A stupid question for our times...

In the face of all the abuses and bad decisions that have plagued our lives due to some of these CEO's and other corporate leaders, there's one question that hasn't been asked...and should be. Why aren't these idiots at the helm of many of these bad bet outfits out of jobs, standing in lines to get a chance at another job, doing without like the folks they ripped off with their horrid advice?

It seems if you have enough chutzpah to spit on the hand that feeds you that you can get away with, literally, murder. Think I'm kidding? How many people, families, etc have you seen in the news lately that take their lives over all their losses and often times innocent others as well?

I say we ought not to give a dime until those responsible are O-U-T of control of anything and everything to do with their former jobs/positions/etc. No bonuses, no severance pay...nothing but the door. Period!

Sandi Bowman

Well, I guess I was on the mark with that comment albeit a bit late posting it due to being in hospital.

Seems that I wasn't the only one wondering why people who do abysmal jobs get bonuses...and keep their jobs. Aren't bonuses supposed to be rewards for optimal performance?

Where I can, I'm eliminating doing business with companies that pull the kind of B.S. some of these outfits have. Maybe we should hit them where it'll hurt the most, folks. Anyone else willing to try?

Sandi Bowman

Sandi,

I agree with you ... but there's more to the story than that.

For instance: back in 1992, the U.S. government began requiring mortgage lenders to make about 40% of their loans to low-income applicants. And that percentage has increased to where it is now over 50%.

In other words, the federal government mandates that mortgage lenders like AIG lend more than half their mortgage loan dollars to the individuals who are most likely to not be able to repay the loans. A lot of people predicted a bad result from that policy.

Richard Dennis

Well, we will have to wait until November of 2010 here in the U.S. to start dumping some of the worst lot - Congress!

Kevin

Originally Posted by Richard Dennis

For instance: back in 1992, the U.S. government began requiring mortgage lenders to make about 40% of their loans to low-income applicants. And that percentage has increased to where it is now over 50%.

In other words, the federal government mandates that mortgage lenders like AIG lend more than half their mortgage loan dollars to the individuals who are most likely to not be able to repay the loans. A lot of people predicted a bad result from that policy.

Richard Dennis

Guess who started this "destruction of our economy" by FORCING lenders, via his Attorney General, to begin accepting mortgage loans from people who did NOT qualify for a Home Loan?

Right....The "Marxist Socialist", Billy Boy Clinton. He told Janet Reno (His AG) to "threaten to sue" any Lender that does NOT OK loans to "SubPrime" people.

Thus...some "House Flippers" were able to get loans for Illegals who had just crossed the border a month prior.

One mortgage co in Michigan had 317 houses on their books (when the bubble burst) ...where the lendees were Illegals.

One "House Flipper" in Caleeefornyaaa got loans for 42 Illegals....with an average loan of $250,000....and most of these people did NOT even have a job or any source of income. And the people who OKAYED these loans, that did not have a chance of being repaid, got HUGE BONUSES for "bringing in the Paper".

And....in 2006, 2 Dems, Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd were PUT IN CHARGE of Congressional Finance Committees. These 2 guys KNEW what was going on and allowed it to continue. These same 2 guys are STILL IN CHARGE of the Finance Committees, supposedly "trying to fix it".

THESE ARE THE SAME 2 JERKS WHO ALLOWED THESE LENDING PRACTICES TO CONTINUE!!!

Yup....Ole Barney's on the tube everday, cackling away on how he and our new prez are "fixing" things. What a joke!

What these "socialists" are doing is "guaranteeing" their continuation of POWER and CONTROL of our country by printing TRILLIONS of pieces of paper (they're green and called Dollar Bills and used to be worth one dollar) and giving them to the MISS-Managed companies....so they can take trips to fancy resorts and reward themselves.

Yup....these tactics will cause rampant INFLATION. Then, when a can of beans is $20, gas is $40/gal and "da people" will starve UNLESS da Gummit "helps them"....making "da people" totally dependent on "da Gummit" for EVERYTHING....that's when "da people" lose their Freedoms.

Ole Barney and his cronies will still be in power and control....doleing out a few sheckels to the "masses"....the same way the "Jessey Jacksons" and "Al Sharptons" have "Controlled" the "people of color". If the "people of color" were to stop and think for a second....they'd realize that IF they were to have an "better" life with all the goodies "Jackson & Sharpton, etal" have been promising....that..."Jackson & Sharpton, etal" would be out of a job!

When I used to help out at the local "food pantry"....the "A thru L's" would come for their FREE Box of food on Tuesdays and the "M thru Z's" came in on Weds.

The lines at this same "Food Pantry" have increased lately. And as more and more people become more dependent on "da Gummit"....the lines will keep getting longer UNTIL.....one day YOU, who are reading this, will be FORCED to "stand in line for your Food Handout" from "da Gummit"!

When that day comes....our country is gone.

And....you "think" that all YOU, who are reading this, has to do is, "Vote these Clowns out of office"!

I got news fer ya....it will be TOO LATE!

The Marxist Socialists now control the Presidency, BOTH Houses of Congress and they are now feverishly working on the Justice Dept....so that in a few months....THEY....will be in control oF ALL 3.

Our founding fathers created 3 sections; Prez, Congress & Justice so that one party would NOT be in control....each would be a check on the other. When ALL 3 are controlled by ONE "mindset"...guess what happens? They can DICTATE!

Sure was a wonder, these last few years, to watch the "Left-Wing Media" sway "da people". They got the republicans to put in a weak candidate so Bama could sweep in. And...their "class-envy" program, creating Hate of the Upper-Class (the people who pay the salaries) by the Lower-Class..... has "kicked in" to the extent that this last weekend....some "lemmings" were attacking those who got contractual bonuses from AIG.

Goes to show how easy the Left can sway "lemmings".

Don Alm...."radical Right-Winger and PROUD of it"
(Got to get busy making more shells fer my pieces and putting in the Victory Garden in the backyard and gathering more wood fer the stoves. I'm gonna try and be one of the last to "stand-in-line" fer my Gummit Handout)

[Ankesh]

Have you guys seen this talk by Dan Ariely on TED?
Why we cheat:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/d...oral_code.html

Gives good insights into what caused the subprime crisis.

Thanks Ankesh.

That's a cool site too -- I joined up.

About that talk on cheating... To those of us who have followed the subprime mess closely, the talk on ted doesn't really relate, because the talk does not take into account that the banks were FORCED (by Wash DC) to make those risky loans. So it was cheating that was forced. In esssence, the banks were forced to break their own rules. Unless, the cheating you're talking about is the home BUYERS, who 'cheated' by taking out loans using FALSE personal info (lying on the application), or just getting loans they KNEW they couldn't pay back.

-- TW

An ancient tale goes like this....

"A bird meets a fisherman who is carrying a can of worms, and the bird asks the fisherman if he could have a worm.

Sure, says the firsherman, All I ask in return is one of your feathers.

A feather for a worm seems reasonable to the bird. so the exchange is made.

The next day the bird is hungry again. He weighs the energy and inconvenience of searching for food against the expediency of trading with the fisherman, and decides in favor of expediency.

After a few days, the bird has traded off so many feathers that he can't fly. So, he continues to make his daily trip to the fisherman for food, until he is quite naked.

At this point, the fisherman picks up the well-nourished, thoroughly plucked bird and cooks him for supper."

Perhaps the average American who has so happily traded "freedom feathers" for a mess of pottage will realize, before it's too late, that he is a plucked bird.

Don Alm.....preferring to get my own food

Hi Don,

Went to my local Wal * Mart this evening. One of the items I was planning on purchasing was a can of regular Pringles.

To my surprise or shock the same size can of Pringles I purchased last week for $1.00 are now on the shelves at a price of $1.50 per can.

As you and others have posted...we're going to get out the old tiller, dig up the back yard, and plant some spuds.

And, maybe a bean or two.

My Best 2 U,

LindaC

[Ankesh]

Originally Posted by -TW

Thanks Ankesh.
About that talk on cheating... To those of us who have followed the subprime mess closely, the talk on ted doesn't really relate, because the talk does not take into account that the banks were FORCED (by Wash DC) to make those risky loans. So it was cheating that was forced. In esssence, the banks were forced to break their own rules. Unless, the cheating you're talking about is the home BUYERS, who 'cheated' by taking out loans using FALSE personal info (lying on the application), or just getting loans they KNEW they couldn't pay back.

Thanks TW.

I think you should read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_mortgage_crisis

Government did reward the banks that gave away subprime loans. But the government didn't force any bank to deal with the mortgage bond market.

And basically - if banks hadn't played in the derivative market and leveraged themselves by 35-45 times - we wouldn't have seen such a widespread crisis. (All we would have seen is banks facing a small loss.) Leveraging themselves 35 times their worth meant if one loan defaulted - the effect would be equal to 35 loans defaulting.

So how and why did banks leverage themselves 35-45 times their worth?

See the video again keeping that question in mind.

Dan explains that 3 things lead to cheating (and that everyone cheats):
1. morality,
2. distance from reality,
3. and social environment

Point # 2 and # 3 played a big big role in the subprime crisis. Bonds and derivatives distanced the bankers from the real mortgage defaults. And the social environment was: everyone next to them was doing it.

Sandi's point of giving them bonuses or not would not have affected the crisis not happening one bit.