Sunday September 13, 2009, 3:47 pm
This article is about the forthcoming documenatry American Casino..telling the story through participants (the pushers of substandard mortgages,those who were duped etc)of the crash.Watch the taster clip..as it looks very tasty material.The story is one of Wall Street money men and a few women..pushing at an open door, for deregulation of markets..so they could drink more and more blood of the Main Street poor.
Hell..many of these consciousless ruiner's of lives seem to have gotten away with it,aided by public money..while those who have lost jobs,homes and lives get little attention..except for proposed welfare cuts.Bring on democracy...cos it ain't here yet..

Sunday September 13, 2009, 4:40 pm
I always thought Wall $treet & the $tock Market was for trust-fund gamblers.. yet the RepubliCONs wanted us to "invest" our Social Security there? A "privatized" Social Security would have tanked with all those other pension plans! But they will try again, it's a rabid Cause for them - they Hate Social Security (or basically ANY Security for those Beneath them)!

Sunday September 13, 2009, 11:42 pm
I signed petition. thanks for posting

Monday September 14, 2009, 4:28 am
I saw this quote concerning our Health Care or shall we say lack of Health Care mess here in the United States and it went like this "Few are quilty but all are responsible." I think that also fits very well to this mess in our economic system.

Few played the gamble with the economy...but all are responsible. The major players of the economic mess of coarse are responsible, but Our Fearless Leaders are responsible too. For most come of our Leaders come from well to do backgrounds so it was going well for them and their friends financial portfolios, some others in key positions whether hired by the Government or in Civilian status saw what was going on but failed to speak up for whatever their personal reasons, and the average individual has been lax on paying attention to anything being content with their flat screen TV's and I'll let someone else take care of things.

Of coarse I put the Theives at the Top of the heap as the most accountable for they knew what they were doing and just plain didn't care as long as they were living high on the hog. The so called Leaders we have are just pawns in their pockets and turn a blind eye as long as they also get their cut and their buddies are taken care of. The rest of the rank and file, most likely didn't know the full extent of things, but they too kept themselves blinded by not doing so much as attending a Town or City Hall meeting or a PTA meeting at their school.
Democracy works only when everyone takes some responsibility to keep an eye on the ball. We can not depend that those we elect and send to Washington has Our best interests in mind. Once in Washington the high paid Lobbyist surround them like flies, and you, the little guy back home soon become a distant memory. But when these elected Officials are back on everyones local turf, few attend any of the meetings they set up. Few of the masses send their elected Official an email, snail mail letter, or phone call to tell them what they are expecting out of the Representative they sent to Washington to keep them on their toes or the eye on the ball.
So few are Guilty but All are Responsible.

Wake up America!

Shake off the dust, lick your wounds, and take back the Country. Stop dividing yourselves. Remember divide and conquer. Be you Republican, Democrate, Liberal, Conservative, Christian, Jewish, Athiest, or whatever handle you want to give yourselves, most of you will sink if you do not stand together. The few Theives up the top love it when you fight each other....then it takes the attention off of the Truth.

Monday September 14, 2009, 10:09 am
Yeah baby!!! Welcome to Las Vegas...

Monday September 14, 2009, 6:47 pm
Life is a gamble; successful gamblers limit their losses.

Borrowing and lending money is a gamble that most people do not understand, which is why there are so few successful financiers.

One of the basic rules of lending money is to lend it to customers who are willing and able to repay it. When that rule goes out the window, sooner or later (usually sooner than the borrowers and lenders would like), the assets of both lenders and borrowers go out the door. Neither side sought to limit its losses.

The USA is not the only country which indulges in this kind of gambling, but during the last 120 years it has been spectacularly successful at it. The law regulates casinos in Las Vegas; the law should regulate banking everywhere.

Those laws should be uniform in nature, few in number, correctly targeted, and speedily and equitably enforced.

People in the USA like their freedom, but it comes at a price--the ups and downs of a market economy. Those ups and downs are a necessary part of life, but a floor and ceiling for them makes life easier for everybody--especially the homeless.

Monday September 14, 2009, 10:50 pm
Good post, Pandas!

Never, ever put your trust in the so called "experts" on Wall Street !! The current financial crisis we're now facing was predicted by my husband (Glenn L) over 5 years ago. Even then he was saying that he could not go by what he was seeing the markets doing.. because none of it made sense. I am personally thankful he's as wise as he is, and has been, with our savings.. it's the only reason we now are retired comfortably.

Another point that we should all remember is that the U.S. is NOT a democracy, and was never meant to be. It is a Republic. That's why "we the people" don't really elect anyone beyond our local government, and our representatives. I just wish the mainstream public had longer memories, when it comes time to vote.

If this land was truly run by those who claim to be Christians, they would follow the bibical teaching and forgive all debt at the end of 7 years... It's a shame there are so many here who claim to be Christian, yet don't truly practice it.
I

Tuesday September 15, 2009, 12:32 am
Thank you Merrily. In fact, I saw a predictable disaster at least 10 years ago. Five years ago, I was so concerned that I had a talk with the president of the auto parts supplier I worked for, to express what I could see coming. At that time, I noted that the net savings rate of Americans had actually turned *negative*. That meant that Americans were spending more than they were earning. What are the impications of this? First, that we were depleting our capital stock (you know, old machines were not being replaced with new, buildings, cars, whatever, were being allowed to wear out -- or we were going deeply in debt to foreigners, which they would one day redeem). Second, our spending cash had to be coming from somewhere -- it was obvious that the major share of this was coming from people cashing out the increasing prices (note I did not say *value*) of their homes... but who cared? Housing prices had been rising 40 years, right? Few expected any change in this pattern. This same perception led folks to take out absurdly structured home loans, since they expected the rising prices would cover their risk, and return a profit in short order.

What might happen if this did not occur seemed beyond comprehension -- it was somehow unthinkable, as was being layed off or let go from a job and not being able to quickly find another. The stopper for me was that the *value* of the houses was already far lower than their prices. The fundamentals stunk, plain and simple. So I said "Thanks, but no thanks."

I even advised my boss to put his savings into things af real fundamental value instead of the bank. Why? Because with every dollar he put into his account, the bank could loan out more than 9 dollars to somebody else, and he would have to negotiate the price of whatever he bought, having thus financed the people bidding against him! Quicksand! Warning!

As a last note to this rant, let me say -- *Never* sign *anything* if you do not understand very well what it says and means. Get help interpreting if you need it, but don't sign if you aren't sure of what you're agreeing to.

Yes, Wall Street, Bankers, Brokers, and a host of others have not played fair to be sure. But we were there and participated in the debacle as well.

I, too, look forward to seeing the movie, BTW. ;-)

Monday September 21, 2009, 2:56 pm
Looking forward to the film. Just want to mention two things that the article covers but doesn't go into enough detail if you were never a banker.

The "reverse red-lining" mentioned on page three of the article refers to the redlines created by the Federal Gov't for the Community Reinvestment Act or CRA. CRA created geographic areas contained by red lines and banks, under the requirements of the CRA, had to lend a certain portion of their portfolio's within these areas. If a bank did not lend a sufficient amount, the regulators would not allow the bank to merge, buy another bank, open a new branch, or sell to another bank. CRA caused banks to make loans they would not make without the federal requirement.

The article also implies that collateralized mortgage obiigations were created around 2000. They have been around for a very long time. Investors are often confused when they buy CMO's, because a portion of the check each month may actually be a return of principal invested as opposed to income. I met with a widow who couldn't figure out where her money had gone because she spent what she thought was income.

Couldn't agree more with the comments of Glenn L about "Never sign anything you don't understand".

Tuesday October 6, 2009, 2:32 am
The problem with the financial market is most of it is actually hypothetical and imaginary! Countries monetary systems are backed by gold and that does not always exist in practice the price having been gambled away in some back office by faceless greysuited greed mongering speculators. The price of stocks is almost entirely related to whim and gambling activities on stock markets. No real work or production enters the equation it is all a giant monopoly game board played for life threatening stakes by the same people of the same mentalty that put Jews in gas chambers or pushed indiginous people off their land all around the world. The entire political system of the world is hard wired into this stupidity be they ex communist, communist or capitalist systems. They all want something for nothing and the nothing is the general popululation human and animal, eco systems etc to be used and abused for the few!