Banks are double charging people on escrow fees and calling it a "MISTAKE" when they get caught

Unreal. More blatant Wall Street criminality, this time by Wells Fargo and in the form of billions of dollars of "mistakes" that cost the average person $2,000 each but often go unnoticed by the unsuspecting consumer. This is why we need a full funded and fully staffed Consumer Financial Protection Agency, among other things . . .
......................

Despite the general “missing in action” posture of bank regulators, one office has taken a tough stance of abuses, namely, the US Bankruptcy Trustee. A New York Post story by Catherine Curan reports that the Trustee is investigating double dipping in the New York City area by Wells Fargo and GMAC (now Ally). Borrower attorneys contend this practice is common at all servicers:

***Many homeowners opt to pay part of their property taxes and homeowners insurance with their mortgage every month. The funds are then put into an escrow account and used to periodically pay the taxes and insurance.

But after falling behind on a few payments, troubled borrowers in Chapter 13 often find that their bank or mortgage servicer tries to collect twice on the escrow funds — once as part of the overall mortgage payment, and again as a separate “escrow shortage” charge.

The average double charge is about $2,000, said forensic accountant Jay Patterson of Full Disclosure in Arkansas, who sees escrow issues in half the cases he examines.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/01/more-bank-chicanery-double-charging-on-escrow-fees.html
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/sloppy_seconds_hhPMGlBggrkLMwD1BbpY2O#ixzz1iHMtSlVq
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/02/1050773/-OWS:-Banks-are-double-charging-people-on-escrow-fees-and-calling-it-a-mistake-when-they-get-caught?via=siderec

Woody's New Year: Change Socks, Dream Good, Wake Up and Fight

Sensible thinkers - by Tom Tomorrow

Exclusive: Gordon Brown's Downing Street emails 'hacked'

Exclusive:
Gordon Brown's Downing Street emails 'hacked'
Computer crime by press may be as widespread as phone scandal

Police investigating computer hacking by private investigators commissioned by national newspapers have uncovered evidence that emails sent and received by Gordon Brown during his time as Chancellor were illegally accessed.

Mr Brown's private communications, along with emails belonging to a former Labour adviser and lobbyist, Derek Draper, have been identified by Scotland Yard's Operation Tuleta team as potentially hacked material. They are currently looking at evidence from around 20 computers which hold data revealing that hundreds of individuals may have had their private emails hacked.

The links discovered from the seized computers suggest that the email investigation could involve as many victims as those involved in the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.

The eight-strong Tuleta team is looking at the possibility that several Fleet Street titles commissioned specialist private detectives to access computers. News International said yesterday that NI has "no alleged link" to Gordon Brown and Derek Draper.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/gordon-browns-downing-street-emails-hacked-6283985.html

How much longer can the 80% hang in there with only 7% of the money?

Failure To Prosecute Banking THIEVES Legitimizes The Revolutionary Worldview

The failure to hold any of these egregious thieves accountable is fraying the social contract. It legitimizes the revolutionary worldview.

Part of the decision not to prosecute them has undoubtedly been (apart from pure corruption and the difficulty and expense involved in the prosecutions) the desire not to do anything too divisive. But the fact is that not prosecuting them has led to increasing political division in this country, as groups on both the left and the right believe the system incapable of dispensing justice. That in turn leads to a revolutionary theory of change, which (each in their own characteristic way) is what binds Tea Partiers with guns at congressional rallies promising "second Amendment remedies," and Occupiers illegally shutting down ports, declaring basic city zoning laws unconstitutional, and demanding the right to pitch tents on public property for years on end if need be to accomplish undefined goals.

Don't blame the Tea Partiers or the Occupiers for this state of affairs. Blame the elected officials who have refused to the prosecute the people responsible for the economic crisis. If people thought the system was working the way it should be and prosecuting the right people, it would do a lot to pull the release on the political pressure valve.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/failure-to-prosecute-bankers-leads-to.html

WORKER LAID OFF UNDER BAIN CAPITAL: ROMNEY ‘DIDN’T CARE ABOUT THE WORKERS,’ PUT ‘PROFIT OVER PEOPLE’

WORKER LAID OFF UNDER BAIN CAPITAL: ROMNEY ‘DIDN’T CARE ABOUT THE WORKERS,’ PUT ‘PROFIT OVER PEOPLE’ | Speaking to reporters tonight in Des Moines, Iowa, a worker laid off by a company owned by Bain Capital accused former Bain Capital CEO and current Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney of being “out of touch” with the concerns of average Americans. Randy Johnson and more than 250 of his fellow workers at a Marion, Indiana American Pad and Paper (AMPAD) facility lost their jobs after Bain decided to close the plant amid a labor dispute. Johnson, who noted that he personally reached out to Romney during the labor dispute, said, “I really think (Romney) didn’t care about the workers. It was all about profit over people.” In addition to the layoffs and eventual bankrupting of AMPAD, Bain Capital under Romney’s leadership drove several other firms into bankruptcy and caused thousands of layoffs.

more links:
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/01/01/396199/worker-laid-off-under-bain-capital-romney-didnt-care-about-the-workers-put-profit-over-people/

Texas Frat Boy's New Year's Resolution? Murder Obama!

SUN JAN 01, 2012 AT 04:58 AM PST
Texas Frat Boy's New Year's Resolution? Murder Obama!
byBill SchmalfeldtFollow





Meet Taylor Ross Huffman. He was the Sophomore of the year for 2010 at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, Home of the Fighting "Texans." (The ladies' sports teams are called the TexAnn's. How quaint.) Taylor seems from all appearances like a normal southern frat boy. He likes beer, hot chicks, fishin' and huntin'. And on December 30, 2011, he posted his New Year's Resolution on Twitter for the whole world to see.



more:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/01/1050482/-Texas-Frat-Boys-New-Years-Resolution-Murder-Obama!?via=siderec

Thatcher Adviser Explains Conservative Emphasis On Austerity---Mass Unemployment As Policy

An adviser to Margaret Thatcher explains, in carefully and cautiously couched terms, the real reason for the conservative emphasis on austerity (h/t Tom Sullivan):