Showdown for the Banks, Showtime for Obama

The proposed $25 billion "settlement" of the mortgage servicing mess, scheduled to be made public any moment, must be a way station to much larger reductions of mortgage principal for underwater homeowners — and much more serious consequences for the banks and their allies, whose fraudulent actions created the mortgage meltdown. If the settlement turns out to be the final installment of relief for homeowners, it will be a colossal failure, both as economics and as justice. We will soon learn two crucial things. First, will the deal be a sellout —as some fear — or a down-payment? And will the state AGs and the federal agencies pursue other civil and criminal cases that lead to a much larger set of fines that can be used for mortgage relief, more proportional to the damage done by the banks?