If Obama lets the Banks "Off the Hook" I think his re-election is a "Non-Starter"

[bhikkhu]

47. Robo-signing itself - which is the issue at hand - is a good case for civil penalty

...which is what the administration is pursuing. It has more do to with negligence in handling paperwork than any criminal intent, and the losses suffered were real, but haphazard rather than systematic. I think the $25 billion dollar fine which is being negotiated is a good piece of work, and the use that it is supposed to be put will benefit a great many people.

On the other hand, all this misdirected rage (looking at headlines and comments) serves little purpose and helps nobody. Going back six months ago when this was first in the headlines - Scheiderman's objections - the concern was that in the robo-signing case the administration would bundle up all sorts of other fraud, and give away the potential for other prosecution. The adminstration assured at the time that would not be the case, and it hasn't been the case. Yet where are the fraud prosecutions that the dissenting AG's wanted to move forward with? I would guess we won't ever see them.

The banks can afford the $25 billion, but I think they can also afford to blow a whole lot of smoke around to try to avoid paying it - which it looks like the recent coverage is just more of (though it claims to be all "anti-banster&quot