6/2/12, "Statement on the Passing of CAP Founding Director Marion Sandler," John Podesta, Center for American Progress
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6/4/12, "Marion Sandler, Home Lender Who Made Billions, Dies at 81," Bloomberg, Laurence Arnold
"Marion Sandler, part of a husband- and-wife team that earned billions from lending during the housing boom, then fought back against critics of the adjustable-rate mortgage they helped popularize, has died. She was 81.
She died on June 1 at her home in San Francisco, according to an obituary on her website. No cause was given.
As one of Wall Street’s first female securities analysts, Sandler was drawn to the business model of the savings and loan, and she went on to make her fortune running one with her husband, Herbert.
As co-chairmen and co-chief executive officers of Golden West Financial Corp. -- which became the second-largest thrift in the U.S., after Washington Mutual -- the Sandlers were in the vanguard of untraditional home lending. The “Pick-A-Pay” adjustable-rate mortgage marketed by Golden West through its World Savings Bank unit was a so-called payment-option ARM, which allowed borrowers to make artificially low monthly payments, increasing the principal they owed....
When Wachovia Corp. bought Golden West in 2006 for $24.2 billion, the Sandlers walked away with $2.4 billion for their 10 percent stake. They directed part of their wealth to philanthropy, including the creation of the nonprofit investigative journalism website ProPublica.
The financial crisis of 2008, triggered by the collapse of the subprime-mortgage market, cast them in a new, harsh light.
Wachovia, Golden West’s purchaser, lost 89 percent of its market value from a high in February 2007 as a result of mounting losses on option ARMs, leading to its sale to Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) (WFC), announced in October 2008.
Time magazine in 2009 named the Sandlers to its list of “25 people to blame for the financial crisis,” saying the couple introduced the option ARM in the 1980s and then peddled it “with increasing zeal and misleading advertisements over the next two decades.” A skit on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” parodied the Sandlers as “people who should be shot” for their roles in the financial meltdown.
The Sandlers insisted they had been careful, responsible lenders who had tailored their loans to the needs and payment abilities of clients. In a lengthy rebuttal to Time, they said Golden West under their stewardship had differed from competitors by keeping its loans on its books, rather than packaging and selling them as securities....
The Sandlers pledged to give away their entire net worth through philanthropy, beginning with a $1.3 billion grant to their foundation in 2006."...
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Sandlers were among major donors to "Free Press" in 2009 which opposed a Comcast merger and favored what was known as 'Net Neutrality':
Other major donors included George Soros' Open Society, George Soros Democracy Alliance, Barbara Streisand, Rockefeller Family, Ford Foundation, and Craigslist Charitable Fund. (page 10)
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On Democracy Alliance:
7/17/06, "A new alliance of Democrats spreads funding, but some in party bristle at secrecy and liberal tilt," Washington Post, by VandeHei and Cillizza
"The group requires nondisclosure agreements because many donors prefer anonymity."
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The Sandlers contributed to numerous other groups such as global warming lawsuit powerhouse, Center for Biological Diversity:
2/13/2009, "Center for Biological Diversity Declares Legal War on Global Warming," Environment News Service
"Initial funding of $6.3 million for the Climate Law Institute has been provided by the California Community Foundation, The Sandler Foundation, The Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, and others." (item at end of article)
via Michael Savage
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