Blackstone bet big on Majority Leader Cantor and lost

Majority Leader Eric Cantor was handed a shocking upsetdefeat Tuesday night, but he didn’t go down alone –Blackstone Group (BX) bet big on the moderate establishment Republican and now that investment is down the tubes, as Cantor is now on a path to private citizenship.

Washington and the Republican machine are still reeling after the second-most powerful man in the House was dethroned by a tea party Republican primary challenger who was outraised in funding 25 to 1 by the eight-term Cantor.

Of the more than $5 million Cantor spent defending his Richmond, Virginia district seat in the primary, a good chunk of that came from Blackstone, according to OpenSecrets.org. Cantor raised a total of $5.4 million.

Truth, Geithner and The American Way

If Timmy thinks that the American people are just simply going buy the fake beans that he is selling that he “saved” the economy and “helped” the struggling homeowners that got screwed by the banks, then you will be waiting for the cows to come home. Obama Administration’s biggest mistake was to hire the same Citigroup deregulators in the cabinet to allow the banksters and hedge fund managers to continue to destroy the financial economy globally and help create a total distrust by the American people of the banks and the financial system.

When Timothy Geithner orchestrated the bankers’ bailout, giving them a ‘wall of money’ without accountability, and without matching funds for ordinary Americans suddenly facing foreclosure–Geithner took justice out of the American political economy.

Hence the title.

If Geithner’s book “Stress Test” becomes the definitive history of the financial crisis–or even is…

Distressed Homeowners Need Lots of Help

“The government’s response to the foreclosure crisis is the equivalent of trying to put out a forest fire with an eye dropper.” — Senator Elizabeth Warren

While the foreclosure crisis continues to ravage communities around the country there’s a pressing need for homeowner education and empowerment. Maegan Nikolic, a single mom in Whittier California, can attest to that. Since 2010 she’s been run through the foreclosure wringer. She’s woken up to find notices of default tacked on to her door, hired a succession of lawyers to try and find some way to resolve the mess but at every turn ran into a brick wall. After the tears, the stress, the overwhelming anxiety Maegan with her small boy in tow and threatened with a forcible eviction left her house of 17 years.

Maegan’s story has been distilled down to a statistic; one that shows up…

Memo to DOJ: Iceland had no problem jailing banksters. Take note.

12 December 2013 Last updated at 13:32 ET

Four former bosses from the Icelandic bank Kaupthing have been sentenced to between three and five years in prison.

They are the former chief executive, the chairman of the board, one of the majority owners and the chief executive of the Luxembourg branch.

They were accused of hiding the fact that a Qatari investor bought a stake in the firm with money lent – illegally – by the bank itself.

Kaupthing collapsed in 2008 under the weight of huge debts.

For years, Kaupthing and other Icelandic banks had aggressively pursued overseas expansion plans, but when they went into administration, they brought the country’s economy to its knees.

Just a few weeks before the collapse, Kaupthing announced that Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Bin Hamad al-Thani had bought a 5.1% stake during…

Banksters Pretend that Prosecuting Wall Street Crime Will Blow Up the Economy

Banksters Pretend that Prosecuting Wall Street Crime Will Blow Up the EconomyThe Department of Justice is “considering” initiating criminal charges against 2 banks.

In response, the normal cast of characters is saying – as they have for years – that prosecuting banks will cause ameltdown of the economy.

The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York recently mocked the silly claims of gloom and doom:

“Companies, especially financial institutions, will do almost anything to avoid a tough enforcement action and therefore have a natural and powerful incentive to make prosecutors believe that death or dire consequences await,” he said. “I have heard assertions made with great force and passion that if we take any criminal action, the skies will darken; the oceans will rise; nuclear winter will be upon us; and the…

JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs Claim Currency Suits Fall Short

Case Title

Haverhill Retirement System v. Barclays Bank PLC et al

Case Number

1:13-cv-07789

Court

New York Southern

Nature of Suit

Anti-Trust

Judge

Lorna G. Schofield

Law360, Los Angeles (May 30, 2014, 10:42 PM ET) — A group of financial institutions accused of manipulating foreign exchange rates asked a New York federal judge on Friday to throw out the charges, saying the complaints don’t specifically allege any concerted efforts by the banks to restrain trade.

Nearly a dozen banks teamed up in a bid to dismiss the investor suits, which claim they worked together to manipulate the massive currency market to their own advantage. The banks say the investors haven’t adequately alleged that the banks entered into an agreement in restraint of…

BREAKING NEWS: Newark Votes, Approves Use of Eminent Domain to Fight Foreclosures–First Domino Falls

Newark, New Jersey has become the first city in the country to officially approve a controversial plan that uses eminent domain to fight foreclosures and neighborhood blight. 

Newark’s new mayor, Ras Baraka, introduced the resolution and the Newark Municipal Council, which passed it unanimously, according to a press release issued today by New Jersey Communities United (unitednj.org), which describes itself as a progressive grassroots community organization committed to building power for low and moderate income people, predominantly in Newark.

According to the release…

“Newark Council Unanimously Approves Resolution Supporting Local Principal Reduction Program for Families Facing Foreclosure
Mayor-Elect Ras Baraka Leading Fight Against Foreclosure Crisis in Newark”

The program would allow homeowners trapped in certain type of mortgage, known as a Private Label Security or PLS Loans, to voluntarily participate in a program where the City purchases…

Robo-signing is over. But robo-suing is growing.

A small group of debt collectors are robo-suing people who default on their credit cards. Now, state and federal authorities are cracking down.

Remember the term “robo-signing”? You know: what all the mortgage companies were doing a couple of years ago when they kicked people out of their homes without following the process of law. Did you know that robo-signing is still happening tens of thousands of times every day?,

Most people don’t know. But it is true. This time, it involves buyers of credit-card debt who are robo-suing. Every day, about a dozen of these companies take this procedural shortcut by filing lawsuits to try to use the courts to force people into paying back the debt they’ve defaulted on. These suits have no true legal standing because they violate the most basic principle of theburden of legal proof. That’s…