Ecuador’s legislature has passed a bill that would require banks to forgive any outstanding debt on mortgages for first-time home buyers
of properties worth up to $146,000 if they default and forfeit the home.The measure, aimed at discouraging a real estate bubble of the type that has caused so much pain in the United States and Europe, won praise from many Ecuadoreans on Wednesday.
[…] Approved Tuesday evening by a 68-21 vote, the bill also covers loans by banks to first-time purchasers of automobiles that cost up to $29,200.
[…] The law appears to be unique.
San Diego State University economist Michael Lea, a real estate specialist, said the only similar measure he was aware of was the creation of a national housing bank by the leftist Sandinista movement in Nicaragua after it won power in 1979.
[…]Pablo Davalos, an economist at Catholic University, said the move would be good for most Ecuadoreans.
“This law is positive for the consumer and negative for the banker, who now has to increase his reserves and that means less liquidity and
less profit for the bankers,” Davalos said.
Category: Power to the People
Having it both ways
Axelrod complained before the 2010 midterms that Democrats didn’t have the kind of outside money that the Republicans did – even though the Obama campaign told the liberal donors not to support them. Now the issue comes up again. Ha, ha!
WASHINGTON — Senior leaders of the Democratic Partyexpressed alarm on Tuesday that a $100 million plan by liberal donors to increase voter turnout would duplicate a similar effort by President Obama campaign and squander a chance to fend off an advertising onslaught from Republican groups.
Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, and other officials conveyed concern that Democratic candidates could be at a disadvantage if the contributors, many of whom had stayed on the sidelines of the 2012 campaign until now, decide not to spend money on television ads that push back against a torrent of attacks from conservative “super PACS” in the presidential election and Congressional races.
The views highlighted concerns about being outgunned by outside groups raising huge amounts of money to back Republicans, and suggested a rift between Democratic leaders and some liberal donors.
“The idea that these progressive groups are essentially re-creating the wheel is perplexing and troubling,” said David Krone, the chief of staff to Mr. Reid. “Why go off and build a redundant grass-roots and get-out-the-vote organization that the Obama campaign is clearly invested in?”
Umm, because we don’t trust the Democratic leadership not to piss it away on overpriced ads from their pals instead of supporting progressive candidates?
The Democratic officials were responding to an article in The New York Times on Tuesday that the financier George Soros and other major donors had decided to avoid a head-to-head confrontation in television advertising by pro-Republican groups and would instead spend money registering new voters and building stronger turnout organizations.
Why May Day?
From Adbusters, a reminder of why our problems aren’t going to be solved by electing a new president from among the Republicrats:
…The fact that most of us are too busy being exploited to realize we’re being exploited – too busy greasing the cogs of our economic system to notice how the fruits of our labor never fail to float up and out of our reach – is why we’re striking, as is the fact that most aren’t able to do anything about this exploitation even when we do notice it. While some of us are lucky enough to have jobs and careers that give real meaning to our lives, allowing us to take full advantage of our talents and fulfill our destiny, most of us have jobs devoid of meaning and dignity, yet full of the feeling that we are fulfilling someone else’s destiny. Our recognition that the ruling class’s seat at the top of the pyramid is prepared and propped up by the working class is why we’re striking. Our knowledge that it’s actually the CEO who is the most dependent among us, and that the ones truly indispensable to our society are not bankers, lobbyists and politicians, but workers, teachers and engineers, is why we’re striking…
Trayvon’s killer charged — at last
By Odd Man Out
The rickety wheels of justice rolled forward yesterday in Florida. From Reuters:
George Zimmerman is under arrest, charged with second degree murder in the [Feb. 26] shooting death of Trayvon Martin, a Florida special prosecutor announced Wednesday.
Zimmerman, 28, who’s been in hiding since news of Martin’s killing gained worldwide attention, turned himself in on an arrest warrant, called a capias, Special Prosecutor Angela Corey said at a news conference.
“I can tell you we did not come to this decision lightly,” Corey said in remarks broadcast live on TV and online. “We do not prosecute by public pressure or by petition. We prosecute based on the facts in any given case, as well as the laws of the state of Florida.”
Blah blah. Corey was just setting the record straight for those cynics among us who figure the killing would have been completely ignored by the state if not for persistent public criticism. Perish the thought.
Tea Patriots, Atlanta Occupiers and Unions agree on Georgia SB 469
Well, hell has frozen over in Georgia.
Tea Party activists, Unions and Occupy Atlanta are in agreement to oppose Georgia Senate Bill 469 proposing to make protesting on private property an aggravated misdemeanor, carrying steep fines and prison time.
This law would criminalize and impose $1,000 fines on people who picket outside the homes of CEO’s or outside some businesses, a common practice used by Occupy groups, environmental protestors and labor unions.
Some people in the Occupy Atlanta group feel this bill targets participants camping out at the ATT Headquarters in Midtown Atlanta. Unions believe they are the targets of this protest bill, as well. The bill also contains a mandate requiring union members to put into writing every year that they want to pay union dues or organizational fees through paycheck deductions. A change in the bill has exempted teachers and firefighters should the bill become law.
Julianne Thompson, Georgia director of the Tea Party Patriots believes that this bill is a direct shot at First Amendments Rights and could be interpreted too broadly.
The four State Senators that sponsored the bill are members of ALEC. (American Legislative Exchange Council.)
Keep your eye on the State legislators. It’s where the action is!
A win
For one of the good guys.
Those goddamned hippies
by Susie
They sure do have a lot of nerve, trying to buy up elections, don’t they?
Fear of ‘Mic check!’
So either there’s some major security threat of which we know nothing — or the Powers That Be are simply terrified of being mic-checked. I’m gonna have to go with the second one:
President Obama has boasted for months about hosting the annual summit of the Group of 8 industrialized nations this May in his hometown of Chicago, but on Monday, the White House without explanation announced a shift to the secluded setting of the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland.
Administration officials and associates, speaking only on the condition of anonymity, said the president in recent weeks began discussing the idea of a more intimate setting for the world leaders — both to ease their communications and to cut down on the security concerns and traffic tie-ups of a big-city summit. Also, several noted, Vladimir V. Putin, a harsh critic of the United States who returns to the presidency of Russia after his election on Sunday, will be among the attendees.
“To facilitate a free-flowing discussion with our close G-8 partners, the president is inviting his fellow G-8 leaders to Camp David on May 18 to 19 for the G-8 Summit, which will address a broad range of economic, political and security issues,” the brief White House statement said.
Still, the change of location was unusual given the months-long lead time that such events require for preparation.
I think the reporter just said the White House was lying. Not in so many words, but close. You can draw your own conclusions.
Administration officials and others denied that the prospect of the anti-globalization protests common to such gatherings was a factor in the decision to change locations. After the Group of 8 summit, the separate summit of 28 NATO countries and Russia will go on as planned in Chicago, where leaders will discuss the future of the Atlantic alliance and specifically the coalition’s exit from Afghanistan by 2014 and the size and makeup of any residual force there.
Huh. So if protests weren’t even a factor, considering the sorts of things that have been going on in protests around the globe, they’d have to be pretty dumb to not be worried about them. Which indicates to me that someone is blowing smoke, but that’s okay. It’s always better to have them scared of the people than it is to have the people scared of the Powers That Be.
The right thing
Trader Joe’s signs a fair food agreement with Florida tomato workers.
Occupy our homes
I love you, Occupy. Oh yes I do:
Brooklyn, NY — This afternoon approximately one hundred people peacefully and powerfully disrupted a foreclosure auction by bursting into song. At 3pm the foreclosure auctioneer attempted to start bidding on homes that had been foreclosed upon. When the bidding started, the courtroom burst into song:
“Mr. Auctioneer
All the people here
Are asking you to stop all the sales right now
We’re going to survive, but we don’t know how”The National Lawyers Guild estimated that approximately 35 people were arrested. Those arrested continued to sing as they were handcuffed and escorted out of the courtroom.
In advance of the proceedings, Occupied Real Estate agents distributed brochures that profiled the properties up for auction with photos of protesters out front.
“If speculators want to bid on these listings they should know that they come with eviction defense activists from Occupy Wall Street,” said Danielle Moeser of Occupied Real Estate, a “realty agency” that lists properties available for occupation or in need of eviction defense.
Today’s action is part of a growing national movement committed to stopping foreclosures and keeping all Americans in their homes. Last month over 50 actions were carried out across the country, including foreclosure disruptions, eviction defense actions, and home reoccupations. Occupy Wall Street participants and other occupations across the country have been highly involved in these actions.