Occupiers propose local governments use eminent domain to seize mortgage contracts from banks to keep families in their homes

This year, activists working with the Occupy Wall Street movement have proposed eminent domain as a wide scale solution for keeping owners facing foreclosure in their homes. The proposed mechanism would have localities (or their appointed representatives) seize large batches of mortgage contracts at or below fair market value, allowing the homeowner to refinance at the fair market value. Proponents say that the solution would be politically and economically feasible.
. . .

In his talk to InterOccupy.org, Michael Sauvante noted that eminent domain applies not just to real property, but to contract rights as well. Specifically, it would apply to the mortgage contracts and promissory notes held by big banks against the homes of millions of people. He noted that suggestions to use eminent domain on behalf of beleaguered homeowners would surprise those campaigning against the power following the Kelo decision, including some who have had victories at the state level, as in the case of this legislation in New Hampshire.

http://tinyurl.com/bmnn2qv

Colleges Withhold Transcripts From Grads in Loan Default

A spokesman from Temple confirms that it is school policy to withhold official transcripts from graduates who are in default on their student loans. As it turns out, the school is not alone; this is the position taken by most colleges and universities, though there is no law requiring such an extortionate position. They do this despite the fact the colleges themselves are not out the money. They have received the students’ tuition payments in full and are in effect simply acting as collection agencies for the federal government.

http://tinyurl.com/c2oj4tg

Rampant student loan debt, an economic recovery’s worst nightmare

I knew that if I ever got my health back that picking up the pieces of my life wouldn’t be easy. I would still be crippled by the damage done to my credit. My ability to get a car back on the road, ever own a home, have children, start a business, or live a fruitful life has been severely damaged. Nobody ever thinks they will lose their health overnight, but it happens all too often. My lender not only had no sympathy for my situation, but they did all they could to capitalize on it.

http://tinyurl.com/7ggbbve

Occupy Pittsburgh Answers Call to Join National Day Of Action For Public Transportation

On Wednesday, April 4, Occupy Pittsburgh invites the people of Allegheny County to stand together with those across the country to demand public transportation for the 99%. Public transportation provides vital access to work, housing, medical care, school, and other services for citizens in our county. It is a basic human right which helps everyone reach a decent standard of living, and secures health and well-being of our families.

April 4th is the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s groundbreaking speech “Beyond Vietnam: Breaking the Silence” in which he spoke of the connections between war and poverty. He explained his understanding that “America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube”, and that he had become “increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such.”

In this spirit, we recognize that attacks on public transportation happening across the country, from Boston to Portland, Pittsburgh to Oakland, and DC to LA are part of a larger austerity program being enforced against the 99% of Americans. We also recognize that these and other austerity measures are a result of the military adventures that “draw men and skills and money” away from the poorest and weakest in our society and for the benefit of the richest and most powerful 1%. These are fronts of the same struggle for a humane society, in which the needs of all come before the profits of the few.

http://tinyurl.com/dxp6jml

Occupy May Day: Not Your Usual General Strike

One thing is for sure: Such a May Day action is unlikely to be very much like the general strikes that have cropped up occasionally in US labor history in cities like Seattle, Oakland, and Stamford, Ct., or the ones that are a staple of political protest in Europe. These are typically conducted by unions whose action is called for and coordinated by central labor councils or national labor federations.  But barely twelve percent of American workers are even members of unions, and American unions and their leaders risk management reprisals and even criminal charges for simply endorsing such a strike.
Most Occupy May Day advocates understand that a conventional general strike is not in the cards. What they are advocating instead is a day in which members of the “99%” take whatever actions they can to withdraw from participation in the normal workings of the economic system – by not working if that is an option, but also by not shopping, not banking, and not engaging in other “normal” everyday activities, and by joining demonstrations, marches, disruptions, occupations, and other mass actions.

http://tinyurl.com/7jj5uqx

The Making of a 99% Spring

Next month, activists and organizers across the country are planning to train 100,000 people in nonviolent direct action for what they call The 99% Spring. But despite borrowing one or two of the Occupy movement’s favorite slogans, The 99% Spring hasn’t been called for by any general assembly. Rather, this massive and controversial effort is coming from the institutional left – a diverse coalition of labor unions, environmental and economic justice groups, community organizations and trainers’ alliances. While some celebrate what appears to be a mainstreaming of resistance thanks to Occupy, others are crying co-option.

http://tinyurl.com/c66n6z3

Battle Still On Between Americans, Wall Street Fat Cats

(video)

http://tinyurl.com/bmh9puo