While I dislike the man I honestly can't place all the blame on him.
I work in the window/door mfg. industry and I can tell you that everyone from the builders, through the companies that stamped the securities 'Triple A' for the foreign investors... they all worked equally hard to drive the iron spike into the gears of capitalism.
Everyone liked that they could buy a house. Everyone liked that their home value was going through the roof. Everyone wanted a piece of the pie and many people made a great deal of money, and folks like me, who didn't take everything the banks offered, got a house that they can afford, and make their payments on, when they wouldn't have been given a loan before.
How do you blame the 'system' that allowed this to happen when it's fundamentally a market system? Could extra legislation could have kept this calamity from happening? Sure, but implementing legislation that damages a bull market is not overly popular, and I guarantee that if they 'had' somehow clamped down and stopped the bubble from bursting (if that had ever truly been possible) what would have happened? Banks would have stopped loaning money (since they didn't have the 'sure' bet in selling off the loan), people would have found their overinflated houses unable to sell, and any securities that had made it overseas would have instantly been devalued which still causes a mistrust of investors.
I have a friend who's a bank manager, and she phrased it best when it all started falling apart. She said: "Those banks that are failing made record profits and did very well for those years, but now they are reaping the consequences. High risk is high risk regardless of how well it's paying out in the short term."
I have a feeling that looking back on this in the future the largest damage is going to occur from the artificial pressures the government (under Obama now as well as Bush) are putting into effect. This is not to say I disagree with the government 'bailing out' certain banks. That was necessary, however, the way in which this money is being administered leaves a great deal to be desired.
My plea to government is to PLEASE hold some of these bastards accountable for predatory and fraudulent practices, to work on helping the people more as individuals (which I am happy to see more happening there) and finally to endeavor through all possible means to ensure that they don't destroy the material of which our economy is made.
Poster Time.
1 comment:
While I dislike the man I honestly can't place all the blame on him.
I work in the window/door mfg. industry and I can tell you that everyone from the builders, through the companies that stamped the securities 'Triple A' for the foreign investors... they all worked equally hard to drive the iron spike into the gears of capitalism.
Everyone liked that they could buy a house. Everyone liked that their home value was going through the roof. Everyone wanted a piece of the pie and many people made a great deal of money, and folks like me, who didn't take everything the banks offered, got a house that they can afford, and make their payments on, when they wouldn't have been given a loan before.
How do you blame the 'system' that allowed this to happen when it's fundamentally a market system? Could extra legislation could have kept this calamity from happening? Sure, but implementing legislation that damages a bull market is not overly popular, and I guarantee that if they 'had' somehow clamped down and stopped the bubble from bursting (if that had ever truly been possible) what would have happened? Banks would have stopped loaning money (since they didn't have the 'sure' bet in selling off the loan), people would have found their overinflated houses unable to sell, and any securities that had made it overseas would have instantly been devalued which still causes a mistrust of investors.
I have a friend who's a bank manager, and she phrased it best when it all started falling apart. She said: "Those banks that are failing made record profits and did very well for those years, but now they are reaping the consequences. High risk is high risk regardless of how well it's paying out in the short term."
I have a feeling that looking back on this in the future the largest damage is going to occur from the artificial pressures the government (under Obama now as well as Bush) are putting into effect. This is not to say I disagree with the government 'bailing out' certain banks. That was necessary, however, the way in which this money is being administered leaves a great deal to be desired.
My plea to government is to PLEASE hold some of these bastards accountable for predatory and fraudulent practices, to work on helping the people more as individuals (which I am happy to see more happening there) and finally to endeavor through all possible means to ensure that they don't destroy the material of which our economy is made.
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