The Crash of 2008

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it's all greed made more easly by loop-holes and de-regulation. Regulations simply mean rules that entities (and people) must abide by. We all live within regulations, rules, etc., so that crime usually does not pay or hopefully exist. Stop at a stop sign, etc. Regulation is not a bad word. It's such a shame that the powerful will likely not be punished because they made their millions and have retired,cached their money in off shore accounts or otherwise have made sure to have covered their tracks. It's my generation (age 47) and my kids that will suffer and eventually pay for all of this. In the meantime, too big to fail has resulted in entities being even bigger which then makes them even too bigger to fail. It doesn't make sense unless profit and influence is the goal. Sorry for this rambling. As it stands now (corporations can vote - what?) our country is sinking. Time to move to Sweden

david of OR 6:58PM October 17, 2011

I tried new things, amazon and ebay home business, tried door to door sales that promised commission that rep's only made 1/8 of really. Now I've finally accepted a job making less than half of what I used to, living with 5 other adults, one that will pay my bills, but only leaves $50 for gas/food/ everything else and I am scared shitless.

Jason of UT 10:29PM November 02, 2009

.
everybody knows that, in all countries, the main problem is the lack of investments in the REAL economy of products and new start ups
on my side, I'm trying to start up a new.space company based on my innovative ideas: http://www.NewSpaceAgency.com/
.

gaetano marano - NewSpaceAgency.com 7:47PM November 21, 2008

I had wondered what had happened to laws against usury (the practice of charging unreaonable rates for loans) and Bill of Ct. has explained how the banks engineered legislation allowing the raising of rates of interest on short-term loans. No wonder quick lenders are often located nest to the bank!

Helen Rockwell of OH 11:00AM October 22, 2008

Hang in there. Certainly rough times are ahead. Take action. "To get something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done." Consider starting your own small home based business. www.LikeSoup.com

Jim Campbell of CA 1:24PM October 21, 2008

I am learning about the wall street crash but I am still confused. Why dont they put the prices down of the things? Please tell me and tell me more information which is easier to understand

Cherry 9:15PM October 18, 2008

We sit on the sidelines in shock as the financial system unravels in front of us. Housing is falling, retirement are shrinking, and our homes are listed on sites like this; http://www.BuyMyHouseBeforeTheBankTakesIt.com . America is being fleeced and the biggest crime of the century has been committed and there is no one is being held accountable.
In 2004, Bankers came up with a plan to target subprime market. Historically, lending to the subprime market was at 9%. This data was used to create a formula and Banks projected a 6% default rate and thought it was acceptable as long as they could pass a new bankruptcy law. Washington Mutual, Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. spent $25 million in 2004 and 2005 lobbying for a legislative agenda that included changes in bankruptcy laws to protect profits.
Their investments paid off, banks finally got their chance for bankruptcy reform. Right after the 2004 presidential election bankruptcy reform was pushed by the Republican majorities in the Senate and House. The bill was introduced in its current form by Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa. The bill was supported by President Bush. Tom DeLay also championed the controversial legislation and was signed into law by President Bush 4/25/2005.
Republicans played right in to the hands of banking industry and sacrificed the average hard working American. This new bankruptcy law created a monster; predatory lenders saturated the market place and the new law bankruptcy law made it difficult and too expensive to file bankruptcy. Banks finally had the tool they needed to meet their projections.
Banks created a short term affordable product that required customers to continuously refinance. They have created the perfect repeat customer, these low teaser rates, prepayment penalties created high fees. Between 2004 to 2006, 40% of all mortgages were subprime mortgages. Remember, previously, predator lending practices only accounted for 9% of the market.
Beginning in late 2006, the U.S. subprime mortgage market started to meltdown. Subprime mortgage defaults and foreclosures increased and caused more than 100 subprime mortgage lenders to fail. Portfolios of sub-prime debts were repackaged by banks and trading houses into attractive security investment vehicles and were snapped up by banks, traders and hedge funds on the US, European and Asian markets. They sold this worthless C paper as guaranteed AAA paper and infected the banking system with a “subprime virus”.
Now the world’s money supply was now infected with subprime mortgages, backed by homes like: http://www.BuyMyHouseBeforeTheBankTakesIt.com . The sub-prime formula was wrong and now we are faced with a collapse of the world banking system. We are hitting the markets with 700 billion in tax dollars and the cost to the taxpayer is now being priced into the stock market.

Bill of CT 8:02PM October 17, 2008