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- Anomaly100, on 03/26/2009, -2/+57One of my favorites in that vat of pond scum:
JOHN THAIN
WAS Chief of Merrill Lynch (2007-2009)
WHAT HE DID Concealed $15 billion hole in Merrill balance sheet until government subsidized the sale of his company. Went skiing in Vail just before revealing losses.
WORST MOVE Proposed $10 million bonus for himself as company imploded; OK'd $1.2 million office refurbishing.
IS NOW Facing class-action suit for concealing losses.
I wonder how that unconscionable greed is working for him now? What a pig. - climateoffear, on 03/26/2009, -2/+42The fact that none of these people are in prison is deplorable. As an American, I am ashamed.
- audiblesilence, on 03/26/2009, -3/+40What's good about this list...is it's bi-partisanship. The sooner we all realize that nobody in DC is looking out for me or you...the sooner off we'll be.
Partisanship is something to keep us entertained while they do whatever they want. - inactive, on 03/26/2009, -1/+24It's curious how well this illustrates the revolving doors between the executive branch and multi-billion dollar corporations.
They gamed the system. We lost. - Internazionale, on 03/26/2009, -1/+23Sharpen up your pitchforks
- borez, on 03/26/2009, -1/+21Dugg for: Joe Cassano
BURN HIM. - homah, on 03/26/2009, -1/+16where's helicopter ben?
- clvngodess, on 03/26/2009, -1/+16The art is great too.
- Alheithinn, on 03/26/2009, -2/+15Thain is criminal #1. Send him to Gitmo!
- inactive, on 03/26/2009, -4/+17Complete and utter *****.
Any list that fails to account the role Fannie and Freddie and government participation in the housing market played is flawed.
They ALL played a role in it. - nfenetee8, on 03/26/2009, -0/+12Buried for not including Myron Scholes (the intellectual godfather of the Credit Default Swap). If Phil Graham can be included in this list simply for being an idealogue, then they should also include the technocrat that came up with the system that has left us with trillions of dollars in derivative ponzi schemes.
The MSM is slowing catching up to the sordid fact that there is a blackhole of derivatives that, according to the Bank for International Settlements, is about 700 trillion dollars. This article is a slice of good information, but it's not the whole pie (which it is sorta masquerading as). But at least the scapegoating of the sub-prime borrowers and the distractions of AIG bonuses are beginning to wane away. - iamnotyou, on 03/26/2009, -1/+12tar and feathers at least. or pitchforks and an angry mod.
- thewhits, on 03/26/2009, -1/+12There's a special place in hell for all of these *****.
- jwblackwell, on 03/26/2009, -0/+11While all of these individuals acted incredibly irresponsibly and selfishly, if they werent about to do so, someone else would of. Blaming bankers is exactly what politicians want us to do - to take the blame of them.
People like this will always exist, its the job of the politicians we elect to properly regulate and manage the system, they made the biggest mistake of all. - Daggorath, on 03/26/2009, -0/+10I wish I could dig you up a million times. So many clueless people who have fallen into the partisan trap it's sad. It keeps them from ever realizing the truth with their blind zealot rage. Both sides sucks, we need much more then two parties running this thing.
- TomK88, on 03/26/2009, -6/+16What about idiotic members of Congress that can't even BEGIN to understand anything to do with the economy or finance?
Case in point: Maxine Waters
<a class="user" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFvnL3npQgY" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFvnL3npQgY</a&g ...
<a class="user" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxPzxTAOjgg&fea ... rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxPzxTAOjgg&fea ...</a> (Skip to 5:00)
This women is a complete moron. How are we supposed to get out of this mess with idiots like that at the helm? - fugazied, on 03/26/2009, -4/+13You know what, neither did Bushes name you douche and he went all in on that de-regulation. This article was about the bankers.
- Anomaly100, on 03/26/2009, -0/+8You always have the best ideas!
- Poonchow, on 03/26/2009, -0/+7Or go back to how it was in the first place, no parties at all, so there isn't this retarded need for people to adhere to an ideology that doesn't make any sense just because it is associated with their "party"
I can understand people's need to group similar things together, but it is all horse ***** when people come flinging feces at one group due to the actions of a few representing them.
the two party system causes this polarizing separatist bubble people can't seem to get around. Blame individuals, not the Ds or Rs. - shdwfx, on 03/26/2009, -0/+7One would hope that someone goes after them like they did with Al Capone: Find enough random dirt in their past to lock them up for the rest of their lives.
- gluecode, on 03/27/2009, -0/+7They forgot to mention that it was Wendy Gramm (Phil Gramm's wife), Reagan's favorite economist, who signed off on the deregulation of credit default swaps. This was even before Alan Greenspan became fed chairman.
Wendy Gramm: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Lee_Gramm
Credit default swap: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_default_swap - 76Cents, on 03/26/2009, -0/+6we should work on the creation of hell for these guys
- Daggorath, on 03/26/2009, -0/+6See but that's why people can do these things, they are among the enlightened that realize there is no fantasy land called heaven or hell, and no consquences in a non-existant afterlife. We need to beat this bastards down in this life.
- miamicat, on 03/26/2009, -1/+6Populist uprising '09!
- x00x, on 03/26/2009, -0/+5
This is one of the reasons why the internet is one of the greatest innovations of all time, as mankind's collective conscience interactive in meting out just punishment to those wholly responsible for the economic, financial disaster yet to come, while evading the full brunt of what they deserve at the very least never being allowed to escape the harsh light of public disgrace they would have eluded otherwise. - darkciti2, on 03/26/2009, -2/+7Wrong. It was passed with a veto-proof majority. Clinton could have tried to veto it, but it would have passed anyway.
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/05/business/congres ...
There's only 1 person who didn't vote for it:
John McCain
Not surprisingly, guess who John McCain's campaign director was?
Phill "We're a nation of whiners" Gramm.
This crisis has been a concerted effort by the Republicans for a long time now. They only care about the highest bidders: fatcat corporations, banksters and lobbyists. - nfenetee8, on 03/26/2009, -1/+6Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act > CRA
CRA lead to Sub-Prime Mortgages which are = 1 trillion
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act lead to Derivatives which are = 1 QUADrillion
Get your head out of the left-right paradigm - gmacdaddy, on 03/26/2009, -0/+5Dugg for link to "printer friendly" version.
- zeitgueist, on 03/26/2009, -3/+8"All he did was write an incredibly damaging law. It's not his fault, right guys?"
Gramm not only dismantled Glass-Steagall, he also wrote the Commodity Futures Modernization Act. He pushed for crazy amounts of deregulation.
Clinton deserves some blame for not vetoing it, true, but it arrived at his desk with huge support. Gramm deserves the lion's share of blame. - inactive, on 03/26/2009, -1/+5Put them all in gitmo and waterboard them untill they give all of our money back! Where's the bailout money for peoples 401k's?
- NotAChickenHawk, on 03/26/2009, -0/+4Time magazine has had a list of 25 up on its website for weeks now. I think their 25 included most or all of Rolling Stone's Dirty Dozen, sans RS's righteous artwork. The Geitner one is classic.
- VogonPoet, on 03/27/2009, -0/+4No? I guess you figure Fox gives you just the right mix of political lying and economic fairy tail.
- zeitgueist, on 03/26/2009, -1/+5You idiot. WTF does the CRA have to do with credit default swaps. (I know what your argument will be, but it has nothing behind it).
And Obama was still in school when the CRA was passed. - WhiteHatTrick, on 03/27/2009, -0/+4Divide and Conquer--as first developed by the Chinese general, Sun Tzu, 2,500 years ago--has been used successfully down the centuries by empire builders as a means to subdue subjugated nations, thus maintaining power more easily.
They are not only, not looking out for you, THEY ARE AT WAR WITH YOU! - GeauxLSU, on 03/26/2009, -1/+5House Financial Services Committee hearing, on Sept. 25, 2003:
Rep. Frank: Let me ask [George] Gould and [Franklin] Raines on behalf of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, do you feel that over the past years you have been substantially under-regulated?
Mr. Raines?
Mr. Raines: No, sir.
Mr. Frank: Mr. Gould?
Mr. Gould: No, sir. . . .
Mr. Frank: OK. Then I am not entirely sure why we are here. . . . - biogears, on 03/26/2009, -1/+5Why the calls for physical violence to these criminals? Probably the same people who oppose capital punishment yet are pro-abortion.
The moral confusion continues... - GeauxLSU, on 03/26/2009, -1/+5House Financial Services Committee hearing, Sept. 25, 2003:
Rep. Frank: I do think I do not want the same kind of focus on safety and soundness that we have in OCC [Office of the Comptroller of the Currency] and OTS [Office of Thrift Supervision]. I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation towards subsidized housing. . . . - GeauxLSU, on 03/26/2009, -1/+5Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.), speaking to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel Martinez:
Secretary Martinez, if it ain't broke, why do you want to fix it? Have the GSEs [government-sponsored enterprises] ever missed their housing goals? - edstate, on 03/26/2009, -3/+7Our wonderful Congressmen and Senators who pushed the Community Reinvestment Act (plus Andrew Cuomo of course) and then defended Freddie and Fannie despite overwhelming evidence of their imminent failure... why aren't THEY on this list?
Someone has got to put the goo in the dish for the bacteria to grow, and that was Congress. And NOT just Phil Gramm.
It's also interesting that Ken Lay is on the list. Wasn't SarBox supposed to fix all this *****? Remember all THAT Government action? Well, all it did was f'up Mark to Market so the assets = "toxic" instead of merely "dumb".
This is SUCH a myopic view. It's not wrong, necessarily, but it's like Kindergarten-level depth. - GeauxLSU, on 03/26/2009, -1/+5House Financial Services Committee hearing, Sept. 10, 2003:
Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.): I worry, frankly, that there's a tension here. The more people, in my judgment, exaggerate a threat of safety and soundness, the more people conjure up the possibility of serious financial losses to the Treasury, which I do not see. I think we see entities that are fundamentally sound financially and withstand some of the disaster scenarios - jsffive, on 03/26/2009, -1/+5And a couple of years from now, they may very well be including "Helicopter" Ben Bernanke who, by monetizing our debt, is printing too much money.
But by then The Rolling Stone may not be around anymore. - WhiteHatTrick, on 03/27/2009, -1/+5How does Bush selling us out to the military industrial complex and big oil justify or defend Obama selling us out to wall street and the bankers?
- Chilehead, on 03/26/2009, -1/+5The real cause of the financial crisis is... this is gods revenge on us for allowing the westboro baptist church to exist, and for ray comfort, pat buchannan, pat robertson, and chuck norris to live in this country.
- NotAChickenHawk, on 03/26/2009, -0/+4The whole impetus to repeal Glass-Steagall was Citibank / Citicorp and Travellers Group merging to create Citigroup - they were allowed to merge under the act but would have had to divest either their insurance or banking holdings within a few years if the act remained in force. Sandy Weill (CEO of Travellers who initiated the merger) wanted it repealed - he made the list but didn't get blamed for it here. John Reed (CEO of Citicorp) wanted it repealed too. He didn't even make the list.
- odigity, on 03/27/2009, -0/+3Libertarians have been trying to explain this to liberals for decades. Regulation doesn't enslave business for the benefit of the consumer, it enslaves the market for the benefit of business.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture
Government *cannot*, ever, ever ever ever, be made to work the way you want it to. Good government is a myth (like dry land). The only way forward is this: http://www.lulu.com/content/2488026 - Poonchow, on 03/26/2009, -0/+3What were you expecting? No one else was going to make it this cool, either.
- homah, on 03/26/2009, -0/+3http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUaY3LhJ-IQ#t=1m09s
check out the people in the background for bonus hilarity - MidnightRIder77, on 03/27/2009, -0/+3Dugg for all 12. Burn them all.
I can't believe Henry Paulson is our treasury secretary after all this *****. Unbelievable. - inactive, on 03/27/2009, -0/+3Indeed!
- inactive, on 03/26/2009, -18/+21Phill Gramm is cited twice for pushing the repeal of Glass-Steagall Act. He did, indeed, co-sponsor the bill, but guess who signed it into law? Bill Clinton who's name somehow did not make the list. Also missing from the list the Mortgage Mafia: Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, Frank, Reynes, and the Black Congressional Caucus.
Buried as politically-motivated garbage. -
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