Government bureaucrats are not in the business of telling people the "truth". They exist for the sole purpose of convincing other people to give them money to get elected into office, to be able to get their hands on more OPM, this time forcibly. And they are willing to cheat lie and steal to reach their objectives. In Europe, specially in France and Germany this has gotten out of control due to their gargantuan welfare institutions. These countries are already broke, but their governments live under the delusion that all will be well if "only" they could raise a little more taxes. It would be catastrophic for them if people realized they have the power to throw away the leeches and if they stopped thinking like children "what would happen to me without daddy government sob sob". So the governments have to brainwash people that a) the government is their daddy b) government policies had absolutely nothing to do with the crisis, it's all capitalism's fault specially those evil hedge funds c) it's always the tax evader's fault, if they had more money they could hire more people for their regulatory agencies (right, as if that is gonna solve anything). It's all in the bureaucrats' textbooks, nothing new here. It wasnt that bad in the US but it's worsening quickly, the stereotypical bureaucrat script has been pounded over and over since all hell broke loose in the markets.... gee I wonder why. They're just covering their butts imho and seizing the opportunity to fleece the people ... and their children ... and grandchildren...
It may not be a crime in itself but writing 500 billions of naked CDO and CDS when you are understanding what you are doing is a little irresponsible to me. I'm refering to the little "hedge fund" in AIG that was led by a guy that I dont remember the name. He basically was long a free call (his bonuses) and exited when the music stoped playing. Then, how about the people in charge of lending? Who lended to people who they knew they would never be able to pay. No worries, We'll put them in the CDO low tranche, ok well. Then, how about thoses rating agencies? AAA my ass. And they had a little incentive to grade the CDO tranches AAA, dont bite the hand that feeds you. All that is not talked about. All theses people are going away. It was a free ride. And dont you dare thinking that AIG got bailed out because it owed 13 B to GS. And then the police is going to arest some rasta man grilling a J in the steet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Reinvestment_Act The Community Reinvestment Act mandated affirmitive action principiles be applied to mortgage lending. By "Affirmative Action" I do not mean in the racial sense, but from the perspective that people who have poor credit and insufficient income have a"Right" to own a home-just like the wealthy and middle class do. This has been the endorsed policy in Washington for 20 years now. Not suprisingly, this law has still not been repealed. This has been one of the great media coverups of all time.
I really think that law set off a reaction in the lending community and when they found that they could place those loans and sell off the risk and get it all off their books, which enabled them to make way more loans than they should have.... they just went for it with gusto.. the head of Countrywide took a Billion, with a B, out of the deal and retired... no harm no foul for him...
biggest tax heaven (for outsiders) is the USA (Delaware Wyoming Montana, Marshall Island (under US protection)...) the second is UK with all his crown dependencies... Someone think those 2 countries will shut down tax heavens ???? hahahaha 1. black list says all: malaysia, costa rica, uruguay, philippin hahahahaha hahahahahah hahahahahah IDIOTS
I agree with you... They're barking up the wrong tree completely, but doing so intentionally. HFs had very little to do with the current crisis. Anyone who cites LTCM should be aware that it happened many years ago. Also, pls let's not bring AIG and Cassano into this. The main reason that AIG was able to do what it did was precisely because it was a AAA-rated insurer, not a hedge fund. If it were a hedge fund, they wouldn't have been able to get away with it. The whole point is that hedge funds are explicitly hedge funds and the mkt and investors know it. However, what the public didn't know is that insurance cos, banks and public finance orgs were also hedge funds. These are the ones who should be regulated, not hedge funds. It's a stupid feat of misdirection.