[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 352-353]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       WALL STREET POLICE LINEUP

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, the first hearing of the Financial Crisis 
Inquiry

[[Page 353]]

Commission was held last week, and the four biggest bank chief 
executive officers were brought in for questioning, from Goldman Sachs, 
JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley. The American people 
expect these men to be held accountable for what their banks did to our 
country. They came away with no sweat on their brow.
  The bankers in the photo are, from left to right, Lloyd C. Blankfein 
of Goldman Sachs who says he's been doing God's work. He has been 
showering himself just since 2006 with $157.3 million in compensation. 
I often ask myself, What do they do with all that money? Jamie Dimon, 
next to him, of JPMorgan Chase last year officially took home $19.7 
million on top of $95.7 million he raked in from 2005 to 2007. That 
brings him in at $115.4 million. John J. Mack of Morgan Stanley paid 
himself $78.9 million over the last 5 years, and Brian T. Moynihan of 
Bank of America is new to his position at that bank, but he pocketed 
$10 million in 2007 when serving as president of the Global Corporate 
and Investment Banking at the Bank of America. Can you imagine what 
he'll make now?
  As they took America to the cleaners, the average worker in our 
country hasn't had a real wage increase in over a decade, much less a 
real increase in buying power. Meanwhile, Americans are being made to 
feel like they can't enter this debate because lots of fog is being 
generated by fancy terms that these bankers use, like basis points or 
collateralized debt obligations or securitization. And I'll tell you 
what, Americans might not know what those words mean, but they can 
recognize a lineup when they see one.
  The average person often is cowered by the world of finance and turns 
away in fear and confusion. They can't see a path forward for our 
country, which they love so very much. And they are very worried. 
Congress must provide the clarity of that path forward to not only hold 
these bankers accountable but to get the administration to act to save 
people's homes and communities. The administration's current plan to 
fix the foreclosure crisis has been a dud. It is a dud because it has 
not addressed the root cause of the collapse. It continues. The 
wrongdoers, they aren't good at risk at all, but they're putting 
economic recovery at risk across this Nation as more people fall into 
foreclosure.
  According to an analysis done by the Associated Press, almost a year 
later, only a handful, a fraction, of the 4 million Americans and 
counting, who have been foreclosed, have been able to complete 
Treasury's application process to try to rework their mortgage. Some 
might call that approach ``doomed to fail.''
  With a national unemployment rate of over 10 percent, people are not 
getting the economic change they want. The current approach to the 
economy here in Washington is failing millions and millions of our 
citizens every day. People's financial futures are ruined. Their 
futures aren't ruined; they're getting rewarded. Our people are getting 
hurt by unemployment, home foreclosures and personal bankruptcies. 
They're not going bankrupt. Their banks didn't go bankrupt. We bailed 
them out. I didn't vote for that, but a majority of people in here did.
  RealtyTrac Inc. reported last week that in 2009 a record 2.8 million 
households were threatened with foreclosure, which is up, not down, 
more than 20 percent since 2008. The more borrowers who can't be 
helped, the more foreclosed properties will be on the market across 
this country. Tragically, RealtyTrac expects another record number of 
homes to be threatened with foreclosure this year. This is not 
acceptable in America.
  The administration's foreclosure prevention plan says it's going to 
help borrowers in financial trouble by making their payments more 
affordable and extending the repayment period. However, out of the 
millions and millions of people being affected across this country, 
just 7 percent of those who have signed up have completed the Treasury 
Department's program to try to rework these loans; and more than 
49,000, or just 5 percent, have dropped out of the program entirely. 
Thousands more remain in limbo. But the biggest bank in the program, 
Bank of America, has completed modifications for fewer than 2 percent 
of the 200,000 borrowers they claim to enroll. Its big-bank buddies are 
in the same boat when it comes to modifying our people's mortgages. The 
people paying their bills and paying for their salaries aren't having 
their mortgages reworked. What's just about that?
  In fact, it's clear, Wall Street bankers have no interest in 
modifying mortgages. They are making millions off other people's 
misery, and that's just fine with them. This Nation needs a national 
foreclosure prevention program that compels these bankers to act, not 
nicely request their assistance. As they conspire to avoid the 
consequences of their actions, here are two key findings by the Center 
for Public Integrity. At least 21 of the top 25 subprime lenders were 
financed by these same banks that received the bailout money through 
direct ownership, credit agreements or huge purchases of loans for 
securitization. They're all tied together.
  And 21 of the top 25 subprime lenders have closed, stopped lending or 
been sold to avoid bankruptcy. Most were nonbank lenders. They didn't 
go bankrupt. They're letting the American people go bankrupt. Bailed 
out, getting bigger and bigger, they now have over 40 percent of the 
deposits in this country. These four banks plus one more. Think about 
that. What's happening to our country? And they're not being held 
responsible. Say, that's not bad work if you can get it.
  Wall Street bankers create these unsavory schemes, reap huge profits 
from our people and advantage their companies while driving our 
economy, home prices, and the Nation's housing stock and the American 
people into the ground.
  My colleagues, take a look at this lineup. Isn't it over time for 
Congress to finally hold Wall Street accountable?

                          ____________________