I never really understood subprime loans or hedge funds - much less ISDAs and CDOs - so didn't "get" just how soul-less was the greed behind the global financial crisis of 2007/8 that began here, in America. And then there was The Big Short, which I watched last night. Horrified by lying, self-serving, and deeply corrupt politicians? Pfffttt! Those guys have absolutely NOTHING on the mild-mannered "investment guru" who will smilingly provide you with a mortgage/loan/investment portfolio. How many of those despicable bastards went to jail for the misery of foreclosed homes/disappeared pensions/lost jobs/impoverished lives caused by their greed? Exactly ONE - a single Credit Suisse executive.
The American taxpayer - who'd already paid once for Wall Street's greed - bailed out the the likes of Wells Fargo ($25 billion), J. P. Morgan Chase ($25 billion), Citigroup ($25 billion), Bank of America ($15 billion), Goldman Sachs ($10 billion), Morgan Stanley ($10 billion), US Bankcorp ($6.6 billion), Regions Financial Corp ($3.5 billion), SunTrust Banks ($3.5 billion), Bank of New York Mellon Corp ($3 billion), Key Corp ($2.5 billion), Comerica Inc ($2.3 billion) with even more hard-earned money, which they happily paid to themselves in huge bonuses for having financially ruined so many!
And guess what? The collateralized debt obligation (CDO) was such a tasty morsel to such demons that it has resurfaced - now they're calling it the "bespoke tranche opportunity". Yes, ladies and gentlemen, they erected a tomb stone labeled "CDO" over an empty coffin, reanimating the corpse to use against us yet again!
The causers of such financial tragedy learned nothing from their misdeeds because America's middle class PAID THEM for the fraud they perpetrated against our society. Please understand that the bailout list above is just those whom the Treasury Department propped up with more than a billion dollars each! You can find the full list of to whom we paid out $200 billion here: click on these words for the bailout list
I have never before been so proud to say that my money is in a credit union! And please ... PLEASE ... do not preach to me again that we as a nation can't afford to help the homeless, decrease poverty, improve schools, repair our infrastructure, or offer sanctuary to refugees fleeing war-torn provinces because apparently we CAN afford to pay $200 billion to unrepentant criminals earning in excess of six figures a year so their companies don't suffer the consequences of their actions. Of course, their clients suffered but, hey, that's how corporate greed works.
Watch the movie. Read the book by Michael Lewis. And by all means factcheck it all because it's entirely possible I left out an equally damning point or two.
