They still don't get it. Candidate after candidate travels through Tennessee, pledging allegiance to American manufacturing and professing a love for "Made in America." But when the going gets tough, no presidential candidate can match this rhetoric with action.

In a state with a strong manufacturing base, that's just unacceptable, especially since we now know that nearly 80,000 jobs in Tennessee's auto-parts sector are at risk due to China's cheating.

Democrats and Republicans have starkly different ideas about how far to lower corporate tax rates and whether changes to individual tax rates, including the Bush-era cuts that expire at the end of the year, should be part of the reform debate.

Obama laid down his marker Wednesday with a 23-page framework for a plan to eliminate dozens of breaks for specific industries, particularly oil and gas production, and new incentives for domestic manufacturing and alternative energy.

Community banks and credit unions see an opening to win over big-bank customers. Mechanics Bank (OTC BB: MCHB.OB) is already touting on its home page, “We don’t charge you to use your debit card, and we intend to keep it that way.”

Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) is testing a $3 monthly debit card fee in select markets and J.P. Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) is also testing debit card fees. But BofA has become a lightening rod for the issue.

Another common sense solution for Homeowners and Banks.

Why not work together to help those who have been in their homes for a minimum of 7 years and have made all their payments on time.

When a bank forecloses on a homeowner, that had great credit, was never late, and then because of the economy… is now in default, it makes no sense.

Why  not sit down with the home owner and work around the situation of losing the house. Figure out what the home is worth in todays market, work up a new contract. And let the people that because of no fault of there own live in the house. Actually the banks could tack on the lost payments and interest from when the home owner stopped making payments to the new home price ( Market Value) and be far better off than taking the loss and spending the  Money on reselling it at the market value or less.

Is there a risk, yes, but  a far better risk that if the homeowner  had been given a second chance to recoup his investment of 7 years

 Lets say the bank forecloses.. They have to serve eviction on the home owner, pay for the foreclosure and in this economy the bank may sit on the home for 12 to 16 months as the home decays and is left empty becoming an eye sore and resulting in lower values in the neighborhood.

 When a Bank forecloses… It isn’t Pretty..

Friday, October 14th, 2011, 12:32 pm

Fannie Mae finalized its list of mortgage servicers on track for its highest scores in a new program designed to measure and reward improved customer service and foreclosure prevention.

Bank of America (BAC: 6.16 -0.96%) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM: 31.74 +0.44%) are not on the list.

Fannie launched the Servicer Total Achievement and Rewards program in February to provide transparency to the sector. The review was designed to help servicers focus on areas deemed critical to the government-sponsored enterprise. The firms will be given scores on a five-star scale, with five being the highest performing.

As of July, 21 of the 34 servicers subject to STAR reviews are on track to achieve at least three stars or higher.

Of the 11 largest servicers, Wells Fargo (WFC: 26.21 +0.34%), Citigroup (C: 27.81 +0.62%), Ally Financial (GJM: 20.94 +0.14%) and Everhome Mortgage are on track for at least a three-star rating. And of the 10 second largest group of servicers, Fifth Third Bank, HSBC Mortgage Corp., The Huntington National Bank, Aurora Bank, Regions Bank and Central Mortgage Co. are on pace for the higher scores, according to results released in September.

Fannie said Friday 11 of the 13 smallest group of servicers were showing signs of higher performance: American Home Mortgage Servicing, Arvest Mortgage Company, Associated Bank, Branch Banking and Trust Co., Capital One, Colonial Savings, Doral Bank, Nationwide Advantage Mortgage Co., Navy Federal Credit Union, Manufacturers and Traders Trust Co., and Sovereign Bank.

"Servicers who achieve the highest rankings in the STAR Program are the market leaders in providing assistance to homeowners who are having difficulty making their mortgage payment," said Leslie Peeler, vice president for servicer portfolio management, Fannie Mae.

While BofA and JPMorgan Chase did not appear to be on pace for even a median score, a Fannie Mae spokesman said they will have the back half of the year to make improvements.

There could be consequences if they don't. When the program was launched Fannie said servicer compensation would be tied to the year-end STAR program results.

http://www.housingwire.com/2011/10/14/fannie-mae-omits-bofa-chase-from-top-mortgage-servicers

What exactly did Bank of America do to earn its position as poster child for banking industry fraud?

The problem of shoddy mortgage paperwork, which comprises several shortcuts known collectively as ''robo-signing,'' led the nation's largest banks, including Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co., and other lenders to temporarily halt foreclosures nationwide in the fall of 2010.

At the time, ''robo-signing'' was thought to be contained to the affidavits that banks file and use to prove they have the right to seize a home for foreclosure. Companies that process mortgages said they were so overwhelmed with paperwork that they cut corners.

U.S. Bancorp, one of the nation’s biggest banks, became the latest large financial firm to sue Bank of America, filing a lawsuit over $1.75 billion of mortgage loans on Monday on behalf of investors of the loans.

NEW YORK/CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp was sued by the trustee of a $1.75 billion mortgage pool, which seeks to force the bank to buy back the underlying loans because of alleged misrepresentations in how they were made.
The lawsuit by the banking unit of US Bancorp is the latest of a slew of litigation to recover investor losses tied to risky mortgage loans issued by Countrywide Financial Corp, which Bank of America bought in 2008.

Bank of America Corp. is cutting 3,500 employees this quarter and working on restructuring plans that will ax several thousand more jobs, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported citing people familiar with the situation.

The reports today say that the job cuts at the biggest U.S. bank by assets might exceed 10,000 or about 3.5 percent of its current work force.

In the wake of the recent Ponzi schemes, evidence of growing insider-trading rings involving the Galleon Group and others, potential market manipulation in the still-mystifying flash crash, not to mention myriad unanswered questions about wrongdoing during the financial crisis, the need for vigorous securities law enforcement seems both self-evident and compelling.

Lets get down to it, mobile marketing is the most effective business strategy we've seen over the last decade. How can you use mobile and text message marketing as a mortgage broker, property manager or real estate agent?

Our secret methods of real estate text message marketing.

First of all, ditch your regular business cards. Change them with mobile or text message business cards. Rather than passing clients and prospects a simple old typical business card, you could simply text message your contact info to their cell phones automatically. They may then just save your information to their mobile phone and send it to their email account. All your customer would have to do to have your contact information is text "yourname" to your mobile short code and the customer would instantly get your data.

Real estate agents and also property managers may totally butter up their clients through texting instant info on brand new homes. This should improve the selling cycle while on the other end make the customers see that you are treating them as you would your best client.

And, real estate text message marketing will make the sales procedure very easy on the customers and improve the number of call backs you receive. Nobody likes to wait for data. They want it immediately. Prospective home purchasers need it instantly; right when they go by a home they're keen on. Imagine this, you're the prospective purchaser and you're seriously hoping to rent or buy a home. You drive by a property for sale and you totally need a few details on the home. Nobody wants to wait too long information, so the quicker you receive your information the more satisfied you will be. Yet it's a Friday night and you will not have the ability to chat to the realtor until the next week. However, on the sale sign you notice a sentence that states for instant info on this home please text "housedetails" to the number "90210". You send that message and you immediately receive all the information regarding the property on your cell phone as well as the contact details of the agent selling the home. Do you imagine you would like that? If you're a real estate professional can you now notice the possibility of real estate text message marketing?

If interested in taking a look at this type of marketing and how one may utilize it for their real estate business click http://live.yeptext.com/promocode/BOOM

Article by Hunter Riley III

A Florida court has given preliminary approval to Bank of America Corp.'s $410 million settlement of a federal lawsuit accusing the bank of charging excessive overdraft fees.

The Charlotte, N.C. bank will place $410 million in an escrow account that will be divided among 1 million customers who were charged the high fees. According to a court filing Monday, the Southern District Court of Florida granted preliminary approval for the settlement. A hearing has been set for Nov. 7 for final approval.

The bank had reached the settlement in February.

In the lawsuit, consumers alleged the bank processed its debit card and check payments in a way that caused more overdrafts. Customers pay overdraft fees when they spend more money than they have in their accounts.

Many customers would find that they would be charged a fee of $35 for insignificant purchases such as a cup of coffee. Before federal law changed this summer, banks frequently charged overdraft fees on numerous transactions in a single day.

New regulations put in place after the financial crisis bar banks from charging overdraft fees on debit cards without first getting customers' approval.

IN the raging battle over union rights in Wisconsin, those seeking to curtail collective bargaining for state employees have advanced an argument that seems hard to resist: It will make it easier to reward those workers who perform the best. What could be fairer than that?

Warren E. Buffett does not put a title on his annual letter to shareholders. But if he did, this year's dispatch might be headlined "God Bless the U.S.A."

In the face of persistent worries about the American economy, the country's most famous — and closely followed — investor struck a patriotic tone in his annual report to shareholders of his company, Berkshire Hathaway, writing that "money will always flow toward opportunity, and there is an abundance of that in America."

One of the great ironies revealed by the global recession that began in 2008 is that Communist Party–ruled China may be doing a better job managing capitalism's crisis than the democratically elected U.S. government. Beijing's stimulus spending was larger, infinitely more effective at overcoming the slowdown and directed at laying the infrastructural tracks for further economic expansion.

As Western democracies shuffle wheezily forward, China's economy roars along at a steady clip, having lifted some half a billion people out of poverty over the past three decades and rapidly created the world's largest middle class to provide an engine for long-term domestic consumer demand. Sure, there's massive social inequality, but there always is in a capitalist system. (Income inequality rates in the U.S. are some of the worst in the industrialized world, and more Americans are falling into poverty than are being raised out of it. The number of Americans officially designated as living in poverty in 2009 — 43 million — was the highest in the 51 years that records have been kept.)

Money has emerged as the electoral trump card in the U.S. political system, and corporations have a Supreme Court–recognized right to use their considerable financial muscle to promote candidates and policies favorable to their business operations and to resist policies and shut out candidates deemed inimical to their business interests. So whether it's health reform or the stimulus package, the power of special interests in the U.S. system invariably produces either gridlock or mishmash legislation crafted to please the narrow interests of a variety of competing interests rather than the aggregated interests of the economy and society as a whole. Efficient and rational decisionmaking it's not. Nor does it appear capable of tackling long-term problems.

BofA, which this week agreed to pay $137 million to settle charges that it helped rig bids on municipal bond contracts, says it was justified in how it treated Ashford. But a bank spokesman said BofA would take a closer look at the case.

Ashford, 63, works as sales director for a Hermosa Beach hotel. She'd been paying about $3,100 a month in mortgage payments for her two-bedroom condo, which she bought 25 years ago.

Since bailouts only delay the inevitable, governments should immediately start talks with bondholders and force them to accept a loss on their investments rather than wounding their own economies and their citizens.

Robber baron is a pejorative term used for a powerful 19th century United States businessman and banker. The term may now relate to any businessman or banker who used questionable business practices to become powerful or wealthy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robber_baron_%28industrialist%29

I guess I am old enough to remember opening up my first savings account. My Dad took me into the First National Bank in our home town and I handed over a few dollars that I had made shoveling snow to the nice woman in the teller cage. The Banks president came over and shook my hand congratulating me on opening the account, and explained how I would earn interest on each deposit. It was a proud day.

So much has changed since those days.... The people at my bank don't know me by name, they require my drivers license and bank card prior to handing any deposit over.... Which is a good idea.. it protects me, and them.

But now I am wondering if I shouldn't be more afraid of my Bank... The Banks caused this mortgage mess we are in, and yet they continue to profit quarter after quarter, and since I am unemployed, and house prices have slid, and we have record foreclosures, the bank could come back and demand that I buy Mortgage insurance, because the home we purchased 12 years ago is worth less now than what we paid.

What has changed in America is that Our Banking system has become global and corrupt and unethical in their dealings with customers and employees. Bank of America employee's have seen hour's cut to keep the back office, tellers and loan officer costs to the banking centers low. As far as service... forget about it!

Here is a must read this article from Fortune Magazines Allan Sloan to really hone in on what has happened.

Want to get away with murder? Become a bank.

October 26, 2010 10:16 am
You miss a payment on your credit card or send it in a few days late, you get whacked. Forget to make a loan payment, your credit rating gets vaporized. But if a bank doesn't do its job properly -- for example, if you can't get a knowledgeable and competent human on the phone to deal with a loan modification or a paperwork screwup because the bank is holding down back-office costs to save money -- it ends up being your problem, not the bank's.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/25/news/economy/foreclosures_big_banks.fortune/index.htm

But wait... There is more..

In response to an effort to push the bank to buy back defaulted mortgages made by its Countrywide unit, Bank of America attorneys rejected claims that the loans were made improperly.

Investors seeking action from Bank of America include the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Freddie Mac, Pimco Investment Management and Blackrock Financial Management.

The bank is also dismissing suggestions that its handling of loan modifications and other efforts to prevent foreclosure violated the terms of the mortgage-backed securities that the investors hold.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9JA4T201.htm

And now the proverbial S#!% has started to hit the fan

Although the allegations vary by lawsuit, these cases generally allege that the offering documents for more than $375 billion of securities issued by hundreds of securitization trusts contained material misrepresentations and omissions, including statements regarding the underwriting standards pursuant to which the underlying mortgage loans were issued, the ratings given to the tranches by rating agencies, and the appraisal standards that were used in violation of Section 11 and 12 of the Securities Act of 1933 and/or state securities laws.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/bank-of-america-repurchase-liability-risk-2010-11#ixzz14WLHOtVF

AT the bottom of the above page is the response from Bank of America. Please read it.

The worst thing that these banks have done to the people is ruin our confidence in the capitalist system.

My question is , what do we do to stop this type of GREED?

How do you feel about Bank of America and Country Wide? This is clearly the largest of the group with 385 BILLION dollars in fraudulent Mortgages.

Should 'B of A' be cut up into smaller regional banks?

Should we all join credit unions?

Now, the founder of the brewery that makes Samuel Adams Boston Lager is making it easier for small businesses to get a loan with the company's Brewing the American Dream program.

"The idea really came out of my experience of starting Samuel Adams," said Koch. "I couldn't get anyone to give me a loan and (the brewery) turned out to be a pretty good idea."

The brewery has partnered with ACCION USA, a nonprofit organization that handles small business loans, to administer the loans.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke on Friday laid out a case for the central bank to take further action to bolster growth, citing the risks of prolonged high unemployment and a U.S. economy slipping into a deflationary spiral.

In a much-anticipated speech in Boston, Bernanke did not spell out details of how and when the Fed would take action. But the first option that he mentioned was a program of buying additional assets, namely government bonds, in an effort to drive down long-term interest rates and stimulate economic growth.

Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) agreed to offer hundreds of millions of dollars in mortgage relief to borrowers in eight states as part of a pact over allegedly deceptive marketing of payment-option adjustable rate mortgage loans offered by companies it acquired.

The giant bank entered into an agreement in response to state investigations of Wachovia Corp. and Golden West Corp.'s marketing of the loans. Overall, loan modifications will be offered to 8,715 eligible borrowers in eight states with a total economic value estimated to be more than $772 million.

A company spokesman wasn't immediately available to comment on the agreement.

Banks "have repeatedly misled and obstructed homeowners from receiving the help Congress and the Administration have sought to provide," they wrote. "The excuses we have heard from financial institutions are simply not credible three years into the crisis."

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) this week called for the Government Accountability Office to investigate "the role of all government entities - including federal regulators, involved in overseeing mortgage servicing companies and affiliated banks - and identify any regulatory problems that may have permitted this misconduct to occur without detection until now."

Short article on Fed lending policy - does it coincide with Obama's signing the so-called Jobs bill?

On another NewsVine seed (concerning comments Bill Maher made about "obscenely rich a$$holes" possibly getting a tax increase) there were several commenters who apparently own businesses or are self-employed who had some interesting comments about taxes. I do hope some of them drop by here as well (although I'd prefer if they left the partisan bickering behind). Right now I'm tracking what little income I've made and expenses incurred on a spreadsheet. (No, I haven't begun to turn a profit yet.) I expect I'll simply add all this stuff to the joint return I file with my husband as a Schedule C. Now, the way this business runs is, I buy products to give out as samples at home tasting parties. I assume this will be treated as a cost of goods sold. The sales I've made so far are entered on the main company's website, and sales taxes are calculated there and added to the final bill. Well, THAT'S a relief - at least that's one less tax area I have to worry about. Other expenses I've incurred so far are some office supplies, travel and printing for advertising.

If the business grows, and actually starts MAKING me money, I suppose I'll look into some other kind of arrangement - S Corp. or LLC. I'm also not sure about that "cost of goods sold" thing, perhaps for tax purposes it should be classified some other way? I would love to hear from other business owners/self employed about how they approach the tax issue. This business would REALLY have to grow before I'd invest in some accounting software like Quickbooks or something, though I confess my little spreadsheet is a little inadequate for detail. I'd love to talk to some of you about that subject as well. Thanks!

For those looking to start their own business, this could be a good way to launch it!

Well it's pretty standard advice, like shopping rates and knowing your purchasing and repayment habits. And it's probably the ONLY way some of us will be able to finance a start-up project.

Actually the tasting samples arrived Wednesday, and I'm just now getting around to talking about that. I watched the DVD which demonstrated how to hold a tasting party, there were definitely some good tips there, but no instructions on how to place the orders online. I had to look that up on the website, and of course ordered a few additional things just to make sure I could do this.

So, problem no. 1 is, how do these orders actually get paid for? Am I to deposit the money and THEN place the orders, or collect money upon delivery? And who delivers? I know I would prefer the orders get shipped directly to the purchaser. I'd also prefer to collect the money at the time the order is placed, rather than front the money. The only way I have to do that is with a credit card, and there's only so much room for that.

In fact, some of you have mentioned that business financing is crucial. I'm trying to do this on a shoestring, by just purchasing a few things to get started. I don't see this as being big enough to try for an SBA loan. Also, this was to make up for a shortfall in my own income, and it doesn't make sense to me to create more debt as I'm trying to get a little OUT of debt! One of you suggested that I decide exactly what I DO want out of this business. Well, I'd like to make an extra $2-300 a month, to help buy groceries, pay off a few things, and maybe help pay for a ski vacation my family is planning on next March. That's not terribly ambitious I know, but I think these are reasonable expectations given the type of business this is. Many of you are down on the MLM kinds of businesses, and in fact I'm a little wary myself (even though I bought into this). You've suggested that friends might not be a good place to start, so I'm looking for other areas where I can solicit for people to host tasting parties. Any ideas on where I might look for these areas would be greatly appreciated!

I've also decided to give myself a deadline: If I haven't at least earned back the money I've already spent on this venture by the end of the year, I will likely pull the plug and write this off as a painful lesson learned. If any of you think that's too soon, please let me know about that, too! But I figure, at least I'm learning something about business - even if it's only how NOT to run one!

This slideshow talks about ten start-up businesses, nine of which are still going strong. Most of them seem to involve the internet.

I wonder about the tax credits for small business owners. I think I will look into this, and let you know what I find.

Hello, Viners. I'm asking this question because I have taken the plunge, so to speak, and bought into a home-entertaining business. I have a full-time job which is pretty secure, but with the economy the way it is it seems everything is going up EXCEPT my paycheck. I looked for part-time work on evenings and weekends but had no luck, then I saw this ad for a home-entertainment business, and I went for it! So far I've only spent about $200 and expect my kit just any day now. So I would LOVE to connect with other people who have a side-business like that. Or maybe you've lost your job and decided, what the heck, I've always wanted to run my own business. Maybe we could even form a GROUP of our own, to share ideas on marketing, finance, taxes, etc. If nothing else, it would be a pleasant diversion from the typical lefty liberal/right wingnut slamming and sniping that masquerades as News on NewsVine, and we just might learn something valuable from each other! I hope to hear from lots of you, soon!