ChesapeakeCitizen's blog

Thursday 19 August 2010

by Ellen Brown, t r u t h o u t

Over 62 million mortgages are now held in the name of MERS, an electronic recording system devised by and for the convenience of the mortgage industry. A California bankruptcy court, following landmark cases in other jurisdictions, recently held that this electronic shortcut breaks the chain of title, voiding foreclosure. The logical result could be 62 million homes that are foreclosure proof.

In a Newsweek article a year ago called "Too Big to Jail: Why Prosecutors Won't Hit Wall Street Hard in the Subprime Scandal," Michael Hirsch wrote that we were unlikely to see trials and convictions like those in the savings and loan scandals of the 1980s, because fraud and blame have been so widespread that there is no one to single out and jail. Said Hirsch:

Below are links to two new Backbone Campaign podcasts. They're action-oriented and more relevant with every passing day's news.

Accountability for BP: Lessons From London
June 14, 2010
Featuring James Marriott of PLATFORM
http://backbonecampaign.org/conversation.cfm?ID=87

Transforming Catastrophe into Opportunity
May 10, 2010
Featuring Antonia Juhasz, James Handley, and Kathy Callan
http://backbonecampaign.org/conversation.cfm?ID=86