[GPCA Updates] GP RELEASE Green Party urges nationwide halt on home foreclosures

[Green Party of California Updates]

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES

http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Thursday, November 3, 2011



Green Party calls for a nationwide moratorium on home foreclosures

• Greens urge Obama, Congress to halt further bank foreclosures: Wall Street
firms should suffer 'austerity' for the economic crisis they caused, not the
American people

• Green Party Speakers Bureau: Green leaders available to speak on economics:
http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-economic-justice.php


WASHINGTON, DC -- The Green Party of the United States called for an immediate
nationwide moratorium on foreclosures and urged President Obama and Congress
to take steps to halt further actions by banks to foreclose on the homes of
Americans in the continuing economic recession.

"An order barring lenders from evicting people from their homes would be a
powerful first step towards restoring financial stability and easing the fears
of middle- and low-income working Americans," said John Eder, Green candidate
for Mayor of Portland, Maine (http://www.johneder.org) and former State
Representative in Maine.  "The economy might be thriving again for the one
percent, but for most Americans, the Subprime Mortgage Crisis and 2008
recession are not over.  Millions of families face the loss of their homes,
millions are without a job or only semi-employed, millions have no health
coverage or inadequate coverage."

Green Party candidate Cheri Honkala, running for Sheriff of Philadelphia in
the 2011 election, has pledged not to cooperate with banks attempting to evict
residents from their homes (http://www.cherihonkala.com).  Ms. Honkala is a
long-time housing activist and founder of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union.

Victims of the subprime scam and Americans facing the loss of their homes
deserve assistance instead of eviction (Green Party Platform on housing:
http://www.gp.org/committees/platform/2010/social-justice.php#1002699).  The
suspension on foreclosures should continue at least until a determination can
be made about which would-be homeowners were offered subprime mortgages by
banks with insufficient regard for the ability of the borrower to make good on
payments or get refinancing.

Greens across the US are participating in Occupy movements against the greed,
recklessness, criminality, and unchecked political power of banks, Wall Street
firms, and other corporate elites.

Green Party leaders said that major banks and other financial institutions
made billions of dollars by defrauding people who were unlikely to make good
on payments into taking out adjustable-rate mortgages, pooling the high-risk
mortgages into collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), giving the toxic
securities high ratings, and taking taxpayer-funded bailouts when the house of
cards collapsed.  The banks then began to foreclose on homes, often filing
fraudulent paperwork for eviction of families.

Democratic and Republican politicians, including Presidents Clinton and Bush,
supported the deregulation that made these actions possible and presided over
the failure of regulatory agencies to use existing laws against the abuses.
  President Clinton played signed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (repealing the
Glass-Steagall Act) and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which
deregulated derivatives, CDOs, credit default swaps, and other complex
securities, both of which helped trigger the crisis.

"If the federal government can bail out Wall Street firms that caused the
crisis, it can act now to protect Americans faced with the loss of their
homes," said Terry Baum, Green candidate for Mayor of San Francisco
(http://www.terryjoanbaum.com).  "When Democratic and Republican politicians
talk about austerity, funding cuts for social services, plans to slash Social
Security and Medicare, and similar steps to fix the economy, what they mean is
that working people must suffer for the irresponsibility and crimes of Wall
Street.  As the SEC's slap on the wrist penalty for Citigroup's sale of toxic
mortgage-backed securities proves, this austerity is one-sided.  CEOs and
other top staff whose behavior caused the meltdown continue to rake in
millions in salaries and bonuses."  (See "Judge questions SEC settlement with
Citigroup," The Washington Post, Oct. 27,
 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/judge-questions-sec-settlement-with-citigroup/2011/10/27/gIQAe2D3MM_story.html)

Greens said that President Obama, despite his expressions of sympathy for
people facing lost homes and jobs, remains on the side of Wall Street.  Recent
news stories confirm that he is seeking and receiving fat campaign checks from
corporate contributors
(http://october2011.org/blogs/kevin-zeese/era-occupy-wall-street-obama-relies-wall-street-fund-his-re-election).
  Mr. Obama received more financial industry contributions than any politician
in US history in 2008.  During this campign, he endorsed President Bush's
bailout for Wall Street.  After taking office, he stacked his administration
with Wall Street insiders like Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, economics
advisor Larry Summers, and Chief of Staff Billy Daley.

"President Obama has offered window dressing instead of relief for Americans
hurt by the crisis.  He won't risk offending the banks by stopping the
foreclosures -- especially in an election season in which his campaign is
desperate for stacks of campaign checks from the 'one percent' contributors.
  He won't consider making systematic changes in how the financial industry
operates, such as restoring Glass-Steagall safeguards and breaking up the 'too
big to fail' banks.  President Obama's token steps toward change have been
matched with real steps backward -- the President's recent minimalist jobs
proposal coincided with his job-killing free-trade agreement with Korea,
Colombia, and Panama.  In contrast to the President's lip service about
change, Greens are calling for concrete solutions, starting with a moratorium
on foreclosures right now," said Mark Dunlea, former Chair of Green Party of
New York State and Executive Director of a statewide
  anti-poverty organization in New York.

"Most Republican and Democratic politicians judge the US economy according to
Dow Jones, profit margins of top corporations, the GDP, i.e., how much the
rich are getting richer.  Greens judge the economy by how many Americans have
living-wage jobs with benefits, are safe in their homes, enjoy financial
security and good health care, are moving out of poverty, and how well the
environment is protected, now and for future generations.  Those are the
priorities of the secure green economy we are committed to creating," said Mr.
Dunlea.


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191
• Green candidate database and campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Ballot Access Page http://www.gp.org/ballotstatus
• Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• Video Page http://www.gp.org/video/index.php
• Green Papers http://www.greenpapers.net

"Why inequality in America is even worse than you thought: A new study shows
economic and social conditions in the U.S. rank near the bottom of the
developed nations"
By Justin Elliott, Salon.com, October 29, 2011
http://www.salon.com/2011/10/29/why_inequality_in_america_is_even_worse_than_you_thought/

"Cheat Sheet: What’s Happened to the Big Players in the Financial Crisis"
By Braden Goyette, ProPublica, October 26, 2011
http://www.propublica.org/article/cheat-sheet-whats-happened-to-the-big-players-in-the-financial-crisis

2011 Endorsements for Green Party Candidates
http://www.gp.org/candidates/endorsements-2011.php

Press conferences, forums, and other events at the Green Party's 2011 Annual
National Meeting in Alfred, NY, broadcast and archived on the Green Party's
Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• 2011 Annual National Meeting http://nygreenfest.org

Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the
United States (Summer 2011 issue now online)
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog


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