[Craic] Evicted by Greed - Cornell West - BlackRock

[David Walsh]

Allan – The REITs pass profits on to their shareholders as dividends, so taxes are only paid when the shareholders receive the dividends (which could be years after they are earned), and dividends have usually been taxed at a lower rate and at different rates depending on how long one has owned the stock. We should ask our Churches why they are not talking about ‘Homewreckers’ – the book you mention.

Below are some interesting web sites.

“Evicted by Greed” will become a new rallying cry in the months ahead.
See:  Online conference: Evicted by Greed – Global Finance, Housing & Resistance<https://transparencyinternational.cmail20.com/t/r-l-jkvuiit-urhkdlhiud-x/>

One of the biggest housing investors, BlackRock, lost $90bn investing in fossil fuel companies: , Jul 31, 2019 - BlackRock lost $90bn investing in fossil fuel companies, report finds. BlackRock, the world's biggest investor, has lost an estimated $90bn over the last decade by ignoring the serious financial risk of investing in fossil fuel companies, according to economists.

Cornell West - Trump appointed the most right-wing zealots

  *   Steve Mnuchin' was owner of a mortgage bank that foreclosed on 36,000 home owners.
  *   Goldman Sachs President Gary Cohn
  *   Billionaire Wilbur Ross to head the Commerce Dept for Trump
Trump accused Ted Cruz in the 2016 debates of being beholden to Goldman Sachs.
Steve Mnuchin’s hedge fund – IndyMach-  Trump named him to lead Treasury Dept – he was accused of running ‘a foreclosure machine’ 36,000 foreclosures of homes in California – he sold his company for $4 billion and made a $1.3billion profit
Wikipedia -During the financial crisis of 2007–2008<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_crisis_of_2007%E2%80%932008>, Mnuchin bought failed residential lender IndyMac<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IndyMac>. He changed the name to OneWest Bank<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OneWest_Bank> and rebuilt the bank, then sold it to CIT Group<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIT_Group> in 2015.
OneWest was criticized for aggressively foreclosing on homeowners. In the five years following Mnuchin's acquisition of OneWest, the bank foreclosed on 36,000 homes in California, leading local activists to begin calling Mnuchin "the foreclosure king."[4<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Mnuchin#cite_note-41>  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Mnuchin#Foreclosures
BlackRock Takes Command<https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/04/08/blackrock-takes-command/>
by JOYCE NELSON<https://www.counterpunch.org/author/dr4pudug/> -
APRIL 8, 2020
The mainstream financial press has been remarkably quiet about the Federal Reserve’s appointment (March 24) of BlackRock to manage its massive corporate debt purchase program in response to the Covid-19 crisis.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/04/08/blackrock-takes-command/


From: Allan Baker <allan.baker7878 at gmail.com>
Sent: March 6, 2021 3:40 PM
To: Assisting virtual Craic <craic at lists.integralshift.ca>
Cc: David Walsh <david at dwalsh.ca>
Subject: Re: [Craic] FW: The big business behind the affordable rental housing crunch

Thanks David.

I have read the article and have questions about the role of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT), that are buying up rental apartment homes, and pay no tax to the federal government.

I wonder if the role of REITs in Canada is akin to what happened in the U.S.A.? Our friend David Gracey recommended a book to me on the tragedy unfolding there. The book is called:
Homewreckers : how a gang of Wall Street kingpins, hedge fund magnates, crooked banks, and vulture capitalists suckered millions out of their homes and demolished the American dream
A summary of the content, from the Toronto Public Library website, is;
Two years before the housing market collapsed in 2008, Donald Trump looked forward to a crash: "I sort of hope that happens because then people like me would go in and buy," he said. But our future president wasn't alone. While millions of Americans suffered financial loss, tycoons pounced to heartlessly seize thousands of homes--their profiteering made even easier because, as prize-winning investigative reporter Aaron Glantz reveals in Homewreckers, they often used taxpayer money--and the Obama administration's promise to cover their losses.
In Homewreckers, Glantz recounts the transformation of straightforward lending into a morass of slivered and combined mortgage "products" that could be bought and sold, accompanied by a shift in priorities and a loosening of regulations and laws that made it good business to lend money to those who wouldn't be able to repay. Among the men who laughed their way to the bank: Trump cabinet members Steve Mnuchin and Wilbur Ross, Trump pal and confidant Tom Barrack, and billionaire Republican cash cow Steve Schwarzman. Homewreckers also brilliantly weaves together the stories of those most ravaged by the housing crisis. The result is an eye-opening expose of the greed that decimated millions and enriched a gluttonous few.

Stay hopeful;
Allan

On Mar 6, 2021, at 10:34 AM, David Walsh via craic <craic at lists.integralshift.ca<mailto:craic at lists.integralshift.ca>> wrote:

This article in today’s Star gives a good overview of the rental housing business.
I have attached a copy of the full article.

The big business behind the affordable rental housing crunch
CD
By Christine Dobby<https://www.thestar.com/authors.dobby_christine.html>Business Reporter
Sat., March 6, 2021timer12 min. read
https://www.thestar.com/business/2021/03/06/the-big-business-behind-the-affordable-rental-housing-crunch.html

David

<The big business behind the affordable rental housing crunch.docx>_______________________________________________
craic mailing list
craic at lists.integralshift.ca<mailto:craic at lists.integralshift.ca>
http://lists.integralshift.ca/listinfo.cgi/craic-integralshift.ca

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.integralshift.ca/pipermail/craic-integralshift.ca/attachments/20210306/92733755/attachment-0001.html>