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Jason Redmond / AP
Activist Mario Jefferson, 31, right, leads a chant as Good Jobs LA and Occupy LA activists disrupt a home auction outside the county courthouse in Norwalk, Calif., Friday.
Dozens of Occupy Los Angeles protesters -- who lost their encampment to eviction and many of their comrades to arrest this week -- rallied Friday morning at a courthouse where some 7,000 properties are being auctioned after foreclosure by Bank of America.
The protesters are chanting and carrying signs outside the Norwalk Courthouse reading,"Banks got bailed out, we got sold out," "Keep people in their homes," and "Stop Foreclosures!" Organizers who were monitoring the sales online announced each property sale as it happened via megaphone.
"Protesters are calling for a moratorium on foreclosures and for Bank of America and other Wall Street banks to end the practices that crashed the economy and continue to hurt LA communities," says a release by Good Jobs LA, a nonprofit coalition of labor, housing and immigrant rights groups that is supporting Occupy LA.
There was no obvious police presence -- only what appeared to be ordinary courthouse security, according to Jacob Hay, a Good Jobs LA spokesman who was there. In a bit of street theater, protesters held a mock auction of a tent from the dismantled occupy encampment.
"This is an example of the type of smaller but quick-hitting actions that the Occupy Movement will be transitioning to now that they don’t have the permanent camp at City Hall," said Hay, speaking by cell phone from the courthouse. "So it’s going to be a lot of these quick things.
Adam Carolla calls OWS protesters 'self-entitled monsters'
"On Monday, City Council will be considering a responsible banks ordinance, so people will be rallying there in front of City Council," he said. "And there will be more events like that to come."
Los Angeles is considering a Responsible Banking Ordinance which would attempt to compel the government to do business with banks that are rated "socially responsible," which the activists support. Similar proposals are being weighed in other cities.
Across the country, Occupy activists are resetting their strategy after many encampments have been forced to shut down.
In Wednesday night's massive police action to clear the protesters' encampment at the park in front of City Hall, more than 290 people were arrested. The Los Angeles Times on Friday posted a full list of those who were taken into custody, with bail set at $5,000 for most.
Related stories on msnbc.com
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Here we go again...
"Protesters are calling for a moratorium on foreclosures and for Bank of America and other Wall Street banks to end the practices that crashed the economy and continue to hurt LA communities" - Guess what protesters, maybe they shouldn't have taken (and the bank shouldn't have given) a loan in the first place if they can't pay it back.
Following that logic, I'm going to take out a loan on a new Mercedes and pay back about $250 before I decide to stop because the bank is unjust for making me pay it.
Following that logic, I'm going to take out a loan on a new Mercedes and pay back about $250 before I decide to stop because the bank is unjust for making me pay it.
What difference does it make since the bank is just going to get a handout from the government from the loss of the Mercedes?
Eh, while I agree that the bank handouts should not have been done, that should not exempt me from the fact that I agreed to pay back a loan.
Nobody hates banks when they need them for something, but as soon as the loan papers are processed they become monsters apparently. Let's just keep up the attitude as of late that personal responsibility doesn't matter, because that's the only vibe I've been getting from OWS as of late.
and if you dont pay the loan, its not YOUR house.
Bingo. It's technically not your house until the mortgage is paid off in full.
Do people even read legal documents anymore? Either way, they have no reason to complain about being kicked out of a house that they didn't pay for.
Have you ever looked into the blatantly fraudulent practices the banks have used and the broken chain of title that they caused due to their actions? Not all of the people who were foreclosed on are deadbeats. Do some research or just don't comment on something without the facts.
Yeah, broken chain of title is a thing ... should make sure who currently holds the title... but still, did the homeowner default (not pay) or not? You can hold up the foreclosure till they sort out the title, but the bottom line is if you don't pay, you lose the home.
People shouldn't be buying houses that are beyond their pay-rate. My rule of thumb is that DONOT take out a mortgate that is twice or greater than your gross income, and always make sure you have at least 6 months worth of payments saved up some where. If you don't meet this qualification, then you should take out the mortgage in the first place.
This comes up every damn time and it's still hogwash. There's a lot of people who lost their jobs or took pay cuts because of the tanking economy- which was created by bank malfeasance- and are now losing their homes to the same banks.
The insipid talking point of "They should not have taken a loan they could not afford" is complete trash. Far too many decent, taxpaying, hard-working people who got screwed by Wall Street are now being screwed again. Not to mention those foreclosed on illegally or when the bank didn't even hold the mortgage!
Every one of you whining about how these people deserve their fate: You're one really bad day away from the path to a sherriff at your own door with an eviction notice and a bunch of thugs to throw your stuff on the lawn.
There but for sheer luck go you. Don't think for an instant that your bootstraps will keep you from being the next one under the bus.
Sleep tight.
Cyclometh, you are absolutely correct.
Many posters here have no idea what it's like to have had 2 perfectly good salaries, and lose both jobs in the same year and take two years to find one job at 1/2 the pay.
Sometimes life just sucks.
People have been foreclosed upon by banks in other bad economies...this one is no different, except people are justifying breaking their contracts because they think EVERY SINGLE hardship in their lives were the banks' fault, and none at all of their own doing or lack of planning, or bad choices in life, well, through no fault AT ALL of their own.
We've lost jobs to other countries and overseas for the past four decades, not the banks' fault. You can blame NAFTA, technology, and other countries with cheaper labor for those...all of which caused people to lose jobs. Let me guess, people who've lost their homes over the last 40 years due to these things shouldn't have to pay their loans back and shouldn't have been foreclosed upon, either?
Let me ask it this way...when IS it OK for a bank to foreclose on a house??????
Fraud is Fraud, so if the Banks were committing Fraud by approving unqualified people for martgages then those contracts are null and void PERIOD. Just because you signed does not exempt the other party from the responsibility of a legal and binding contract. I think the banks are even shocked about the Trillions that they continue to rake in. The government must hold the Banks accountable for this crisis and make them PAY the taxpayers back for the burden. Otherwise, be prepared for some ugly times ahead. Lets keep in mind that Cops, firefighters, Military personnel- they have been robbed by the banks too!!!! They have lost homes and continue to struggle in this economy. Government sanctions on Banks need to begin now - every foreclosed property makes the bank money - How about a fund to bail out the taxpayer!!!
WRONG!! The banks never FORCED anyone to sign a loan. Never.
It's NOT the banks' fault that people didn't understand what they were signing. It amazes me that people can't grasp the simple fact THAT THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR UNDERSTANDING WHAT THEY ARE SIGNING!
In fact, the banks were pressured by the likes of Barney Frank and Chris Dodd to lend anyone and everyone money, and to "invent" ridiculous and exotic terms like "zero down" and "interest only" and other ARMs so anyone COULD qualify. They wanted "everyone to have a home" and threatened banks that wouldn't give "everyone a home."
If you bought a 500k house on your 30k/year job and didn't have to put any money down on an "interest only" loan...and it all sounded too good to be true, it's because it was. Peoples' sad ignorance to simple compounding loan interest is NOT the banks' fault.
It's amazing to me how people have ZERO sense of personal responsibility these days.
Personal responsibility for fraudulent lending??? Come on rich guy, Americans are not making it up. Hopefully the fantasy world you live in will fall victim to the banks in the near future or- somebody you know personally, good hard working responsible people that are losing and/or have lost their homes. What about all those overinflated home values from 2004-2006 that are costing retirement age people a significant part of their "nest egg"? You sound like someone that doesn't live in the REAL America, it's not the DREAM that it used to be. You think Barney Frank forced the Banks Lie????? Laughable, because the lie was as follows: "We have reviewed your financial info and credit report and you qualify for x amount of money". If most people that are upside down in their mortgages but never missed a payment walked into their lender today to apply for the exact same loan/terms they would be denied flat out. Why have the banks toughened the lending practices so tight?? Stimulus was supposed to get them to lend money to taxpayers. Now the taxpayers cant meet the NEW terms for lending. Banks play by their own rules. PERIOD. JAX A must surely be a banker.
"Fraudulent lending?" What about those terms were "fraudulent?" People didn't lose their homes because the loans were "fraudulent," they lost them because they couldn't make their mortgage payments. It's NOT the bank's fault people didn't understand ARMs or other loan types THEY AGREED TO. There was nothing constituting fraud whatsoever. Those terms were printed in black and white, for people to read. If they didn't understand what they were signing, that's on them.
"Rich guy?" LOL, I'm not even remotely rich (just ask Obama, he says 200k/yr is rich) and I'm nowhere near that. And I'm in IT, you idiot, not a banker. I just happen to understand supply/demand, simple compounding interest, and....wait for it..... wait for it..... personal responsibility. Keep studying junior, someday you'll understand these things too... I hope.
Do you even understand WHY those home values exploded? It's because EVERYONE got a loan. Everyone gets easy money, everyone buys a house, therefore, the demand goes through the roof. The demand for anything goes through the roof, its price goes up. Sorry if this baffles you.
If you don't think Frank/Dodd had anything to do with the loosening of lending restrictions that allowed EVERYONE to get a loan (which you are complaining about now, but everyone thought was so great back then) I can't help you out of your ignorance.
You also seem like you can't make up your mind. You scream that people shouldn't have been given loans in the first place, because that got us into this mess. Now, when they tighten their lending restrictions to fix things and avoid another disastrous bubble like this, you scream they won't lend. You have a hard time picking a lane, huh? It sucks people can't refinance if they're underwater, I agree, but either we have tighter restrictions, or we don't. If people are losing their nest eggs, or any money set aside, it just indicates they didn't do a very good job planning. When you buy a house, you make damn sure you understand the terms, don't buy a house that's more than 2-3 times your annual salary, and have enough money, somewhere, to absorb mortgage payments for a 6 months to a year for a rainy day. Real America is about planning and responsibility, not about blaming everyone else for lack thereof. Well, it used to be, anyway.
Bobby must a member of the "cult of victimhood" or our liberal education system, or sadly, both. Apparently, it's both.
I think the CA cities need the banks more than the banks need CA cities. Banks are only doing business with cities that are "financially responsible" and CA is the worst run state in the country-- see another article on msnbc/forbes.
CA real estate market is artificially inflated. A lot of people who bought houses there were purely for speculation/investment because their income does not sustain long-term mortgage payments. They were betting on steady increase in the house value and hope to cash in early.
Some OWS folks are talking about defaulting on student loans. Good luck with that. The loan never goes away. Can't get rid of it thru bankruptcy. Default on a loan and good luck with that job interview. Interviewers immediately think the person has integrity issues. In boom times, maybe no problem, but now when employers can be picky ... default is not a good idea.
An article I read yesterday says it all "Friends Don't Let Friends Major in Liberal Arts" :) If you do and run up a 100K tab, oh well.
The festival of entitlement whores. Give it up MSNBC. Nobody gives a shlt about these misery pimps anymore..............except you.
Our government spent 7.7 trillion TAXPAYER dollars to bail their stinking asses out. The least they can all do is give the houses back to the people they ousted.
You are referring to the 7.7 trillion in loans from the Fed I believe. The Fed is a privately owned bank. NOT part of the US Govt.
When you lose your job because the economy collapsed due to banks robbing your country blind and your house is foreclosed on- you will be singing a far different tune.
Retired, no debt. Don't think I'll be losing my house.
@Jim B
Hopefully you won't lose your house. But it could happen. BOA has been known to attempt foreclosure on properties that have been fully paid off. BOA is simply too big to function properly.
Now then. Should we continue the downward spiral and encounter conditions similar to those of the great depression when the dollar became virtually without value what might be the end result in your case? Let me guess. As local property taxes skyrocket a point will be reached where you may not be able to pay your property taxes and your local government will take your home. Remember, in reality you don't actually own your home, you are simply allowed to continue to live in it as long as you pay the the randomly accessed taxes. No tax payments? No home. Simple, isn't it?
Finally, keep in mind that you are only one disaster away from becoming homeless. Major medical problems that your insurer decides not to cover? Stock market crash wipes out your retirement? Any number of things can... and do... go wrong.
Don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with what you've said. Just a little reminder that sometimes reality... well... can suck, for lack of a better term.
Good luck.
We should have "fractional ownership" in houses. I don't understand why if you pay for a house for 20 years and have "equity" built up in the house...How is it that a bank can now foreclose on that same house and sell it and keep 100% of the proceeds?
Further, many of these same banks already took money from the Government to cover their losses. All this foreclosing will do is further line the profits that these banks will now greedily take.
It used to be that the very idea of a Bank was to safeguard your assets. These days, banks are just another "get rich quick" scheme for the top .01% of the country while the rest of us are made to be slaves.
The Occupy movement got a lot of support in the beginning when they were pointing out inequality of wealth in this country. Unfortunately they have not come up with practical proposals or solutions. By just occupying space, they are losing the opportunity to fix problems as the public loses interest.
All the states should follow Massachusetts example and sue the banks for illegal home seizures. They were all illegal, fight fire with fire, use the law. It is there for the disenfranchised.
this sounds like these idoits alright they plan on occupining everything watch this video this is the best example of the ows I have found oh also take a look at these pictures http://gopsupporters.newsvine.com/_news/2011/12/01/9148165-anti-sentism-at-ows http://gopsupporters.newsvine.com/_news/2011/11/30/9123333-the-true-image-of-the-ows I can't wait to see what loser left denial is used if any of them dare watch the videos or look at the pictures of the ows
Get a life, people.
The HARSH TRUTH that the OCCUPY PROTESTORS bring to our scene is refreshing because its represents the face of what has been described over the years as the SILENT MAJORITY. The silent majority also commonly known as the MIDDLE CLASS has found its voice and as unpleasant as it is to hear for our compromised seated politicians allied as they are with Wall street executives and lobbyists, its the proper time for it to happen. The nation is in great distress because of the misconduct and mismanagement of Congress in tandem with big business. Its got to stop before they cut any deeper into the flesh and bones of middle class Americans;46,000,000 of them unemployed as of this writing and counting.
People who don't have the faintest idea what really happened should not make stupid comments. Everyone in this country better thank the OCCUPY PROTESTERS because they are helping get this country back on the right track.
you are out of your @!$%#ing mind.
For all u "right wing"loons...since you are all into the "constitution...tell me where i can find "capitalism and/or free market....i cant find anything regarding these economic systems????...so therefore....our financial system is UNCONSTITUTIONAL ...However, "general welfare of people "is in...therefore a social democracy is in order!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I bought my first home in 1971 and within ten years the value had trippled. I owed about a quarter of the value of the home and my gain was because of something that the economists said was bad, it was called inflation. I could use the equity to start a business and pay less for car loans. Today the housing market is going in reverse compaired to then. You put twenty percent down and two years later you are under water. I know people that have a few rentals and they are bankrupt over them. They worked hard but got caught with property deflating. So the emphasis is on property, but it has nothing to do with property. It has to do with jobs and nothing else. Stop letting 1.27 million people come into this country every year and the job market will heal fast. You know why we are allowing so many people in here. Because bureaucrats are making money off those visas.
OWS is there to start a war. OWS is the enemy.
The Occupy Movement makes me feel alive and in Love with America Again.
OWS wants to live in a communist society.
Go watch a Matt Damon Movie "Inside Job" Academy Award Winning Documentary on Financial Crisis of 2008.
That is that about the foundation of the Occupy Movement.
OWS Obama's World Sucks!
Obama is the one destroying America and the core of OWS are his foot soldiers.
Occupy Chicago 1988 was Obama's first occupy movement.
Prepare For "The Freedom War" that is brewing in America.
World Warriors Freedom Fighters and others like them
UNITE to protect our rights of FREEDOM.
Join "The Freedom March" on WASHINGTON DC 2012
The Democrats and Republicans are on different sides of the same totem pole.
I really think that that the Occupy Haters think they are trying to hold society together.
Keep up the rhetoric. It will make you smarter. At least you guys learned not to keep saying "Today is the Last day of the Occupy Movement". (That must really smart to you defenders of all that is good and decent in America.) I haven't seen Fox News show up in Google Search for Occupy Movement for weeks.
That alone is a major victory!!!!
Dozens of L.A. occupy protesters rally .
L.A. County population = more than 10 million .
Greater metro L.A. population = more than 17 million .
It my be a little too soon for you to declare a major victory .
Stephen please explain these photos http://gopsupporters.newsvine.com/_news/2011/12/02/9176640-ows-pictures-part-3 http://gopsupporters.newsvine.com/_news/2011/12/01/9148165-anti-sentism-at-ows http://gopsupporters.newsvine.com/_news/2011/11/30/9123333-the-true-image-of-the-ows and while were at how about explain these videos http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b58_1321298742&p=1 http://www.mrctv.org/videos/dc-occupier-che-guevara-good-guy www.mrctv.org/channels/mrctv-originals?page=0%2C1
The OWS is stupid
The first clue should be one of Obama’s radical administration members or in this case ex member supports the movement. It’s common knowledge that former Obama administration official Van Jones has been one of the main forces organizing the Occupy protests. The African-American Jones, a self-described radical communist activist and 9/11 “truther another words one of the idiots who believe 9/11 was a government conspiracy,” has long sought to create a far left answer to the tea party, which he has described as a racist organization bent on taking away the civil rights of minorities.
Yet isn’t it strange that his Occupy Wall Street movement has been shown, repeatedly, to be a hotbed of anti-Semitism, Now, anti-Semitic sign bearers and speakers who have latched onto the Occupy demonstrations have Jewish leaders in Chicago concerned. "I think the Zionist Jews who are running these big banks and our Federal Reserve, that is not run by the federal government, they need to be run out of this country," said one protester. which enjoys the full faith and support of the American Nazi Party? According to the skinheads, OWS is taking on the same “judeo-capitalist banksters” that they themselves so deeply despise. On their website, Nazi Party leader Rocky Suhayda acknowledged that many of the organizers and protesters were non-Aryan communists, but he wrote, “Even Adolf Hitler’s NSDAP had to vote with open communists on some issues to achieve their goals.”
Further evidence of the occupiers communism is shown in a sign that says world workers party (another communist party) and at the top it says a job is a right there for they think no matter no matter how lazy and untalented there are they believe they should be handed a job and not have to work for it and that takes away the incentive to work which destroys buisnness if you need further evidence of how this doesn't work just pick up a history book and read about the soviet union.
Lets not forget the violence of these so called peaceful protesters they have had so may rapes inside the protest they had to set up sections of women only tents. One occupy protester threw a credit card recorder at McDonlads employees because they wouldn't give him free food. They have attacked and vandalized street vendor carts when they stopped giving free food even pissing on the carts In Portland, police said they had received reports that protesters were digging a reinforced hole and fashioning makeshift weapons out of wood and nails after Mayor Sam Adams gave them until midnight on Saturday to clear out of two downtown parks. Lets not forget the pamphlet about when to kill a cop. Also we all remember the reports of them rioting in Rome. Also police with guns and assault rifles entered a Franklin Street car dealership and arrested a group of demonstrators who had taken over the building Saturday night, the News and Observer reported. Protesters had hung banners saying "Occupy" and "Everything" in dormer windows. This means they plan on taking over business buildings thus hurting the business because they just hate anyone richer than themselves. They even have started burning buildings in Fort Collins alone they have caused 10 million dollars worth of damage. There is so much more but I could never finish reporting it all because by the time I did they would of caused twice the amount of damage that I reported already.
No lets talk about there bogus claims of the police having no right to remove them they are trespassing in parks that are only open to the public for certain hours , the above paragraph about the violence, blocking public streets and bridges, and much more and as mentioned earlier invading businesses, crapping on the streets, all the drugs that have been seen at the protest and so much more you have the right to protest but their laws you have to follow and there is a differnce between protesting and rioting and the OWS has choose to riot and that is illegal.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/10/24/occupy-protests-reveal-democrats-true-colors/#ixzz1dcXL274g
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/camper_mac_attack_IErwi9aOGMCPDdYJw2WcyI
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/iteam&id=8407349
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/11/07/socal-street-cart-vendors-hurting-after-occupy-group-splatters-blood-urine/?utm_source=co2hog
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/11/12/across-country-occupy-protesters-dig-in-against-police/
http://www.punditpress.com/2011/11/ows-burns-10000000-worth-of-buildings.html
http://biggovernment.com/rebelpundit/2011/10/17/update-communist-marching-with-occupychicago-identified-as-ofa-organizer-for-president-obama/