Your Goldman Sachs comments are reasoned. Another-words I can follow your logic trail. Goldman Sachs did what you said. Here’s were I come up with a different interpretation, perhaps more accurately ‘conclusion’.
If Congress an the Courts come up with legislation and force lending institutions to give out bad loans, it is their responsibility to make sure corrective measures are put in place to confront the worst of the ‘side-effects’. Neither did.
As you mentioned, banks and lending institutions had to move that bad paper or go under. Wall Street entities who participated in this market, were merely facilitating the disbursal of this bad paper. Congress and the courts were responsible for the existence of it. The regulators were responsible for reviewing and approving or objecting to business practices.
If a business climate is set up to create this mess, it is the business community that is tasked with dissipating the risk at each level.
You state that Goldman Sachs was the biggest crook, but what else did folks expect? Someone was going to buy that paper, move it along, and reap profits from it.
As for Goldman Sachs buying the stock of companies short who purchased the bundled paper, it was entirely legal for them to do so.
There is probably a clause in the securities industry that states a person cannot knowingly sell a harmful product, but the federal government itself had ruled that the creation of the paper was reasoned in the first place.
If the federal government has signed off on the creation of the paper, then it’s a very hard sell for me to think manipulating that paper should be viewed as a criminal act.
This was the Left’s concept of trickle down from start to finish.
Then when it played out, everyone was guilty but them. Isn’t that true in any Leftist enterprise.
Now, didn’t we all know this was a terrible idea? Yes we did. We objected. The lending industry objected. Congress and the courts over-ruled us.
Sorry, I’m not buying into the demonetization of Goldman Sachs. I’m not saying this as a put-down to anyone either.
This is a messy situation. I just don’t like seeing Congress and the courts trash others for what it instigated. And that’s exactly what took place here. There was a fraud alright. Congress and the courts perpetrated it on the lending industry and their down-stream business partners.
If someone wants to prosecute, for once I’d like to see the idiot who caused all this go to jail.
It isn’t Goldman Sachs IMO. I may be wrong as I can be, but I’m tired of seeing malfeasance at top levels of government and the courts get shifted off onto others over and over.
” This was the Left’s concept of trickle down from start to finish.
Then when it played out, everyone was guilty but them. Isn’t that true in any Leftist enterprise.”
Of course.
” I just don’t like seeing Congress and the courts trash others for what it instigated.”
Neither do I.
” If someone wants to prosecute, for once I’d like to see the idiot who caused all this go to jail.”
2 idiots, Dodd & Frank.
” It isn’t Goldman Sachs IMO. I may be wrong as I can be”
Well, for once in 10 years, you are : )
GS, Citibank, and especially Countrywide Home Loans robbed us blind. Massive forgery, and altered documents all the way down the line. In fairness, you had to be inside to see
how this worked.
I expect in 2024, I will again find something to disagree with you on, and we only partially disagreed here : )
You state that Goldman Sachs was the biggest crook, but what else did folks expect? Someone was going to buy that paper, move it along, and reap profits from it.
At that point, this moves from opportunism to influence and depredation. The whole CRA loop you are citing was created to pressure small banks for purposes of consolidation by big banks at fire-sale prices, which certainly happened when the meltdown hit. It is simply not legitimate to equate companies just trying to survive with players who wield that kind of influence.