Like the old adage says: knowledge is power. Only we have the power to change our perception about current circumstances and act upon them. So how did we, after the crimes of Wall Street that stole the homes and savings and pensions of millions of people, become one vast hypnotized mass, even after the truth was revealed? Still today, we’re walking around as if mesmerized, not standing up, not demanding justice, despite so much proof of criminality. How are the executives on Wall Street able to escape responsibility and imprisonment for their involvement in mortgage and foreclosure fraud, even as homeowners continue to lose their homes, life savings and, in some cases, even their lives?

The only thing we, the people, should be blamed for is the unlimited confidence we once had in our financial system, then in our executive branch, and finally our judicial system. We are witnessing one of the hardest economic crises in U.S. history, impacting not only our lives today but future generations as well. Meanwhile, politicians who are the products of heavy lobbying by corporations are constantly speaking from their respective party positions, and the one thing they all seem to agree upon is this: leave the banks and their dirty deeds untouched.

For Whom to Vote

Once upon a time, the people of this country were proud to vote and believed their vote could change society for the better. They believed in the power of their collective voice and, as cliched as it might sound, they had hope for tomorrow. Can we say this about our current situation, specifically Tuesday's election results? How can we believe that those whom we elect will represent our interests when every day we experience the painful consequences of politicians' inactivity – particularly in addressing massive mortgage and foreclosure fraud?

We are well aware of the influence the big banks have on our politicians due to their lobbying efforts. The American Bankers Association – half of whose lobbyists have held government positions – and the National Association of Realtors are two of the most influential groups protecting bankers’ interests while making campaign donations to politicians via various political action committees. Additionally, the FIRE (finance, insurance and real estate) sector is spending billions on federal lobbying and campaign contributions, more than any other sector in the country.

As seen on the website Open Secrets, our current system is based on a revolving door policy – one that the general public doesn’t have access to. Sporadically, we see some light being shed on lobbying in our mainstream media, like in this recent New York Times front-page story, which stated: “Attorneys general are now the object of aggressive pursuit by lobbyists and lawyers who use campaign contributions, personal appeals at lavish corporate-sponsored conferences and other means to push them to drop investigations, change policies, negotiate favorable settlements or pressure federal regulators.”

Those attorneys general signed the National Mortgage Settlement in 2012, which stopped further investigation into banks’ and servicers’ fraudulent mortgage practices. Across the country, news outlets are running stories, almost on a daily basis, about foreclosure settlements stating that the biggest banks in the world are ready to sign these agreements in order to move on with business as usual. No one's looking back critically on the aftermath of that fraud, because everyone involved – from the banks to the government regulators to the Justice Department to the corporate media itself – is so deeply implicated that they'll do anything to keep the Pandora’s Box on the past closed.

What Could We Expect from the Elections?

Not some sudden conscious awakening or compassion for our fellow citizens, that's for sure. But what we could and must expect is that those in charge of government – those who we, the people, elected – do their jobs to make sure the country is protected from financial criminals, which means holding those criminals to account.

However, I’m hearing from many people that they don’t want to vote any longer, since they don’t see any difference or change in white collar prosecution. We as a nation used to be so proud of our freedom and democracy. But if you ask any homeowner who lost their home through fraudulent foreclosure in recent years, or those who are still fighting to keep their homes, they will tell you we’re living a lie right now.

They will tell you that laws are not being followed in our courts and that our government officials are not responding to their pleas for help after submitting proof of fraud in their mortgage documents. They will tell you that everything we used to be proud of in this country is melting away before our eyes, together with our lost homes, savings, lives and dreams.

Who is Representing People’s Interests in Washington?

Our leaders are self-congratulating after every new "settlement" the government reaches with the financial institutions – like they scored the biggest price of their lives. The hypocrisy that they can claim to have executed justice over the banks, while not criminally prosecuting a single person who was responsible for the crimes that these multi-billion-dollar settlements are now addressing, is something we, as a nation, should not accept or forget.

The facts are clear: those who perpetrated enormous fraud are being let free with a small price tag to pay in compensation, while the victims of their crimes remain left out in the cold, many years later, without any rectification for their losses.

The National Mortgage Settlement was supposed to get $5 billion from the banks. In reality it only allocated $1.5 billion for compensation to homeowners who lost their homes to unlawful foreclosures between 2008-2011. The rest of the settlement money went to the states. Some states used this money to balance their budgets, and some, like Florida, used it to fund even more speedy foreclosures that gave homeowners no chance of due process in court.

I contacted the offices of the attorneys general of California and Florida for comments on the National Mortgage Settlement and how it helped homeowners in their states. I have not received a reply from either office. Here is what one homeowner from California, Sherry Hernandez, who is still going through her own fraudulent foreclosure process, and possible eviction, said about AG Kamala Harris’s actions in regard to California's foreclosures:

“The Attorney General Harris has not led a bold response to the state's foreclosure crisis. I personally know of proof that [documents] have been sent to the Mortgage Task Force of mortgage fraud perpetrated by big name lenders that has never been investigated nor acted upon. The $18 billion has not gone to help homeowners who have been fraudulently foreclosed upon and has not helped to combat fraud, [but as] admitted by our own governing agency a great deal of it has gone to balance the California budget. There has not been $12 billion in principal reductions [for which] the money was designated but still not used, because for some reason people do not qualify for the difficult standards – and when they do qualify the lenders are not willing to comply.”

Who is Giving the Money for these Settlements?

The money for the bank settlements is mostly provided by the investors in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) – those who didn’t perpetrate the fraud – while the banks and their CEOs who misrepresented their MBS portfolios are unpunished for their actions. Not only are they not the ones losing money, but they're instead receiving promotions after they sign the settlements.

And the saddest part is that those who were most heavily affected by the banks’ illegalities – the homeowners – are now being treated by our government as foreclosure fraud collateral damage, and by the banks as negative numbers on their spreadsheets.

Even the states that got some money allocated from the settlement for homeowners’ legal representation have not been very clear to homeowners, who remain mostly unaware of the possibilities within their reach. Transparency is low, and homeowners are again left in dark to try and find the way out on their own.

Meanwhile, many fraudulent foreclosures have happened since the settlement, perpetrated by the same players as before. Soon after the settlement was reached, the banks and servicers sold their MBS to new entities such as Ocwen, which are not under any legal obligations under the settlement. Thus, the game goes on, fraud continues, and our government still celebrates its successful agreements with the unpunished criminals.

A good question the electorate might have asked ahead of Tuesday's vote was this: How can we trust those who we elect, who once the elections are over will once more begin their behind-the-scenes meetings and lavish retreats as the stories of bank fraud start to change all over again. Instead of electing them to govern in Wonderland, DC, it is up to us to individually start awakening and maybe even rereading our history in order to prevent a criminal class from rewriting it.

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