Coalition: Donate Bonuses to Foreclosure Fund

A coalition of housing and community activists is calling on five Wall Street investment banks that "reaped" huge profits from funding and securitizing subprime loans to contribute their 2007 bonuses to a foreclosure prevention fund.The National Training and Information Center, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and other groups contend that the investment banks pushed subprime lending to unsustainable levels and reaped tremendous profits and bonuses. The groups also are releasing a report that details Wall Street's involvement in the subprime debacle. "Wall Street must do the right thing and forgo their lavish bonus to help families stay in their homes," said NTIC board member Inez Killingsworth. "It's time they clean up their mess." As part of a "Save the American Dream" campaign, the groups are inviting Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, and Bears Stearns to a summit to set up a foreclosure prevention fund.