Financial journalist David Dayen talks about the 2008 fiscal crisis and his new book, Chain of Title, which tells the story of three average Americans who faced foreclosure and fought back.
The financial crisis and its aftermath haunt the 2016 elections. The shattering dislocation caused by the Great Recession set the stage for political insurgencies that have shaken both political parties. Free trade without a safety net is one of several issues galvanizing the downwardly mobile white voters rallying behind Donald Trump. On the left, Bernie Sanders weaponized the issue of Wall Street’s duplicity, Hillary Clinton’s ties to it, and the stunning fact that no one went to jail for systemic fraud that plunged the world economy into chaos.
The story of how we got into this mess is well known. But many of the accounts have centered on New York skyscrapers and on the corridors of power in D.C. Early this summer, financial journalist (and Prospect contributor) David Dayen released his dramatic account of the disaster from the perspective of three people who lived through foreclosures. Chain of Title focuses on Lisa Epstein, a nurse; Michael Redman, a car salesman; and Lynn Szymoniak, an insurance fraud lawyer. All three live in Florida, one of the states at the heart of the bubble. All of them wound up in difficulties, but instead of submitting to the indignities of foreclosure they fought back.
Dayen’s account interweaves the personal stories of these citizens with a bird’s eye analysis of the machinations that allowed the bubble to form and the cottage industry that sprang up to paper it over. Over the course of the book, his heroes uncover a stunning fact: The entities foreclosing on them do not have the legal right to do so. In the process of packaging mortgages into complex financial products, banks lost track of who actually owns the titles to the houses. Not only that, but the lenders have tried to cover their tracks by doctoring the paperwork—often clumsily—to make it appear as though the foreclosures are legitimate.
Dayen’s protagonists uncover a fraud so pervasive that it seems to implicate the majority of mortgages dispensed during the bubble years. He portrays the weak penalties imposed on the criminals in question, which were limited to fines and stiffer regulations, as a signature failure of the Obama administration that explains the further degradation of public trust in our institutions.
The American Prospect caught up with Dayen in his hometown of Philadelphia to talk about the financial crisis, Chain of Title, and the whole ugly episode’s deleterious effects on American democracy. This is an edited transcript of that conversation.
Jake Blumgart: There have been a raft of books about the financial crisis. What sets yours apart from the rest of the literature on the housing bubble and its aftermath?
Check out the rest here…
~
4closureFraud.org
They’re more than corrupt because corrupt means they sold out.
These crooks were bought out to hide they’re FRAUD FOR PROFIT RACKETEERING so they’re mobsters & nothing else.
Even though your pointing out that crimes were and are being committed , your giving way too much credibility to those in Power , Who know full well what just took place !!! This is nothing short of wealth confiscation from the private sector allowing our homes to be stolen for REDISTRIBUTION !!! Facts are the Facts and the truth is out which they are desperately trying to hide with their Lies !!! Our system of Government and Financial markets are corrupt as hell and how they are getting away with this crime is because people don’t want to believe it’s that bad , but it is !!!!
You make a good point, but that isn’t how they’re getting away with it. Abusing their positions of power and granting each other immunity is how they are doing it. Along as the profits are being shared under the guise of fines, everyone is ok with it.
For 10 years the Banks raped America and terrorized the American people, and did it when the so called Patriot Act was in full effect. No courts or warrants were needed to jail these terrorists, and yet no one did a thing.
But then a funny thing happened. A few blood gang members in San Diego basically committed the same crimes on a much smaller level, and suddenly 6 states banned together to create a task force that had arrested and sentenced them all from 10 to 30 years under Rico violations, and all within a month or two.
That to me was the epitome of hypocritical fuckery. Pure American evil at it’s best.
The kgb/russian mob think they can unlawfully swap out our TITLES by TITLE FRAUD because they conquered the WHITE HO– USE & that’s SECURITIES FRAUD by their perps to hide they’re unlawfully TRADING WITH THE ENEMY by HUMAN TRAFFICKING that is FRAUD FOR PROFIT by RACKETEERING with IDENTITY THEFT.
MIKHAIL KRYZHANOVSKI says the kgb rules USA –
http://m.youtube.com/?reload=14&rdm=25OfOsoc#/watch?v=cIQps_AEpZA
Actually, the Temple Crown owns America. On paper, John Malone owns the most land in America, @ 2.2 million acres. But that’s not actual possession. That would be the Crown, middle Temple I believe. The registration documents are most likely held at the sister White House, or White House #2, in Scotland.
This isn’t a conspiracy theory either. I spent more time than I care to admit researching actual facts. My research took me to me to some dark truths. Washington sold America out to the Crown. The Crowns colors are Red, White and Blue, hence our flag. If you look at the 1st flag, it’s the one Washington flew called the Grand Union, you’ll see it’s the same as the East India Co. Washington was a Crown loyalist, and was made the Colonel of British Armies.
He used the Constitution to steal sovereign land for the Federal dictatorship and to give himself the power to tax, which was only feasible by Congress. He usurped power by taking the wrong oath (under Article II, instead of VI), which made him an employee of Congress, not the President in the actual Office. There are 3 Offices but only 1 is the actual Office of President. He later made himself President without the authority of Congress assembled. He was actually the 9th President. John Hanson was 1st.
Understanding there are 2 United States is key. The United States of America = (50 States) and the United States=(federal government). But the USA is registered as 3 separate corporations. 2 in Maryland, and 1 in Scotland (at White House #2).
It’s pure fuckery, and the only to beat this bullshit is to learn the truth. Trust me. Once you see that this all true, you’ll get a picture of what’s going on. Washington was the reason for all this bullshit now.
There’s 5 – count ’em – 5 PARTIAL GRANT DEEDS which convey nothing that ARONBERG, GOLGEHN & GARMISA thought they would sneak in later during their unlawful FC dispute over my business property TITLE that FIRST MIDWEST BANK unlawfully CROSS-COLLATERALIZED with my house without me knowing it.
That’s DOUBLE JEOPARDY & they’re violating the 5th AMENDMENT TAKINGS CLA– USE of the U.S. CONSTITUTION by bringing 2 INFAMOUS SUITS upon me unlawfully that have no legal basis because of STOCK & BOND EXCHANGE RATE FRAUD.
That’s CRIMINAL ENTRAPMENT by the investors in their own FRAUD by PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY their DERIVATIVES FRAUD tanked when they charged off their SECURITIES FRAUD with no criminal investigations regarding why they never had the proof of why they did that.
They won’t say what they were fraudulently invested in which is very suspicious..
You have to understand the Constitution is not what you think it is. It wasn’t made for you and I. “We The People” does not mean US. The People means the same people who take you to court for traffic tickets… etc. Look at a summons and you’ll see “The People vs Your Name.”
You can’t sue yourself, so you are not “The People.” The Constitution is the governments manual for trickery & deceit” It does the exact opposite for us. It was made to protect “The People” from prosecution for these crimes they’re are committing against us.
This is why people can’t understand how these assholes are getting away with all this. But once you see the real truth, not the sovereign citizen idiot bullshit or nut job conspiracy theories, but the actual truth, then all of this will start to make perfect sense.
The U.S. STATES ATTORNEY should SUBPOENA the U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICES regarding why they’re behaving like DICTATORS.