There is a new banking phenomena. Isn't BOA still a nationalized bank?

It doesn't matter where I am in the USA I always run across someone with a Bank of America mortgage trying to qualify for the government resolution loan. 

And without even being told of their plight, I state, "Don't tell me they have sent you the papers to fill out three times without ever communicating about the process concluding on your loan. AND. You are still struggling financially, not productively contributing to the USA's recovering economy in order to maintain your mortgage from defaulting, declaring bankruptcy, losing everything you own until the next tragic breeze blows through your life and you will have reached your tipping point? Right?" 

Carrot and stick. BOA is thumbing their nose at the government and robbing our economy of cash flow. Not only that, but, who wants to vote for a President that can't make the banks jump through hoops?"

Each bank involved in the refinancing of mortgages to help homeowners keep their dreams alive needs to have a government monitor exclusively available to make sure their banks are operating for the best outcomes to citizens. Sort of like when BP dumped oil and gas all over the Gulf of Mexico and the USA Coast Guard had to give the states governors a companion to answer all their questions, hold their hands and provide communication to those coordinating the operations to be sure everything was being handled well and expeditiously.

I thought this was interesting:

America is facing an historic national mortgage crisis. (click title to entry - thank you) Due to a collapse of home values, one in five mortgaged homeowners owe more than their homes are worth; more than eleven million families are now underwater. Nearly three million of these families are in default and on their way to foreclosures that will depress home prices further, causing still more foreclosures. MRP seeks to stem this tide.  (Click here to see the severity of underwater mortgages in the U.S.) 

As a PS to President Obama and his administration. I have family that works in banking. I am aware of a bank that sought outside 'experts' to assist and expedite their refinancing tasks. A company filed their qualifications, they were hired and given a date to begin the process with the bank. When the day came the company hired didn't have a clue what they were doing yet. So. The bank decided to move back 'in house' and do it themselves and they are making progress. It is not BOA.

There are move bozos pretending to be experts in this disaster than there are circus rings under the tent. BOA is one of the worst banks in the country and have the lowest success rate in their mortgage market and refinancing. They don't want to do it. They are systematic about it, otherwise, I wouldn't be talking to so many people (complete strangers and people the courts would call friendly strangers) from states all over the country having the same exact pattern occurring in their life with the only common denominator being Bank of America. They really have learned to let their bank bones slip at BOA. 

I had laugh when I visited a BOA and there were landscapers planting scrubs and the lobby had new cameras and bullet proof glass, now from floor to ceiling. What are they preparing for, certainly not throngs of customers trying to get in.

Let's hope tomorrow is a new day at BOA.

Now there is a permanent expression of corporate negligence and malpractice.

Victims carry the heaviest burden. Society adds support and seeks justice, but, loses esteem by the lack of prevention in the first place. 

There were a handful of victims in the USA. It is not minor issue when one is a victim. But, Christine Block knows the nightmare and has a lot to say about the plans to find uses for it.

I sincerely hope this expression of sorrow will be followed up by Gruenenthal with sincere relief and comfort for its victims. 

Gruenenthal should not see their contribution to this remembrance as vindication. But, if there is sincere use for the drug and those receiving it are fully informed of its dangers should we seek retribution by causing pain for others.

Christine Block (click here) is one of approximately 10 Thalidomide's living in USA . The drug was never approved in the 1960s. She is concerned about the new widened use of thalidomide in North America ....

...It is during this climate of strong activist movements affecting the strict rules of FDA policies that thalidomide is making its return. The drug is used in research for treatment of a variety of diseases, such as ENL (a painful and deforming symptom of leprosy); Tuberculosis; Graft versus host disease, CGVHD, (when the new bone marrow tissue tries to reject its new body and causes such symptoms as blindness, mouth ulcers, loss of teeth and death); Blindness (thalidomide may be useful against eye disorders); Oral and genital ulcers; And finally AIDS and HIV....

I don't want to hear how the over protective FDA could ever cause harm. Never. If it weren't for the protections of USA laws and the people dedicated to them our country would be mourning the effects along with Europe. I don't appreciate some of the panels and their decisions regarding long standing and proven protections from such drugs and procedures when the modifications are made to reduce the cost to insurance companies. I sincerely believe the FDA can make the best decisions upheld by immunity to lobbyists, power and money.

by SCOTT HENSLEY

...Back in the late 1950s,(click title to entry - thank you) the drug was sold in 46 countries, though not the U.S., and was particularly popular in then-West Germany, the U.K. and Australia. But in 1961, the drug was taken off the market after the link to birth defects emerged.

By then, though, thousands of children had been born with deformities. There was a long trial in Germany, where Gruenenthal, the drug's maker, is based, that resulted in the establishment of a foundation to compensate victims. But victims have said the compensation wasn't enough and faulted the company for not apologizing.

Today, more than a half-century later, Gruenenthal for the first time said it was sorry. The occasion was the dedication of a memorial to the victims in Stolberg, Germany, near the company's headquarters. The sculpture features a girl with malformed feet and no arms....

Thalidomide Website (click here)

How did it happen?

Those in corporate and government authority passed it off as 'species specific' malformations. In other words, what happened to bunny rabbits could never happen to humans. They ignored the dangers with profits in the view. There are times I really wish research was left to the universities and not corporate labs. The temptations of corruption are too great.

There is a reason why corporations have foundation grants. Such research should be a high priority for consideration to that paradigm, than seeking profits. It would be far better to have pure research find a reason for profits than profits finding a reason for a drug.

...According to the Catalogue of Teratogenic Agents (Shepard 1976):  (click here) 'several...principles were forcefully illustrated by observations made of the outbreak. The first point was that there existed extreme variability in species susceptibility to thalidomide'. The Catalogue reports that by 1966 there were 14 seperate publications describing the effects of thalidomide on pregnant mice yet nearly all reported negative findings or else a few defects which did not resemble the characteristic effects of the drug. Only in certain strains of rabbit and primate can thalidomide's effect on the human foetus be reproduced....

One of the best reasons why corporations practice their own research and development took place in WWII. Dow Chemical conducted research while all other corporations cut back on any such funding worried the war only left space for manufacturing. 

During WWII, Dow Chemical made a great deal of progress in their research and when the GIs came home their profits soared for the new products they marketed. 

It is a good example of good corporate governance, but, such products are not medications. I know many really competent PhDs that are also professors and they are genuinely dedicated to cutting edge with students graduating with success and not failure. They are so good at what they do and their knowledge is needed in teaching for the future of the our brain trust. Oh, well.

No apologes, please

I don't accept the apology Melissa Harris Perry made to her audience. I thought her passion of the injustice that exists in the USA of the Poor was wonderful.

It was refreshing and to many I am confident it was validating. I do not want her to lose her passion, focus or love for all those without representation in the real world.

Without a spokesperson most of the needy, regardless of the manner in which it takes, is not heard and certainly not understood. We see celebrities throughout our economic spectrum promoting the needy in one way or another. Unfortunately, for The Poor their 'social condition' is disgusting to most, unthinkable to even less in power and so powerless they can be considered disposable by many.

So rarely do The Poor find such passion for their circumstances. They are viewed as hopeless, UNABLE to be rescued and without CAPACITY to 'be like us' that pity is frequently the descriptor used with success by NGOs that find it helpful to have a job in securing something meaningful for them.

The USA was ravaged of its wealth with the past administration, draining all its resources, pretending owning homes was a real possibility if only all would try. That was not that long ago and we are still realizing the devastation of Hurricane Bush for eight years. I find that descriptor of Bush an insult to hurricanes really, but, given the characteristics of these destructive storms in the years after Katrina, "if the shoe fits wear it."

The newness of that devastation to the USA cannot be dismissed. Not since the early 1900s has there been such vast poverty. Some would like akin it to the Dust Bowl, but, in all honesty the increasing dynamics the Republicans are painting for the PERMANENTLY OPPRESSED actually goes back to the beginning of the last century and resembles the lives of migrant workers.

The Republicans aren't stupid, they know wealth is fun and sustaining and can purchase more wealth. They are building monuments to that truth in placing fiber optic cable across the ocean floor yet again between trading markets in so their wealth can tick up in every 'increment of time' to rob more and more and more from all those unable to gain that advantage. The more these people control wealth, the more there will poverty and suffering.

That is greed. There is nothing else to call it and it is seeking control at every turn. Greedy people are buying up political parties and brainwashing voters in democracies with propaganda. So, let's not hold back our purpose and voice when every person, whether they realize it or not, needs exactly that voice. 

Please, Melissa, don't stop now.

Oh, by the way, I found the experienced voice of wisdom, experience and insight of Bob Shieffer a welcome addition to your panel of guests from week to week. I been reading Bob Herbert forever. Thank you.