Second Annual Tax Day Rally To Make Bank of America Pay Their Fair Share!...

Hi all...


Please let us know asap if you might be able to come out to join us tomorrow Tuesday (Apr. 17th) at 4 pm-- for our Second Annual Tax Day Rally to Make Bank of America Pay Their Fair Share!...

[thx to Rev. Tama Sis Kaya Bell for creating Facebook event here:
http://www.facebook.com/joel.tyner#!/events/403301039688759/ ]

Recall-- last Tax Day (Apr. 18, 2011) together with Ulster MoveOn's Linda Abbott and Barbara Upton, we mobilized 60 folks from all over the Hudson Valley to come out to our First Annual Rally to Make Bank of America Pay Their Fair Share; see: http://usuncut.org/actions/239 ; let's make Tues. bigger(!):
http://www.facebook.com/events/202668686424445/ ; Occupy folks-- let's go-- c'mon; all out Tuesday!...


[taxes are due Tues. Apr. 17th this year; for more on this see:
http://www.npr.org/2012/04/13/150549181/why-2012s-tax-day-falls-on-april-17 ]


Recall Matt Taibbi's "Bank of America: Too Crooked to Fail" from last month in Rolling Stone:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/bank-of-america-too-crooked-to-fail-20120314 ; also:
http://akamat.wordpress.com/2012/04/11/matt-taibbi-on-bank-of-america-occupy-wall-street/http://www.cpa-connecticut.com/blog/?p=5233


[BofA didn't pay any federal taxes last year; got $1 billion tax break-- after getting $45 billion bailout!]


Thanks again much to http://www.OccupyPoughkeepsie.org for inspiring us to move forward on this; many times last fall Occupy Poughkeepsie rallies and marches stopped in front of JPMorgan Chase on Main Street in Poughkeepsie; I still recall how Russell Bimbo, Kyle Van Steenburgh, and Brady Masse8y from Occupy Poughkeepsie also joined us for rallies organized by yours truly last year in front of Bank of America on Market St./Poughkeepsie-- let's ramp it up party peoples!...


[click on these two links for other recent coverage of our work on this issue:
http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2012/April/13/DCL_bank_forcl-13Apr12.html ;
http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2012/April/09/DC_bank_div-09Apr12.html ]


More inspiration-- great meeting just now here in Town of Clinton hosted by Betty Olson-- training for http://The99Spring.com -- this issue came up; this event was announced...so....COME OUT TUES.(!)...
[see: http://civic.moveon.org/event/events/event.html?event_id=128545&id ]


Hope to see y'all out there Tues.!...(and again-- pls let us know if you might be able to join us, k?)...


[pass it on]

Joel
845-444-0599
joeltyner@earthlink.net
http://www.JoelforCongress.org (tell your friends-- PayPal link online here!)
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Joel (260+ now on board online!)

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Two Reasons Why Dutchess County Should Divest from Bank of America:


[Dutchess County now still has a $50 million account with Bank of America (same with JPMC, W-Fargo)]

"Bank Excuses on Foreclosure Growing Stale" by Michael Powell (Nov. 14th)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/nyregion/patience-grows-thin-for-banks-foreclosure-excuses.html

"Eric Schneiderman Is A Big Thorn In Bank of America's Side" [Forbes Aug. 16th]
http://www.forbes.com/sites/halahtouryalai/2011/08/16/eric-schneiderman-is-a-big-thorn-in-bank-of-americas-side/


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From http://www.alternet.org/authors/12015/ ...


Beyond Robo-Signing: 3 Other Ways Bank of America Is Screwing Americans

As outraged as Americans are about robo-signing (and they should be), the use of foreclosure mills doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of Bank of America's dastardly deeds.


By Lauren Kelley


March 30, 2012 |

Few institutions incite the kind of populist anger that Bank of America does, even as the Occupy movement stokes rage at Wall Street in general. And with good reason - in an industry that is known for being corrupt, immoral, and ungrateful leeches of taxpayer dollars, Bank of America stands out. The bank, it seems, is constantly making headlines for some new form of corruption or act of greed that screws consumers while padding its executives' pockets. And it gets away with it every time.

The bank was at the forefront of the dubious practice known as "robo-signing" - hiring third-party companies staffed by underqualified foreclosure "experts" to cut corners during the foreclosure process, processing thousands upon thousands of foreclosures a month and wreaking havoc on homeowners' lives.

But as outraged as Americans are about robo-signing (and they should be, especially since the big banks continued to use the practice long after they agreed to stop), the use of foreclosure mills doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of Bank of America's dastardly deeds. As Matt Taibbi writes in his devastating piece about Bank of America in this month's Rolling Stone:

[H]ere's how seriously fucked the financial markets are: Even the most vocal critics of Bank of America consider the mass, factory-style production of tens of thousands of fake legal documents per month not that big a deal. "Robo-signing is like focusing on Bernie Madoff's accountant," quips April Charney, a well-known foreclosure lawyer who has spent large chunks of the past two decades in battle with Bank of America.

Robo-signing is not the disease - it's a symptom of Bank of America's entire attitude toward the law.
Indeed, the bank is screwing Americans is so many ways that robo-signing, awful as it is, is but a drop in the bucket. Below are several examples (among many) of how Bank of America is hurting consumers while continuing to dole out plenty of dough in executive bonuses and compensation.

1. Siccing collections agencies on people who are not in debt

Thanks to Bank of America, we now know that there's something more maddening and nightmarish than being hounded by debt collectors: being hounded by debt collectors when you don't owe anything.
A la their infamous illegal foreclosure problem, big banks are in the practice hiring third-party companies to handle debt collection for them. That would be all fine and well if the banks took care to pass on accurate documentation about their customers. But they don't. American Banker reports this week on a woman named Karen Stevens, who's spent the past three years fighting off a collection agency that Bank of America hired to collect $1,900 in debt - debt that Stevens has long since paid off. Stevens was only able to put an end to the fiasco by hiring a lawyer and suing the collection agency.
Stevens' case appears to be an example of what happens when banks sell batches of accounts without sufficiently scrubbing them of errors and discrepancies ( see related story). Such oversights are drawing into collections quagmires an unknown number of consumers who owe nothing, or for whom debt records are incomplete or nonexistent. For banks, it's a problem that threatens to spark a legal or regulatory backlash or to do further damage to already tarnished reputations.
Aside from getting this work (messily) off their plates, the advantage for Bank of America in doing business this way is that they don't have to deal with their clients' lawsuits when they get screwed over. Blame it on the third-party guy!

2. Sneakily ratcheting up fees on the 99%


As I wrote earlier this month , Bank of America is one of the mega banks that's quietly ratcheting up fees, especially for its lower-income customers, to compensate for new regulations that were designed to protect those very individuals.

This is an especially ballsy move for Bank of America, since it was BofA's proposed $5 monthly debit card fee that incited so much consumer outrage last fall. And yet, mere months later, the bank has announced a fee "overhaul" that will result in customers paying up to $25 per month for a basic checking account.

Maddeningly, the bank is most focused on increasing fees for low-income consumers - Americans who may have trouble maintaining a minimum account balance or who do not have multiple bank services, such as a mortgage. In addition, these customers may soon have less banking opportunities in general, as Bank of America, among other big banks, plans to shift its resources to cater more to "up markets" that make the bank more money than less-wealthy communities.

3. Exploiting the unemployed to rake in fees


When South Carolina signed a deal with Bank of America to distribute unemployment benefits via prepaid debit cards, chances are the state was not actively trying to screw its unemployed citizens. But that is exactly what happened, because Bank of America took advantage of its contract with the state to exploit unemployed South Carolinians by charging many of them hefty fees to access their benefits.


Huffington Post's Janell Ross reported late last year that citizens who live in towns without Bank of America branches - and there are many such individuals in South Carolina - are forced to either drive to another town to access their benefits (something many cannot afford to do) or pay a fee for withdrawing money from a non-BofA ATM. One woman profiled in Ross' article, Shawna Busby, had to choose between making a 100-mile round trip drive to Columbia to access her benefits or pay up. Busby estimated that she had paid $350 in fees to withdraw the benefits that she was legally owed - money she desperately needs for her family since she is, of course, unemployed.
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Of course, these are only a few of the ways Bank of America is screwing over the citizens whose taxpayers kept the bank afloat during the financial crisis the bank helped create. And it is only small consolation that BofA claims to be suffering financially these days, because, as Taibbi notes, the bank seems to have plenty of money to go around for bonuses and compensation:

Bank of America didn't pay a dime in federal taxes last year. Or the year before. In fact, they got a $1 billion refund last year. They claimed it was because they had pretax losses of $5.4 billion in 2010. They paid out $35 billion in bonuses and compensation that year. You do the math.

As for the $26 billion settlement that Bank of America and other big banks got slapped with? It let the banks off the hook for its robo-signing misadventures, and may not even be properly enforced by the government. Even if it is, it will be "woefully inadequate to address the wider fraud that went on in creating and pooling mortgages."


On that note, I leave you with three simple words: Move. Your. Money.


Lauren Kelley is an associate editor at AlterNet and a freelance writer and editor who has contributed to Change.org, The L Magazine and Time Out New York. She lives in Brooklyn. Follow her on Twitter here.


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[recall below as well]


Still pinchin' myself-- we actually won some bipartisan support (thx to activists below) Thurs. night at the Dutchess County Legislature's Budget, Finance, and Personnel Committee meeting-- for the resolution drafted by yours truly (co-sponsored by Conservative Co. Leg. Jim Doxsey)-- calling on the Dutchess County Finance Commissioner to re-evaluate the banks and financial institutions with which Dutchess County does business-- from GOP Co. Leg.'s Alan Surman (R-Dover) and John Forman (R-Beacon)!...


[view webcast of Thurs. night BFP Committee mtg. here: http://www.totalwebcasting.com/live/dutchess/ ]


Dutchess currently still has a $50 million account with Bank of America, another $50 million account with JPMorgan Chase, and another $50 million account with Wells Fargo now, unfortunately...


Note re: Borchert/GOP argument against this-- 'tis a false one-- see list of banks below county does business with-- and-- consider how Albany County moved a $90 million account from BofA to M & T!...


[resol.-- http://www.dutchessny.gov/CountyGov/Departments/Legislature/ResolutionsPDF/2012103.pdf ;
full agenda here: http://www.co.dutchess.ny.us/CountyGov/Departments/Legislature/CLagenda.htm ]


Kudos to Community Voices Heard's Steve Meddaugh, Edgar Gomez, and Mae Parker-Harris, together with New York Communities for Change's Harold Miller-- for leading rallies/marches of dozens of their supporters in Poughkeepsie at Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase branches locally (I was able to help lead cheering inside BofA branch before having to run off to join 4:30 pm Environmental Committee mtg.); many attendees also spoke eloquently, articulately, and passionately during the beginning of the Budget, Finance, and Personnel Committee mtg. as well-- including Russell Bimbo and Joe of http://www.OccupyPoughkeepsie.org others there in support included Maya Acevedo Casilda, James Tremblay, Jared Keasbey, Ryan Simpson, Alexander Key, and many from the Meddaugh clan-- great inspirational work!...


[important-- call Steve M. at 337-7239 to help him launch new Move Your Money Dutchess effort(!)...(aimed at getting each/every one of our county's 22 municipalities to move their money, too;
see http://www.MoveYourMoneyProject.org national effort; businesses, organizations, churches as well]


Kudos in particular to New York Communities for Change's Harold Miller for his effectiveness and success on this issue already-- across the state, Albany County, the City of Binghamton, town of Ithaca and villages of Hempstead and Freeport have voted to divest from irresponsible banking institutions like JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo. [see: http://www.nycommunities.org/taxonomy/term/2 ;
http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/print-edition/2011/06/10/albany-county-legislators-want-to.html ]


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From http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2012/April/13/DCL_bank_forcl-13Apr12.html ...


Dutchess lawmakers reject proposal to transfer funds from banks with high foreclosure rates

POUGHKEEPSIE - Despite the urging of several Dutchess County residents to pull millions of county dollars from large banks that give homeowners little slack in foreclosure proceedings, the legislature's Budget and Finance Committee did not move in that direction.

A vote on a resolution urging the county finance commissioner to consider changing banks deadlocked in a tie vote of six to six, meaning the measure died.

Legislation sponsor Joel Tyner, a Democrat, urged his colleagues to support the shift to smaller more local banks.


"A very small thing that we can do today is to say it is a privilege to do business with Dutchess County. You just can't be any old bank and shaft over homeowners and kill our communities and continue to get our business," Tyner said...


Residents who spoke, told lawmakers bank foreclosures are resulting in boarded up homes that are killing neighborhoods


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From http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2012/April/09/DC_bank_div-09Apr12.html (WAMC Mon.):


Resolution would have Dutchess divest from banks that foreclose

POUGHKEEPSIE - Two Dutchess County legislators are proposing the county close its accounts with three large banks because of their foreclosure practices.

Lawmakers Joel Tyner and James Doxsey would like the county to pull its $50 million accounts from each bank - Bank of America, Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase - and place the money in other financial institutions.

Tyner said those three banks are not giving delinquent mortgage holders much slack in their payments.

"There are literally hundreds of different homes you can find on the county clerk's website that are in the process of being foreclosed by those three banks and those are the three most notoriously irresponsible financial institutions in the country," he said.


Tyner said Albany County recently closed a $90 million account with Bank of America for similar reasons and similar divestitures have been undertaken in Freeport, Hempstead and Ithaca.


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Already here across the state, Albany County, the town of Ithaca and villages of Hempstead and Freeport have voted to divest from irresponsible banking institutions like JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo. [see: http://www.nycommunities.org/taxonomy/term/2 ;
http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/print-edition/2011/06/10/albany-county-legislators-want-to.html ]

Recall as well-- the Northern Dutchess Alliance's Blueprint for Economic Development called for local financial institutions to be held more accountable for their commitment/investment in our communities (or lack thereof).
[see: http://www.northerndutchess.org/images/NDABlueprintWeb.pdf ]

Fact: According to our County Clerk Kendall's own website (searchable database there), there are literally hundreds of homes in process of foreclosure by Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, or Wells Fargo; see:
http://www.co.dutchess.ny.us/CountyGov/Departments/CountyClerk/12976.htm .

Also see:

"Watch Us Move Our Millions" by Rebecca Leisher (in Yes magazine)
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/9-strategies-to-end-corporate-rule/watch-us-move-our-millions



"Members of the Albany County Legislature are calling for the county to pull its money from Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase. The 25 legislators signed a proclamation urging John McPhillips, commissioner of management and budget, to close the county's $90 million account from Bank of America and to discontinue procurement cards with JPMorgan Chase. The legislators are concerned about the number of foreclosures in the county, and noted that both banks have a significant number of area homes on the delinquency list. The proclamation states that Bank of America has 465 delinquencies in the region and JP Morgan has 316 area homes in danger of foreclosure. The proclamation also says the banks have "demonstrated a lack of willingness to engage in good-faith efforts" to modify loans and help people keep their homes. The effort, headed by county legislators Norma Chapman, Doug Bullock and Timothy Nichols, is part of a statewide campaign by NY Communities for Change."
[from "Albany County Legislators Want to Close Bank of America, JPMorgan Accounts" June 10th
http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/print-edition/2011/06/10/albany-county-legislators-want-to.html ]

Note-- already here across the state the town of Ithaca and villages of Hempstead and Freeport have voted to divest from irresponsible banking institutions like Bank of America (in those three cases, it was JP Morgan Chase)-- see much more on this here-- http://www.nycommunities.org/taxonomy/term/2 ;
http://www.alternet.org/economy/150387/2_3rds_of_us_corporations_pay_zero_federal_taxes%3A_us_uncut_movement_builds_to_make_them_pay_up/ ; http://www.USUncut.org (Harold Miller's work!).


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[text of Tyner/Doxsey resolution that almost got out of Budget, Finance, Personnel Committee Thurs.]

WHEREAS, Dutchess County now has $50 million accounts each with Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo- banks widely reported as responsible for mortgage fraud and our economic collapse, and

WHEREAS, former Dutchess County Executive William Steinhaus sent our County Legislature a letter December 15th stating that, "Foreclosure rates in Dutchess County are at record numbers; there are a total of over 4,000 foreclosures in Dutchess over just the last three-year period," and currently in Dutchess County there are 414 home bankruptcy listings, 98 short sales, 61 foreclosures, 43 preforeclosures, and 11 sheriff sales at Foreclosures.com, and


WHEREAS, last June 25 members of the Albany County Legislature signed a proclamation calling for the county to pull its $90 million account from Bank of America and to discontinue procurement cards with JPMorgan Chase because at that time Bank of America had 465 delinquencies in the region and JP Morgan had 316 area homes in danger of foreclosure, and those banks had "demonstrated a lack of willingness to engage in good-faith efforts" to modify loans and help people keep their homes, as here in Dutchess County; several months later Albany County's $90 million account with Bank of America was closed, and


WHEREAS, the municipal boards of Hempstead, Freeport, and Ithaca have all voted for the same reason over the last year to divest from irresponsible financial institutions such as Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo; even the Northern Dutchess Alliance's "Blueprint for Economic Development" strongly recommended holding local financial institutions more publicly accountable for their commitment/investment (or lack thereof) in our local communities, and


WHEREAS, last year the City of San Jose moved nearly $1 billion from Bank of America because of the bank's high record of home foreclosures; City Council members linked foreclosures to lost tax revenues and cuts to jobs and services, and urged other U.S. cities to follow San Jose's example, and last November the Seattle City Council unanimously passed a resolution to review its banking and investment practices "to ensure that public funds are invested in responsible financial institutions that support our community," and

WHEREAS, officials in Portland, Oregon, Los Angeles, and New York City are looking to follow as well, and congregations in the California interfaith coalition LA Voice vowed to divest $2 million from Wells Fargo and Bank of America, ending a 200-year relationship with the big banks; the Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East San Jose, Calif., pulled $3 million out of Bank of America and reinvested the funds into Micro Branch, a division of Self-Help Federal Credit Union designed to assist underserved communities, and therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the Dutchess County Legislature requests that the Dutchess County Commissioner of Finance divest Dutchess County funds from Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo, thereby ending the current $150,000,000 worth of county funds kept in those financial institutions, and find more responsible banks to deposit those monies, and be it further

RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be sent to the Dutchess County Executive and the Dutchess County Commissioner of Finance.


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Supporting documentation:


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Executive Order No. 2, 2011

Dated: October 17, 2011

[signed by Dutchess County Executive William Steinhaus]

Pursuant to Section 3.02 (g) of the Dutchess County Charter, I hereby designate the following banks and trust companies for the deposit of moneys received by the Commissioner of Finance at the maximum amount set forth after the name of each bank or trust company:

HSBC Bank USA, N.A. Poughkeepsie, NY................$50,000,000


JP Morgan Chase Poughkeepsie, NY........................$50,000,000

Bank of America, Poughkeepsie, NY..........................$50,000,000

Wells Fargo (formerly Wachovia Bank, N.A.)
Poughkeepsie, NY.........................................................$50,000,000

Key Bank of New York, N.A., Poughkeepsie, NY.....$20,000,000

Bank of Millbrook, Millbrook, NY...................................$5,000,000
(merged with Stissing National Bank)

Manufacturers and Traders Trust Co. (M & T)..........$20,000,000
Poughkeepsie, NY

Orange County Trust Company, Fishkill, NY.............$5,000,000

Citizens Bank, Albany, NY..........................................$20,000,000

TD Bank, Poughkeepsie, NY.....................................$50,000,000

Citibank NA, Harrison, NY.........................................$50,000,000

Pursuant to Section 11 of the General Municipal Law, the Dutchess County Commissioner of Finance is authorized to invest in time deposit accounts, certificates of deposit or repurchase agreements of the above designated depositories or repurchase agreements of the Merrill Lynch Flexicash Program.

Pursuant to Section 212 of the County Law, the interest received on moneys deposited in time deposit accounts, certificates of deposit, or repurchase agreements of the above designated depositories shall be the prevailing rate paid by such designated depository, payable on such dates as agreed upon between the depository and the Dutchess County Commissioner of Finance.

This Executive Order No. 2 of 2011 supersedes Executive Order No. 1 of 2011 issued January 2, 2011.