Frontline four part series on the Financial Crisis

[piece-itpete]

Yeah, and Bush telling Pelosi 'you'll miss me' They said Bush left because he said it was out of control? I thought that was pretty good. Plus the fact they kept Obama informed, that surprised me. Perhaps things work better than we think.

Pete

[BlueStreak]

"Obviously I've lost control of this meeting." is the direct quote.

As I recall, he had lost control of way more than that stupid meeting.

And, of course they kept Obama informed. By that point, everyone knew the old fart fumbling with the queue cards had no chance of winning the election.

[merrylander]

When you stop and think about it the wonder is that the housing bubble did not happen earlier. If ever there was an example of 'moral hazard' it has to be the mortgage sysem. Who was the barking idiot who dreampt it up?

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

I liked the story about the meeting called by McCain and the way he fumbled around with "queue-cards" and "mumbled incoherently" until one of the Republicans remarked, "Well, at this rate, I'LL be voting for Obama."...

And to think he was the smart/experienced one on the GOP ticket.

[piece-itpete]

He did have enough brains to call the meeting.... I suspect he's already having aging issues by then.

How partisan shall this be? They already mentioned that Obama will be shown to be FOC next installment. But that's no surprise

Pete

[BlueStreak]

"foc"?

[piece-itpete]

LOL! In keeping with our newfound genteelness I replaced 'S' with 'C' - same stuff different name

Pete

[Charles]

Originally Posted by merrylander

When you stop and think about it the wonder is that the housing bubble did not happen earlier. If ever there was an example of 'moral hazard' it has to be the mortgage sysem. Who was the barking idiot who dreampt it up?

Well, you don't have to be a financial wizard to see that writing mortgages in excess of the appraised value of the property, to people, basically with "no money down" since there is no way in hell by which they could ever qualify for a conventional loan, with payments which won't even cover the interest, is going to go to shit.

And if anyone has ever taken a few minutes to thumb through an old abstract, they will see that indeed prices do go down.

Chas

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by Charles

Well, you don't have to be a financial wizard to see that writing mortgages in excess of the appraised value of the property, to people, basically with "no money down" since there is no way in hell by which they could ever qualify for a conventional loan, with payments which won't even cover the interest, is going to go to shit.

And if anyone has ever taken a few minutes to thumb through an old abstract, they will see that indeed prices do go down.

Chas

Which is why the repeal of Glass-Steagal, and thence a deregulation of the market was such a stroke of genius?
More of this, I say! We haven't had enough! Free these folks up to do more damage! It's the only rational answer!

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

Which is why the repeal of Glass-Steagal, and thence a deregulation of the market was such a stroke of genius?
More of this, I say! We haven't had enough! Free these folks up to do more damage! It's the only rational answer!

I just watched the first 2 hours of the show. It was indeed both interesting and disheartening watching all the politicians line up in favor of the repeal of Glass-Steagal in order to ensure that the US remained the center of int'l. finance. In retrospect, it was an overt and bipartisan effort by a bunch of clueless lawyers (our political class) that sold us down the river.

And while you're indeed correct in your assessment, Chas, what kind of regulatory system allows the "too big to fail" Wall Street firms (Lehman, AIG, Bear Stearns) invest so heavily in this toxic sh!t, while risking a global economic collapse in the process?