[ShinyOldLady]

Cuckoo-Clock George came on the boob tube today, as I am sure you are all aware, and essentially said, "All this bad debt on your books is really hindering business as usual on Wall Street, so we're just going to buy all that bad paper and get things back to normal."

Huh? Everything's just hunky dory, let's just shake the etch-a-sketch and start over? Aren't there any consequences to this, and if not, why didn't they do it sooner and more often?

Please explain. It just seems weird.

[heroineworshipper]

Etch a sketches won't be required as long as peak paper doesn't happen.

[vision-master]

I had one of them.

[Cashmere]

I saw a Letterman where he had an etch-a-sketch on as a "new toy for Christmas".

It had a single dial in the middle.

Letterman says, "this one is for the slow kids."

OP - there are 1/2 dozen threads on this already.

[IanC]

Read Freakanomics in the NY times today (under "most emailed"). It's a good explaination.

The whole thing makes me want to puke.

As a medical provider, if I do my job wrong, I lose my licence and am blackballed forever. These mutherfucking frat boys go ape nuts and get bailed out.

[mefistofeles]

Who has been the key "Villain of Wall Street" for this financial crisis? Or better yet what opportunitistic character seeks to benefit from this bailout at the expense of the American people?

[MrBill]

I vote for the American people who have lived beyond their means for over three decades, and consistantly elected politicians that also spent more than they raised in taxes.

[JBinKC]

The spineless SEC would be my first choice.

[Gerben]

Not sure who can be held responsible, but the top villains are the idiots who thought it would be a good idea to deregulate the markets. It was nice while it lasted.

[Bas]

how about Phil Gramm?

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Bas', 'I')t seems this 1999 and 2000 legislation seems to have been very important in enabling the system to create this mess:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'R')OBERT SCHEER: Yeah, well, the point is, when Bush and McCain and Paulson, who was head of Goldman Sachs before he was head of the Treasury, say they don’t know how this happened, they designed this system. We had a regulatory regime in place ever since the Great Depression to prevent this kind of meltdown, and that said that stockbrokers, insurance companies, banks, investment banks, commercial banks, could not merge. And in 1999, they passed legislation, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Gramm is the guy who McCain supported for president in ’96. He was co-chair of his campaign until he complained about the whiners out there, meaning the public. And that legislation is what caused this. It allowed the swaps and everything else.

And then, in 2000, hours before the Christmas break, Gramm introduced legislation. I’m holding it in my hand. This smoking gun is available on the internet; you can read it. And what it said is that the swaps is defined in the Financial Service Modernization Act, meaning that instead of going into a bank and somebody said, “OK, we’ll give you a loan, and we expect you to pay it over thirty years. We know your house has the equity. We know you have the means to pay it”—that was the traditional way—instead, they allowed these mergers, and as a result, they could buy insurance on it, they could do these swaps, they could do what they call hybrid instruments. And it is legislation that was never discussed, was—never had hearings or anything, says that all of this stuff is exempted from all previous regulation. The SEC cannot regulate it, the Commodity Futures Board cannot regulate it.

[MrBill]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Gerben', 'N')ot sure who can be held responsible, but the top villains are the idiots who thought it would be a good idea to deregulate the markets. It was nice while it lasted.

[mmasters]

All of the above and more. Plus the general public for letting themselves be victimized by these oppressors.

[charliebrownout]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MrBill', 'I') vote for the American people who have lived beyond their means for over three decades, and consistantly elected politicians that also spent more than they raised in taxes.

[DomusAlbion]

I'm with Mr. Bill on this.

"We have found the enemy and he is us."

We've taken a great legacy, fought for and suffered for by our parents and grandparents and squandered it. Greed, moral bankruptcy and the attitude of getting something for nothing have led us to the place we are today. We will all (and most should) suffer for our foolishness.

I'm not excluding the Canadians in this either. You guys are just the mini-me of the US and a pale shadow of our image. And Europe: Beware! WWII taught you guys a great lesson, but are your younger generations forgetting?

[AlexdeLarge]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MrBill', 'I') vote for the American people who have lived beyond their means for over three decades, and consistantly elected politicians that also spent more than they raised in taxes.

[Delphis]

I agree with Alex,

Congressmen and women elected through campaigns funded by the Wall Street elite...

That is my pick.

[ROCKMAN]

Mr. Bill,

At first I was going to go along with holding the voters responsible. But as I thought about the process that brings so many corrupt/ignorant politicians to positions of power a simple fact appeared: the common electorate isn't really capable of making such decisions. This may sound condescending, and even a little elitist, but the majority of voters were taken advantage off. A simple analogy: if an adult takes sexual advantage of a retarded person can you rightfully blame the retarded person? Granted, comparing metal retardation to the ignorance of the voting public isn’t exactly an apple-to-apple balance but I’m sure you get my point. An even more extreme example: the majority of the Ecuadorian populace just essentially voted in a dictator for life. Why? Because they were poor and ignorant and wanted a better life. The fact that they’ll gain nothing is beyond their ability to comprehend. Just as with the American voter over the decades: let’s just keep borrowing our way to a better future even though it cannot be sustained.

The educated and sophisticated politicians who knew the process was unsustainable are to blame even though their efforts were supported by the voting public.

[burtonridr]

I dont see a Rockefeller name up there, thats who would get my vote!

[cube]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MrBill', 'I') vote for the American people who have lived beyond their means for over three decades, and consistantly elected politicians that also spent more than they raised in taxes.

[ColossalContrarian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MrBill', 'I') vote for the American people who have lived beyond their means for over three decades, and consistantly elected politicians that also spent more than they raised in taxes.