What Cooked the World's Economy? It wasn't your overdue mortgage.

The Village Voice ^ | James Lieber

[Tempest]

The basic story line so far is that we are all to blame, including homeowners who bit off more than they could chew, lenders who wrote absurd adjustable-rate mortgages, and greedy investment bankers.

Credit derivatives also figure heavily in the plot. Apologists say that these became so complicated that even Wall Street couldn't understand them and that they created "an unacceptable level of risk." Then these blowhards tell us that the bailout will pump hundreds of billions of dollars into the credit arteries and save the patient, which is the world's financial system. It will take time—maybe a year or so—but if everyone hangs in there, we'll be all right. No structural damage has been done, and all's well that ends well.

Sorry, but that's drivel. In fact, what we are living through is the worst financial scandal in history. It dwarfs 1929, Ponzi's scheme, Teapot Dome, the South Sea Bubble, tulip bulbs, you name it. Bernie Madoff? He's peanuts.

[dragnet2]

Here’s one big factor that contributed.

Here’s Bush in his speech pushing liar loans for millions of unqualified minorities and illegals aliens

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW9viaJatpo

[Lazamataz]

Amazing article. This guy explains it so a layman can understand it.

[dennisw]

Cayne was 74 years old...he preferred playing bridge. He was off golfing and playing bridge usually. Perhaps he was mostly a figurehead

[kalee]

to read later

[r9etb]

Personally I don’t have a clue but to see this as a cyclical event.

Can't agree -- I fear that it's more like the Black Death. The Black Death was no doubt "cyclical" in Asia, from whence it allegedly originated. When it reached new and non-immune ground, however, it spread unchecked and with tremendous loss of life and tremendous social upheaval.

This crisis is similar, I think. The degree of globablization in the financial markets is orders of magnitude greater than in previous crises, as is the speed of the transactions. Distance and time were a form of protection back then, that are not available now.

I think the magnitude of the exposure -- hundreds of trillions of (virtual) dollars -- means we're looking at a "financial black death," a crisis on a scale we haven't seen before.

Of course, the Black Death had its positive effects, too: it's credited with kicking off both the Renaissance, and the concepts of rights and freedom that we now take for granted.

Perhaps economic reality will assert itself in a similar way.

[LomanBill]

>>The subprime mortgages did.

If you liked the crash of the Subprime wave, you’ll LOVE the Alt-A / Option-Arm implosion that’s currently in process.

These predatory debt instruments are merely a symptom.

The underlying disease is the systemic moral corruption of our entire system of governance, financial and otherwise.

When a Nation abandons God and His Law, bad things happen.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

I think the Obama stimulus was flawed to begin with but it’s a total Frankenstein now.

What, you don't need $335 million dollars worth of sex ed and condoms???

;)

[ex-snook]

It is much easier to blame the mess on home owners as the ones who engaged in bad financial practices. In other words, we ain’t seen nothing yet.

[Just mythoughts]

This is Soros last policy paper. (January 28 2009) and he appears to not be very pleased that Lehman Brothers was allowed to fail. I do not trust Soros, but could be that he could not control the perfect storm brew up over the past decades. Not that I think he is going broke by any means but seems he and others miscalculated on how high the waves were going to go inland.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/49b1654a-ed60-11dd-bd60-0000779fd2ac.html

[Osage Orange]

Soros...may have a billion or two...but he can’t sway control over trillions of $$$$

[wita]

Government intentionally funnelled vast amounts of money into the housing industry, grew a gargantuan housing bubble, and then pulled the rug out from under it when it became apparent that it could not be sustained. The collapse of the financial sector was not the cause of the problem.

Could this be spelled Barney and Chris? If so is the gallows too good for them? If not, should the complicit staffers, bill writers, bill sponsers, committee members, etc, all share in the punishment?

[Just mythoughts]

This is why, I don’t think money will be worth much...What happens in an FDIC insured bank when it goes under? The government guarantees the money...by printing more money...how much will it be worth in the end?

I am thinking this whole mess is a means to an end... global money, controlled globally. 'You know' we are just a village, even on the global scale. And if one wants to play in it they will have to use their currency to pay. Bama knows and so does every liberal in Congress their cheap little offering to the majority to stimulate the economy is NOT going to stimulate anything.

How long can they stave off the majority with passing out measly little $500 dollar checks, increased food stamps, and extended unemployment stipends before that group demands peace, peace, peace, and prosperity they were promised.

[LomanBill]

>> But this started with the price
>>of oil driving up the costs of food.

 

No, it started with the implosion of the housing bubble.

 

Housing prices were artificially increased via the abuse of easy mortgage money typified by 120% LTV terms.  Many folks, aka "flippers", were gaming the system.

 

Consumer spending was largely being driven by equity removed via Refi.

 

When the increasing prices vanished, equity vanished.

 

Without equity, the refis stopped and the consumer debt refi merry-go-round stopped along with them.

 

And so here we are....

 

 

Cashcow, deceased; 1 each.

 

[marshmallow]

A rather poor attempt at explaining the situation. Lehman's credit default swap situation was settled last October, for instance, without losses. The expected huge financial fallout never happened and the event was barely noticed.

Did he mention that in the article? I doubt it although I'm not sure. I never made it to the end. I read the first two pages and then got sidetracked gawking at the debauched photos on the sidebar.

The Village Voice is really an unreadable piece of trash.

[bronxboy]

Not long...with unemployment increasing on a daily basis. The charade will end.

[Darkwolf377]

That’s interesting. Seeing how confused and simplistic the guy is, where else would he be getting this stuff?

Did you see that first signing the day after inauguration? He was clueless.

Geez, now you’re gettin me depressed... :(

[bronxboy]

Without losses...not really. The government stepped in but here were losses.

On October 10th, Lehman’s debt was sold for approximately 8.625 cents on the dollar. Since the settlements sold at 8.625 cents on the dollar during the auction, this means that the firms who sold the credit default swap contracts on this debt will be forced to pay up the remaining 91.375 cents on the dollar. This loss 91.375 cents lost on the dollar isn’t completely accurate as firms were paid fees on average of about 8 cents on the dollar to take this side of the bet. Estimates on losses from debt insured by credit default swaps have been rumored to be somewhere between $350-400 billion. This is an incredible amount if you compare these losses to the US government’s $700 billion bailout plan. Settlements for the credit default swaps on Lehman Brother’s contracts are on October 21st. With over $350 billion of losses that will be recorded from just one financial institution failure, this is sure to spread throughout the industry and cause further defaults.

[expat_panama]

someone made $600 trillion that we need to "take back"?

You all are a little slow at observing what’s going on....

We may have room to agree here. 

Let's say we're together with the idea that I'm blind and slow, and we can also agree that James Lieber's $600T doesn't exist.  Fair enough?

[Just mythoughts]

Soros...may have a billion or two...but he can’t sway control over trillions of $$$$

Well I am not so sure about that, he owns lock stock and barrel the democrat party. And they sure do have sway and control over trillions and trillions. Right now the liberal democrat party needs to shore up their reelection prospects, so they are paying off those they need to play come reelection time.

[Eva]

For sure, the planned economic crash went much further than the Democrats intended. I don’t think that they planned for it to spread world wide. The problems in the EU are going to complicate the left’s efforts to force a national union on the country, because of all the protectionist measures that go along with the union economy.

The stupid politicians haven’t looked beyond the politics of socialism that places all the power within the political class to even consider what kind of economy and jobs would be available in the US if we returned to a “buy American” economy. The idiots have killed off all the manufacturing because they say that it is too dirty for the environment and encouraged companies to move to third world, “developing countries” that need the jobs. Then they turn around and tell us to buy American. There is nothing American left to buy.