Treasury Secretary Designate Ran A "Foreclosure Machine"

The emerging assminstration of neo- fascist sociopath Donald "Rump" Trump has a new member swamp thang: Treasury Secretary- designate Steve "27 Cents" Mnuchin, a Rump fundraiser and former Goldman Sachs executive who gained notoriety during the 2008 financial meltdown for running a "foreclosure machine" that caused untold misery to thousands of home owners. That machine, OneWest Bank, carried out more than 36,000 foreclosures in California under Mnuchin, who later profited handsomely (as much as $200 million?) from the sale of the bank. Some of the bank's shady practices under Mnuchin look all too familiar.

Here's some background from Bloomberg:

Dubious lending practices. Bailouts. Foreclosures. Robo-signing. Huge executive paydays. If Steven Mnuchin is nominated for Treasury secretary, his confirmation process promises to dredge up every controversy of the U.S. mortgage meltdown almost a decade ago.

Mnuchin is a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner and movie financier with no government experience who spent the past six months working as Donald Trump’s chief fundraiser. Trump’s transition team recommended Mnuchin for the Treasury job, people with knowledge of the matter said last week, and a decision could come any day. The part of his background that’s likely to get the most scrutiny is the six years he spent running OneWest Bank, a Southern California lender. [snip]

The bank carried out more than 36,000 foreclosures during Mnuchin’s reign, according to the California Reinvestment Coalition, a San Francisco-based nonprofit whose deputy director, Kevin Stein, dubbed the bank a “foreclosure machine.” The group has accused OneWest of shoddy foreclosure practices and avoiding business in minority neighborhoods, claims the bank has denied. 

Then there are these victims of Mnuchin's bank:

If Mnuchin gets the nod, the world will hear more about people like Leslie Parks, who found the locks on her Minneapolis home changed during a blizzard in December 2009 after OneWest foreclosed. Or Rose Gudiel, who was evicted from her Pasadena home under circumstances she claimed were improper and inspired about 100 people to march on Mnuchin’s Bel Air, California, mansion in 2011.

Now, there's someone who fits the profile of a "populist," amirite?

One wonders how the nomination of banker, hedge fund millionaire and former Goldman Sachs "globalist" financier (we leave to your imagination the right- wing dog whistle there) Mnuchin will go over with the neo- Nazi/ white nationalist segment of Rump's base.  Or, perhaps we're expecting too much consistency from a mob that has a larger goal in mind -- that of implementing a white nationalist agenda regardless of the individual moving parts -- and who'll likely continue to "Heil Trump."  For the low- information, run- of- the- mill Rump voter (as Steve M. has noted regarding the likely demise of Obamacare), we don't see them blaming Rump or Republicans for any disaster that a Mnuchin- led Treasury may someday call down on their "economically anxious" heads.  That would be too reasonable.

BONUS: This sums it up nicely:

Trump doesn’t have a coherent view of policy. But he does have an ethos of plunder. And he’s stacking his cabinet w like-minded jackals https://t.co/MB9VJQw6hT

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) November 30, 2016

BONUS II:  Of course, he's a believer in supply- side, trickle down economics.

BONUS III:  Charles Pierce on the like-minded jackals Rump's stacking his cabinet with.

(Photo:  Protesters outside of Mnuchin's Bel Air estate in October 2011.)

Why The 99% Movement Must Prevail

We saw this story of a 103 year old Atlanta area woman facing eviction when her home was foreclosed by Chase Bank, servicing the loan on behalf of Deutsche Bank, and wondered if these financial wizards that screwed our housing market up have souls. Fortunately, to their great credit, the movers sent to remove her belongings and the sheriff's office overseeing the eviction refused to evict Vita Lee and her 83 year old daughter from the home they'd lived in for 53 years. Facing public outrage, the bank backed off.

A small victory, but an important symbol of how the greed at the top of our economy has damaged people at the bottom. One can only wonder how many thousands of times this is happening every week without as much notice.

McSame Aides Lobbied for Predatory Mortgage Co.

Think Progress picks up on a story in the New York Daily News about two of Sen. McSame's closest advisors, John Green and Wayne Berman, who were recently lobbyists for now-defunct Ameriquest, the predatory home mortgage lender that had to pay some $325 million to states after being successfully sued over their lending practices. Over 13,000 homeowners in New York state alone were victims of the company.

Straight Talk McSame has said he's not going to "play politics" with the unfolding home foreclosure disaster; now we know why. Collar getting a little tight?

(photo: AP)