With all of the news today about the latest Bankster Bailout (aka 50 State Settlement – just read David Dayen’s articles from today at FDL News as well as this and this from Cynthia Kouril and this from Scarecrow), I don’t need to say too much more on the topic.

But what the hell, I might as well offer up a few examples of the Banksters and 1%ers working the refs (the TradMed and low info voters), even as they get their own way.

Last week it seemed Eric Schneiderman’s suit against MERS and three banks using MERS represented a carve-out on the final foreclosure fraud settlement. There was speculation that other states might have carve-outs or grandfathered suits, so they would be able to pursue those investigations and prosecutions and still join the settlement. But Bloomberg reports today that some states with active lawsuits would have to settle them as part of the deal.

Here’s one of my most favorite statistics of the last few years. In the past 90 days, since “Bank Transfer Day” in November, 5.6 million people have moved their money out of banks. 610,000 cited Bank Transfer Day as the reason.

In the latest of a flurry of under-the-wire lawsuits that seem to conflict with an imminent foreclosure fraud settlement, Eric Schneiderman, the Attorney General of New York and a co-chair of the federal task force looking into the residential mortgage-backed securities market, sued three banks for their use of the MERS electronic registry, which resulted in fraudulent foreclosure filings.

Too failed to be big? Today, Public Citizen will send a formal petition to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the Financial Stability Oversight Council to break up Bank of America. The petition asks them to “recognize that the Bank of America Corporation . . . poses a ‘grave threat’ to the stability of the United States financial system and to mitigate that threat, as provided by section 121 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.”

What hasn’t received enough attention is the extent to which we’ve already been down this road. In 2008, 12 AGs entered into a settlement with Bank of America over Countrywide lending practices. As part of the settlement, BofA agreed to modify as many as 400,000 mortgages, costing $8.4 billion, with a variety of types of mods, including principal reductions and refinancing. In addition, servicer practices were supposed to change and foreclosure operations on the affected homes suspended.

The Charlotte Observer leaks the news that, once again, President Obama will move the Democratic National Convention from an arena to an outdoor stadium on the last night for his nomination acceptance speech. The difference here is that the convention takes place in Charlotte, which means that the available stadium for the proceedings… is Bank of America Stadium.

At Bank of America, the situation is dire. We’ve been expecting a possible crackup of the big bank, which made some of the worst purchases in business history in acquiring Countrywide and Merrill Lynch. Now, Yves Smith notes that BofA may have to pull out of key areas of the country in order to survive

The Backbone Campaign, longtime source of witty direct action protests, partnered up with the Other 98%, the Seattle Labor Chorus and the Washington Community Action Network to produce a Christmas caroling event at Bank of America and at Wells Fargo. Donned in their Santa hats and other gay apparel, including a Ghost of Christmas Present, the 99% Choir serenaded the staff and customers at branches in Seattle area.

Today however, we have someone like Donald Trump claiming to be worth $7B, with $3B of that being his “brand.” Yeah, that’s right. The guy whose combover has been likened to a dead raccoon claims a worth nearly double the generous estimates provided by Forbes. I guess The Donald must subscribe to the “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” theory since a recent Fox Poll (via Media Matters) showed a Trump endorsement would be received positively by 6% of those polled versus negatively by 31% of those polled.