Tuesday, October 5, 2010

to be seen

There's a flood of news reports about bank foreclosures being held up because they handed out mortgages without employing enough people to keep track of who owned what when. Homeowners are actually making the banks prove that they hold the mortgage on a piece of property before they foreclose (there's at least one story out there about a bank that foreclosed and demolished before they could prove ownership).
This makes me happy. It happens to serve what I think of as social justice, but it's securely rooted in making corporations take responsibility for cutting corners.
The cynic in me thinks that rather than comply, and delay getting the money they just know is theirs, really, and at least sometimes not getting it whether or not it's really theirs, the banks will press for legal action to circumvent the chain of ownership. Their claim will be that it would create an "undue burden" or some such that would afflict their business, their responsibility to their stockholders, the economy of the United States of America, and some other things we all hold dear, like puppies, flowers, or freedom.

The very next day: Or, apparently, it could come from the Senate in the dark of night ("dark of night" being a figure of speech for a bill that "...passed without public debate in a way that even surprised its main sponsor, Republican Representative Robert Aderholt...").
Later this very day: White House is saying Obama won't sign the bill, which is better than, worse than, or exactly the same as vetoing it.

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