The lede of a New York Times story today with a Los Angeles dateline projects state Attorney General Kamala Harris as having done hero’s work in holding out for more before the Obama administration announced its settlement with big banks that largely let them off the hook for mortgaqe abuses. “Last week, though, she emerged with a prize and a little vindication. Ms. Harris, already a rising Democratic star and a potential candidate for governor . . .” begins graph 2. Sounds terrific, until you get to graphs 6 and 7:
Critics said that her theatrics won her little more than California would have received anyway, because the state has the greatest number of troubled home loans, and that her threats to hold banks accountable have been just that, while officials in several other states have filed lawsuits.
Michael Hiltzik, a business columnist for The Los Angeles Times, called the overall settlement “a parade of rosy self-congratulation,” adding, “I believe the technical term for all this is ‘big whoop.’ ”
