10/01/2008

Where are the thieves?

Cheap loans were bundled as triple A financial products for sale. Not unlike tainted milk. Rating agencies collaborated to give them the green lights. Govt regulators cheered them on or went to sleep. And the public were conned to part with their billions and trillions. And the thieves got rich, outrageously rich. Why is there no question being asked now, and why is it that no one is guilty for creating such a colossal financial mess? The anger in the main streets of America is understandable. The second point is equitable compensation. The super talents must be paid their worth in salary, bonuses, perks, stock options and golden parachutes. They deserved them more when they make millions and billions for the organisations. Pay must be performance linked. These sound so familiar and logical. Make billions paid millions. What happens if lose billions? Oh, sorry, just a bad decision. Give me my golden parachute. Bye. This is about the worst case scenario for corporate failures, the bankruptcy of mega institutions, the lost of billions and trillions of dollars and the lost of jobs for all the employees, not forgetting the destruction of a financial system. Where are the responsibility and accountability? The fat cats wanted to be paid in gold when they performed. But if they failed to perform, all they lose is the job. Is this an equitable formula? Gambling on billions of other people's money, risking other people's money, with only huge gains when the bet is right and nothing to lose when they lose? I sure love to be in such positions. Is it time to revisit such a sure win formula for success?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Redbean;

greed is the Culprit lah not the Man, but I think there are no man with no greed.

Too simple to confuse You or anyone else lah, I think.

patriot

Anonymous said...

this is a awesome satire on the subprime mess:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=mzJmTCYmo9g

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

The finger of blame can only be justly pointed at the govt and their CRA policy -- doomed to failure from the beginning.
Community Reinvestment Act

Excerpted from above:
Congressman Ron Paul has partially attributed the ongoing subprime mortgage crisis to legislation such as the Community Reinvestment Act. A Wall Street Journal editorial argued that the law compelled banks to make loans to poor borrowers who often could not repay them and that this contributed in part to the subprime crisis.

Actually everything was going alright until the borrowers started defaulting. By that time, the bundled securities were already sold as 'good' mortgage backed securities, quite honestly because mortgagees were making their repayments with very little rate of default.

The Foundation For Economic Education have audio podcasts which goes in depth:

The Subprime Lending Crisis
Part 1
Part 2

Anonymous said...

The thieves are now trying very hard to be the heroes to save the financial world.

Anonymous said...

when there are no transparency in organisations + when figures and facts are hidden from public's knowledge .. it is highly likely the public will never get to know the truth of the matters. HOW MUCH had been lost?

They say we invest $100 billion. Morgan Stanley said more like $300 billions. The difference insults your intelligence.

There are no need to clarify either. Best to leave it as a double talk. Strange..

Anonymous said...

If they do not have to account for the reserves, what can we do about it?. Believe, just believe what they say. But do not fret, because we have the President making sure nothing goes missing. The left hand will make sure the right hand does nothing wrong. It is a fail safe system of checks and balances lah. Singaporeans can sleep peacefully, knowing our reserves are in good hands, both hands I mean.