Who's Who Financial Crisis
Susan Elaine Wheeler
March 24, 2009
We need credit, employment and housing. We need the people that were responsible for this downturn in our economy, to own up to their reckless arrogance and greed. At least half of the people in Congress donīt get it, when their contempt is louder than their solutions.
Transparency has been missing in our government and business leaders have sidetracked morals and ethics. So many previous decisions have been made that hurt our countryīs foundation and the worldīs economy. All those toxic debts are coming from our country. Where did the money go?
Understanding why weīre in this economic dark time, promotes clarity as we determine the most effective solutions. Senator Judd Gregg wants to tell us that every thingīs wrong with the stimulus package but has nothing to provide in the way of solutions. Appearing on the Sunday morning, State of the Union show he said, "We donīt want to pass onto our children an economy thatīs not affordable."
Sorry Judd, but that has already happened. We donīt balance our budget and to think that China holds over 2 trillion dollars of Americaīs debt is insane. The plane that Judd used in his spending plan example thatīs about to run out of gas, has already crashed, last September. Every business and every taxpayer has lost anywhere between 30 and 60 percent of their net value, a significant drop in home values, retirement funds and 401kīs.
Tim Geithnerīs plan to stimulate investments in "toxic paper" by the private sector with low cost loans provided by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Reserve, will help the banks balance their portfolios. In one example given, the purchase of a batch of bad mortgage loans would see the private investor put up 6 percent of the cost with the rest provided by the government, with the FDIC covering 84 percent of the cost with a loan and the remaining 6 percent coming from the $700 billion bailout program. Sounds reasonable as long as weīre helping the families get back into these homes at reduced rates.
So who bankrupted our countryīs morals and ethics? Time in partnership with CNN has determined who they think are responsible for this financial crisis. Take a look.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1877351_1877350,00.html
These twelve certainly had the most impact.
Phil Gramm and the deregulation of the banking industry has to be the number one foul with the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which had separated commercial banks from Wall Street. The one-two punch includes the key provision he inserted into the 2000 Commodity Futures Modernization Act that exempts over-the-counter derivatives like credit-default swaps from regulation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Credit-default swaps took down AIG, which has cost the U.S. $150 billion so far. Makes you wonder, who was the puppeteer?
Chris Cox, the ex-SEC who let Madoff escalate with lack of enforcement.
Bernie Madoff would cause $50 billion in losses directly at our society, retirees and nonprofits. Madoff pulled off the biggest financial fraud in history right under the noses of the SEC. Shana Madoff, the compliance legal counsel at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, is Bernieīs niece who is married to an SEC compliance officer, Eric Swanson.
Dick Fuld, CEO who steered Lehmanīs into the business of subprime mortgages. The firm took all those loans, turned them into bonds and passed them on to investors worth billions of dollars of what is now toxic debt.
Jimmy Cayne, bet Bear Stearnīs with risky home loans. Two of its highly leveraged hedge funds collapsed in mid-2007. Bear held nearly $40 billion in mortgage bonds that were essentially worthless.
Joe Cassano invents the CDS, credit-default swaps that are insurance contracts that bet on whether a company would pay its debt. Who had odds on the meltdown that followed?
Stan O'Neal, CEO Merrill Lynch, guided the firm into the lucrative game of creating collateralized debt obligations, CDOīs, which were largely made of subprime mortgage bonds.
Kathleen Corbet ran the largest ratings agency, Standard & Poorīs, which gave AAA seals of approval on large portions of risky loans. Did the rating agencies help lure investors into loading on collateralized debt obligations, CDOs that are now un-sellable?
Lew Ranieri, Salomin trader in home loans that were packaged by Wall Street firms and sold to institutional investors. The mortgage-bond business inflated Wall Street's bottom line and the firms placed even bigger bets on these securities. When subprime borrowers started missing payments, the mortgage market stalled and bond prices collapsed. Investment banks, overexposed to toxic assets, closed their doors and investors lost fortunes.
Angelo Mozilo co-founded Countrywide and IndyMac Bank. Bank of American bailed out Countrywide and is spending an additional $8.7 billion to settle predatory lending charges filed by 11 state attorney generals.
John Devaney, hedge-fund manager knew the loans he was funding were bad for consumers. In early 2007, talking about option ARM mortgages, he told Money, "The consumer has to be an idiot to take on one of those loans, but it has been one of our best-performing investments." Has compassion for humanity been totally lost?
Hank Paulson left Goldman Sachs to become Treasury Secretary in 2006 and the big bailout bill he pushed through Congress has been an ineffective so far. Who was he really working for? I donīt think it was the American taxpayer.
A lot of these decisions were made without regard to long-term effects, only what was in it for them and how much they could profit. The market values are starting to level out, but we need to get back to how we play the game, because winning by cheating is a waste of time and your 401k. Expressing truth and dealing honestly is the most significant compliment we can show each other daily. When integrity is missing our reality becomes bankrupt.
If our country is forgiving trillions in toxic debts to banks where value was over inflated and the same piece of paper was sold over and over again, donīt you think the American taxpayer needs their toxic credit card debts forgiven also to lift them up before personal bankruptcy breaks them down?
Susan Elaine Wheeler
(C)2009 Creative-Perspective-Solutions
Transparency has been missing in our government and business leaders have sidetracked morals and ethics. So many previous decisions have been made that hurt our countryīs foundation and the worldīs economy. All those toxic debts are coming from our country. Where did the money go?
Understanding why weīre in this economic dark time, promotes clarity as we determine the most effective solutions. Senator Judd Gregg wants to tell us that every thingīs wrong with the stimulus package but has nothing to provide in the way of solutions. Appearing on the Sunday morning, State of the Union show he said, "We donīt want to pass onto our children an economy thatīs not affordable."
Sorry Judd, but that has already happened. We donīt balance our budget and to think that China holds over 2 trillion dollars of Americaīs debt is insane. The plane that Judd used in his spending plan example thatīs about to run out of gas, has already crashed, last September. Every business and every taxpayer has lost anywhere between 30 and 60 percent of their net value, a significant drop in home values, retirement funds and 401kīs.
Tim Geithnerīs plan to stimulate investments in "toxic paper" by the private sector with low cost loans provided by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Reserve, will help the banks balance their portfolios. In one example given, the purchase of a batch of bad mortgage loans would see the private investor put up 6 percent of the cost with the rest provided by the government, with the FDIC covering 84 percent of the cost with a loan and the remaining 6 percent coming from the $700 billion bailout program. Sounds reasonable as long as weīre helping the families get back into these homes at reduced rates.
So who bankrupted our countryīs morals and ethics? Time in partnership with CNN has determined who they think are responsible for this financial crisis. Take a look.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1877351_1877350,00.html
These twelve certainly had the most impact.
Phil Gramm and the deregulation of the banking industry has to be the number one foul with the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which had separated commercial banks from Wall Street. The one-two punch includes the key provision he inserted into the 2000 Commodity Futures Modernization Act that exempts over-the-counter derivatives like credit-default swaps from regulation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Credit-default swaps took down AIG, which has cost the U.S. $150 billion so far. Makes you wonder, who was the puppeteer?
Chris Cox, the ex-SEC who let Madoff escalate with lack of enforcement.
Bernie Madoff would cause $50 billion in losses directly at our society, retirees and nonprofits. Madoff pulled off the biggest financial fraud in history right under the noses of the SEC. Shana Madoff, the compliance legal counsel at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, is Bernieīs niece who is married to an SEC compliance officer, Eric Swanson.
Dick Fuld, CEO who steered Lehmanīs into the business of subprime mortgages. The firm took all those loans, turned them into bonds and passed them on to investors worth billions of dollars of what is now toxic debt.
Jimmy Cayne, bet Bear Stearnīs with risky home loans. Two of its highly leveraged hedge funds collapsed in mid-2007. Bear held nearly $40 billion in mortgage bonds that were essentially worthless.
Joe Cassano invents the CDS, credit-default swaps that are insurance contracts that bet on whether a company would pay its debt. Who had odds on the meltdown that followed?
Stan O'Neal, CEO Merrill Lynch, guided the firm into the lucrative game of creating collateralized debt obligations, CDOīs, which were largely made of subprime mortgage bonds.
Kathleen Corbet ran the largest ratings agency, Standard & Poorīs, which gave AAA seals of approval on large portions of risky loans. Did the rating agencies help lure investors into loading on collateralized debt obligations, CDOs that are now un-sellable?
Lew Ranieri, Salomin trader in home loans that were packaged by Wall Street firms and sold to institutional investors. The mortgage-bond business inflated Wall Street's bottom line and the firms placed even bigger bets on these securities. When subprime borrowers started missing payments, the mortgage market stalled and bond prices collapsed. Investment banks, overexposed to toxic assets, closed their doors and investors lost fortunes.
Angelo Mozilo co-founded Countrywide and IndyMac Bank. Bank of American bailed out Countrywide and is spending an additional $8.7 billion to settle predatory lending charges filed by 11 state attorney generals.
John Devaney, hedge-fund manager knew the loans he was funding were bad for consumers. In early 2007, talking about option ARM mortgages, he told Money, "The consumer has to be an idiot to take on one of those loans, but it has been one of our best-performing investments." Has compassion for humanity been totally lost?
Hank Paulson left Goldman Sachs to become Treasury Secretary in 2006 and the big bailout bill he pushed through Congress has been an ineffective so far. Who was he really working for? I donīt think it was the American taxpayer.
A lot of these decisions were made without regard to long-term effects, only what was in it for them and how much they could profit. The market values are starting to level out, but we need to get back to how we play the game, because winning by cheating is a waste of time and your 401k. Expressing truth and dealing honestly is the most significant compliment we can show each other daily. When integrity is missing our reality becomes bankrupt.
If our country is forgiving trillions in toxic debts to banks where value was over inflated and the same piece of paper was sold over and over again, donīt you think the American taxpayer needs their toxic credit card debts forgiven also to lift them up before personal bankruptcy breaks them down?
Susan Elaine Wheeler
(C)2009 Creative-Perspective-Solutions