Greedy Bankers, Funding ACORN

Two of the high-profile 'nuclear-waste-mortgage' bankers were the Sandlers. We've mentioned them before--they sold Golden West just before the collapse of the market (inside knowledge is a wonderful thing, no?)

Well, all that greed paid off--for ACORN. And there are some very interesting little details, too.

...According to the "Glenn Beck Program," the Sandlers paid ACORN to send out protesters to hound Wells Fargo Bank, which competed with Golden West, the Sandlers' bank. If true, this is an explosive allegation.

In more prosaic actions,

Through their charity, the Sandler Family Supporting Foundation, they gave at least $5,723,222 to the ACORN network. Specifically, the charity gave $4,498,222 to American Institute for Social Justice (since 2003), $700,000 to Project Vote (in 2005), $525,000 to ACORN (2000–2001 according to Activist Cash). This excludes any contributions that either Sandler may have made personally to ACORN or its affiliates.

How did the Sandlers make all that money?

The company's business was built on adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs. These were mortgages offered at low "teaser" rates that ratcheted upward as interest rates increased. They were often sold aggressively to unsophisticated home buyers who did not comprehend the vast financial risks they were taking, or who assumed that housing prices would rise high enough to provide a profit to them when they sold their houses...

Flim-flamming greedy rapacious opportunism. That's how.