You said it. Greedy bankers. They simply didn't know when to stop.
Don't blame the consumer. Who wouldn't have taken a $1,000 a month loan with no down payment, when rent was $1,500 a month. The idiots were the ones renting. Same logic as a lease.
I don't think you can blame everything on a President. There were a lot of people at fault here, many of them being greedy bankers who tried to squeeze every dollar they could out of the market.
But I do blame him for not seeing this coming. It was widely reported by many experts that we were building up a massive bubble thanks to bad mortages that would eventually crush the system. Not to mention that he never once stepped in on predatory lending practices that helped cause this mess.
As President, he should have seen what was happening to his citizens and either made some heavy handed comments or helped push legislation that would have curbed the predatory practices. Not all his fault, but he deserves some blame.
What problems do you feel the gold standard would fix?
I don't think it would fix it at all, but I do believe it was the major effect of the economy's fall. The money we printed was backed up by the value of the gold the U.S.A. owned, so we did not print more money then was backed up by the gold.
We were removed the Gold Standard and printed money that was backed up with nothing, so it was like writing checks when you knew you had no money in the bank.
There is so much more involved in why our economy is in trouble, I just believe that was one of the major problems.
I don't think it would fix it at all, but I do believe it was the major effect of the economy's fall. The money we printed was backed up by the value of the gold the U.S.A. owned, so we did not print more money then was backed up by the gold.
We were removed the Gold Standard and printed money that was backed up with nothing, so it was like writing checks when you knew you had no money in the bank.
Dude, a currency is backed by an economy, not stocks of metals (or paper).
Do you really believe that taxing the people will pay the deficit?
to cut the money coming in while you got a shitload going out doesn't help the situation only makes it worse. taxes have never been cut before during wartime there was a reason for this.
Greenspan is aware of the evils in using a fiat system...
Read this:
lewrockwell.com/paul/paul125.html
He doesn't have anything positive to say about the future either:
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan offered a woeful outlook of America?s economic situation on Sunday, saying the crisis with the country?s financial institutions was as dire as he had ever seen in his long career, and predicting that one or more of those institutions would likely collapse in the near future.
i see everyone is watching the news tonight. The pres cant cause this all by himself it takes alot of screw ups in the banking world to cause whats going on now. unfortunately, we all rode the wave of free money and now it is biting us all in the ASS!!! go watch a porno and you'll feel better
to cut the money coming in while you got a shitload going out doesn't help the situation only makes it worse. taxes have never been cut before during wartime there was a reason for this.
I cant argue that. But that is because the printing press would be at max speed. But the tax cuts have to be on the bottom of the list.
money disappearing into the night on laws passed and shredded in darkness
money spent on a never ending false war
mortgage rates that were heaven on earth one year and hell on earth the next
futures on oil that left the rich much richer and the middle class much poorer
foreclosures that left the middle class broke and the upper class bankrupt
The financial troubles are the direct result of a housing boom and bust. The simple (but false) belief that housing prices would appreciate at something like 10% per year for a long time was at the root of many bad lending, borrowing and investing decisions.
"Housing always goes up. Hallelujah!"
If you believe that housing values will appreciate at 10% per year you will:
1. Use your house as an ATM by borrowing against its value
2. Sell your home and use the profit as a down payment on an even bigger home
3. Become a mortgage broker or real estate agent
4. Raise a city's operating budget to take advantage of increased property tax revenues
as a result of increasing home values (It's a lot easier to increase government expenses than take things away from people later)
5. a. Make loans to people with weak credit profiles
b. Buy a home you cannot reasonably expect to payoff
6. a. Make loans with no down payment required (In just a few years the appreciation will cover the missing down payment. Yeah, right. haha
b. Buy a home with no down payment required
7. a. Buy homes and condos for the purpose of flipping. Buy it now and sell it in 2 years for a substantial profit (all that leverage!)
b. Give loans to "investors" that then use that house as collateral to get other loans and so on. Hello, Mr. Ponzi
8. a. Lie about one's income in order to secure a loan
b. Lend to people who don't document their income. Why worry? The worse thing is you repo a home which worth more than what the buyer bought it for.
I am so sick of hearing that the problem is due to 'bad mortgages'. This has been a republican spin for the past few years to to shift blame for failed policies. Policies that favored corporations and fucked the little guy. You're going to tell me a 158 year old bank started dishing out bad mortgages out of the blue?
Of course this administration is to blame, what the fuck does anyone think is going to happen when you give tax breaks to oil companies, allow drug companies to charge up to 5X the price of drugs compared to other countries, create a hundred billion dollar war for companies like Halliburton and it goes on and on and on.
This bullshit caused people to make less money while paying more for everything from gas to food to medicine. People were forced to live on credit simply to survive and now its all collapsing.
Fuck Bush, fuck McCain and fuck every republican that voted for these anti-american thieves.
I am so sick of hearing that the problem is due to 'bad mortgages'. This has been a republican spin for the past few years to to shift blame for failed policies. Policies that favored corporations and fucked the little guy. You're going to tell me a 158 year old bank started dishing out bad mortgages out of the blue?
Of course this administration is to blame, what the fuck does anyone think is going to happen when you give tax breaks to oil companies, allow drug companies to charge up to 5X the price of drugs compared to other countries, create a hundred billion dollar war for companies like Halliburton and it goes on and on and on.
This bullshit caused people to make less money while paying more for everything from gas to food to medicine. People were forced to live on credit simply to survive and now its all collapsing.
Fuck Bush, fuck McCain and fuck every republican that voted for these anti-american thieves.
My answer is Yes it is Bushes fault and his Administration along with the entire Republican party that sits in the Senate and the Congress.
With monitoring and proper evaluations of the Economy it would have never happened.
Add in the Iraq war and the problem multiplied 10X. The government watched the war more than it's economy. The government invaded rights to privacy set up anti terrorist organisations while shipping jobs off shore.
It is 100% the Republican's fault.
During the Bush Administration millions of people lost thier jobs, pensions and retirement due to unchecked corporate tyranny. Now over 3/4's the American people are paying for homes that are worth less than what they were bought for.
I am so sick of hearing that the problem is due to 'bad mortgages'. This has been a republican spin for the past few years to to shift blame for failed policies. Policies that favored corporations and fucked the little guy. You're going to tell me a 158 year old bank started dishing out bad mortgages out of the blue?
Of course this administration is to blame, what the fuck does anyone think is going to happen when you give tax breaks to oil companies, allow drug companies to charge up to 5X the price of drugs compared to other countries, create a hundred billion dollar war for companies like Halliburton and it goes on and on and on.
This bullshit caused people to make less money while paying more for everything from gas to food to medicine. People were forced to live on credit simply to survive and now its all collapsing.
Fuck Bush, fuck McCain and fuck every republican that voted for these anti-american thieves.
I don't understand how these institutions with supposedly the best and brightest minds didn't foresee this. They knew this would come to a head. There wasn't enough regulation and oversight which created an environment where the greedy were able to hand out mortgages like candy. There is a structural problem that needs correcting.
This is going to have a ripple effect on the entire economy, whether it's all those employees losing their jobs, to increased taxes in bailouts, to retirement and pensions. An economist on Lou Dobbs today expects the it will take 9 years for the housing market to recover.
Responsible home owners have been royally screwed by the actions of these big brained corporate vultures. Imagine entering your retirement years now and you want to sell your house?
It makes one wonder what the real effect the $3 trillion Iraq War tab is going to have on the economy. Maybe our future is being mortgaged a lot like the housing market was.
Does the Bush Administration have the power to set gas or drug prices? Can he pass laws that tell people they can't get a home loan if they won't be able to pay it if gas goes up a dollar?
You're going to tell me a 158 year old bank started dishing out bad mortgages out of the blue?
.
Lehman was THE biggest underwriter of bonds backed by mortgages. Lehman has been THE world leader in creating and selling subprime mortgage backed securities since the mid 1990s. At first they only packaged the loans of other mortgage lenders and resold them. In the late 1990s they started their own subprime unit and then they bought two subprime mortgage lenders. They were in it early and pretty much owned the market for years. Lehman owned two large subprime mortgage companies. In just two years they collateralized more than $100 billion in subprime mortgages.
The other big player early on in writing mortgage backed securities was - drumroll, please - Bear Stearns.
Check out Soros' new book on the mortgage crisis which contains what I think is the most thorough history of the mortgage backed securities industry.
Phil Gramm is responsible. He's also responsible for the high gas prices. Motherfucker should be in jail. But no, he's the guy who came up with McCain's economic plan.
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act, Pub. L. No. 106-102, 113 Stat. 1338 (November 12, 1999), is an Act of the United States Congress which repealed the Glass-Steagall Act,
The bills comprising the act were introduced in the Senate by Phil Gramm (R-TX) and in the House of Representatives by James Leach (R-IA). The bills were passed along party lines with Republican support in the Senate[1] and with bipartisan support in the House of Representatives[2]. It was signed into law by President Bill Clinton.
The banking industry had been seeking the repeal of Glass-Steagall since at least the 1980s. In 1987 the Congressional Research Service prepared a report which explored the case for preserving Glass-Steagall and the case against preserving the act.[3]
Economist Robert Kuttner (among others) has criticized the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act as contributing to the 2007 subprime mortgage financial crisis.[6] Economists Robert Ekelund and Mark Thornton have made similar criticisms, arguing that while "in a world regulated by a gold standard, 100% reserve banking, and no FDIC deposit insurance" the Financial Services Modernization Act would have made "perfect sense" as a legitimate act of deregulation, under the present fiat monetary system it "amounts to corporate welfare for financial institutions and a moral hazard that will make taxpayers pay dearly". [7]
Seems like a cop out to blame Bush for a bill that was signed into law by Bill Clinton.
Bush hasn't helped the situation but there is plenty of blame to go around. Blaming it all on Bush is a gross oversimplification of the whole mess.
Seems like a cop out to blame Bush for a bill that was signed into law by Bill Clinton.
Bush hasn't helped the situation but there is plenty of blame to go around. Blaming it all on Bush is a gross oversimplification of the whole mess.
The bill I was talking about was the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000. Phil Gramm snuck it in with a completely unrelated omnibus spending bill that Clinton had been trying to pass for some time. It's common knowledge that no one in congress even read it (it was submitted right before Xmas break) and it passed. Clinton and congress were negligent but Gramm & friends are the fucktards responsible.
But the Democrats supported the bill too. I'd say both parties should share the blame.
Oh well, I guess the Democrats can do no wrong.
They supported the Omnibus bill it was tacked onto, not the Phil Gramm bill. It was completely unrelated and Gramm slipped it in in the 11th Hour and no one even read it. They do that all the time, I don't know why they tack on unrelated bills. It's fucking stupid.
What ever happened to that whole "the buck stops here" mentality.
Always figured when shit hits fan, whoever is in charge takes responsibility.
.
True.
And every company that lost billions of dollars of money and let shareholders down should step up and take responsibility - they are in charge - because not every bank ran themselves into the bank. Some of them have come out of this with increased marketshare and the ability to buyout weakened competitors.
And every person who bought a condo to flip and lost money should take responsibility for their household's poor decision - they are in charge- because I and many like me had the chance to do it and thought it was foolish. How many times someone offered me the chances to get in on such great investments from 2003-2005? How about you?
And every person who bought a house they couldn't afford. (I know I bought a house that I more than can afford by any reasonable standard. Didn't you?)
And every lawmaker who voted yes to laws that contributed to the mess. Stand up.
And every president who signed such laws into legislation. stand up.
It goes on and on and on.
Nearly every single person or company having trouble related to the housing fallout made a poor decision that got them there. They should stand up and say "the buck stops here"
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