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Foreclosing on the commons – Opinion – Al Jazeera English
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the secret to getting rich and staying that way is by controlling the commons
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And yet, presented with a seemingly popular platform to political power – houses for working families, not bailed-out banks – the political class sides with its financiers, to the point that the fraud of electoral politics is now about as obvious as the fraud being perpetrated by the financial industry.
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from the moment he took office, Obama pursued programmes designed not to ameliorate the pain of the average US citizen, but simply “to space out foreclosures so that banks could absorb smaller shocks to their balances”. Like US support for dictators abroad, the justification is always the need to maintain “stability”, never mind the unjustness of the status quo.
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The recent much-ballyhooed mortgage fraud settlement with the five largest banks – poor people get prison, rich people get settlements – hasn’t changed that dynamic. Under the deal, the same banks that continue to flaunt foreclosure laws across the country are permitted to get away with paying what amounts to a $25bn fine, a small price to pay given the trillions of dollars in taxpayer-subsidised land titles those banks have stashed away.
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Land, like power, belongs in the hands of the people. A bailed-out bank, certainly, ought not to have more right to a piece of property than a family that, thanks in no small part to the financial industry itself, finds itself unable to pay off a mortgage worth more than their home. It is ultimately communities, not financial corporations, that make a piece of real estate valuable in the first place – that make a place worth living in.
The political class would say they agree. And the banks, of course. But witnessing the injustice around them and the indifference of their anointed leaders, communities are starting to stand up and assert their rights to their common heritage, declaring that no one, least of all a bank fat off taxpayer money, has the right to tear up their neighbourhood. The system is stacked against them, but, then again, systems that fail to respond to the needs of the masses risk finding themselves replaced.
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The White Savior Industrial Complex – Teju Cole – International – The Atlantic
Bookmarks 03/27/2012
Tuesday, 27 March 2012 by Cairene
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