Al Sharpton is a race baiting con artist who along Jesse Jackson makes a living out of racially shaking down corporations and organizations. From his entirely undeserved lofty perch at DOJ Eric Holder uses the power of the Federal government to shake down banks and launch another housing crisis. He has become Obama’s Al Sharpton.
In what could be a repeat of the easy-lending cycle that led to the housing crisis, the Justice Department has asked several banks to relax their mortgage underwriting standards and approve loans for minorities with poor credit as part of a new crackdown on alleged discrimination, according to court documents reviewed by IBD.
Prosecutions have already generated more than $20 million in loan set-asides and other subsidies from banks that have settled out of court rather than battle the federal government and risk being branded racist. An additional 60 banks are under investigation, a DOJ spokeswoman says.
No Job, No Problem
Settlements include setting aside prime-rate mortgages for low-income blacks and Hispanics with blemished credit and even counting “public assistance” as valid income in mortgage applications.
In several cases, the government has ordered bank defendants to post in all their branches and marketing materials a notice informing minority customers that they cannot be turned down for credit because they receive public aid, such as unemployment benefits, welfare payments or food stamps.
This is clearly a racial shakedown expanding on Obama’s concept of “social justice.”
For example, the government has ordered Midwest BankCentre to set aside almost $1 million in “special financing” for residents living in predominantly black areas of St. Louis. The program includes originating conventional home loans at fixed prime rates for African-American borrowers “who would ordinarily not qualify for such rates for reasons including the lack of required credit quality, income or down payment.”
And once again, the Federal government praises failure:
The same federal order, signed last month, praises Midwest for adopting “less stringent underwriting criteria” while under investigation.
They’re not forcing banks to do this, mind you (wink, wink):
Justice spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa said the anti-discrimination notice “does not compel the banks to make loans to people who do not qualify.” She said such measures are “essential to remedy the harmful effects of the banks’ conduct.”
That is, the harmful conduct being not making loans which are doomed to failure. Andrew Cuomo did this same thing in the 90’s.
The DOJ coercion also includes the demand that banks not disclose the unsupportable legal methods used to extort them.
As part of settlement deals, prosecutors have required banks to sign “nondisclosure agreements” barring them from talking about the methods used to allege discrimination. Bank lawyers contend the prosecutors are trying to hide the shaky legal grounds on which the cases are built. “It’s horrible what they’re doing at the civil rights division,” said Reginald Brown, a partner at Wilmer Hale in Washington, who has represented banks in connection to recent race-bias investigations. “They don’t have any proof, just theories.”
He added, “They want you to sign something saying you agree, under the condition of any settlement with them, that you won’t disclose what their theories were. That’s because their theories are loopy and wouldn’t stand the light of day.”
Holder’s DOJ has gone postal:
For the first time, prosecutors are judging banks for the secondary impact their policies have on entire minority communities, not just households. And they’re ordering reparations accordingly.
In announcing a recent $2 million settlement with Dallas-based PrimeLending, Civil Rights Division chief Tom Perez said, “We will require lenders to invest in the community that they’ve harmed.”
Another Reno protege, Perez has compared bankers to Klansmen. Only difference is, he said, bankers discriminate “with a smile” and “fine print.” He said this kind of racism, though more subtle, is “every bit as destructive as the cross burned in a neighborhood.”
There is no hearing, no trial, no jury. Holder and Perez are the sole arbiters of guilt.
And as before, they will make certain enough bad loans are being made:
Also, critics say Justice is acting as a bank regulator by enforcing its own quota system for multicultural loans. The civil rights division has set “benchmarks” for minority lending, and will monitor bank lending volume and activity in that area among the banks it’s suing.
Obama’s Department of Injustice is setting race relations aflame. This is reparations, plan and simple. This is blatant redistribution of wealth.
Holder has little interest in the applying the law evenly. He has made clear that he is aware of the distinction between “his people” and the rest of America.
J. Christian Adams served as a lawyer in the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ has called the Holder regime “out of control” and predicted the mortgage shakedown. He also has said that Eric Holder has little interest in the law outside of “his people.”
But he described the department’s hostility toward that and other cases involving black defendants as “pervasive.” Adams cited hostility in the department toward a 2007 voting rights case against a black official in Mississippi who was accused of trying to intimidate voters. Adams said that when the Black Panther case came up, he heard officials in the department say it was “no big deal” and “media-generated” and point to “Fox News” as the source.
But as the investigation unfolded, he said he discovered “indications” that the Black Panther Party was doing the “same thing” to supporters of former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during the Democratic primary season in early 2008. He urged the commission to pursue testimony from other Justice officials to corroborate his story.
Holder is a disgrace who already has much to explain regarding the Gunwalker travesty.
This is but more reason why it is so imperative that Obama not be re-elected.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.