Texas tea partiers decry state 'crony capitalism'
Gov. Rick Perry's run for president is putting a national spotlight on a culture of "crony capitalism" he and the Republican-dominated state Legislature built in Texas, a small group of tea party activists charged Thursday.  Janet Ahmad, president of Homeowners for Better Building, complained that homebuilder Bob Perry _ who is not related to the governor but has contributed $14 million to Perry and the Republican Governor's Association _ effectively purchased his own state agency, the Texas Residential Construction Commission, in 2003.

Former gubernatorial challenger Medina takes aim at Perry ‘cronyism’
Janet Ahmad, president of Homeowners for Better Building, said that Bob Perry’s campaign donations resulted in the formation of the now-defunct Texas Residential Construction Commission in 2003, an agency plagued by allegations that it protected homebuilders at the expense of homebuyers. “The resulting agency was so anti-consumer and industry protective that that the Texas Legislature recently abolished it,” Ahmad said. “Meanwhile Bob Perry’s political contributions have become the hallmark of influence for Texas policy.”

Editorial: Bold move to hold banks accountable
Just as Americans kicked off the long Labor Day weekend, a little-known federal agency took a bold step to hold the banking industry -- including individual executives -- accountable for the mortgage meltdown still plaguing the nation's ailing economy. The lawsuit against JP Morgan, for example, names 38 individual defendants. Twelve execs are named in the Bank of America suit, while seven merit a mention in the Morgan Stanley filing. The lawsuits allege that these individuals, most of whom are not well-known but still work in this highly paid industry, signed off or were responsible for providing misleading information... FHFA's gutsy move won't help homeowners with underwater mortgages who are still being jerked around by the banking industry. Nor does it hold accountable the Fannie and Freddie executives whose ruinous leadership -- including Minnesota native and Democratic political operative James Johnson -- led to a massive taxpayer bailout.

Analysis: Mortgage cases target people, not just banks
By suing 131 individuals in its effort to recover losses on $200 billion of mortgage debt that went sour, the federal agency overseeing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is doing one thing that the government has largely left alone. It is trying to hold actual people, not just companies, responsible for their roles in the global financial crisis. The 18 lawsuits by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, including 17 filed last week and one in July, signal a change from prior federal efforts to punish banks and bankers for their roles in the financial crisis.  Most of the higher-profile financial crisis cases brought by the Department of Justice, such as its civil fraud against Deutsche Bank AG, or the Securities and Exchange Commission have named few or no individual defendants. So far, no top executives at major banks have been criminally charged.