Occupy movement to occupy foreclosed homes!

I was thrilled to learn that the Occupy movement is trying to address the problem of foreclosure with "Occupy Our Homes Day" (Dec 6). We need to remind our fellow Americans that the banks (with the complicity of the government, who deregulated them) caused the housing bubble and crash, and now want to profit from the misery they caused. Peter Kuhn's analysis is spot on!

I urge you to watch the award-winning film "Inside Job" and  "Maxed Out," which you can watch for free at http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/maxed-out. I also recommend "The One Percent," a psychologically insightful documentary about the super-rich by Jame Johnson, heir to the Johnson and Johnson family fortune.  See http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/the-one-percent/index.html

I am glad that the OWS movement is taking on the banksters and their crimes. Locally, they helped prevent the eviction of Rose Gudiel, who was the victim of a predatory bank called OneWest. Jill and I have been trying to help a woman with 7 kids who was recently evicted from her home due to foreclosure. We can and must control the corrupt banking system and expose their lies. Si, se puede!

*** NEWS ADVISORY ***

For Immediate Release Contact: Peter Kuhns (213) 272-1141

December 1, 2011 pkuhns@calorganize.org

“Occupy Our Homes” Day, Tuesday, Dec. 6, to Launch National Campaign

Actions in LA and Other Cities Spotlight How Wall Street Crashed the Economy, Drove Families from Homes, and Ripped Off Communities

Supporters Will “Reclaim” Vacant Houses and Engage in “Home Defense” to Keep Families in Foreclosed Homes

Communities in LA and across America will take direct action on Tuesday, Dec. 6, to challenge Wall Street profiteering that has created a housing crisis for millions of families.

Actions will include “reclaiming” houses that banks are leaving vacant and “home defense” to stop banks from foreclosing and profiting further from the economic crash they created.

Other cities where direct action will be taken include New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Portland (OR), and many more.

Homeowners and renters facing foreclosure-related evictions will be backed locally by the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) and a national network of organizations such as The New Bottom Line and its local affiliates; ReFund California; New York Communities for Change; Occupy Wall Street; Take Back the Land; and SOUL (Chicago).

These actions build on a number of recent successes in community resistance to foreclosures and evictions.

The national Occupy Our Homes campaign challenges a deliberate Wall Street strategy that has made billions for those at the top while devastating the 99%:

· Banks created a housing bubble, deliberately designing predatory loans with balloon payments, variable rates, and other features that would yield short-term profits while preying on families least able to pay.

· They knew that many of these loans could not be repaid, but they didn’t care because they planned to package and re-sell the mortgages to investors who then were left holding the bag.

· The economy crashed as a result of this bank-created house of cards, putting tens of millions of Americans out of work. Unemployment is overwhelmingly the primary cause of foreclosures, not over-extended consumers.

· More than 6 million Americans have lost their homes, often through illegal foreclosures, and another 5 million are at risk. Many homeowners were told that if they stopped making payments, they could qualify for a lower rate. When they did so, the banks put them in default and initiated foreclosure.

· The 99% bailed out Wall Street, while Wall Street bailed on our communities, taking our money for outrageous executive salaries and bonuses and massive profits. We gave Wall Street $700 billion in taxpayer money through TARP, and another $7.7 trillion in nearly interest-free loans of taxpayer money through the Federal Reserve. Bank profits in the third quarter of 2011 were more than $35 billion – higher than they were before the crash.

· The bank-induced crash devastated home values and life savings for all homeowners.

· Yet, the banks claim that they should be able to collect mortgage payments based on the value of homes before the crash they caused, rather than current value. At least one in four homeowners is now “underwater” – meaning the bank wants them to make payments on a higher mortgage than what the house is worth.

· Wall Street is draining hundreds of billions of dollars from communities by demanding artificially inflated mortgage payments -- money that is needed to support local jobs and small businesses and get the economy working again for the 99%.

Please contact us if you would like to be kept informed as Occupy Our Homes actions unfold.