And some DUers wonder why we criticize some of Obama's policies and actions.
Talks good talk. Doesn't follow through. Unwilling to make the sacrifices needed to do what is right and fair.
It isn't about the prison time. It's about getting new management, honest people, on Wall Street.
There is no way that bankers and brokers failed to notice that housing prices were rising at astronomically higher rates than wages. And that discrepancy, that one right there, is what told any intelligent person that the housing market was a huge bubble waiting to burst.
You didn't need more than the power of observation and your feet on solid ground -- an awareness of reality -- to know that the bubble would burst.
The only explanation for the bubble and the resulting recession is that bankers and brokers saw it coming, thought they would win the game of chicken by pulling out first, and knowingly allowed it to happen. As they were playing the game, the bankers and brokers enjoyed the feeling of being on a roller coaster -- the thrill of playing against the clock for big stakes.
Reckless gamblers.
And, what is more, they lied. They lied. They covered up. Because they had the numbers. It's easy to look at wage scales and then at housing prices. My neighbor and I did it as we watched houses for which we had paid modest sums sold by our neighbors for far more. The bankers and brokers and, yes, the appraisers, had to know that the market was a bubble, that a crash was imminent.
They played for big stakes, and then when it was over, they came running to the taxpayers to make them whole. Big, rich bankers begging from the poor and middle class. And then taking big bonuses.
What's more. A lot of the investors and bankers and brokers DON'T PAY A FAIR SHARE OF THE TAXES BECAUSE OF THE CARRIED INTEREST DEDUCTION. Should be ashamed of themselves.
Worse yet, even though many of them supported Obama, they now support the austerity program -- for everyone but themselves.
What a bunch of crooks. Pure and simple -- crooks.
They may claim they didn't know everything would crash. But they should have known. Any claim that they did not know just demonstrates better than anything their incompetence which makes them unsuited to run banks or brokerages.
If, as the Justice Department claims, the US government needs to update its laws to make this kind of fraud punishable, it should do so as soon as possible. It should be criminal to gamble so recklessly and then claim compensation for the losses from the taxpayers. Just hideous. And it will happen again because too few bankers, too few brokers have lost their jobs for this scam.
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