Re: Adam 1 clearly this much more evil than
My memory of the SubPrime Fiasco is slightly different:
The dodgy loans from many, many sources (including Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac but not by any means limited to them) were bundled by banks into instruments that were then fraudulently represented as solid investment vehicles by colluding with the SEC in a blatantly illegal fixing of the system.
Then said banks colluded to work an insurance scam under the blanket term Credit Default Swap. Not illegal mostly, on account of the deregulation begun under Reagan and continued by every President since having created holes you could drive a bus through.
No, those in charge of the banks did nothing illegal (at least, nothing that can be proved) when they bet against themselves, but what they did was unethical and downright stupid, bringing the nation's (and eventually the world's) economic engine to the brink of absolute failure. Treason might be a word to be tossed about here, given that the officers of the nation's superbanks are supposed to understand they have the stewardship of the economy, and that includes protecting it as well as exploiting it for personal gain.
But if you want me to believe that "President" Bush (does anyone believe he was the one running the country rather than the old guy with the oversized safe in his office?) had a grasp of the financial situation his ship of state was sailing, I'm going to need to be administered some very strong drugs of the hypnotic/psychedelic family before being locked in the machine from The Ipcress File for a week.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
