Greenspan & his privately run "Federal" Reserve are to blame. Their manipulation of interest rates has been reckless & fueled the bubbles we are not lamenting the bursting of. But yes, I agree. Many Americans do stupid, stupid things with money. Assets are better than liabilities...I Learned this after reading RICH DAD POOR DAD, which is a good primer to understanding cash flow & what to buy or not to buy. GL!
What the hell. I will do it. Sorry for the distort. http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=11579339
Certainly that was an importnat factor that added fuel to the fire, and particularly Greenspans ignoring the Fed's role in regulating mortgage lending. But there is one major factor that does not often get mentioned, yet it is at the root of the entire real estate bubble, and that is the creation of securitized mortgages in the eighties. That was primarily a Salomon Bros./ First Boston innovation that really opened up the market for mortgages. Prior to securitization the market for mortgages was relatively limited. The new securitized mortgages were far more attractive as investments, and within a short while after securitization began there was something like ten times as much mortgage money suddenly available -- as the securitized mortgages were selling like hot cakes. I think that phenomenon underlies every thing else. Securitization is, in my opinion, a very useful and good thing, but it has to be regulated and strict rules applied regarding how mortgages get combined and chopped, so that there is a verifiable trail back to the underlyings, and realistic rating can be applied. The other thing that's got to change of course, is the way CDS's are marketed and regulated. The CDS problem was of course linked, but it wasn't CDS's that caused the real estate bubble, it was the other way round.
Not exactly true. When Fannie Mae originally securitized mortgages, they were a good, proper risk and income vehicle. Those mortgages were from QUALIFIED mortgagees.... low risk of default, bank had collateral/equity protection to a degee. But CONgress (specifically the DemoCraps... THE SAME SHITHEAD DEMOCRAPS AND NOBOMABOTS CURRENTLY RUNNING THE ENTIRE SHOW, BTW...) mandated (1) Affirmative Action Lending to non-qualified borrowers, (2) Fannie and Freddie would buy all of those crap mortgages, and (3) allowed THOSE CRAPPY mortgages be securitized (and fraudulently given AAA credit rating)... THAT and GreenScam's overly loose interest rates and money-pump... well, you get the idea. Political greed run amok.
Very nice post! Similar examples are the new websites that allow people to lend money to other people. The problem is that this makes more money to become available from greedy people who think they can make easy 10% per year. These people depend on ratings of the borrowers given to them by the website. If the ratings are wrong the investors are screwed. It allows the borrowers to get deeper in the whole and buy more stuff. Who's fault will that be? The borrowers, the lenders or the website?
A provocative statement to say the least. Yes, the house of cards came unglued in America first, and yes the Rating Agencies are a joke, but the global world already knew this. And so it all comes down to greed. Take a look at the Swiss banking and forex industry and you will see what I mean. Now the hedgies are the bad guys. Why do you suppose this is, since they are laying of thousands of workers and losing hundreds of billions of dollars. Could this be a sign that we are going to hyper inflate our way out of this mess on our way into the next mess. If so then the govs want their pound of flesh from the hedgies in the form of tax from the next quadzillion dollars they are about to make as a result of G20 decisions. regards f9
One more reason to hate Americans. I will bring my Cuban passport with me every time I travel abroad. No one needs to know I also have a US passport.
Thats a bold statement and pretty rediculous. Do whatever you want with your passport, but to just outright say you hate Americans is over board. Every nation and culture will have people you like and people you dont. To make a blanket statement like that is uncalled for. You can't hate Americans that much if your willing to live among them every day.
04-03-09 09:58 AM Quote from ivanbaj: Do you count the millions of gypsies in East Europe leaving in tents for homeless? Of course not. Why do you want to distort the commentary with truth? (comment from ivanovich) _____________________________________ gypsies living in tents are not homeless. neither are american indians living in tents homeless