Bankrupting America

After the huge, inspiring protest outside Bank of...

Fri, 18 May 2012 11:40:00 -0700

After the huge, inspiring protest outside Bank of America’s shareholder meeting last week, Mitt Romney trotted out the tired old “the protestors are too young to know how good they have it!” line. So we made this graphic to point out how silly and irrelevant that statement really is.

Bank of America's Moynihan tops list of worst performing CEOs

Mon, 14 May 2012 17:24:58 -0700

Via CNN:

Based on its stock performance, Brian Moynihan ranks as the worst big bank CEO in the United States. And that’s after this year’s 40% rally in the bank’s shares.

Letter From Charlotte: How Bank of America Silenced a Whole Town

Mon, 14 May 2012 17:16:51 -0700

Via Huffington Post:

You don’t have to be good at your job to earn seven million dollars in a year. All you need is a few friends in the right places — places like the Federal Reserve, the Justice Department and the Treasury Department.

As the song says: “If I had a friend like Ben…” (Bernanke, that is.)

As we’ve learned here in Charlotte, with friends like these covering your back, the protests of people into the street — and of your own shareholders — soon fade into blissful silence.

Love and Heat

Today was a very good day for Brian Moynihan, the Bank of America CEO whose 2011 compensation package was just approved. As they were preparing to formally approve his lavish remuneration, I stood outside in a line of shareholders with a letter naming me the official representative for an investor who owns 82,000 BofA shares. Around me were about forty investors, each of whom was about to contribute in some small way to Mr. Moynihan’s payday. But our little band of investors were haughtily dismissed by bank executives after waiting, some for hours, in the wilting Carolina heat.

The protesters chanted in the street as a PR executive told us we would not be admitted into the meeting — and then asked us to get off the bank’s property.

All around us, in what officials acknowledged was a dry run for the Democratic Convention, city authorities had given everyone’s constitutional rights the day off by declaring the protest an “extraordinary event.”

As we wrote in The Nation, bank execs continued to enjoy their full constitutional protections despite working for an institution with the worst rap sheet in town. The rest of us were guilty until proven innocent. But I’ll say this: It had to be the most courteous suspension of civil liberties ever, the nicest police state you’d ever want to see. But then, that’s Charlotte for you: a great town filled with friendly people. They overrule the Constitution more politely than folks up North write a parking ticket.

Given the state of North Carolina’s economy, you’d have thought a lot more people might take to the streets. But they’d spent the previous night thinking about love.

Love, that is, and how to ban the wrong kind of it. On the eve of the protests state residents overwhelmingly voted against same-sex marriage. There’s nothing quite as good as social divisions to distract people from the hand in their pockets. In what might have been considered a bitter irony, they rejected gay marriage as protesters gathered in the town they call the “Queen City.”

For the time being, only straight marrieds will have the privilege of being foreclosed uon in North Carolina by the Bank of America.

Brian’s Song

What was was truly “extraordinary” was the spectacle of watching shareholders stand by helplessly as the CEO was given what, under any objective measure, was an excessively generous chunk of change. Try to imagine this happening in any corporation except a too-big-to-fail bank:

A senior executive joins a corporation as General Counsel, and soon afterwards becomes the head of its retail division. While he’s serving as the company’s top lawyer and then as its top product manager the company acquires a subsidiary. According to massive lawsuits filed later by investors and the Federal government, the company illegally conceals more than one hundred million dollars in expected losses related to the acquisition.

While this individual is serving as his company’s chief lawyer, which is to say the person responsible for vetting business deals for soundness and legality, the company also acquires another subsidiary for more than $4 billion. It turns out to be worthless -

No, scratch that. “Worthless” would have been better than what it turned out to be - billions of dollars better, in fact. This acquisition triggers a series of massive settlements: An $8.4 billion deal with states to settle illegal behavior. $600 million to settle a class action suit. $335 million to settle a discrimination suit. $50 to $55 million for its part of lawsuits against the acquired company’s former CEO.

Oh, and billions of dollars more in complex buyback transactions.

When the corporation’s CEO - the person who hired our unnamed individual - is forced to step down amid accusations of impropriety and incompetence, he takes the top spot. And as his first year in that office draws to a close the company “ends the year in a flurry of lawsuits.”

After our individual has served two years as CEO, Federal investigators take action against it while saying that its business practices have actually been worse under his leadership than they were in that notorious $4 billion acquisition.

Our friend tells investors the bank doesn’t need additional capital — and then, in a move that severely damages his credibility, accepts $5 billion in outside funding under less than ideal terms less than two weeks later.

The Seven Million Dollar Man

Sounds bad, you say. But how’s the share price? Asked like a true investor. In this, a modern executive’s most crucial performance meansurement, our friend also fails badly. The corporation’s stock - which had been trading at $52 per share when our protagonist joined the senior management team - has fallen from $15 to somewhere between $7 and $8 today.

Can you imagine any corporation but a big bank that would reward this individual with continued employment as CEO, much less with a seven million dollar compensation package?

But then, Brian Moynihan doesn’t run any corporation. He runs a too-big-to-fail bank. And running a too-big-to-fail bank means never having to say you’re sorry. One of the acquisitions described above is Merrill Lynch. The other’s Countrywide. And Federal investigators said that Moynihan’s Bank of America is outdoing Angelo Mozilo’s Countrywide in malfeasance and rascality.

That’s right: Worse than Mozilo. How’d you like to have that engraved on your business card?

What It’s About

Not that this is about Brian Moynihan. It isn’t - really it isn’t. It’s about Ben Bernanke, and Tim Geithner, and Eric Holder. Ben Bernanke’s Federal Reserve is moving aggressively to squash investor uprisings against incompetent or greedy bank executives. As Stephen Davidoff explains, that’s not just shocking and baffling. It’s also destructive and directly contravenes the goals the Federal Reserve should be pursuing.

(We would also add that it’s morally reprehensible.)

For all of Tim Geithner’s claims that TARP “made a profit,” the American people actually spent plenty of money on big banks - and on Bank of America in particular. An analysis by Bloomberg estimates that the bank netted $1.5 billion from taxpayer aid. (We’d come up with a higher figure, but we’ll accept the lower estimate - for now.)

Bank of America has profited greatly from taxpayer largesse. Yet, despite the billions of dollars it’s paid out for illegal behavior, no one employed by the bank has been charged with any crime. Attorney General Eric Holder has yet to explain how it’s possible for billions of dollars worth of crimes to commit themselves.

Hush, Hush

No wonder things went so well for Mr. Moynihan today. Activists told their stories inside the shareholders’ meeting, and Moynihan and his team pretended to listen. But despite the stories they heard, despite the grumbling from their investors and the chanting in the streets, there was an eerie hush over Charlotte today.

They’re Bank of America. They don’t have to hear anything they don’t want to hear. Their friends in Washington have built an impermeable bubble around their executive suite, and that of every big bank in the country.

Activists broke the silence on the streets, and they did it well. But only the long arm of the law can break the silence inside the bubble-world of today’s too-big-to-fail bankers.

The Showdown in Charlotte! Via smartmeme: Bank of America is the...

Fri, 11 May 2012 15:27:51 -0700

The Showdown in Charlotte!

Via smartmeme:

Bank of America is the worst of the worst - #1 in home foreclosures, #1 financier of filthy coal, and mega-millions lobbyist for the 1%. That’s why over 750 marched during their stockholders meeting & occupied the streets, and 6 were arrested in peaceful acts of civil disobedience.

http://actions.the99power.org/
http://theunityalliance.org/
http://ran.org/
http://smartmeme.org/
http://righttothecity.org/

Awesome video: Brian Moynihan and the rest of the Bank of...

Fri, 11 May 2012 11:25:00 -0700

Awesome video: Brian Moynihan and the rest of the Bank of America fat cats get mic-checked at the bank’s annual shareholder meeting this week.

Via YouTuber movetoaction:

One hundred shareholders mic check Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan after he abruptly closes the BofA shareholder meeting. For two and a half hours he faced an unceasing barrage of direct questions, getting increasing flustered by shareholders demanding that he answer people’s questions instead of brushing people off. He refused to meet with National People’s Action, Rainforest Action Network, and our allies after more than 100 attempts in the past several months to have a serious meeting about these issues.

For more information:
http://npa-us.org
http://the99power.com
http://ran.org
#99power #makeboapay

The inside action was coordinated by National People’s Action, Illinois People’s Action, PUSH-Buffalo, Michigan People’s Action, Rainforest Action Network, and other 99POWER Affiliates.

Bank Vs America: Thousands protest BofA in Charlotte

Wed, 09 May 2012 10:52:30 -0700

View more photos on Flickr.

As Bank of America’s executives, board, and shareholders gathered at the bank’s shareholder meeting in Charlotte, NC, thousands of protesters took to the streets and inside the meeting hall to speak out against BofA’s practices that are destroying our environment and our economy.

Good morning from Charlotte, NC! Larry Gibson of Keeper of the...

Wed, 09 May 2012 06:43:44 -0700

Good morning from Charlotte, NC! Larry Gibson of Keeper of the Mountains Foundation is inside Bank of America’s shareholder meeting right now to tell BofA to stop funding coal. He needs you to speak with him: http://bit.ly/J06PGg

Alternative shareholder meeting underway at Teamsters Local 71...

Tue, 08 May 2012 16:41:00 -0700

Alternative shareholder meeting underway at Teamsters Local 71 meeting hall here in Charlotte.

www.bankvsamerica.org

Tue, 08 May 2012 06:07:20 -0700

www.bankvsamerica.org

#99Power #BankVsAmericaProtests are already underway here in...

Mon, 07 May 2012 22:32:00 -0700

#99Power #BankVsAmerica

Protests are already underway here in Charlotte.

See you there.

Mon, 07 May 2012 21:01:00 -0700

See you there.

Jenny wants YOU to come to the Bank of America shareholder...

Mon, 07 May 2012 10:25:19 -0700

Jenny wants YOU to come to the Bank of America shareholder meeting protest in Charlotte this Wednesday, May 9.

Inter-faith prayer vigil outside Bank of America HQ in...

Sun, 06 May 2012 16:25:44 -0700

Inter-faith prayer vigil outside Bank of America HQ in Charlotte, NC. Shareholder meeting isn’t until Wednesday, protests already well underway.

greenpeacesemester: RAN just released their third Annual Coal...

Sun, 06 May 2012 10:24:03 -0700

greenpeacesemester:

RAN just released their third Annual Coal Finance Report Card - it’s a good read:

“Coal not only represents serious social and environmental risks, but it also poses a financial risk for those who invest in it. The fluctuations in domestic coal markets mark an uncertainty for coal’s future role as a cheap or reliable fuel source. In addition, there is unprecedented regulatory uncertainty in the areas of coal mining and coal-fired power production, and significant litigation challenges for proposed coal export terminals. As shown in this report, in recent years several investors have made the wrong bet on coal and lost big sums of money in the process.”

tischeap: Occupy Chicago BoA closing and March to Union Park...

Sun, 06 May 2012 10:22:43 -0700

tischeap:

Occupy Chicago BoA closing and March to Union Park 098 on Flickr.

Blocking the front entrance of the Bank of America.

oldenough2burmom: From the Atlantic, October 2011. An...

Sun, 06 May 2012 10:21:22 -0700

oldenough2burmom:

From the Atlantic, October 2011. An 84-year-old woman leaves Bank of America as arrests begin. This is what the movement needs to do: Let’s step up the non-violent protesting at banks.

fuzzytek: National Day of Protest Against Bank of America...

Sun, 06 May 2012 10:20:41 -0700

fuzzytek:

National Day of Protest Against Bank of America (#BOA) is May 9 (#m9boa). #Detroit demands suspension of $16.9 billion in debt collection servicing fees. BAIL OUT THE PEOPLE, not the banks!

Learn more at on the Free Detroit website.

Via The Consumerist: Bank Of America Tells Family It...

Sun, 06 May 2012 10:08:00 -0700

Via The Consumerist:

Bank Of America Tells Family It Won’t Foreclose, Tries To Foreclose Anyway

For two years, a family in Washington state has been waiting for Bank of America to get its act together and finally figure out whether it’s evicting them or whether it’s going to adjust their mortgage.

And it isn’t a mere matter of backlogged paperwork that’s holding things up. Rather, it’s that no one at the bank seems to have any idea what BofA is supposed to do.

The family’s troubles, like so many others, began back in 2009. The husband lost his job and attempted to get a mortgage adjustment. And even though the person they talked to at BofA said she couldn’t legally tell them to skip payments, she made it clear that the only way they would be able to get an adjustment is if they missed payments.

And so they stopped paying the mortgage, but when they applied for a modification, they got what is now a typical story from BofA customers.

“I would send in the paperwork. They would say they never got it,” the husband tells King5 News. “I would spend hours on the phone with them; they would say I never called them.”

But while no one at BofA had a clue as to how to process the modification, the bank was making swift work of moving forward on foreclosure.

And so the day after they finally got a refusal on their mortgage mod, the bank sold their house.

By this point, the husband was back at work and able to make the payments. They talked to BofA and a few weeks later they were told that the sale had been rescinded and they could stay in the house.

Huzzah!

Oh wait — there’s more.

Four days after receiving the good news, a man came to the house with an eviction notice.

When they contacted the bank, the husband says it was BofA asking him if the sale had been rescinded.

“The bank who was supposed to have done it, didn’t know if they did it,” he tells King5. “So they contacted my attorneys to see if they had done it.”

This shrugging went on until this past March, when the same man came back with an all new eviction notice.

A few weeks later, the bank decided that it didn’t actually mean it when it had told the couple the sale had been rescinded.

Proving the old adage of “If at first you don’t succeed, contact your local news station’s consumer reporter,” the couple called King 5. Magically, once the news folks talked to BofA, the eviction was put on hold and the matter was escalated to the office of none other than CEO Brian Moynihan.

If you can make it to Charlotte, NC on May 9, come to the...

Fri, 04 May 2012 09:08:17 -0700

If you can make it to Charlotte, NC on May 9, come to the protest at Bank of America’s shareholder meeting. Let’s let the bank’s executives, board members, and shareholders know exactly what we think of their bank’s practices, which are bankrupting our economy and our environment. Details and RSVP here.

Bank of America Hoax Confuses Executives, the Media

Fri, 04 May 2012 08:18:34 -0700

Bank of America Hoax Confuses Executives, the Media:

firecrusader:

“A bank doesn’t have to be something that charges you fees, invests your money in things you abhor, destroys poor communities with predatory lending, and then threatens to take down the global economy if you don’t agree to bail it out,” said Logan Price, who helped create BreakUpBofA.com. “Thinking of alternatives to this nightmare is not rocket science.”