Main Street

This Week on Main Street – January 27, 2012

Photo of Zuni, New Mexico by Ken Lund on Flickr, via Creative Commons.

The state of the Main Street Blog is strong! This week we cheered President Obama’s announcement of a special unit to investigate financial crimes, headed up by New York’s foreclosure fraud crusader Eric Schneiderman. However, we expressed our reservations about whether the unit will have the funding, staffing, and independence necessary to hold banks accountable for predatory practices – like those experienced by our Pittsburgh member Alissa Kowal.

Meanwhile, despite the President’s announcement, a settlement deal is still underway. California’s Kamala Harris resisted the weak settlement, joining fellow “Justice Democrats” – Attorneys General Schneiderman, Martha Coakley, Beau Biden, and Catherine Cortez Masto. We explained why $25 billion sounds like a lot of money, until you compare it to an amount that’s actually needed to help underwater homeowners.

We compared this Justice League to the efforts of Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi – sorry, did we say efforts? We meant to say negligence and abdication of responsibility – on the foreclosure issue. GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney praised Bondi for her work on foreclosures in Florida, which Seth called “laughably backwards.”

Speaking of backwards, why should teachers have to work without pay while oil drillers get a break? We kept tabs on the education catastrophe in the Chester Upland School District in Pennsylvania. A judge ordered the state to release enough money for the district to keep running through late February, and Governor Corbett gave some obligatory lip service, but that’s not enough. We urged – and still urge! – our members to contact Governor Corbett to tell him to fully fund public education in Pennsylvania.

Also in the states, we heard from our Member Coordinator Michelle Kavanaugh in New Mexico, where the poverty rate is an unacceptable 18 percent – that’s 450,000 New Mexicans living below the poverty line. One solution, Sen. Peter Wirth’s Senate Bill 9, would close corporate loopholes while lowering the tax rate for all New Mexico business. If Gov. Martinez is serious when she says “shared sacrifice,” why wouldn’t she support it? If want to help us push for SB 9, call the New Mexico State Capitol Switchboard at 1-888-717-0911.

In other news, the Affordable Care Act got animated, Wisconsin singers serenaded us in a snowstorm, Mitch Daniels scared us and bored us, we all wished Gabby Giffords a speedy recovery.

Have a great weekend, Working America!