One of the many nice things about living in France is buying perishables in the market. Every precinct has its market, three times a week, 7 am to about 2 pm. People talk to each other, the stallholders make jokes, there's food...
And it's so beautiful! Shapes and colours. Yellow, red, green, black. The fish all arranged according to their shape, usually swirling up to a swordfish peak. 2 pm it shuts, everything gets packed up or out, and by 3 pm the marketplace is empty and hosed down.
"I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if you do prosecute, if you do bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy. " Former AG Eric Holder
And if you don't prosecute and let them get even bigger (they did) what then?
The derivatives and the sub-prime mortgages were also major contributors to the collapse.
Howard Clark spoke out against sub-prime mortgages for at least a couple of years before the crash. He warned homebuyers not to fall into the trap of 100% variable interest home loans.
I'm sure that many people listened and didn't fall in to the trap but millions more ended up losing their homes. I'll never understand why Obama didn't cap the interest rate increases on the mortgages at .5% a year. He bailed out the big banks but left millions of people literally out in the cold.
Trump's Treasury Secretary was brutal with foreclosures in CA throwing elderly people out of their homes for owing less than $100.
And now he's partners with Kushner on his Saudi Arabia deal. What a putz!
Agreed. Those mortgages were a crime. And their originators were crooks.
In 2005, we obtained a mortgage for a new property by sitting down with an unlicensed (no license required in Maine) mortgage "broker". One percent interest for the first year and then...use your imagination. It was a "stated income", "no doc" loan for over a half million. He asked for our social security numbers. That's it. I said, "don't you want our tax returns....or something to verify income?" He responded with: "Nah, we'll fill in whatever works." We got the loan and used it as a bridge until we sold our current building. Paid it off quickly and dodged disaster. The "broker" made a bundle. I wonder how many of his customers didn't realize just how deep in financial doodoo they were about to fall into.
I have great admiration for Obama as a man and a leader. But he was out of his depth when faced with the "Financial Collapse" of 2007-2008. He relied on advice from the very sector that created it. The idea that large institutions failing would bring the entire world to its knees was the same BS that the robber barons of TR's time peddled. Bailing out a company like Chrysler made sense. That was saving jobs. And the money was paid back with interest. But bankers who bundled junk mortgages with good ones and resold them?
Saving banks and AIC was a gift to the rich. How many of those con men paid a price for their malfeasance? Instead of saving banks and market gamblers, we should have done what Biden did during the Pandemic. Send money to the people. If student loans could be addressed, why not bogus, designed to fail mortgages? Innocent people were under water in their mortgages for years. They couldn't sell their homes - turning down better job opportunities as a result. The rich prospered and the poor got poorer.
Do you remember the meeting that Obama and McCain attended in 2008 before the election on the financial crisis. McCain looked like a deer caught in the headlights and Obama seemed much more collected and at least had some ideas.
Missed that. I might have some complaints about Obama, but he was a competent, super intelligent president. I remember sleeping much better once he replaced "W". So much better...
Quite literally if you check the statistics. Obama's legacy on the Great Recession was not so good. He restored but did made little attempt to reform. He dropped Elizabeth Warren like a rock when Wall St. complained about her. If you check the record of the scale of investigation and justified prosecutions of the much smaller yet huge at the time "Savings and Loan" scandal vs investigation and prosecution of the subprime crisis, there is no comparison. Bill Black, who had worked on the former was outraged. Obama's AG Eric Holder considered Too BIg to Fail as Too big to prosecute:
"But it remains true that, at some institutions that engaged in inappropriate conduct before, and may yet again, the buck still stops nowhere. Responsibility remains so diffuse, and top executives so insulated, that any misconduct could again be considered more a symptom of the institutionтАЩs culture than a result of the willful actions of any single individual." -Eric Holder
A legal theory of crimes with no perpetrator. The pockets of the public are picked buck stop "nowhere".
"And the banks -- hard to believe in a time when we're facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created -- are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place," Sen. Dick Durbin
The throw dog-poo in the blender and label it gold strategy (Collateralized Debt Obligations) was no better than a Ponzi scheme, but they got away with it. We know from some of the internal communications that some bankers knew the ice was thin, and also that they targeted undereducated and ESL borrowers to rope into bad deals. It a feature not a bug in unregulated capitalism, which is why reformers like TR and FDR put so much effort into civilizing it. I knew very well that the real estate market was ramping up for a correction, but has no idea how hollowed out by internal fraud the financial system was becoming. I got a hint when I heard that "reverse amortization" loans where becoming popular, where the borrower increased their indebtedness with every minimum payment. Brookley Born knew, and was punished for spilling the beans.
No, the merger will be a loss if employees, fewer grocery stores, and higher food prices.
One of the many nice things about living in France is buying perishables in the market. Every precinct has its market, three times a week, 7 am to about 2 pm. People talk to each other, the stallholders make jokes, there's food...
IтАЩve seen those when IтАЩve been in France. IтАЩm so jealous. You donтАЩt even have to get in your car and drive there.
And it's so beautiful! Shapes and colours. Yellow, red, green, black. The fish all arranged according to their shape, usually swirling up to a swordfish peak. 2 pm it shuts, everything gets packed up or out, and by 3 pm the marketplace is empty and hosed down.
Ahhh. I would love that!
I agree, theyтАЩve all gotten too big. My point is only that Walmart and Amazon are far bigger problems than Kroger and Albertsons.
"I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if you do prosecute, if you do bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy. " Former AG Eric Holder
And if you don't prosecute and let them get even bigger (they did) what then?
2008 Financial collapseтАФтАЬtoo big to failтАЭ
The derivatives and the sub-prime mortgages were also major contributors to the collapse.
Howard Clark spoke out against sub-prime mortgages for at least a couple of years before the crash. He warned homebuyers not to fall into the trap of 100% variable interest home loans.
I'm sure that many people listened and didn't fall in to the trap but millions more ended up losing their homes. I'll never understand why Obama didn't cap the interest rate increases on the mortgages at .5% a year. He bailed out the big banks but left millions of people literally out in the cold.
Trump's Treasury Secretary was brutal with foreclosures in CA throwing elderly people out of their homes for owing less than $100.
And now he's partners with Kushner on his Saudi Arabia deal. What a putz!
Agreed. Those mortgages were a crime. And their originators were crooks.
In 2005, we obtained a mortgage for a new property by sitting down with an unlicensed (no license required in Maine) mortgage "broker". One percent interest for the first year and then...use your imagination. It was a "stated income", "no doc" loan for over a half million. He asked for our social security numbers. That's it. I said, "don't you want our tax returns....or something to verify income?" He responded with: "Nah, we'll fill in whatever works." We got the loan and used it as a bridge until we sold our current building. Paid it off quickly and dodged disaster. The "broker" made a bundle. I wonder how many of his customers didn't realize just how deep in financial doodoo they were about to fall into.
I have great admiration for Obama as a man and a leader. But he was out of his depth when faced with the "Financial Collapse" of 2007-2008. He relied on advice from the very sector that created it. The idea that large institutions failing would bring the entire world to its knees was the same BS that the robber barons of TR's time peddled. Bailing out a company like Chrysler made sense. That was saving jobs. And the money was paid back with interest. But bankers who bundled junk mortgages with good ones and resold them?
Saving banks and AIC was a gift to the rich. How many of those con men paid a price for their malfeasance? Instead of saving banks and market gamblers, we should have done what Biden did during the Pandemic. Send money to the people. If student loans could be addressed, why not bogus, designed to fail mortgages? Innocent people were under water in their mortgages for years. They couldn't sell their homes - turning down better job opportunities as a result. The rich prospered and the poor got poorer.
Do you remember the meeting that Obama and McCain attended in 2008 before the election on the financial crisis. McCain looked like a deer caught in the headlights and Obama seemed much more collected and at least had some ideas.
Missed that. I might have some complaints about Obama, but he was a competent, super intelligent president. I remember sleeping much better once he replaced "W". So much better...
I remember that. Obama came prepared and McCain had no clue.
I just saw this David Packman video on YouTube about Trump's dementia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJgsSi96uqk
Trump isn't going to be able to do rallies for much longer. If he does will the MAGAnazis started booing him or laugh at him?
YIKES!!!
Quite literally if you check the statistics. Obama's legacy on the Great Recession was not so good. He restored but did made little attempt to reform. He dropped Elizabeth Warren like a rock when Wall St. complained about her. If you check the record of the scale of investigation and justified prosecutions of the much smaller yet huge at the time "Savings and Loan" scandal vs investigation and prosecution of the subprime crisis, there is no comparison. Bill Black, who had worked on the former was outraged. Obama's AG Eric Holder considered Too BIg to Fail as Too big to prosecute:
"But it remains true that, at some institutions that engaged in inappropriate conduct before, and may yet again, the buck still stops nowhere. Responsibility remains so diffuse, and top executives so insulated, that any misconduct could again be considered more a symptom of the institutionтАЩs culture than a result of the willful actions of any single individual." -Eric Holder
A legal theory of crimes with no perpetrator. The pockets of the public are picked buck stop "nowhere".
"And the banks -- hard to believe in a time when we're facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created -- are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place," Sen. Dick Durbin
Michael Lewis's "The Big Short" did a good job telling this story. The movie version is one of my favorites of all time.
I agree. Loved the movie. My wife read the book but like you, enjoyed the movie more.
She is an avid reader and rarely does she enjoy the movie or serial version better.
I like your wife!
Margot Robbie in a bubble bath explaining derivatives is one of my favorite scenes of all time!
Brilliant fillm.
The throw dog-poo in the blender and label it gold strategy (Collateralized Debt Obligations) was no better than a Ponzi scheme, but they got away with it. We know from some of the internal communications that some bankers knew the ice was thin, and also that they targeted undereducated and ESL borrowers to rope into bad deals. It a feature not a bug in unregulated capitalism, which is why reformers like TR and FDR put so much effort into civilizing it. I knew very well that the real estate market was ramping up for a correction, but has no idea how hollowed out by internal fraud the financial system was becoming. I got a hint when I heard that "reverse amortization" loans where becoming popular, where the borrower increased their indebtedness with every minimum payment. Brookley Born knew, and was punished for spilling the beans.
Obama is partners with Kushner!!!?
Sorry, Mnuchin is working with Kushner on his little fund that has over $2 billion of Saudi money.
I have stopped ordering from Amazon. ItтАЩs a little somethingтАж
And will create food deserts.
MORE food deserts
Colorado AG is suing to stop it