The Line That May Have Won Hillary Clinton the Nomination
Clinton left a rhetorical door open for Sanders to connect Wall Street and race, but he didn’t do ithttp://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-line-that-may-have-won-hillary-clinton-the-nomination-20160428
This is an interesting read, whatever one thinks of Matt Taibbi.
"If we broke up the big banks tomorrow," Clinton asked, "would that end racism?"
Logically, it was an odd thing to say. After all, lots of things worth doing, even political things, won't "end racism."
But from a practical point of view, Clinton's gambit was brilliant politics. It effectively caricaturized Sanders as a one-note candidate too steeped in attacking billionaires to see the problems of people down on Main Street. And the line fit in a tweet, making it perfect for rocketing around the Internet.
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According to one study, about two-thirds of all subprime loans between 2000 and 2007 were made to people who already owned their homes. The targets were often elderly, in particular men and women of color. Visiting loan officers convinced these borrowers to use the homes they'd poured their savings into their whole lives as ATM machines.
The pitch was: refinance your home, and get a little extra spending money each month! Lots of people went for it. But there was mischief hidden in the fine print of many of these "refi" deals, which often quickly exploded. Before long, the now-departed agent's promises would evaporate into a toxic quicksand of debt, unforeseen penalties and foreclosure.
Like a lot of reporters who covered the crash era, I initially misunderstood the profound racial element in the subprime drama. This wasn't the S&L crisis or the Enron-era accounting scandals or even the Internet bubble, a speculative craze that devoured the savings of white Middle America.
= new reply since forum marked as read
They don't piss ME off! 
I was sorry to post and run last night, but I am back in Surya's time zone now and was getting tired. I thought that this article was worthwhile posting. It sounds as if you and your wife were not only informed consumers, but really could pick and choose to some extent. Too many who bought into these situations were neither and were gulled into believing that the terms were really good deals. Either that, or they just never ever thought that anything like the real estate bubble would have consequences for THEM.
Countryside was one of the worst behaved lenders. I hope that you were able to get your loan somewhere else.
Some of the most heartbreaking stories, IMO, involved those who had already paid for their homes but who were seniors and who then took out home equity loans under terms that ended up costing them so much that they actually lost those homes. Frankly, I had a LOT of misgivings about home equity loans when the concept was first introduced. But if lenders were scrupulous, they could have helped people in a real pinch. Of course, many lenders were NOT scrupulous. In all cases, they preyed on minority communities.
I believe that you are correct and the Bernie never has even thought about any connection. His narrative is simply: Big Banks = Bad without really understanding - or attempting to understand - any concepts of linkage to other societal issues and how those linkages can harm vulnerable citizens.
