Posted on 06/19/2009 3:31:48 PM PDT by lbryce
The Boom-Time Bums These operators capitalized on regulatory gaps and used financial gimmicks to engineer quick profits and inflate share prices. Then they cashed out—leaving the rest of us with the bill. Among the notables:
* Joe Cassano As president of AIG's financial products division, Cassano pioneered the insurance giant's sale of credit-default swaps, which allowed investors to buy insurance on packages of risky subprime loans they didn't even own. In one 2007 investor conference call, Cassano boasted that "it is hard for us … to even see a scenario that would see us losing one dollar in any of those transactions."
Cost so far to U.S. taxpayers: $180 billion. Cassano made $300 million before leaving AIG last year. * Angelo Mozilo Under Mozilo, Countrywide Financial lured thousands of people into adjustable rate, subprime mortgages they couldn't afford and often didn't really understand.
In 2007, Mozilo unloaded $121 million in options. That same year, the company announced it had lost $704 million, and the share prices tanked. The SEC has launched an insider trading investigation. (Mozilo has denied any wrongdoing.)
Last fall, Countrywide's new corporate owner agreed to pay up to $8.7 billion to settle a massive predatory lending suit.
(Excerpt) Read more at rd.com ...
In reading the list, the one I believe deserves the most vehement opprobrium is Alan Greenspan, who came up with this pusillanimous response to accusations that his policies have directly contributed to our current economic woes by saying he may have overestimated the benefits of competition and underestimated the collusion and greed of various individuals to regulate themselves.
No Barney “the Banking Queen” Frank? No B. Hussein Obama who was right behind Chris Dodd in taking bribes - oh campaign contributions - from Fanny and Freddie?
I’d like to see their political affiliationa.
I know that turd, Richard Fuld from Lehman Bros. was a big-time Democrap donor.
I betcha 85% of ‘em are libs.
Shocking Video Unearthed Democrats in their own words Covering up the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Scam that caused our Economic Crisis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs
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History of Fannie Mae scandal
"Fannie Mae announces its long-awaited restatement, erasing $6.3 billion in profit from 2001 through June 30, 2004."
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/12/07/history_of_fannie_mae_scandal/?page=1
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Bailout Politics: The Congressional Dems who enabled this crisis are now being trusted to fix it?
Thomas Sowell, September 30, 2008
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OWE3OWU3OTExYzNlNTUzMzY2YmJmOWZjMzcwN2M1NjU=
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Guilty Party: ACORN, Obama, and the mortgage mess
Mona Charen, September 30, 2008
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Mzk4MmVkNzA1NGQ2NGRkZjQ2YjNmYjdlODZkMmQ4N2I=
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An ACORN Falls from the Tree: A congressional outrage
Ken Blackwell, September 29, 2008
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=N2Y5MTc0ZTAyMmE1Mjk3NGE3OWRiY2FkMjZlN2YxYzc=
What utter BS. Readers Digest is worse than useless.
Where are our idiotic congressman and senators on that list? Where’s Chairman Obama? Where’s the Banking Queen?
I hold our elected “leaders” as chiefly responsible.
You left out Jorge Bushes HUd speech promoting CRA, I’m sure it was only an over site. Here it is: http://www.hud.gov/news/speeches/presremarks.cfm
NO doubt. Recall this atrocious spectacle and add to the list-—plus he never vetoed one spending bill. He says this blooper: “I feel an obligation to my successor” — disgusting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89WO_-dM_pQ
Are the Sandlers on the list?
Remember, it was the Democrats who prevented regulation that would have had banks reveal all of their off-the-books assets — the toxic ones.
Every single bit of this goes straight to Bill Clinton’s doorstep, with collaboration from Daddy Bush and Sons. To be fair, I don’t think GW really wanted to do this. Dissing daddy is a hard row to hoe. But he does not get absolution here.
You’re off by a long shot, but that’s to be expected of trolls relying on information from DU, Salon and the NYT.
Sorry, but Gramm's role in the financial meltdown is well-known to those who care to put aside GOP dogma. Phil Gramm drafted the Commodities Futures Modernization Act and slipped it into, I believe, the 2000 budget bill. It exempted new exchanges from federal oversight (hence Enron and the commodities bubble from last year) and also exempted credit default swaps from regulation, which led directly to the AIG fiasco.
Gramm is pond scum - he did all this while his lobbyist wife raked in millions from the affected parties wanting these changes. And then he had the nerve to call regular Americans whiners when the economic time bombs he helped place went off. Gramm needs to be decried, not defended.
The GOP will never return to power as long as large segments of the base deny the role many members of the party played in the economic crisis. They were not the only culprits - something this screwed up usually takes a lot of participants - but they did play a role. And the libertarian (note the small 'l') notion that financial markets do not need any kind of regulation needs to be stricken from party dogma.
Prove it, do you want a link to the IRON and Ken Lay mess, that is who had the modernization act written, Gramm was nothing but Lays whipping boy.
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