Julian Assange is a hero and should receive the Nobel Peace Prize. I still cannot believe it was awarded to the corporate war-monger Obama. That he accepted it was beyond cynical. Pathetic.

thanks for highlighting the individuals who are so often just a case number or mortgage account to these corporations.

The foreclosure stories are extremely important, and the Wikileaks story has been over-covered. However, there's a similarity, which is captured in your title. In both cases, the rich and powerful seek to enforce different rules for themselves versus other people. The same is true of the recent tax deal in Congress. The GOP decided that the hill they would die on was tax cuts for the richest 2% of Americans, the rest of the country be damned. That's even though, per the CBPP, "two-thirds of the nation's total income gains from 2002 to 2007 flowed to the top 1 percent of U.S. households," and those tax cuts didn't create any net job gains under Bush. The game and those in power are generally the same for all these battles, but focusing on the battles where there are human faces and relatable stories is a good idea. http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=2908

Good post. I haven't been paying attention to the mortgage situation, as I'm a young renter, but I agree that our government is now bought and paid for by corporations and lobbyists for various special interests. American workers have become meat cogs in the capitalist machine - interchangeable and highly disposable. Witness the rise of long-term contract and temp workers, as opposed to "company men." The more Americans who realize that banks and multinationals are fleecing them with impunity, the stronger and louder our resistance gets. Keep up the good work, and support small, local businesses.

The anecdote on Keyser was unclear if the perp was a Countrywide ee or not; apparently he (?) was. I still submit that in that instance, the ee has separated himself from the employer and was not acting as an agent at that point (I am not a lawyer) because of the fraudulent nature of his activity. Thus, while CW could have at least stated an apology and be sympathetic, what could they have done to prevent this? If the guy went and killed her, while engaged as an ee of CW, then what blame should CW have for that? However, to use these four examples as a "symptom" of a greater, nationwide issue is disengenuous to all the spectacular companies in the country that do everything in their power to provide great customer service. Nothing will ever eliminate all mistakes; the key is how do you respond to them. Sure, I certainly agree that there are companies that fail at C.S., but you know what? The market takes care of them, because eventually the customer will move their business elsewhere. The govt cannot, will not and should not be in the business of taking charge of customer service. How in the world could they? This idea that govt, which is the greediest entity on Earth, can somehow solve all the ills of everyone, everywhere is nuts. Why does everything require a govt. solution? How can you regulate every possible scenario, as you are suggesting these four could have been regulated? Where is personal (and corporate) responsibility? Where does the Marketplace fit into all of this?

Another thing that is awful is that there are a lot of people who have never missed a payment, never been late on one, and always paid the full amount every month, but because of federal regulatory bs, they can not refinance for the market value of their house. The only way that they can is if they stop paying their mortgage! Why do people who are responsible get punished for it?

Well, I am sure that if the government had been in charge of servicing these loans, then none of this would have happened. As for Rachel Keyser, why does this have anything to do with Countrywide? They were not a party to the fraud. They had nothing to do with it, based on your facts presented here. Frauds happen all the time, and she needs to pursue the correct legal channels. I am sorry that it happened to her; perhaps she did not do her homework? That would be like if someone stole my car and I sued the auto-maker who I was making the payments to. It makes no sense. As for Marconi, it appears, based on your comments, that it was recognized as being a mistake. Who made money on this mistake? Did Marconi end up paying thousands of dollars because of someone's mistake? How was this about money for the bank? Mistakes do happen, despite liberals' attempts to create Utopia. Ditto for Nyerges; it appears that it was a mistake, and mistakes happen. Are you asserting that BofA was trying to "steal" his house from him or something? What else do you want him to do? But I am sure that if this had been the government, they would not have done this, and they would not have issued a "nauseating" apology. And Williams: either this again was a mistake or perhaps there was a major credit concern. Lenders do have the right in many cases to "call the loan" and maybe this is what happened. There's certainly more to the story than what you have included here. Yes, it can be frustrating to have to deal with a mistake like this, but were the banks maliciously doing this? It can be a hassle to deal with big companies. Did they eventually respond? But you know what, it would far more difficult to deal with the government on similar matters; they have no accountability. As for the "little man," I thought Obama was "for the little people." What happened to him "doing something" for the little people? I thought he was supposed to solve all of our problems; at least that's what he campaigned on. All the idiots the media interview "on the street" all praise Obama and say that "he's for the little guy." Really? And mean, old conservatives somehow aren't for the little guy?

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. Matt 6:24 Christian nation? Whatever...