The Monster That Ate Wall Street

Ross27, The article explains in plain English what actually happened. The CDSs in wrong hands caused this havoc. Many years ago one could get a mortgage with at least 10% upfront, with no less that an excellent credit, but in the last 7 yrs it was all about getting the big commissions, and the headlines read how it made the American dream a reality. Do not put the blame of the homeowners who did not read the fine print.
As for NAFTA and treaties like this only benefit developed countries that have a superior infrastructure.

The tax cut program was the cure all and when it didn't deliver the backup plan was deregulation.

Once the flood gates opened and the huge profits came rolling in, there were few heros willing to risk it all by questioning the golden goose.

Is there anyone in any of these industries that self regulates their own ethics?

If you want some other information on this mess go to Burning down the house on youtube. It goes back to Freddie and Fannie

tcnw, you are right, live like our fathers & grandfathers, if you don't have the money, you don't get it. but the liberal cried "fowl" , thats not fair....everyone gets a house, etc. etc. oh lets give out food stamps, monies to pay utilities. now some actually needed help, but he have "HELPED" people to become lazy and expectant that There should be a tradeff. before any handout, you have to do community service. If america doesn't wake up take back control of the their government, China will own us, just as McCain said. I urge you to read, dig and get some knowledge under your belts. http://www.insightusa.us/FayesFacts/FFsept24-08

Here is an analogy to all this disgusting mess.

I say they all had it coming, sooner than later and it did arrive sooner than later. They all knew what would eventually happen with this type of arrangement; they just took advantage of it realizing that today is what matters; we'll deal with the mess tomorrow and get away with it, either way. "Mama's there to help us out. She loves us unconditionally."

The government is at fault for allowing this to happen since within each and every government regulation, there exists loopholes that contradict its entirety rendering it null and void determining the self-interest of the party concerned. They de-regulated anything that was in any way profitable to their own selfish interests to line their pockets.

As usual, they took a blind eye; neglected their responsibility, gambled and lost, sooner than later.

You give a match to a grown up to light a fire and put it out if and when the need arises; they gave the match to a child who lit the fire and who neither cared nor wished to put it out. The neighbourhood burned down and the child ran to his mother, (the government); got a scolding and that's the long and the short end of it.

When conglomerates play with other people's money and act like irresponsible children, they should be severely punished and receive jail-time and no payout. Period. They should be barred for life for their criminal acts. And once again, the government is acting irresponsibly by even thinking of doing payouts to these ignoramus idiots.

Can you imagine how the ordinary person is going to cope with paying into someone else's criminality by taking their last dime and giving it to such preposterous actions...that the government supports...? How much more can a 'normal' person take of all this B.S.? And why do you think we keep going down and down and getting deeper and deeper in a bottomless pit of a debt to borrow from Peter to pay to Paul? Do you actually think the government cares? NO!!!

They sleep well at night!!! It's not their money!!!

nafta and congress letting business go out of this country and giving tax breaks to those who did is part of the problem if a person aint got a job how can he or she pay their mortgages no money coming in there surely will be no money going out so lets thank clinton and that liar bush too for their economic faux pas STARGAZER

I agree totally with bighappy. We are bailing out Wall Street which inidrectly bails out Main Street, or else this would surely melt down into something close to the Great Depression of 1929 - 1945. But we should not bail out those homeowners who should never have bought a home in the first place because they just could not afford to. This kind of welfare would have no end and would encourage foolish behavior in the future. For Wall Street, there will be very stringent regulations forbidding them from running those risks any more.

People like to blame others every time something goes wrong but never look at themselves. Where did the financial institutions get all the bad assets. It is from the people who purchase on credit and cannot pay back. The poor, lower and middle income family wants to own a home and the government give them the chance but many people abuse it. Taking more than they can repay. That's why there are so many foreclosures. Until you pay off your debt, you own nothing. What a joke to have people that borrow into their home equity for a vacation or buy expensive item that they can afford. There is not much different that the rich that pay $10,000 for a bottle of wine. At least, the rich pay in cash and not credit. The reason why the rich is getting rich because they can pay off everything and the middle and lowwer income class cannot but they still continue to get credit and get more debts just to live like the rich. We are saving the US financial systems caused by the US people who cannot pay off their debt. For all of us that pay off our debt and house, we are bearing your debt. So don't just blame the government, the president, the lawmakers, the financial institutions and the rich. Take some responsibility and pay off your debt first before making another. This whole country is built on credit. Loan after loan and credit for credit. They should go down just like the financial institution. This bailout is trying to save this irresponsible people who it will not bring down the US economy.

Blame N.A.F.T.A. for all of this. We send all our money ouy of the country and nothing coming in. And this didn't just happen overnight.

nafta and congress letting business go out of this country and giving tax breaks to those who did is part of the problem if a person aint got a job how can he or she pay their mortgages no money coming in there surely will be no money going out so lets thank clinton and that liar bush too for their economic faux pas STARGAZER

Ok, we know that one of Sen. McCains campain advisors received retainers. Thoes retainers don't go into Sen. McCains pockets to use. On the other hand Fannie May/Freddie Mac Both gave large some of money directly to Sen. Obama's campain for him to spend for his own bennifit. That sounds like a big difference to me.

My goodness, such an excellent piece. No mention of Carter, no mention of Clinton, no mention of Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, or Janet Reno and their roles in this. And the author managed to get a plug in for renewal of the Assault Weapons Ban as well. A masterful liberal fairy tale spun just right. Is it any wonder readership of legacy media is fading away?

A

I was a bank examiner years ago and the object was to see that commercial banks didn't get carried away with risky loans since non of the money they lent "belonged" to the bank, only to the depositors and equity providers. So that went very well until the introduction of interest swaps and CDS evolution of those third-party risk transactions. And the failure of regulators to assess those risks in the past 7 years especially. Homeowners loans have been badly mishandled by formerly trustworthy institutions. A bailout just rearranges the deck chairs.