Bail Out Banks or Homeowners?

Written by: Mary Ellen Marino on Mar 17, 2008 4:19 PM EDT

600 families in Trenton are at risk of losing their homes and non-profits are offering them workshops and advice. Looking nationally, 24% of sub prime borrowers are in default and at risk of foreclosure according to the New York Times of February 12. Personally today I am counseling a friend facing bankruptcy and foreclosure a second time in 6 years for a predatory loan that we had changed in bankruptcy court two years ago. This fact did not prevent the lender from coming to court under the illegal and predatory interest rate and balloon payment terms modified in 2004.

Yet last week $200 billion was thrown at the banks and investment companies that created this mortgage mess. And over the weekend the Federal Reserve bailed out Bear Stearns which refused to help in the Long Term Capital bailout back in 1998.

As Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) said today in Truthout, “Why is the Fed, an agency of the government, using our tax dollars to keep Bear Stearns and its rich managers and shareholders above water?"

"After all, the government supposedly doesn't have enough money to provide kids with health care and childcare, to guarantee families decent housing or to meet a long list of other needs. “

I personally lost over $200,000 of my retirement savings in 2001-2003 and have now lost almost $100,000 in the last few months. I am fortunate enough to still be working part time and own my own home. But the costs of our unbudgeted and illegal 5 year war will be paid for by my grandchildren and this financial crisis is actively threatening my own retirement and the employment security of my adult children.

No one is bailing me out. And victims of sub prime and predatory lending are being blamed for the problem while the perpetrators are bailed out. Likewise New Orleans’ ninth ward remains devastated with active efforts of governments at all levels to destroy 4000 units of perfectly good public housing.

Dean Baker continues “Why do we have the money to lend tens of billions of dollars to Bear Stearns at below market interest rates? ...No private bank would lend money to Bear Stearns at the same interest rate and under the same terms as the Fed. (We know this for certain; otherwise, Bear Stearns would not have run to the Fed.) When the government makes a loan at below market interest rates, it is giving away money. People on Wall Street know this very well, that is how they got to be fabulously rich: They borrow money at a lower interest rate than they lend it out."

 

Mary Ellen Marino

Mercer DFA New Jersey

921-6002 or 529-6851

mmarino@patmedia.net

Impeachment Is Not Dead

Written by: Mary Ellen Marino on Nov 12, 2007 1:21 PM EST

Linked to groups: DFA New Jersey

Despite the media blackout and the attempted burial by Democratic leaders in the House, the effort to impeach Dick Cheney is far from dead.  The vote this Tuesday displayed four times the support for debating impeachment.  85 Democrats initially voted against tabling which is almost  four times the number (22) of co-sponsors to the Kucinich resolution.

The resolution is positioned exactly where is needs to be in the House Judiciary Committee which is responsible for investigating impeachment and bringing actions for impeachment to the floor.  In fact, very little investigation is needed since most of the impeachable offenses by both Bush and Cheney are recorded on videotape and have already been investigated and documented by the Judiciary Committee two years ago and re-published recently.

I don't need to tell you what to do.  We need to call on the 22 members of the House Judiciary Committee to urge them to vote articles of impeachment against Cheney and bring them to the House floor.  Call Jerry Nadler, Chair of the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties subcommittee at 202-225-2825 or his office at 202-225-5635.

 

But televised hearings should be held to publicize the impeachable offenses to media and rest of the American people who know more about Britney Spears than the undermining of our constitution.  Cheney and Bush have undermined our constitutional system of checks and balances of co-equal branches, permitted heinous human rights abuses never before countenanced in our nations' history as a matter of official policy,  and led our nation to contemptuous violations of our treaty obligations and federal statutory law.

Most DFA members worked hard on important local elections and now want to devote themselves to the Presidential primaries. And you should all be proud of what you accomplished.  But so long as US agents kidnap, disappear and torture human beings around the world, and the Bush Cheney Administration attempts to justify or make legal its crimes aided by a complacent and complicit Congress, the reputation of the United States and its security and safety are being undermined.  We must demand that the candidates we support join us to demand an end to these appalling, unconscionable actions.  If we do not, we risk the permament loss of our 200 year old democracy.

 

Mary Ellen Marino, Mercer County DFA Orgainzer, Central Jersey Impeach Group, New Jersey Impeach Groups ww.impeachthem.com, www.impeachcheney.org

 

 

 

Emergency Town Hall Monday November 5th

Written by: Mary Ellen Marino on Nov 4, 2007 1:30 AM EST

Central Jersey Impeach Group will host an array of speakers at the Suzanne Patterson Center behind Princeton Borough Hall on Monday night from 7–9 PM. for an emergency meeting to support the impeachment vote on Cheney scheduled for this week. Dennis Kucinich, sponsor of House Resolution 333 to impeach Cheney is bringing a motion of personal privilege to force the vote on impeachment Tuesday 6, Wednesday 7, or Thursday 8th of November.

Co-sponsored by the Mercer DFA Chapter, the Princeton Area MoveOn group, and the Princeton Community Democratic Organization, the meeting will feature speakers, planning to support the vote, an open mike, and next steps.  An open mike period will allow audience debate and participation 

Speakers invited include Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D 15th), Ray Stever, President of the New Jersey State Industrial Union Council, Stuart Hutchison of New Jersey Impeach Groups, Bennet Zurofsky, Esq. constitutional lawyer, Irene Goldman, Cheryl Biren-Wright, South Jersey Impeach, Mary Ellen Marino, Central Jersey Impeach, Kevin Husy, Brotherhood of Railway Workers, and Larry Hamm, Chairman of People Organized for Progress.

 Dennis Kucinich, the Ohio congressman said at a recent meeting,  “The leaders of Congress must go to the president and say, ‘Mr. President, we are not going to give you another dime. Use the money you have to bring the troops home.  If Congress does not impeach President Bush for intentionally misleading the public, the next president should hand over Bush and his administration to law enforcement officials. 

 DATE:  Monday November 5th 

TIME:    7 PM – 9 PM 

PLACE: Suzanne Patterson Center

               45 Stockton Street, Princeton, 08542   Immediately behind Princeton Borough Hall

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Attend Take Back Congress Phone Bank on November 1!

Written by: Mary Ellen Marino on Oct 29, 2006 9:26 PM EST

Linked to groups: Mercer County Democracy for America

Dear Member,

Please attend Take Back Congress Phone Bank on Wednesday, November 1, 2006 at 6:00 PM. You can RSVP at:

www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=150...
or mmarino@patemedia.net

What: Take Back Congress Phone Bank
When: Wed., November 1, 2006, 6:00 to 9:00 M
Where: Caliper Corporation
506 Carnegie Center Blvd. 3rd FL
Princeton NJ 08540

Attend Democracy & Iraq for Sale on October 4!

Written by: Mary Ellen Marino on Sep 27, 2006 10:51 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Mercer County Democracy for America

Dear Member,

Please attend Democracy & Iraq for Sale on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 at 7:00 PM. You can RSVP at:

www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=135...
or mmarino@patmedia.net or 609-921-6002

What: Democracy & Iraq for Sale
When: Wednesday, October 4, 2006, 7:00 PM
Where: Carl Fields Center
Olden St. & Prospect Av
Princeton Borough NJ 08540

Impeachment Is Not Dead

Written by: Mary Ellen Marino on

Linked to groups: DFA New Jersey

Despite the media blackout and the attempted burial by Democratic leaders in the House, the effort to impeach Dick Cheney is far from dead.  The vote this Tuesday displayed four times the support for debating impeachment.  85 Democrats initially voted against tabling which is almost  four times the number (22) of co-sponsors to the Kucinich resolution.

The resolution is positioned exactly where is needs to be in the House Judiciary Committee which is responsible for investigating impeachment and bringing actions for impeachment to the floor.  In fact, very little investigation is needed since most of the impeachable offenses by both Bush and Cheney are recorded on videotape and have already been investigated and documented by the Judiciary Committee two years ago and re-published recently.

I don't need to tell you what to do.  We need to call on the 22 members of the House Judiciary Committee to urge them to vote articles of impeachment against Cheney and bring them to the House floor.  Call Jerry Nadler, Chair of the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties subcommittee at 202-225-2825 or his office at 202-225-5635.

 

But televised hearings should be held to publicize the impeachable offenses to media and rest of the American people who know more about Britney Spears than the undermining of our constitution.  Cheney and Bush have undermined our constitutional system of checks and balances of co-equal branches, permitted heinous human rights abuses never before countenanced in our nations' history as a matter of official policy,  and led our nation to contemptuous violations of our treaty obligations and federal statutory law.

Most DFA members worked hard on important local elections and now want to devote themselves to the Presidential primaries. And you should all be proud of what you accomplished.  But so long as US agents kidnap, disappear and torture human beings around the world, and the Bush Cheney Administration attempts to justify or make legal its crimes aided by a complacent and complicit Congress, the reputation of the United States and its security and safety are being undermined.  We must demand that the candidates we support join us to demand an end to these appalling, unconscionable actions.  If we do not, we risk the permament loss of our 200 year old democracy.

 

Mary Ellen Marino, Mercer County DFA Orgainzer, Central Jersey Impeach Group, New Jersey Impeach Groups ww.impeachthem.com, www.impeachcheney.org