By
Joe Mariano
As I understand
it, the main job of the federal government’s newest bureaucracy
- the Department of Homeland Security - is to spearhead the effort
to protect America from future attacks by Osama Bin Laden and his
Al- Qaida terrorist network.
With a
system of color codes to warn the public about the level of danger,
Homeland Security recently raised the danger level to code orange
and offered advice on protecting homes by sealing them with duct
tape and plastic sheeting. As a result, some Americans went on a
buying frenzy and others were worried enough to lose sleep or change
travel plans.
What is disturbing to me is that over the last five years, our neighborhoods
have been under attack from a homegrown terrorist network. And this
network has gone virtually unnoticed by federal decision-makers.
This network operates in collusion and with deception, disguising
themselves as realtors, mortgage brokers, appraisers and mortgage
bankers.
These terrorists have infiltrated neighborhoods across the United
States, resulting in communities being destroyed for fast cash.
This terrorist network operates brazenly and aggressively. They
publicly declare that they are part of a noble cause. They claim
they are increasing homeownership by providing credit to people
who would not otherwise be able to get regular bank loans. They
seek out and prey on people, pretending to help them become first
time homeowners only to saddle them with a loan that leaves them
homeless. They also make false promises to long time homeowners
who need money to fix up their homes only to leave them in debt
and with ruined credit.
The truth is that these terrorists are saddling people with the
burden of bad loans and stripping the equity from their homes. These
loans are in effect – bombs - which blow up people’s
hopes and dreams and force families into foreclosure. The collateral
damage from these explosions to the surrounding streets in the neighborhood
are abandoned properties and falling property values.
In 2001, the home foreclosures in Chicago, which resulted from predatory
loans, were up 486% since 1993. However, these terrorist attacks
are not just happening in the inner city but are actually widespread
– happening at all income levels and in the suburbs.
There is “Homeland Security” at the Federal level to
protect our neighborhoods and country from these neighborhood terrorists.
They include Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve; James
Gilleran, Chairman of the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS); Don
Powell, who leads the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and
John Hawke, the Comptroller of the Currency.
NPA has met with them and their representatives to explain the attacks
on our neighborhoods and why modernizing the Community Reinvestment
Act is needed to stop this new terrorist threat. Their response
was of polite indifference. Their excuse was that they see predatory
and abusive lending as a local problem. This type of answer would
be the equivalent of the Administration and Congress saying after
the 9-11 attack on the Twin Towers that it was up to New York to
protect itself against terrorists, as this was a local problem.
While Congress and the Administration have declared a war on terrorism
and quickly created a Transportation Security Administration and
Homeland Security, these banking regulators - with their inaction
and indifference - are saying to our neighborhoods: drop dead.
NPA will need to do whatever it takes to fight for our neighborhoods.
Maybe we need to name this terrorist network - for these banking
regulators - the Al-Corrupt Network headed by the mysterious “Osama
Been Loaning” (badly) - in order to get their attention when
we march into Washington, DC for our upcoming 32nd annual conference!
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