NEP’s Bill Black appears on The Real News Network. “Despite promises to ‘drain the swamp,’ Trump chose a man for Deputy Secretary of Commerce who enriched himself at expense of labor and consumers and shipped jobs overseas.”

The brokerage industry’s self-regulator has asked employees fired by Wells Fargo & Co. WFC, -2.38%   and stripped of their securities registrations to come forward if they have concerns over their treatment, the latest sign of growing scrutiny on the bank.

The request from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or Finra, comes as lawmakers question whether Wells Fargo wrongfully fired employees who pushed back on questionable sales practices and sometimes mischaracterized their behavior on their industry records.

In response to an inquiry by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), Ron Wyden (D., Ore.), and Bob Menendez (D., N.J.), Finra has said that more than 600 Wells Fargo employees fired during the five-year period that encompassed the bank’s cross-selling scandal had received termination filings known as Form U5s. Such forms document the reasons for the dismissal of brokerage employees, and negative justifications can hinder an adviser from gaining employment elsewhere in the…

U.S. insurer Prudential Financial Inc (>> Prudential Financial Inc) said on Monday it had suspended the distribution of a low-cost life insurance policy through Wells Fargo & Co (>> Wells Fargo & Co), pending a review of how the product was sold by the bank.

California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones told Reuters on Monday he had ordered an investigation into allegations, the latest regarding Wells Fargo’s sales practices, that retail bankers signed up customers for life insurance policies from Prudential without their permission.

The New Jersey Division of Insurance is also investigating, according to a Prudential spokesman and a news release from Jones’s office. Spokesmen for the New Jersey office had no immediate comment.

The allegations are part of a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by three former managers in Prudential’s corporate investigation division. The lawsuit was filed in New Jersey state court last week.
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American homeowners who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments will get a small break from the government this holiday season: They won’t be evicted until after the new year.  What a treat- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will temporarily cease stealing homes they don’t own for two short weeks.

The Federal National Mortgage Association, better known as Fannie Mae, which is operated by the federal government, said it will not evict homeowners between Dec. 19, 2016, and Jan. 2, 2017, though legal proceedings may continue. Fannie Mae declined to say how many families the hiatus would affect.

Since the housing crisis began in 2007, the US government has stood behind the mortgage market, rushing in as banks rushed out. In 2008, it nationalized the two largest holders of mortgage loans, Fannie Mae and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac). Fannie and Freddie guarantee and securitize loans made…