The Secret Goldman Sachs Tapes (The Ray Rice Video of the Financial Sector

[OneShotFOGE]

The Secret Goldman Sachs Tapes - Bloomberg View

This might be the most important thing you read all week.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

. . . but the gist is this: The Fed failed to regulate the banks because it did not encourage its employees to ask questions, to speak their minds or to point out problems.

Asking questions? Is that allowed?

What kind of rude person would ask questions?

 

[T.Lex]

Socrates?

 

[OneShotFOGE]

This part is pretty damning: "for instance, in one meeting a Goldman employee expressed the view that "once clients are wealthy enough certain consumer laws don't apply to them." After that meeting, Segarra turned to a fellow Fed regulator and said how surprised she was by that statement -- to which the regulator replied, "You didn't hear that.""

 

[poptab]

Frankly I'm surprised that anyone is surprised.

 

[Lucas156]

More proof out government is owned and ran by corporations not the people. Corruption is what this is-nothing less.

 

[HeadlessRoland]

Rather than lament the tactics certain people utilize to end-run around the law, we should lament how onerous the law has become, wielded by corrupt tyrants and moralesque busybodies like a medieval mace to punish foes and reward friends.

 

[HoughMade]

More proof out government is owned and ran by corporations not the people. Corruption is what this is-nothing less.

Because the "people" would never take out a mortgage that was completely unrealistic given the "people's" income? There's plenty of blame to go around here, government policies encouraging debt, financial industry products that ignored risk and pushed leveraging to unhealthy levels, and yes, individual consumers who got so enamored with granite countertops that they decided "why shouldn't I have a $300,000 house on a $50,000/year income?...I DESERVE IT. " No one was forced to overextend at gunpoint. Ultimately, consumers and corporations alike, walked hand in hand into this one.

 

[Birds Away]

Since neither party nor big media wants this to be discussed then it is a non-issue.

 

[Slawburger]

I bought a house that I could afford and worked a plan to actually payoff the mortgage. I was very perturbed when my tax money was spent to bail-out people that bought houses neither they nor I could afford, financial institutions that made loans knowing the mortgagee could never pay it off and the government that encouraged the bad loans. What was the point in me taking out a reasonable loan and living in a house I could afford? The people that were responsible and realistic were punished financially.

I feel bad for the people who bought reasonable homes but then suffered from collateral damage when the job market dried up, home prices dropped and retirement accounts lost massive value. I don't feel sorry for the people that bought houses they could never afford and were just betting on housing prices going up forever to provide their equity.