money be used to guarantee people’s needs, for decent jobs, health care, education, etc. It is the decline in wages, massive restructuring that has eliminated millions of decent paying jobs, and spiraling health costs that in large part has brought on this crisis, forcing people to take out unaffordable predatory loans just to survive. The Moratorium Now! Coalition has been pressing for a statewide moratorium on foreclosures in Michigan and recently held a demonstration in Lansing, MI to support SB 1306, which would put such a moratorium into effect. The Coalition is also demanding that new Detroit Mayor Kenneth Cockrel declare a State of Emergency in Detroit, the hardest hit city in the country by the foreclosure epidemic with an 18% home vacancy rate, and formerly apply to Governor Granholm to place a moratorium on foreclosures in Detroit pursuant to MCL 10.31 For more information contact 313-319-0870.

SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION demanding the Feds implement an IMMEDIATE MORATORIUM ON FORECLOSURES AND EVICTIONS, NOW!

SEPTEMBER 27 International Day of Action

SEPTEMBER 27
International Day of Action

NO Money for Wall Street & War -
Bail Out the Workers and the Poor!

Anti-war activists need to address the latest phase of the war - the war against working people here!

Foreclose the War - Not People's Homes!
Bail Out People - Not Banks!
Money for Human Needs - Not War and Corporate Greed!

IN NYC:
March and Rally
Saturday SEPT 27
12 noon
Times Sq. - 42nd & 7th Ave.
-and in cities across the U.S.
see http://stopwaroniran.org/ for a list of local actions

Washington wants:

• $1 Trillion to bail out mortgage bankers
• $3 Trillion on the War in Iraq
• $ Billions for War against Iran
  

We Demand Money for:

• Housing
• Health Care
• Jobs with a Living Wage
• Rebuilding the Gulf Coast
• Education

SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION
demanding the Feds implement an
IMMEDIATE MORATORIUM ON FORECLOSURES AND EVICTIONS, NOW!

The same institutions that profit from endless war are now demanding that the entire U.S. Treasury to be placed at their disposal to bailout corrupt banks and mortgage institutions, a declaration of endless war against people at home. Even mainstream media is describing this as the “financial equivalent of the Patriot Act,” which will give the banks and their politicians in Washington a license to seize billions of dollars for the benefit of Wall Street bankers.

Many have speculated that the Bush Administration might launch an “October Surprise” - and it has. This is an outright declaration of war against working people. We’re told there’s no money for health care, education, infrastructure – but in one swoop – $1 trillion has been found to prop up banks and financial institutions. This money has been stolen from working people, who will face massive cuts in every social program.

Saturday's Day of Action was originally called by the Stop War on Iran Campaign to protest the Bush Administration's drive to war against Iran, and the demand "Stop War On Iran" will remain a central theme of the demonstration. In light of recent developments - Washington's declaration of war against working people in order to fund an unprecedented trillion dollar bailout of Wall Street bankers - anti-war activists need to address the latest phase of the war - the war against working people here.

No Corporate Bailout! - We need immediate moratorium on foreclosures; health care, education and housing.
SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION demanding the Feds implement an IMMEDIATE MORATORIUM ON FORECLOSURES AND EVICTIONS, NOW!

Donate to help with costs for this national day of action at: http://iacenter.org/donate/

For more information, call 212-633-6646

Sept. 17 Lansing Demo: Moratorium NOW!

Lansing, Mich., protest: ‘Moratorium now! No evictions!’

Published Sep 17, 2008 10:45 PM

WW photos: Cheryl LaBash and Alan Pollock

Streaming onto the state capitol grounds in Lansing on the morning of Sept. 17, hundreds from across the state of Michigan and beyond demanded passage of SB 1306, a bill that would enact a two-year moratorium on foreclosures. Demanding “Moratorium Now!” and “Bail out the people not the banks,” protesters held a spirited march, rally and people’s public hearing detailing both the devastation of foreclosures and the people’s will to keep fighting for a moratorium.

—Bryan G. Pfeifer

Surround the State Capitol in Lansing, Michigan on Sept. 17

September 17: Surround the State Capitol in Lansing, Michigan!

11:00 a.m., East Steps of the Capitol

Join the Fight for a Moratorium on Foreclosures in Michigan!

Your help is needed!

Send email messages to the members of the Michigan Legislature and the Governor demanding enactment NOW of the 2 year Moratorium at
http://www.moratorium-mi.org/petition.shtml
Donate at http://www.moratorium-mi.org/donate.shtml

Foreclosures and evictions are devastating working families around the country. One in nine homeowners nationwide is either behind in their mortgage payments or their family homes are in foreclosure. Over 72,000 homeowners have lost their homes in the Detroit area alone. The vacant home rate in Detroit is 18 percent, second only to New Orleans.

Michigan has led the nation in foreclosures caused by the predatory sub-prime lending crisis on top of a severe economic downtown. One in every 137 homes in Michigan is in foreclosure. Michigan leads the country in unemployment and poverty.

Since the federal government has now taken over and bailed out the big mortgage firms of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at taxpayer expense, it is the government's responsibility to bail out and protect those who need it most -- working people and their families, the elderly and the disabled who are facing foreclosure and eviction!

The Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions has been in the forefront of a mass struggle to win a moratorium or freeze on foreclosures. It is organizing throughout Michigan demanding passage of SB 1306, a two-year foreclosure moratorium law introduced in the Michigan Legislature by state Sen. Hansen Clarke. SB 1306 is the boldest Moratorium bill currently in front of a state legislature. It would set a precedent for the entire country! And it would provide a strong impetus for people fighting for a moratorium in other states.

The Coalition is organizing a mass demonstration in Lansing, Mich. on September 17, when hundreds of activists and foreclosure victims will surround the State Capitol to demand passage of SB 1306 and stop the foreclosure crisis devastating families and neighborhoods en masse.

See www.moratorium-mi.org for more information.

The Moratorium NOW! Coalition has already scored important victories in the fight against foreclosures and evictions in Michigan:

· Through a community rally and picket of Bank of America, we successfully stopped the foreclosure of Ruby Curl-Pinkins, a 72-year-old disabled woman, scheduled to be evicted from her home of 35 years by Countrywide.

· We have intervened with direct action to insure that other families facing foreclosure remained in their homes even after bailiffs came to evict them.

· We successfully fought HUD’s policy of violating its own regulations by not allowing continued occupancies of FHA-backed homes by tenants after foreclosure.

· We won an important First Amendment victory that guaranteed the right of anti-foreclosure activists to leaflet and petition at sham “prevent foreclosure forums” organized by Michigan’s pro-business attorney general for the banks and financial interests.

· We have helped sponsor legal challenges that have called into question the right of MERS, the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, to carry out foreclosures. MERS currently is the foreclosing party in tens of thousands of foreclosures in Michigan and millions nationwide.

ACT NOW TO HELP US CONTINUE THIS STRUGGLE!.

What you can do:

Join us at the State Capitol in Lansing, on Sept. 17:
11:00 a.m., East Steps of the Capitol
(see www.moratorium-mi.org)

Send email messages to the members of the Michigan Legislature and the Governor demanding enactment NOW of the 2 year Moratorium at
http://www.moratorium-mi.org/petition.shtml

Donate to help finance buses and vans to bring people facing foreclosure to Lansing on Sept. 17! at
http://www.moratorium-mi.org/donate.shtml

The Moratorium NOW! Coalition needs funds to continue the struggle to win a moratorium on foreclosures in this hard-hit state. Funds are needed to help with printing costs, phone calls, travel costs to get the word out around the state about this vital demonstration. Every donation raised comes from grass-roots donors.
Donate Now at http://www.moratorium-mi.org/donate.shtml.

Moratorium NOW! Coalition
To Stop Foreclosures and Evictions
23 E. Adams, 4th Floor
Detroit, MI 48226
313-887-4344

After Bailout, Senators Ask for a Delay in Foreclosures

September 12, 2008
After Bailout, Senators Ask for a Delay in Foreclosures
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS, New York Times

WASHINGTON — Four Democratic senators urged the Bush administration on Thursday to stop the nation’s two giant mortgage finance companies, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, from foreclosing on any homes for at least 90 days and to help troubled borrowers switch into more affordable mortgages.

On Sunday, the government seized control of both government-sponsored mortgage finance companies. The Treasury Department pledged to supply up to $100 billion in fresh capital for each company and prevent them from defaulting on the trillions of dollars in mortgage-backed securities that they either own or have guaranteed.

The four senators — Charles E. Schumer of New York, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Robert Menendez of New Jersey — said the administration should follow the example of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which took over IndyMac Bank in Pasadena, Calif., and imposed a temporary freeze on foreclosures while it tried to modify as many delinquent loans as possible.

The senators described their goal as a temporary “time-out” that would give federal regulators and the newly appointed chiefs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac a chance to help defaulting borrowers negotiate new loan terms or refinance into a different mortgage.

more

Statewide demand for foreclosure moratorium builds Target Monroe Senator’s home;statewide march set for Sept. 17

By Diane Bukowski
The Michigan Citizen

MONROE — Dozens of demonstrators descended on the Monroe County courthouse and the home of St. Sen. Randy Richardville (R-Monroe, Washtenaw) Aug. 28 to demand that he immediately convene hearings on S.B. 1306, the two-year moratorium on foreclosures bill

St. Sen. Hansen Clarke (D-Detroit) sponsored the bill, with the co-sponsorship of nine other Senators. The bill has many other prominent supporters as well.

Richardville is chairman of the Senate Banking and Financial Services Committee. Organizers from the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions, who helped sponsor the demonstration, claim that he has refused to entertain the bill within his committee or bring it to the floor.

“It was a good event, with good energy,” said Dawn Bates of the Monroe County Democratic Party Committee. “People were stopping cars to tell the drivers about the campaign, and we had people walk up to tell us their own stories. One man was living in his car because he had lost his home due to having only a seasonal job.”

Bates said that nobody opened the door when they tried to deliver a letter demanding a hearing to Richardville, but that his uncle came to the scene and called the police. She said the police, however, acknowledged their right to demonstrate.

“We hope to do more demonstrations at his house,” said Bates. “The foreclosure rate in Monroe County increased 42 percent in 2007, with worse figures in Monroe itself. The only thing that Richardville responds to appears to be humiliation.”

Bates added that the city and county of Monroe, among many others across the state, have been hard pressed to provide public services because of the loss of tax income due to foreclosures.

more

Lose your house, lose your vote

By Eartha Jane Melzer 9/10/08 6:42 AM

Michigan Republicans plan to foreclose African American voters

The chairman of the Republican Party in Macomb County Michigan, a key swing county in a key swing state, is planning to use a list of foreclosed homes to block people from voting in the upcoming election as part of the state GOP’s effort to challenge some voters on Election Day.

“We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren’t voting from those addresses,” party chairman James Carabelli told Michigan Messenger in a telephone interview earlier this week. He said the local party wanted to make sure that proper electoral procedures were followed.

State election rules allow parties to assign “election challengers” to polls to monitor the election. In addition to observing the poll workers, these volunteers can challenge the eligibility of any voter provided they “have a good reason to believe” that the person is not eligible to vote. One allowable reason is that the person is not a “true resident of the city or township.”

The Michigan Republicans’ planned use of foreclosure lists is apparently an attempt to challenge ineligible voters as not being “true residents.”

More

Cox’s ties to mortgage firms may explain inaction on foreclosures

By Eric T. Campbell
The Michigan Citizen

DETROIT —Evidence is surfacing that home loan institutions have, based on demographic studies, steered minority homeowners into high-risk subprime mortgages. That opens the door to possible prosecution of civil rights violations in addition to the abuse of fair lending laws.

With calls increasing for state attorney generals to sue guilty lenders, Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox may be compromised. His list of campaign contributors includes a number of mortgage interests.

Cox has refrained from taking an assertive position towards lending institutions despite studies showing racial steering into unnecessary subprime loans.

“Cox is holding forums to try and help mortgage fraud victims with many of the same companies that he should be investigating for causing the problem in the first place,” Mark Brewer, chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party said in a recent press release. “Helping victims is fine, but Cox does nothing to go after the wrongdoers.”

Cox is Republican.

Rich Robinson of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network says that campaign contributions do have a direct affect on the policies public officials will pursue.

When asked about Cox’s ties to the mortgage industry, Robinson told the Michigan Citizen that, “it certainly invites the question of the possibility” of the relationship being a policy factor.

According to campaign finance reports, since first running for office in 2002, Cox has received contributions of over $126,000 from political action committees (PAC) tied to banking institutions such as Comerica Bank, Citigroup and Standard Federal.

The Michigan Bankers Association has donated to the Cox campaign on numerous occasions. $29,600 of those contributions have come from David and Kathleen Trott of the law firm Trott and Trott, P.C. Their practice specializes in representation of mortgage servicers, banks, and credit unions in residential mortgage foreclosures.

“It becomes particularly concerning when dealing with an office whose focus is justice,” Robinson said.

A November 4th article in The Nation indicates that, according to federal loan and census records for 2006, two Detroit area neighborhoods with similar median incomes showed vastly different quantities of high-interest home loans.

Homeowners in the primarily Black Detroit neighborhood, with a median income of $49,000, received subprime loans at a rate of 70% in the mostly white Plymouth neighborhood, with a median income of $51,000, subprime loans reached only 17%.

In addition a widely-sited, comprehensive report on the affects of the current foreclosure crisis published by United for A Fair Economy estimates that the total loss of wealth for people of color to be between $164 and $213 billion because of subprime loans taken during the past eight years.

The Michigan Citizen spoke with Jason Moon, spokeperson for the Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Services (OFIS), which is the department designated with regulation of mortgage fraud. He said that from 2006 through November 2007, three cases of mortgage fraud were presented to the Attorney General’s Office and several more since then. None the cases have been prosecuted.

“It’s up to the Attorney General’s office to prosecute these cases or send them to local prosecutors,” Moon said.

The recent appointment by Governor Jennifer Granholm of Commissioner Ken Ross to head the OFIS may be indicative of a new direction by the state.

Moon says that Ross has made it a priority to send more cases as criminal referrals to the Attorney General.

“We want to help people stay in their homes and work with people to accomplish that goal.”

Moon also pointed to several legislative initiatives currently in committee, including a proposed supplemental appropriation of $1.4 million by the House Appropriation Committee. The money would allow OFIS to hire 34 more mortgage regulators to help prevent fraud.

According to a November article in the Detroit News, there are currently no more than 12 examiners to monitor 2,800 licensed mortgage companies.

Calls to the office of Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox were never returned.

The despised Trott & Trott - McCain's Landlord

McCain’s landlord

By Jefferson Morley 9/5/08 6:25 AM

Entrance to Trott Center, home of the McCain-Palin campaign in Farmington Hills, Mich. (Photo: Alexa Stanard)

The headquarters of the John McCain-Sarah Palin ticket in Michigan, located at 31330 Northwestern Highway in Farmington Hills in suburban Detroit, is owned by a law firm called Trott & Trott that specializes in housing foreclosures.

As the Republican nominee makes his first post-convention appearance in Sterling Heights, Mich., today, the livelihood of his local host has not yet attracted much notice. But if the Trott name rings no bells among the national press corps, it is all too familiar to the record number of Michigan residents facing foreclosures on their homes in this election year.

McCain’s landlord boasts of providing “comprehensive foreclosure, bankruptcy litigation and related services for the real estate finance industry.”

That means that as the Michigan housing market goes south, the Trott & Trott firm is prospering. The firm’s founder, David A. Trott, is also donating generously to the McCain campaign.

Trott and his wife Kathleen have given $23,000 to the McCain campaign in 2007-08, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. They gave another $52,400 to the Republican National Committee in May of this year.

Click here for the rest of the article

Randy & Me