The problem is and always has been a law enforcement problem. It is less so, but partially a regulatory problem. Bottom line, the SEC, the Fed, and many other public, semi-public and pseudo-public agencies failed to act. Nevermind that a large percentage of loans were fraudulent “liar loans” based on minimal documentation. The house would appreciate anyway right? And both the borrow and the bank and the buyers of those packaged mortgage backed securities were too greedy, and the SEC and Fed didn’t care that people were selling “liar loan” packages as triple A bonds when the risk was substantially higher.
The SEC so conveniently lifted the uptick rule right when Bear Stearns was imploding. Just what did Chairman Cox smoke to make him dream up a dark money pool wet-dream like that?!?! Relentless naked short selling was the only outcome for these pools of money which we now call “hedge funds” but which are unregulated... and I don’t think we need to regulate them as entities so much as merely to have responsible laws and regulations on the books and to enforce them! Chairman Cox Smoker should be tarred and feathered.
We could see another 2000 points shaved off the DJIA before this is over. The 401k and house equity that many boomers spend decades building up and were counting on to retire could lose half their value in this one single year.
There is a lot of blame to go around. But ultimately if people are not thrown into prison or tarred and feathered by angry mobs then justice will not have been served.
Meanwhile, Barack Obama is running around with his 2 top economic advisors and top fundraisers Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson - the 2 previous chairmen of Fanny Mae!
In a single stroke, without a single act of congress, the USA took on $500 billion in additional debt and potentially more in backstops.
They may choose to fix it by dumping all this “bad debt” into a so called “bad bank” which is the economic equivalent of “sweeping it under the rug” but what it really means is that some people walked away with their share of $500 billion in taxpayers money without a single prosecution.
Tar and feathers are my top two investment recommendation for 2008.
I think you have your proportions wrong. There can be no laws to regulate or prohibit stupid behavior when interest rates are jury rigged low through various policies and financial "innovations". Certainly false and fraudulent ratings of mortgage securities was a problem and should be prosecuted. Certainly false and fraudulent insurance of those securities should be prevented. Prosecuting now does nothing since AIG is dying as we speak.
So put away the tar and feathers, they will only make things worse at this point. Use the money instead to invest in something that will grow the economy.