Twenty-five people at the heart of the meltdown ...(where is Bob Rubin?)

Guardian ^ | 01/26/09

[TigerLikesRooster]

Twenty-five people at the heart of the meltdown ...

The worst economic turmoil since the Great Depression is not a natural phenomenon but a man-made disaster in which we all played a part. In the second part of a week-long series looking behind the slump, Guardian City editor Julia Finch picks out the individuals who have led us into the current crisis

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

What a crock! Greenberg was adamant about NOT selling CDS instruments until he was forced out. Joseph Cassano is the real villain here, selling billions of dollars in CDSs until the music stopped. Greenberg was the only person stopping the sales.

All of this is going to pass into the received wisdom. It’s why the media is so dangerous - they codify lies.

[Vaduz]

And Jimmy Carter and the democrat congress that ended red line banking in the 70’s.

[TruthWillWin]

Good question. Dodd made the list as he should have but Barney ("There is no proweem with Fannie/Freddie") Frank should be at the top of that list.

He resisted regulation and attempts to get the subprime situation under control on numerous occasions in the early to mid 2000's. He even slept with a Freddie official in the 90's when the suprime market was born.

[DuncanWaring]

Musn’t forget Barack Obama, who, under the auspices of ACORN, got the ball rolling with forcing banks to lend to people who didn’t qualify.

I was thinking the list should have at least an "Honorable Mention" for a certain former Chicago "community organizer".

[aflaak]

ping

[GOPJ]

Clinton shares at least some of the blame for the current financial chaos. He beefed up the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act to force mortgage lenders to relax their rules to allow more socially disadvantaged borrowers to qualify for home loans.

In 1999 Clinton repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, which ensured a complete separation between commercial banks, which accept deposits, and investment banks, which invest and take risks. The move prompted the era of the superbank and primed the sub-prime pump. The year before the repeal sub-prime loans were just 5% of all mortgage lending. By the time the credit crunch blew up it was approaching 30%.

Why am I NOT surprised?