Netroots demands action from Obama on foreclosures

MINNEAPOLIS -- Neither Congress nor the Obama administration have shown much initiative to fix the nation's deepening foreclosure problem of late, but the issue remains a dominant subject of activist attention and a major source of middle class anxiety.That's the takeaway from a packed Friday panel on bank regulation and foreclosures at the annual Netroots Nation conference, an annual meeting of internet-savvy progressives.

"It is a continuation of the insane Wall Street behavior of the 2000s," said financial blogger Mike Konczal, comparing the recent practice of pushing through foreclosures with shoddy documentation to the frenzy to push out subprime mortgages at the height of the housing bubble.

There were one million foreclosures in 2010. That pace has slowed somewhat in 2011, as banks are challenged in court, often on the validity of the paperwork deployed to evict borrowers.

When an audience member asked the panel whether greed or incompetence was behind the myriad ongoing abuses in the financial system, Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.) answered, "Yes."

Multiple panelists highlighted the disconnect between the political attention given to public worker pay and the budget deficit, and the fallout from the financial crisis, which blew a giant hole in federal finances.

"People seem to have forgotten, two and a half years ago, we had some unpleasantness," Miller told the audience, which responded with laughter.