I applaud this sheriff!!!!

He sees what these banks are like and he is refusing to be their pawn and enforce their self serving screw america and the common man rules.

Good to see law enforcement waking up to the fact that they have been used all these years by evil people to do their bidding.

So banks, how you going to evict these people when no sheriff is going to enforce your stupid rules.

Now if we could only get meter maids to develop a conscious.

Originally posted by fleabit
Who is to blame? Well, the tenants are of course.

Off course. I mean the criminals who create these scams aren't the problem.... Lets rather make cynics of everyone and attempt to make paranoia passe.

There is nothing hidden to them. The interest rates, the second mortage if there is one, the adjustment, the taxes, the upkeep... none of these are a mystery to someone who reads everything, and does their research to know what they are in for.

There is nothing hidden beside the fact that people who steal bread/radio's for various reasons get 5-10 while those predators who walk on two legs and steal entire countries make billions. Sure it makes sense to blame the victims for having succumbed to conspiracies beyond their wildest dreams...
How has it become so normal that we should expect others to want to steal our homes?

As was the case in all the witnesses we listened to, ALL of them could have avoided their fate, had they actually read the agreement, or got further advice before signing the first thing shoved in front of their faces.

Right and having been duped is probably something they would learn from hence resulting in a society filled with people looking over their shoulders... Any chance we can put the financial criminals in blue overalls and have them build bridges and roads and send the drug users, petty thieves to university with their ill gotten goods? Why does our current economic systems keep rewarding major criminals while it destroys the very lives of the gullible/decent, and sometimes corrupt in the basic self interested ways, who could very well be helped? It's a predators paradise i tell you.

And I feel bad for them.. I really do. I felt fairly miserable for all those that came in as witnesses, knowing every one of them were in a very bad spot. But every single one of them did it to themselves. Many didn't read the agreement at all! They just signed where they were told to sign.

So your human and their human. Are you happy to be a cynic who expects the worse and checks the fine print often enough to discover that your right?

I am reminded of a quote ( yes, i had to look it up );

" You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you do not trust enough. "

Dr Frank Crane

Human beings are not naturally cynics but i suppose the aim of the current economic system is obviously to turn neighbours into strangers, children into suspected criminals and to generally propagate the worse types of thoughts about your fellow citizens. Obviously that can't work very well without state protection for the predators so the state obliges despite the protest of the majority who doesn't see the logic i having to become cynics just to survive.

And even those that do do their research, don't really take into account how much it costs. You should figure half again the mortage, when deciding if you can afford it. And people don't do this.

Not surprising considering the brilliant advice they get from well paid 'experts'. How many people are locked up for giving bad financial advice?

This is not the fault of an institution that loans them money. There is plenty of blame to go around.

This is very much the responsibility and the fault of the party that creates the conditions by which labor and time can be repossed at some future date despite the best efforts of the 'owner' to pay up. IF banks could not reposes i can assure you that there would be no such thing as a 'bad/toxic' loan and you would jump trough flaming hoops to establish your credibility. I mean this is how it used to be when people were still held to their word and it meant something to be a home owner but everything becomes devalued when banks and other financial institutions are allowed to speculate on the backs of hard working citizens who aimed exactly where the government/corporate propaganda set their sights/standards for them.

I'm just saying, those who lose their homes should shoulder their share of the blame as well.

Like the little guy is ever the last to suffer the consequences of his lack of cynicism and or knowledge. Thanks for the advice......

I don't sit well with the entire "all banks are evil and all people are innocent" mantra.

And how could you if your a capitalist? I mean how could a typical capitalist thinker ( especially the twisted modern incarnations of the notion) ever allow himself to consider the possibility that the system is unfair and doesn't reward it's 'competitors' ( like most people think life is a game) fairly? I mean isn't that a good summary of a oxymoron?

Those banks were not very evil to those people when they wanted the loans, where they.

Sure they were? Would you like me to sell you a slow acting poison as 'cure' for cancer problem while having the backing of a legal system that will allow me to on your death to take possession of your house? I mean it's pretty obvious that bankers don't really work hence they have time to cook up all these schemes but for the rest of us who do the work of civilization when are we supposed to get the time to arrive at the conclusion that there are a 'they' that are actually doing all these things?

Aren't we blaming the cows in the pasture for not realising that they are meant to be slaughtered? So what if a few cows figured out the scam ; who would believe them any ways?

In fact, I bet those people would have done or said about anything to get a home.

I am sure some lied ( hel, the bankers get rich that way) but again they actually intended to pay the bills. Isn't it a sad commentary on this economic system that one of the few paths open to 'riches' for the middle class is to invest in real estate? I mean why can't we just get paid decent enough salaries never thus being forced into such long term commitments with institutions that are always looking for a way to exploit us?

In conclusion messengers frequently get shot and while i have sympathy with your empathy for the victims in that case i still wonder why anyone feels compelled to explain why the obvious victims 'deserves' 'hard knocks' for not being more cynical and less trusting. Maybe this is indeed good advice for the world TPTB want to create for us all but frankly i don't think we should help them. We should be trusting and we should be absolutely outraged and vindictive when cheated so as to best ensure that trust is not abused. This is how we initially gained or freedom from oppression and it's very likely the only way we are going to maintain it.

Stellar

Originally posted by Constitutional Scholar

think of this as motivation for renters to actually own property.

That really is an assinine statement. There are plenty of people that would love nothing more than to own property, but will never be able to do so, some people just don't make enough money.

Thats why there are problems with imminent domain. If they want it, they will find a way to take it.

Wow, Ok that is going too far. What is next? The government owns the mortgages and sends in the swat teams?

Ama

[edit on 11-10-2008 by amatrine]

Oh wow, I did not catch that that was fake! LOL

Ama

Well, there's really not much to talk about if he's just upholding the law. I think we aren't getting the whole story here. I'm sure he wasn't evicting people early before this suspension.

While I applaud the Sheriff for trying to be a human being instead of a barking dog for his masters, I see several problems with this.

1) Banks loaned money for someone to buy a house. What that person did with the house is not a concern to the bank as long as the mortgage payments continue to be made. If the house gets rented out and the landlord does not comply with the law (notify renters of defaulted payments, etc.), then it falls to the renter to pursue action against the landlord, not the bank. The banks may not even know the place is being rented and they don't care, either way.

2) Foreclosed properties are a huge drain on banks and, they may just start hiring arsonists to burn them down and collect the insurance money rather than have squatters living for free in their investment.

3) If the Sheriff remains adamant in his refusal to evict renters from foreclosed homes, he may get the boot and it may be lead-lined while he tries to swim in it. It's not a far-fetched scenario.

4) If the banks can't get law enforcement to enforce their evictions, they will get someone else to do it instead. People who probably aren't as concerned with renters rights.

5) The house could be resold and the new "owners" could legally break down the door and physically toss out anyone they find living there. It could get that ugly.

We cheer now but I foresee a very bad outcome to this "civil disobedience". Still, small victories give us the illusion of hope.

I got a response to the email I sent Sheriff Dart; here's the reply:

Dear Friend,

I would like to thank you for your email concerning the moratorium on evictions I instituted last week in Cook County, IL. The attention our office received helped to spark awareness of a matter affecting families across America. Here in Cook County, we have been overwhelmed by the effects of predatory mortgages and the resulting economic crisis, and already, the number of foreclosures has hit a record high.

As Cook County Sheriff, I am responsible for running a 10,000-inmate jail, providing patrols to unincorporated areas and securing the courts.

But perhaps no part of our job is as difficult as the work done by our eviction units. On any given day, our deputies could be asked to throw a family out of their home, with all of their possessions left on a curb -- sometimes pilfered through by those living nearby.

On October 8th, I imposed a moratorium on evictions until the banks and mortgage firms agreed to document the residents of a building and to give them proper notification in the incident of foreclosure. This was a drastic move, but I deemed this decision necessary after spending the last year, to no avail, working with the banking industry on other issues concerning foreclosures. At the end of the day, banks see a piece of paper, not a person.

Last week, discussions began between Sheriff’s Office officials and members of the Cook County Circuit Court’s Chancery Division to develop a list of safeguards that would provide tenants with proper notification. I applaud the court’s chancery Division Supervisor, the Honorable Dorothy Kirie Kinnaird, for ordering that necessary steps be taken to safeguard renter’s rights. In Cook County, banks are now required to give the proper 120-day notice before an eviction order will be enforced. For more information of the agreement, please see www.cookcountysheriff.org.

Should our deputies again identify patterns of abuse, we will bring it to the attention of the judiciary and I will not hesitate to halt evictions again if necessary. Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Thomas J. Dart

Cook County Sheriff

Just thought I would pass that along for those interested.

-Axe