Watch Frontline Tonight for a good explanation...

[Buffacuse]

...of how the economy tanked. Just heard a preview...basically argues that the Lehman Bros collapse was the trigger and that Paulson is now anguished by his decision to let them go under.

[peacock2121]

Sean Hannity says this is Obama's economy now.

Made me laugh.

[MarleysGh0st]

I watched the show, but I was nodding off by the end of it.

I get the impression that nothing the Fed could do last September could have averted this crisis. By that time, all the banks were so highly leveraged and hiding so many toxic assets in their balance sheets that the house of cards had to tumble. If, as they said, the banking system operates on trust, those in the system have to be trustworthy.

[ToLiveIsToFly]

Huh. Haven't seen this yet (bowling night). But apparently the producer is the husband of a co-worker and friend of mine.

[Jeemie]

House of Cards on CNBC was also very good- it repeats again on March 2 (either 8 PM or midnight Eastern- I can't remember at the moment).

Traces the whole mess from its origins....and shows how everyone in the food chain...borrowers, lenders, Wall Street, investors, and government...each have equal share in culpability for it.

Essentially, we all partied hard, drank all the booze, ate all the food, and wrecked the ballroom.

Now, we're hung over, and the hotel manager has just handed us the bill.

[BigDrawMan]

I wonder if the Decade of Fraud will bring any changes to our culture.

[Jeemie]

I wonder if the Decade of Fraud will bring any changes to our culture.

Not if the politicians keep trying to pretend we can get back to our previous glory days without any pain.

Or solve a debt-fueled problem with more debt.

PS it was 30 Years of Bipartisan Fraud, not merely a decade.

[BigDrawMan]

I wonder if the Decade of Fraud will bring any changes to our culture.

Not if the politicians keep trying to pretend we can get back to our previous glory days without any pain.

Or solve a debt-fueled problem with more debt.

PS it was 30 Years of Bipartisan Fraud, not merely a decade.

it wasnt politicians

it was the public perpetrating the fraud

the pressure to meet the next quarter numbers and/or personal greed makes people do some amazing things

not much the government can do about that

perhaps less trust will occur

[gsabc]

perhaps less trust will occur

"Trust, but verify."

Hard to do when you're busy deregulating and either underfunding the verifiers, giving them no teeth, or hiring/appointing incompetents who have no idea what they're doing.

[Jeemie]

I wonder if the Decade of Fraud will bring any changes to our culture.

Not if the politicians keep trying to pretend we can get back to our previous glory days without any pain.

Or solve a debt-fueled problem with more debt.

PS it was 30 Years of Bipartisan Fraud, not merely a decade.

it wasnt politicians

it was the public perpetrating the fraud

the pressure to meet the next quarter numbers and/or personal greed makes people do some amazing things

not much the government can do about that

perhaps less trust will occur

GSABC put it best...those in government whose job it was to regulate, didn't (I'm a conservative, but the Invisible Hand is a bunch of crap- it doesn't exist).

But you're right- it was all of us- of all political persuasions and at every income level- deciding we could live a life of having things without paying for them.

[Jeemie]

perhaps less trust will occur

"Trust, but verify."

Hard to do when you're busy deregulating and either underfunding the verifiers, giving them no teeth, or hiring/appointing incompetents who have no idea what they're doing.

Well, that is true.

But decades of developing financial instruments that were derivatives of derivatives of derivatives of income streams made it quite difficult for even the brightest to figure out whether the income streams were legitimate or not.

[gsabc]

perhaps less trust will occur

"Trust, but verify."

Hard to do when you're busy deregulating and either underfunding the verifiers, giving them no teeth, or hiring/appointing incompetents who have no idea what they're doing.

Well, that is true.

But decades of developing financial instruments that were derivatives of derivatives of derivatives of income streams made it quite difficult for even the brightest to figure out whether the income streams were legitimate or not.

Exactly my point. Congress should show some backbone and tell the financial lobbyists (both Wall Street and the banking industry) that anything their bosses buy and sell, and especially any new form of financial instrument, will be examined and approved or disapproved depending on its stability and backing. Insurance companies do this all the time with items they're asked to insure. If there's federal insurance dollars, AKA taxpayer money, backing any of it, the feds should have the ability to decide if it's insurable or a house of cards. They've let the foxes guard the henhouse for far too long.