GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org
For Immediate Release:
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614,
mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org
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
GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
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