TRUCKEE, Calif. — When Mimi Ash arrived at her mountain chalet here for a weekend ski trip, she discovered that someone had broken into the home and changed the locks.Read the rest here
When she finally got into the house, it was empty. All of her possessions were gone: furniture, her son’s ski medals, winter clothes and family photos. Also missing was a wooden box, its top inscribed with the words “Together Forever,” that contained the ashes of her late husband, Robert.
The culprit, Ms. Ash soon learned, was not a burglar but her bank. According to a federal lawsuit filed in October by Ms. Ash, Bank of America had wrongfully foreclosed on her house and thrown out her belongings, without alerting Ms. Ash beforehand.
In an era when millions of homes have received foreclosure notices nationwide, lawsuits detailing bank break-ins like the one at Ms. Ash’s house keep surfacing. And in the wake of the scandal involving shoddy, sometimes illegal paperwork that has buffeted the nation’s biggest banks in recent months, critics say these situations reinforce their claims that the foreclosure process is fundamentally flawed.
“Every day, smaller wrongs happen to people trying to save their homes: being charged the wrong amount of money, being wrongly denied a loan modification, being asked to hand over documents four or five times,” said Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates.
Identifying the number of homeowners who were locked out illegally is difficult. But banks and their representatives insist that situations like Ms. Ash’s represent just a tiny percentage of foreclosures.
I am beginning to think Marx may have had a point.
Count me among the folks who had no idea what a plutocracy the US was becoming until the past couple of years.
ReplyDeleteBTW, if the party of Grover Cleveland returned to its roots, they would be the majority party right now. Instead, they brand themselves mostly by contempt for the white middle class.
Unfortunately, Marx did have a point.
ReplyDeleteAfter the disaster of "neo-liberalism" in Russia in the 1990's, the Russians adopted a new proverb: "The Communists lied to us about socialism, but they told us the truth about capitalism."
However, I don't think the problem is capitalism or socialism as such. The problem is, that America is a psychopathic country. It is not just Bush or the neo-cons. Americans in general, do not have a moral compass. They have no internal "gyroscope" to keep them steady. "Religion" not only does not seem to help, but only gives a moralistic veneer for pathological narcissism, incapacity for empathy or love, and fundamentally predatory, conscienceless behavior.
Think about this for a moment. The plutocrats (evil as they are) could not commit these frauds and crimes all by themselves. They were helped by sheriffs, police officers, and loan agents who consider dumping the lifetime possessions of a family to be no more significant than taking out the trash. That is a classic sign of clinical psychopathy.
I could say a lot more, but I will stop here. I recommend that everyone read psychologist Dr. Robert Hare's books, especially "Snakes in Suits." That will give everyone an idea of what we face.
I love this quote from the article:
ReplyDelete“There is a stigma that we go in, kick the door in and throw grandma out head first and board up the windows,” Mr. Jaffa said. “We are doing a lot of good out there.”
No, apparently you just break in after hours and throw out Grandpa's ashes and then change locks without a warrant or even bothering to call anybody.
As through this life you travel
ReplyDeleteYou meet some funny men
Some rob you with a six-gun
And some with a fountain pen.