Posted on 02/02/2009 12:41:18 AM PST by Tempest
The basic story line so far is that we are all to blame, including homeowners who bit off more than they could chew, lenders who wrote absurd adjustable-rate mortgages, and greedy investment bankers.
Credit derivatives also figure heavily in the plot. Apologists say that these became so complicated that even Wall Street couldn't understand them and that they created "an unacceptable level of risk." Then these blowhards tell us that the bailout will pump hundreds of billions of dollars into the credit arteries and save the patient, which is the world's financial system. It will take time—maybe a year or so—but if everyone hangs in there, we'll be all right. No structural damage has been done, and all's well that ends well.
Sorry, but that's drivel. In fact, what we are living through is the worst financial scandal in history. It dwarfs 1929, Ponzi's scheme, Teapot Dome, the South Sea Bubble, tulip bulbs, you name it. Bernie Madoff? He's peanuts.
(Excerpt) Read more at villagevoice.com ...
We're trying to open your eyes.
Think about this...how many of the top execs got out before this happened with lots of money. The masters of the universe eventually bankrupted their companies with their schemes and the country- no question...they weren’t as smart as they thought they were.
You shouldn't speak about that which you do not know. Derivatives are absolutely zero sum...they simply move money from the winner to the loser.
The same money/wealth remains in the economy, however. That's why I can explain where the $600 Trillion in derivates went, whereas someone who doesn't understand the above can't explain why the total wealth on this planet is less than $600 Trillion.
Warren Buffet stood on the podium with Obama and pumped millions into his campaign.
I would hardly think he was a credible authority on the subject, since he is a greater part of the problem.
--and that's the point. It's high in Kenya, it's high in Michigan, and it's 7.2 in the US. Hell, I won't mind watching it go back below 5% inside a year, and frankly I don't believe even Obama can prevent that from happening. What we know is that the current 7.2% is still lower than it was when everyone said things were wonderful.
Where do credit unions put their money?
If savings is actually a problem then there are structural problems with the financial systems. Banks were DESIGNED to be a place to safely store extra wealth.
and become far, far more productive. As individuals, as well as a nation.
You mean like the financial wizards that got us into this mess. The article was pretty enlightening, but it didn’t go deep enough. The average man needs to be able to understand the level of greed and corruption that is rampant in a society where so much wealth is available for those with the desire and intelligence to go get it.
The reference was made by the author regarding understanding the math. A reference that didn’t give sufficient evidence concerning the whole scheme of credit derivatives, bundled mortgages, securites markets, congress, the fed, treasury, SEC, banks world financial markets and banks, etc etc, and the other “mutant financial instruments” the author writes about.
I regard this whole sad story as the final chapter in the fairy tale of the “Goose That Laid the Golden Egg”, only it isn’t a fairy tale, it is life and the greedy, who can blame them, Bastards, have accomplished the task. A painful reminder is the comment by the officer on the bridge of the Submarine Konofalov to the Captain, “You arrogant Ass, You’ve killed us”. From the film “Red October”.
Like Jimmy Cayne, Chairman of Bear Stearns. He lost about $1 billion during the 6 months before Bear Stearns went under.
...they weren’t as smart as they thought they were.
Like I said, thanks for admitting your error.
Shhhhh.....he’s on a roll.
I am a practical man...when someone steals from me...I don’t care what their political affiliation is. When a free market system is perverted by removing risk from the street and transferring it to the economy thus making the market anything but free and crashes basically the world economy...I want those responsible to pay a very heavy price.
Not only have these idiots destroyed their own companies, they have destroyed our economy and possibly destroyed the world economy. They have blackened the name of capitalism and free market which is too bad because what they did was not based on the free market...you can’t have a free market if you remove risk. This sort is more akin to the pirates of yesteryear...then a trader working under free market conditions. Capitalism will be blamed...completely unfair. Our only hope of saving capitalism is to bring these guys to justice.
You see, there was a financial event on Wall Street last October through November that turned our entire economy upside down. You can consider that to be on the same parallel as the event when, several Terrorists flew a pair of Boeing 757’s into a pair of Sky Scrapers in the center of New York City and brought them crashing down to the streets below. (They call that 9/11/01.)
You are pretty much stuck in 9/10/01.
The people who lost money were stockholders and bond holders who invested in these rogue banks and rogue Wall St firms. The US taxpayer also gets reamed paying for trillions in bailouts
Sad to say but I think I would be tempted to write any derivative my company wanted if I was taking home millions each year from doing so. This is exactly what these twenty something, thirty something math and finance geniuses did
And their superiors took home even more loot from derivative writing and mortgage bundling
Even if you went into Merrill Lynch honest you got caught up the frenzy, in this mania of derivative writing. And made millions doing. Millions to spend on the hot women of NYC, on cocaine, on expensive restaurants in NYC. NYC eateries are having a very hard time since the Wall St collapse. NYC (especially Manhattan) real estate will crater too
I think Mr. Cayne took some profits...no?
Bear Stearns’s stock may be hitting new 52-week lows, but the firm’s chairman just put the finishing touches on a high-flying real-estate deal.
The chairman, James E. Cayne, paid $25.8 million for a 14th-floor apartment in The Plaza, the storied New York hotel recent converted into high-end condominiums, city records show. Last month, Mr. Cayne closed on a much more modestly priced apartment on the same floor of the Plaza, for which he paid $2.4 million. Together, the units cost Mr. Cayne and his wife, Patricia, more than $28 million, according to city records.
Who stole from you?
When a free market system is perverted by removing risk from the street
Risk was removed from the street? Bear Stearns, Lehman and AIG disagree.
I’m very concerned that the Obama plan is not Obama’s at all. I’m pretty sure that the Obama plan is the George Soros plan. Obama is just the personality cult figure head. It’s obvious that he is just running around, making personal appearances, doing the schmoozing, while someone else is doing all the hard work behind the scenes. I have to wonder how Obama feels being the front man, if this is what he expected.
Great post...I could not agree more...they are stuck on 9-10.
He has $1 billion less than he had the year before Bear went away.
Simply put America and the world doesn't need so many workers in the factories to churn out what we need
There is glut of consumer goods and jobless people who cannot afford them anymore. Whereas during the bubble years they could
The great depression was the same. Workers were just not needed
Derivatives were invented to remove risk as were hedge funds...you know this if you want to be intellectually honest.
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