The Cast of Villains in the Financial Crisis

Good article in the NYTimes outlining the full cast of characters in the financial crisis. A full cast still on the stage...
This is what I call Casino Capitalism and Crapshoot Politics.

Tea Parties = CAP

Michael Barone's article addresses the nature of the anti-political backlash of the Tea Parties. It's is the same thing I have described as American citizens' political demands for choice, autonomy, and minimal protection from risks they can't control.

The media portrayal of the Tea Party phenomenon is misleading and can only hurt those who dismiss TPs as a fringe movement in the coming elections.

Let's Get Real.

I love this excerpt from Peggy Noonan's article in the WSJ:

This week's Financial Industry Inquiry Commission hearings were so exciting, such a public service. The testimony of Charles Prince, former CEO of Citigroup, a too-big-to-fail bank that received $45 billion in bailouts and $300 billion in taxpayer guarantees, was riveting. You've seen it on the news, but if you were watching it live on C-Span, the stark power of his brutal candor was breathtaking. This, as you know, is what he said:

"Let's be real. This is what happened the past 10 years. You, for political reasons, both Republicans and Democrats, finagled the mortgage system so that people who make, like, zero dollars a year were given mortgages for $600,000 houses. You got to run around and crow about how under your watch everyone became a homeowner. You shook down the taxpayer and hoped for the best.

"Democrats did it because they thought it would make everyone Democrats: 'Look what I give you!' Republicans did it because they thought it would make everyone Republicans: 'I'm a homeowner, I've got a stake, don't raise my property taxes, get off my lawn!' And Wall Street? We went to town, baby. We bundled the mortgages and sold them to fools, or we held them, called them assets, and made believe everyone would pay their mortgage. As if we cared. We invented financial instruments so complicated no one, even the people who sold them, understood what they were.

"You're finaglers and we're finaglers. I play for dollars, you play for votes. In our own ways we're all thieves. We would be called desperadoes if we weren't so boring, so utterly banal in our soft-jawed, full-jowled selfishness. If there were any justice, we'd be forced to duel, with the peasants of America holding our cloaks. Only we'd both make sure we missed, wouldn't we?"
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OK, Charles Prince didn't say that. Just wanted to get your blood going. Mr. Prince would never say something so dramatic and intemperate. I made it up. It wasn't on the news because it didn't happen.

It would be kind of a breath of fresh air though, wouldn't it?

Alan Greenspan on the Financial Collapse

Have to agree. Greenie gets it only half right. Bubbles thrive on leveraged credit. The Fed can easily dampen excess leverage and also send the right signals to the shadow banking system to reduce moral hazard. We didn't get the "Greenspan Put" from the Easter Bunny.

Alan Greenspan on the Financial Collapse

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