bostonbubble.com

[don gotshalk]

The media has led the public into swallowing the fault of the finacial crises of five years ago on Wall Street and the Bankers. It sells and most believe it. The hard copy that sells best is that the jails are not full of these people or worse.
The truth is that the blame belongs on the United States Congress and past Republican and particularly progressive Democratic administrations.
It is Congress that allowed and pushed the banks to change collateral back up on loans from the Historical 3 to 1 ratio to the 50 -1 and in some cases 100 to 1. They pushed the banks to sell the idea that anybody could handle the debt of a home that they had a right to own.
The door was opened wide to invite what happened after.
I personally reconstructed a mortgage six years ago and remembered asking my Bank broker what is going on in the residential mortage market in the Plymouth MA area in regards to the largest public housing development going on in the country. He told me " 100% plus 10%." I remarked that this does not make sense. He told me its idiotic and next quoted that the mortage is transferred out the bank ASAP. In other words the Bank was allowed by Congress to NOT CARE. Those congress people have now been re elected over and over again BLAMING WS AND THE BANKS.

[admin]

I think you're right that Congress, et al, bear a lot of blame and perhaps the majority of it. That doesn't absolve Wall Street, though. Surely they lobbied for the legislation that created many of the problems you pointed out. It's a pretty sweet deal for them - getting paid by the volume of loans and not having to care about the consequences because the loans are sold off immediately and usually backed against losses by the government anyway. However, you make a good point that focusing almost exclusively on Wall Street distracts from the greater problem that those who are supposed to be working for the citizenry's best interest are doing exactly the opposite.

- admin

[balor123]

It's not even really a function of individuals who are supposed to do something but are doing something else. Our political system is complicated enough that it prioritizes other things over principals, even in those who mean well. It's sink or swim for them. I see problems like these as a product of the political system we have, though in the end overall it may still produce a desirable outcome.

[admin]

Isn't that essentially the same thing - i.e., the priorities are not what is advertised?

- admin