rawstory.com — In an explosive interview on PBS' Bill Moyers Journal, William K. Black, a professor of economics and law with the University of Missouri, alleged that American banks and credit agencies conspired to create a system in which so-called "liars loans" could receive AAA ratings and zero oversight, amounting to a massive "fraud" at the epicenter.
Apr 4, 2009 View in Crawl 4
qxcvrApr 7, 2009
Peter schiff is in there!! never heard of thomas dilrenzo though. I will look him up
Closed AccountApr 8, 2009
Amen to everything you said. I would further argue that the attempted debasement of the word "deregulation" (when Bush's failure of a regulatory state cost $20 Billion MORE inflation adjusted dollars spent on regulation than Clinton spent on it) is politically motivated NewSpeak. If they can blame "deregulation" for the problems, when the "spending LESS NOT MORE tax money" kind of deregulation advocated by actual fiscal conservatives has never been tried, then it's very likely that spending less never WILL BE tried, even though it's the only thing that's likely to work.
darkmatter30Apr 8, 2009
Producers and distributors rarely exist without investors, the exception being "auto-investment" by someone who already has the money going into production or distribution. The biggest profits for entrepreneurs who are producers and distributors tend to come from selling some or all of their businesses, allowing them to recoup their investments in time and, when they invested themselves, their own monetary investments. If you remove the incentive to invest, which your idea does, you will kill off the development of new producers and distributors.Consumers are a much different story. The investors, producers and distributors aren't going to make a sou if there isn't a market ... meaning consumers. Consumer protection law is a much different story, and isn't really a concern of the SEC: you don't "consume" securities, you invest in them.The problem with your proposal is that it doesn't take into account the tremendous variability there is in the financial situations of businesses. I return to my comment about a company with high profit margins, as opposed to one with low margins. Throughout much of U.S. history, a three to six percent ROI would have been considered a healthy return, and thus likely would have rated that 2x stock valuation. But, some companies, for perfectly reasonable reasons, have managed better, often much better. Yet, they would not have any chance for a higher market cap, under your proposal. Thus, in many cases, investors, as well as the producers and distributors involved, would not be able to extract the value of their holdings, and so would be strongly discouraged from going into that business in the first place.Now, what I've covered so far is with regard to listed companies. When you get into privately held companies, it would be much different Why take a company public and list it if you can't make the profit from the value of your holdings once you've done so? The inclination would be for companies that are listed to go private, and private companies to never go public. A considerable amount of discussion could go into that problem, but the end result would be that the rich, who coudl afford to invest, would become all the richer, and the ordinary citizen would lose the ability to invest and participate in the growth and development of companies and markets.If you write the SEC with a suggestion, they will respond, usually with something like a letter saying they are actively evaluating it. Most suggestions are read, assigned a level of "worthiness" and treated accordingly. Most are essentially worthless. They are "actively evaluated" for as long as it takes to hit a deep groan or belly laugh, then recorded, recommended against, and forgotten. Since your suggestion would damage the market in fundamental ways, my bet is that it has already seen all the evaluation it will ever get.
icodebotApr 9, 2009
Publicly put the heads of all the people responsible for this mess on a stake. That will give me a hell of a lot more confidence in the financial industry, and the government in one simple act.
beaglescoutApr 9, 2009
Ummmm, that would be government. What product do you use that the government makes? When do you seek out government for its help? The government is a last recourse because it's so awful it is literally the last thing anyone would ever want to involve, short of asking the Mafia for a favor. And the Mafia might ruin your life less after doing you a favor than the government will.
veruganApr 9, 2009
If our leaders live in fear of the unknown and would rather turn a blind eye to the real problems then I'm afraid for our future.
sweetholymosiahApr 21, 2009
no books?
superkendallApr 22, 2009
What the f**k do you think the tea parties are for?Libertarians and other like minded fiscal conservatives HAVE been going out on the streets. If you think there's a problem, join in. Yes there will be people there who are against abortion. But there are also people there with a deep hatred of Bush. The people span the entire range of ideology, united by the fact they want to stop the crazy train. Some even advocate overthrow as you do, though I personally would not go that far.You can either be deluded into thinking the very groups trying to fix what you want fixed are "republonazis" or wake up and see real chage at hand for the taking.
xeddApr 22, 2009
What you are describing is graft and corruption.Looks like there was a lot of that, too.But what is being highlighted here is indeed: fraud.And it looks like there was a LOT of that going on.
Closed AccountApr 23, 2009
Actually no, they were purchased using tax payer dollars and consolidated into other, even bigger, banks.
Closed AccountApr 23, 2009
Off topic much?
fasttadpoleJul 19, 2009
I would try to rack up as much debt as possible before hyper inflation sets in and intrest rates go up, then buy nonperishable goods and other tangible items.
fasttadpoleJul 19, 2009
I'm living with my sick parents and caring for them, my WWII vetran Grandfather may be moving in too all with my 2 kids and we are all the better for it. Everyone has there role. Kinda off topic but a good show on that produced in Austrailia kind of a fluffy dramedy but tackles the some serious topics, but not in a Full House sort of way. It's called Packed to the Rafters.
fasttadpoleJul 19, 2009
It starts by talking and information .. but perhaps the time for talk is over. Mass peaceful protest would be the next logical step and hopefully the controlled media doesn't spin it. Make sure you call your local PBS affiliate to cover it.
fasttadpoleJul 19, 2009
As the puppet masters Divide and Conquer... there are going to be plenty of attempts to polarize this debate and attacking the hippie boomers is probably going to be one of them. Just remember they aren't the ones coverting taxing you with inflation, paying themselves super lottery-type bonuses and looking the other way when the agencies they elected are neglecting their civil duties to protect its citizens from evil. I deem corrupt ponzi schemes evil b the w.