Flint, Michigan Joins Scores of Cities Voting for the Homeowner and Bank Protection Act

In a resolution describing its own devastating deindustrialization during the Cheney-Bush years, the city of Flint, Michigan called on Congress to pass Lyndon LaRouche's proposed Homeowners and Bank Protection Act, to stop foreclosures nationwide and protect chartered banks from insolvency in the financial crash. Flint's Resolution 080001.1, passed unanimously on Jan. 14, says:

WHEREAS, a financial crisis involving home mortgages, debt instruments and the United States banking system threatens economic stability; and

WHEREAS, the financial crisis threatens the integrity of federal and chartered banks such that consumers' deposits and life savings are jeopardized; and....

WHEREAS, millions of Americans and thousands of Michigan residents are facing foreclosures on their homes; and

WHEREAS, historically, the federal government has intervened to protect financial institutions and home ownership and to provide guarantees of social and economic stability; and

WHEREAS, the State is in the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis,.... Michigan has lost more than 336,000 jobs in the past six years and is expected to lose another 33,000 in the next two years. That would be the longest stretch of job loss in the state since the 1929 stock market crash. Michigan is among the leaders in the nation in foreclosures. Tens of thousands of homes statewide are without heat and electricity. Child poverty in Michigan has risen to nearly 20%;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the City Council of the City of Flint, Michigan call upon the United States Congress to take emergency action to protect homeowners by enacting a Homeowners and Banks Protection Act, specifically to:

(1) Establish a federal agency to place Federal and State chartered banks under protection, freezing all existing home mortgages for a period of time, adjusting mortgage values to fair prices, restructuring existing mortgages at appropriate interest rates and writing off speculative debt obligations of mortgage-backed securities, financial derivatives, and other forms of financial pyramid schemes that have brought the banking system to the point of bankruptcy;

(2) Declare a moratorium on all home foreclosures for the duration of the transitional period, allowing families to retain their homes;

(3) Require affordable monthly home mortgage payments, the equivalent of "rental payments," to be made to designated banks for use as collateral in normal lending practices for recapitalization of the banking industry, and to factor such affordable payments into new mortgages, thereby deflating the housing bubble, establishing appropriate property valuation and reducing fixed mortgage interest rates;

(4) Provide an interim period during which homeowners may not be evicted from their homes, and protection to banks, pending the resumption of traditional banking functions, including serving local communities and facilitating credit for investment in productive entities;

(5) Authorize state governors to administer the implementation of programs, including provisions for "rental" assessments payable to specific banks and with provisions for necessary federal guarantees and credits to assure successful transition.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the State of Michigan, City of Flint, hereby endorses the Homeowners and Bank Protection Act of 2007, as initiated by economist Lyndon LaRouche, Jr. This crisis is such that it requires emergency action that only the United States Congress has the capability to enact. Congress must act quickly to keep people in their homes and avert social chaos.

THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this resolution serve as notice that the City Council of the city of Flint, Michigan has been, is and shall be vigilant as guardians of the public interest of the citizens of Flint, Michigan in all matters to the extent legally feasible and possible.

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, the Clerk of the Flint City Council is hereby directed to transmit a true and correct copy of the adopted resolution to members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives.