MONEY CULTURE

Dumb Money

Are executives villains or morons?

By Daniel Gross |
Feb 24, 2009 | Updated: 11:40  a.m. ET Feb 24, 2009

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  • Posted By: Nick in Wisconsin @ 03/27/2009 10:03:27 AM

    Well, Here we have set up a system by which owners (stockholders) are the least informed, the least rewarded, the most taken advantage of people on the planet. They are not give any real decision role or accurate information that will allow them to make informed decisions. Then the execs lobby congress and say, your regulations are keeping the market from growing and you need to remove these market holdbacks, we will self-regulated. Then the party in control does what their finanical contributors tell them to do and remove the regulations. Then the execs are free to raise the risk levels and give poor loans that would harm any institution, including their own. And they get bid financial rewards for doing the very thing that harms us all. The bang, the own cake collapses on itself as it has to do; after all it is just a big legal ponzy game. When you think about it, and you put all the numbers together, you see that the party in charge last time, and the execs have done more damage to the United States than all of the world's TERRORIST since World War II COMBINED! If these people were another country, we would now be at war with them. Pearl Harbor was a less than a single hour's worth of damage compared to the current problem. These are not Americans, they are countryless financial terrorists. They need to be treated in that way.

  • Posted By: Nick in Wisconsin @ 03/27/2009 10:02:38 AM

    Well, Here we have set up a system by which owners (stockholders) are the least informed, the least rewarded, the most taken advantage of people on the planet. They are not give any real decision role or accurate information that will allow them to make informed decisions. Then the execs lobby congress and say, your regulations are keeping the market from growing and you need to remove these market holdbacks, we will self-regulated. Then the party in control does what their finanical contributors tell them to do and remove the regulations. Then the execs are free to raise the risk levels and give poor loans that would harm any institution, including their own. And they get bid financial rewards for doing the very thing that harms us all. The bang, the own cake collapses on itself as it has to do; after all it is just a big legal ponzy game. When you think about it, and you put all the numbers together, you see that the party in charge last time, and the execs have done more damage to the United States than all of the world's TERRORIST since World War II COMBINED! If these people were another country, we would now be at war with them. Pearl Harbor was a less than a single hour's worth of damage compared to the current problem. These are not Americans, they are countryless financial terrorists. They need to be treated in that way.

  • Posted By: SteadyH @ 03/08/2009 4:26:05 PM

    Posted By: mideastsoldier2003 @ 03/05/2009 2:43:47 PM

    The Exec's are the Villiians, the Morons are the ones that hired them.
    ______________________________________________________

    This is sooooo true!

    Me, my family, and everyone in my circle of life absolutely detest C-suite folks who need 400times the salary of people in their own business. That's just plain thievery because they have access to the till.

  • Posted By: justcowboyway @ 03/05/2009 6:41:00 AM

    In the 60's movie, "Wheeler Dealers", James Garner explains how the stock market works. "The stock market is money and emotions. There's greed on the way up and fear on the way down."

  • Posted By: magic_marker @ 03/05/2009 2:57:09 AM

    Everyone is keen to point the finger at anyone else but themselves. The reality is WE ARE ALL TO BLAME.

    As shareholders we are all looking to maximise our returns beyond what is reasonable in a market that is growing at 3-4%. We get taken in by success stories of the American Dream and we want to get there asap.

    By looking for returns of 10, 15, 20, 25+ and punishing the steady, slow growers we force smart people to think of devious ways to achieve that which cannot be done!

    If our shareholder culture does not reign in our unreasonable expectations, then this will happen again and again; and I very much fear that right now, we all continue to miss this most CRITICAL point.

  • Posted By: kgardner7 @ 03/05/2009 12:18:59 AM

    Before everyone gets all up in arms, maybe they should get their facts straight - especially the media. Bank of America made a $402 million TARP divident payment on Feb. 17!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course, most don't know that because "good news" isn't shared in the media these days. For some reason, our society thrives on negative publicity - much of which is twisted by reporters and journalists like this one.

  • Posted By: ptree @ 03/04/2009 10:12:14 PM

    Two Thoughts:

    What we have right now is a crisis of confidence based on a leadership crisis stemming from an ethical crisis due to a moral crisis caused by an abundance of greed implanted by a deprived sense of entitlement initiated in a spoiled elite that were over-confident.

    Law of Conservation of Matter: matter is neither created or destroyed. If money is matter, where did trillions go the last two years? If they didn't go anywhere, then money must not be matter and can be created or destroyed. The government can create more and the stock market can destroy more each day. Which equates to the our dollar buying less and less for the average person the more this continues.

    -PET

    • Posted By: Logical Citizen @ 03/04/2009 11:08:34 PM

      This philosophical conversation is amazing, but no helpful. Here is a bit of fresh opinion. Bail outs for companies that are necessary for our economy are necessary. So, here's the soluton, old fashioned deterence. That's right, alesson we learned from or foes of yesteryear - The Soviets. Deterence. Bail outs- then arrest warrants. Those at the top, involved in the chinanigans (and there are plenty) must await trial. Then next, go after the regulators, whose job it was to enforce the regualtions on the books, that played stupid. Let them explain themselves in court. I bet after that, it won't happen again. Deterence my friend! Soviet style!

  • Posted By: winkiesixtysix @ 02/24/2009 8:16:06 PM

    Hey cbloom57-Apparently you don't read much nor do you understand government. Because you are on the "bush hating and blaming band wagon' like the majority of people and that is what the media would like you to believe that this is ALL Bush's fault. A short history/economic lesson for you since you obviously failed both. After the Great Depression which was brought about by many of the same issues we had to bring about the current economic cirsis the GLASS-STEAGALL act was passed. What is that you say? That was a law prohibiting banks from buying securitites including mortgage securities( basically a bunch of loans bought in bulk like shopping at Costco). It also prevented Securities companies from taking deposits. The banks could give you a home, car or personal loan but they could not sell it off to someone else. They alone took the responsibilty and the risk if they did not give credit wisely. Well along comes ACORN crying that EVERYONE especially minorities should be able to buy a house and on top of that should be able to use welfare as their listed income. Then came good buddy Bill Clinton who in 1999 along with his congress and senate REPEALLED the GLASS-STEAGALL ACT. In so doing the flood gates were again opened for banks to make loans pushed by ACORN to people who really could not afford them in the long run. The fact is that this is why the housing/real estate industry and bringing with it the rest of the economy is in such a state. If banks had not been allowed to sell off or buy these 'mortgage securities' they would not have made the risky loans because they would be the ones solely at risk for the default. With the flood gates opened Mortgage securities flowed from bank to securities company to another bank faster than Paris Hilton taking off her panties. Some loans were sold so many times the Homeowner sometimes was unaware as to who had their loan at any one time and the buyer of the mortgages rarely had the paperwork so were not aware of the persons finances or ability to pay(proof is that in courts all over lawyers are using 'prove that the loan belongs to you and you can foreclose, show the loan paperwork-and many can't (banks/mortgage companies0because they don't have it). So you and the rest of your liberal leftist lemmings on the bush hating band wagon can actually thank Bill Clinton and his Congress and Senate not Bush. Sure Bush could have tried to put that back on the books but an entirely new law would have had to be put through the Congress and the Senate.....and that wasn't going to happen since they were the ones that drafted the legislation to repeal the Glass-Steagall act. Then of course not but 9 months into his Presidency Bush had something else to deal with it's called 9/11. At that time and for quite a while afterward his and most peoples attention were on keeping people safe even dumb people like you who just follow the crowd without forming their own opinion through knowledge.

    • Posted By: olderwiser @ 02/24/2009 8:46:09 PM

      We don't hate him. We just disrespect him.

      • Posted By: savage64 @ 03/04/2009 6:55:28 PM

        The repeal of Glass-Steagall was an serious error, but much of the rest of this post is nonsense or worse and a great example of the the halfwitted blather that passes for political opinion in this country. For example, you can hardly call the Republican controlled congress that was trying mightily to impeach Bill Clinton "his Congress." The folks driving the repeal of Glass-Steagall were led by Sen. Phil Graham (R-Texas).

        And I do wish the Bush worshippers would stop trying to blame ACORN for this disaster. At best, that largely powerless organization applied some pressure to make home loans more broadly available to minorities and others at the lower end of the economic spectrum. They hardly controlled the banks or the mortgage brokers or anyone else.

        As for blameless President Bush, I'd suggest you consider that as President he was supposed to be able to keep his eye on more than one ball at a time. He had an entire economic team starting with the Sec. of Treasury and Fed chairman and a raft of crack economists who certainly weren't busy tracking down Osama. Nonetheless, he and his team failed the test.

      • Posted By: winkiesixtysix @ 02/24/2009 11:05:56 PM

        It's one thing to disrespect him but to put false blame on him with no validity to it is just grasping at straws. You didn't disrespect him when he was keeping your disrespectfull sorry behind safe from terrorists. My father, father in law, husband and brother in law all served in the Marines.......they keep people like you safe and able to be disrespectful of someone that didn't create this mess he is and has suffered the blame for it just like you and I are suffering the consequences. Try assigning blame where it belongs. But then that would require using your brain and obtaining some type of knowledge instead of being the lemming that the democratic party and the liberal left media want you to be. They most certainly aren't going to bring this little tidbit of the glass steagall act up. That would put most of the current members of congress and the senate in the hot seat as well as our loud mouthed speaker of the house and equally loud mouthed secretary of state. Let's keep their minds off the fact that this is a 'mess we created' lets show them some pretty shiny things.......dangle money in their faces and cry gloom and doom all while blaming someone that came after we started the mess. Don't fool yourself the Dems have cleaned up with the mess. Most of them were in real estate and made loads of money and now they are helping their friends to take some more of your tax money while you sit by wagging your finger at bush too stupid to realize they are the ones that have robbed America.

        • Posted By: Dogstarr @ 02/26/2009 2:01:58 PM

          My families' military service goes back to at least the Civil War, and likely the Revolution, I don't think that sending our troops to fight a war to secure oil fields and put in a puppet government to hopefully later fight Iran for us is respecting the troops at all. Try to understand that Sadam Hussein stopped fighting Iran because he could no longer afford to do so due to constant rebellions inside his own country, he was hardly a good guy, but he had nothing to do with 9/11 as fart as anyone could tell and actually contacted people in the State Department to let them know he was expelling a couple of potential suspects at, I believe, the border with Syria.

          I personally believe that a very strong military is essential for our stability and would like to see their budget increased, but in intelligent way like more body armor, better ground weapons as well as better health care, a new GI Bill and better pay scale. I'd also like to see companies like Halliburton quit receiving contracts for things like support and KP Duty, as this is really wasteful spending.

          You're all caught up in the nonsense rhetoric of the politicians, try to see things as just an American, not a Republican, or a Democrat, just a person who cares about his/her country and fellow man.

        • Posted By: summer4077 @ 02/25/2009 8:17:09 AM

          I never respected him and that was FAR before this mortgage crisis. I agree that it is not entirely Bush's fault--he had a hand in it by knowing the situation and doing nothing, but he was not the one that started it. I have no respect for Bush because he is an embarassment to our country with his arrogance and inability to construct a coherent sentence...not to mention his totally inappropriate and downright ignorant behavior with leaders of other countries--shoulder rubbing anyone? Refusal to actually talk to other countries? "You're either with us or against us?" "Mission accomplished?" Relaxing what torture means? And you guys were the same ones who lambasted Clinton for misrepresenting a bj and a bong hit? But redefining torture is ok??? Stating that anyone who disrespects Bush is stupid is, well, stupid.
          I myself have never served in the military, though I greatly respect those that have--like my brother, father, and several close friends. None of them think Bush has kept us safe. None. We all think he has actually contributed to keeping us LESS safe. We're opening pools in Baghdad yet we can't even take care of our own citizens. How is that safe? How is toppling a leader who, though admittedly cruel, had Iraq under his thumb? No one will ever convince me that he was supporting terrorist groups. Why would he fund groups that could topple his dictatorship? Does not make sense. Unfortunately, not much of the last administration DOES make sense, and the mortgage crisis has nothing to do with it.

          • Posted By: Shanshayla @ 02/25/2009 1:07:51 PM

            Summer, of course Bush did something. He took legislation to congress ten times beginning in 2001 to curb insane and out of control lending practices, but the democrats and moderate republicans were successful in stopping it. At least he tried. Google it, it's a fact. BTW, McCain tried to introduce the same type of legislation in 2006 with the same results.

            • Posted By: summer4077 @ 02/26/2009 1:41:33 PM

              That wasn't what I posted about. I why I disrespected him, in fact saying that he had a hand in the housing crisis. However, I guess I should amend my statement to say REPUBLICANS sold us down the river on the housing crisis. They were in the majority in 2001, therefore had the power to stop this. Sadly, they sat by and did nothing.

            • Posted By: ficheye @ 02/25/2009 1:37:15 PM

              You are hoping that, somehow, this will reflect well on George Bush. You'll feel better, I'm sure. But he was the DECIDER, and there were lots of things that he imposed on us regardless of what anyone thought. He wanted to appear to be doing the right thing when he knew that his 'suggestions. would never go anywhere. Rarely did a news article bring up any of his actions, and as president he should have pushed a lot harder than he did.

              • Posted By: Pallisor @ 02/25/2009 6:51:15 PM

                He was the "decider?" We live in a democracy, not communism! Sheeesh.... What do you think congress is for? LOL!

              • Posted By: Iam3rd @ 02/25/2009 5:26:12 PM

                If he did put forth sensible legislation, the news articles would not want to put him in a positive light. Also, rhetoric means jack without actual efforts (if that is the 'pushing' you are referring to. We have known about the housing buble for some time now and Congress has done nothing to try and put back some of the separation and control on the size and make-up of these so-called "banks". It has been a problem for years that few Dems or GOPers have wanted to face. You don't get elected by delivering bad news. Ask President H. W. Bush.

      • Posted By: RO in Reno @ 02/25/2009 8:57:04 PM

        Give it up you have no clue what you are talking about.
        The economic collapse is identical to the collapse at the end of the Reagan/Bush administration, but when the market collapsed under Reagan he called it "Profit taking" Bush just said get over it. But it was predictable the day Bush took office. The Reagan/Bush Was just practice by comparison.
        As for Glass-Steagall being repealed that was engineered by none other than Phil Gramm, Granted Clinton signed it but he had a Republican Majority in Congress.
        You re just spouting a lot of crap that makes no sense at all.
        To place blame on ACORN and those on the lower end of the economic spectrum who ACORN trying to put into homes is ludicrous.
        I???m sure you think the CEO of Countrywide who is at the bottom of this and who walked away with $632 million is Mr. Nice Guy.
        The signer of a loan that was going to double and even triple the mortgage payment had no clue of what was going to happen to him. But Mr. Nice Guy knew and could care less.
        You need to consider going to Decaf

      • Posted By: Osama Bin Login @ 02/25/2009 9:14:00 AM

        I hate him.

      • Posted By: JuiceHim @ 02/24/2009 11:13:15 PM

        Interesting -- Bill Clinton had a Republican Congress and Senate and a laissez faire Fed Chairman. So we can't blame G. Bush for this one -- it blew up on his watch -- this problem has been 30 years in the making. We ALL participated in this giant Ponzi scheme -- even the Chinese. The past few years the excess by Wall Streeters had been excessive, but anyone who bought a $500,000+ home on a family income of $150,000 -- along with the very large SUV (leased @ $50K) and the second car/SUV -- participated.

        Now it's time for all of us to begin digging out. I am against having anyone who took on more debt having it reduced unless they go through bankruptcy. The court should not be able to reduce principal -- but extend the loan for a longer term. If someone needs to sell a house that's underwater -- then they have to carry that debt with them and their lender should have the responsibility to provide a new loan.

    • Posted By: Dogstarr @ 02/26/2009 1:36:44 PM

      Actually it's not all Bush's fault, he doesn't understand it well enough to accept the blame completely, but Henry Paulson's decision not to save Bear Stearns led to a crisis in confidence that rippled throughout the banking industry, led to the need to save AIG and continues to plague the financial sector of the market.

      I'm not sure why you attack Paris Hilton, but I can see why you might point a finger at groups like ACORN on some of the issues that led to bad loans, still the major problem wasn't caused by bad loans in economically troubled areas, it was caused by bad policies dating back to at least the Reagan era and it really isn't a liberal vs. conservative issues, it's a matter of representation only representing their biggest donors, of which we, The American People are not.

      On the short term we need to spend a lot of money to get things moving so that we will have a society that can work to pay off all the spending that must happen now, in the long term we need to make fundamental changes to our society to have a more vibrant future.

      Rebuilding our infrastructure and improving our education system and medical care is as good a start as any, though if we want to free our leaders from having to weigh every decision based on how their contributors will feel about it, we must have 100% public financing of campaigns, which is hard to get people to vote for when it gives their opponents the same resources that they have, not to forget it will cost a lot of money, something we don't have right now.

      Stop being fooled by partisanship, it's a scam played out on The American People that we can no longer afford and is similar to racism, sexism and even patriotism, meant to divide and distract us from the real issues.

    • Posted By: Scott Heritage @ 02/24/2009 10:48:18 PM

      Let me give you an education son... based on the facts.

      The GOP controlled both the House and Senate from 1994 to 2006. The Glass-Stegall Act was repealed by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act by a Republican controlled congress. Between 1995 and 2000, Phil Gramm (Republican Senator, TX) was the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. During that time he spearheaded efforts to pass banking deregulation laws, including the landmark Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999, which removed Depression-era laws separating banking, insurance and brokerage activities. Some economists state that the 1999 legislation spearheaded by Gramm and signed into law by President Clinton, was partly to blame for the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis and 2008 global economic crisis. Gramm responded to criticism of the act by stating that he saw "no evidence whatsoever" that the sub-prime mortgage crisis was caused in any way "by allowing banks and securities companies and insurance companies to compete against each other."

      The Washington Post in 2008 named Gramm one of seven "key players" responsible for winning a 1998-1999 fight against regulation of derivatives trading. Gramm's support was later critical in the passage of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, which kept derivatives transactions, including those involving credit default swaps, free of government regulation.

      In the late 1990's, ACORN launched a new fight for fair lending, this time targeting the subprime loan industry which preys on low-income and minority neighborhoods. In 2000, ACORN escalated the fight against predatory lending. Actions and negotiations have won reforms from some of the largest subprime lenders. The campaign persists in pressuring lenders directly and pushing for stronger laws and regulations governing the industry.

      You appear son to have bought GOP campaign rhetoric hook line and sinker.



      • Posted By: bmd12345 @ 02/25/2009 12:35:32 PM

        So how much is ACORN paying you. I emailed ARCORN to see where their funding came from and what their executives are getting paid - non-profit-, right!. I have yet to hear from them.

        Look, you get a loan - you better be able to pay it- Simple honor system. HOw come we have left personal integrity aside. As we all babies?

        • Posted By: jjaffie @ 02/26/2009 12:36:33 PM

          What a dumb statment, "You'd better be able to pay it." You got used car like salesman pushing people into loans they can't afford. Oh at the time they can afford it, but not after the banks arbitrarily decide they need to bump up their stock price a few cents & increase the interest rate by 10%.

      • Posted By: Greg the Third @ 02/26/2009 4:18:18 AM

        It is even more simple than that. It is a core republican mantra that government and especially government regulation is the enemy of the people. Unfortunately they never read their history books about the great depression when it came to deregulating the banking industry. It is sad that Congress has been reduced to a bunch of clueless ideologues easily manipulated by lobbyists for whatever conglomerate of firms wants to make a fast buck at the expense of the rest of the nation's future. Obviously Congress needs to reregulate and bring back the wisdom of Glass-Stegal and similar reforms that kept us from getting into this mess since the depression. Yet I do not see that they have even done that yet. Somehow spending more trillions on pork will get us out of trouble. Such is the wisdom of the liberals now in power. I do not know which group is scarier. If foreign debtors wise up and fail to buy the bonds issued to finace this debt or we run up a few more trillion we may face financial armageddon if U.S. treasury bonds are downgraded. If that day comes, the past 6 months will seem like the good old days.

        • Posted By: kchan @ 02/26/2009 11:02:53 AM

          Clinton has just asked the Chinese to keep buying US T-bills.

          After the Asians (Chinese, Japanese, and some others) loaded up on US$ denominated papers, simply ask all of them to stop manipulate their currencies (subtext: US$ depreciates). That should pay of most of the national debt. Haha.

  • Posted By: shehassomethingtosay @ 03/03/2009 10:13:05 PM

    Once again we can thank the worst President in our history George W. Bush - who not only failed at nearly every business he ever touched in prior years but knew back in 2006 that real estate was over-inflated and a bust was looming. He pushed his theory and this firtilized greed - grab the money and run. Why do you think he took us to Iraq? The Bush family has been bathing in oil for years. Ol' Cheney he pushed for the war - former CEO and still on the board of Halliburton....goodness - they all need to try some jail food. Yes..this old greedy leadership coupled with the crooked CEOs in corporate America and the Banking Industry have far-outdone themselves. We put Martha Stewart behind bars...good Lord, these guys brought our country to its knees. Bush, Cheney, Greenspan, Geithner, Bernanke, and all other CEOs should pay the ultimate price. So now what... whether I or any of you voted in our new president, he and and his cabinet have one heck of a job ahead of them and all of us who have been responsible will too, sadly pay the price.

    • Posted By: usa_must_die @ 03/04/2009 5:07:25 PM

      shehassomethingtosay, you are a moron. Its not one mans fault. There are many people involved in the creation of this mess. Please stop watching mainstream media. Fool.

    • Posted By: xbill @ 03/03/2009 10:33:55 PM

      Give me a break, This whole mess lies with GREED from the executives running these POS companies to you and I thinking we had to have a new house, new car its all BS. To lay this on GB or any President is an easy way out. How about all the prostitute congressmen trying to get re-elected on the backs of all those voters financed by Freddie and Fannie. There is plenty of blame to go around so don't give me this George Bush Bull

  • Posted By: Common$ense @ 03/03/2009 11:50:35 PM

    I'm still waiting for the millions of retirees to band together and go on a Columbine killing spree on these hedge fund managers, insurance company CEO's, bank CEO's, etc. If I were 65+ years old and I could find any one of these f'heads, they'll be begging for jesus to come help them as I dismember them over a 2 week period and feed them their own body parts. You'll rot in hell before you ruin my life... and I'd send you there.

    • Posted By: usa_must_die @ 03/04/2009 5:05:51 PM

      Awesome, I love it.

  • Posted By: MichaelX @ 03/04/2009 4:56:05 PM

    I blame the slacker mentality of the XYZ Generation who are those "graduates" of fine economic institutions that are in on the whole shebang. It's more than "fuzzy logic", it's invention and made-up values that clog our economic machine.
    who, and where, did some of these allowences come from? Projected losses that can be used as tax cheats are bogus.
    Specious margin trading, and loophole programs that favor the shysters are killing us, so they give them a lot of money?
    To do it some more? All of you, involved in any finance are crooks, and you know it.

  • Posted By: donna98387 @ 03/04/2009 11:33:00 AM

    75% of our economy is propelled by consumer spending. Instead of billions of dollars given to corrupt bankers who will most likely mismanage there TARP bailout. It should be given to the american tax payer. Each person receives $1mil each under the agreement they keep their jobs. You would see a rise in the housing, auto and retail market. It would cost 350 million verses the 800 billion we need now.

    • Posted By: Common$ense @ 03/04/2009 2:52:01 PM

      Looks like someone needs a calculator. If you gave 300 million people 1 million dollars each, that would be 300 TRILLION dollars. Nice try.

  • Posted By: aint2sure @ 03/04/2009 12:48:57 AM

    Villans! Idiots would admit their mistakes and maybe even give the money back!!!!

  • Posted By: RoninSS @ 03/03/2009 11:38:21 PM

    They are both...greedy bastards and straight up idiots. I'm surprised more haven't had their butt handed to them by those they have robbed.

  • Posted By: usa_must_die @ 03/03/2009 10:34:39 PM

    These fools are both villians AND morons. The reaper is coming for you.

  • Posted By: ctwatcher @ 03/03/2009 8:08:46 PM

    Greenspan, Geithner, Bernanke and all crooks and banksters must go to prison! Meet their maker there!

  • Posted By: RANDYIS51 @ 03/03/2009 7:00:43 PM

    Our growing markets were based on credit. If you remember the financial reports from those "boom times" the ratios were always based on how much people borrowed. With the mortgage fraud crisis the credit faucet is off. Since so many billions of dollars simply evaporated from the general currency it left a huge vaccume. THe CEO's of places like AIG, Bear Stearns, BOA, etc that bought those fraudulent mortgages and granted those, are certainly to blame. The US has no idea how much more money will be needed to make it right. Until regular consumer borrowing comes back we will stay right where we are. Good luck.

  • Posted By: reuben68 @ 03/03/2009 6:46:05 PM

    Whilei Greenspan maybe offering cures for the disease he failed to diagnose, no one else it seems -- including you -- did any better. If all this stuff was predictble, why didn't anyone predict it? Hindsight is always wonderful, but no one, including you, jumped up and loudly proclaimed this is insanity. So now, like the Greenspan you disparage, we hear how dumb things were. Well, we were all dumb and identifying the causes will not and does not provide a solution to our current problems. And when they are solved it will be experts like you who will look back and tell us how all these solutions were predictable.

  • Posted By: tunacommander @ 03/03/2009 6:29:53 PM

    Most of these problems were caused by out-of-control greed. Salaries of athlete's, CEO's and actor's have to be reigned in and capped. In the past we could always start a war to jump start the economy but Bush & Cheney have already played that card. It will take decades to undo the damage the Bush years have done to our economy.

  • Posted By: Mea123 @ 03/01/2009 8:49:55 PM

    As the stock market reaches new laws and new massive Ponzy schemes that tank the economy keep surfacing, Americans look for answers why their lifesavings and livelihoods keep disappearing. Everybody wonders what happened. The most popular culprits are ???greed??? and ???the government.??? Those buzz words explain nothing, but help the people to vent their frustration. The scholars are not saying much yet, realizing that when the history will hand down its verdict, it will not be pretty.
    When that verdict will finally come down, disregard for law will be a major component of it. That disregard for law will be of a very special type ??? by the elites of this society. Starting with the 2000 elections, the precedent was set to disregard the law of the land by those reach, powerful and best connected. After 9/11, the Bush administration built on this precedent by proceeding with violations of all types of laws, starting with the violation of the US Constitution and continuing with violations of numerous domestic and international laws. Also, by appointing opponents of regulation to the top cabinet positions, the Bush administration sent a powerful signal to the business community that it does not intend to enforce industry regulations, trusting that the business community would regulate itself. Under the Bush administration, the powerful elites of this society, especially those close to the Bush administration, felt emboldened by the unequivocal message coming from the White House - that message being: the rule of law is only for the little people. Accordingly, while the prison population packed with minorities ballooned, those rich, powerful, and well connected were enjoying total impunity. Yet, even now, when the harm caused to the country by these elites is on full display, the extreme ideological partisanship that blooms in this time of hardship prevents justice to be served on those who allowed for these violations to occur, thereby assuring impunity of the elites for the future.

    • Posted By: Small Business USA @ 03/03/2009 6:08:40 PM

      Pardon me for interrupting, but wasn't it Clinton and his administration the required the banks and other lending institutions (starting in 1994) to give out loans to people who were known not to be able to pay? Weren't the banks threatened/forced into this? You do know where the banks get there money don't you? ... the federal government. ... and now the government has to "bail them out" by taking them over? Do you smell that????? It's the smell of a setup.

      As for Bush: I would have to agree with you on some levels. He was pretty much a village idiot regarding looking into and/or fixing anything in the banking industry and wall street. At the very least, he missed a major problem. At worst, he perpetuated it and wanted it to happen. ... In either case ...

      ... It started under Clinton. It is a matter of record that the banks were told to do this under the Clinton administration. Then the question was, "what do we do now?". And the answer they (the banks/wall street/etc.) came up with can be found in the article above. And we all know now that their answer didn't work. What all of us are upset about is that they were trusted to find a way to make it work, and they failed to do so.

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