this slideshow sums it up http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2008/10/15/GA2008101502860.html
Yes, I agree, but they left out one MAJOR part of it... WHY the banks were giving these loans. Many think it was pure greed, but others think these guys aren't stupid enough to take such risks and it was actually the government pushing to get more lower income people and minorities into home ownership: http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/hotproperty/archives/2008/02/clintons_drive.html Clinton and Bush were both pushing this. This is a perfect example of the government stepping in trying to do the right thing and f-ing everyone. It's amazing to me people want the government to grow and have more control and even trust the government to get us out of it through spending more.
Banks are getting bankrupt these days and now the number is 99. One more and it will hit the century mark already. I think, the economy is getting worse.
The simplistic and twisted "economics" from the Radical Right turned the economy down. This isn't the only time this has occurred recently. It caused the recession of the early 1990's. You simply cannot allow the financial/real estate industry to operate unhindered and without regulation. It caused the recession of the 1990's. It caused this recession. Financial institutions have a two fold responsibility. As an underpinning to the economy and the flow of capital they can't be allowed to "gush" unending funds into real estate in a way that creates a financial bubble. Due to accounting rules and investment analyses trends that optimize short term profits but don't evaluate risk, the flows of money distort economies in horrible ways. I love the markets. I made excellent money in markets. I benefitted from working and understanding them. On the macro scale, they simply have to be overseen.
All of which is a direct result of the simplistic and twisted "economics" from the Liberal Left. The lack of regulation? FDR- JEF - CRA - WJC - FANFRED... All acronyms of deceit, defiance, and defuncto economics. You've got to go a little further back than the 90's to fully realize what ushered in the current problems.
Dang, I have to agree with you again. Most of this stuff can be traced back to 1981-1989. It kind of fell by the wayside, but you might be intrigued by the article referrenced in this post Mia. Pretty clearly illustrates what happens in the abscence of meaningful regulations. Regulations are not inherently evil. The problem is that it is often the wrong things being regulated. Concentrated wealth and power have a way of accomplishing that...
What was regulated was the flow of wealth or lack there of from those that did to those that did not. Forcing lending on those that did not, could not or would not even have a means to pay it back. You've got to go a lot further back....
What was deregulated was the ability to make misleading loans to unqualified borrowers at sometimes lewd interest rates bordering on usury. Yeah, probably to about 1920... It should not come as a shock that the two gretest economic downturns of the past century were precipitated by periods of unregulated laissez faire capitalism. Did you read the finance article I referenced. Stretch that mind of yours a bit. The Banking and Finance sector are the puppetmasters. Conservatie/Liberal labels are a bone that they throw out, hoping that people like you and I will chase and fight over it.
As usual, the Washington Post focuses on the symptoms instead of the root cause of the the problem. The mess we are in today technically started in 1914 with the creation of the Fed, and the depression of today, as well as the one of the 1930s, are basically symptoms of the same primary problem. Because the Washington Post is Illuminist controlled, I didn't think their slide was actually going to show the real cause of the problem, and I was right. Without mentioning the Fiat money system, the corruption of the Fed, and our failure to use gold and silver as money, this slide barely scratches the surface. The guys who created that slide don't have the balls to talk about the root cause of the problem, which is the Fed and fractional reserve banking. As long as both the Feds and all the central banks of the world can print money out of thin air, this nation and all other nations like it will continue to suffer. It was just on the news that 1/6 Americans are now in poverty. I was going to post a thread on the subject but I've posted so many like this over the last three years that it is starting to become nauseating. Everything I've predicted over the last few years has come true, I'm just glad I've made the preparations so I can survive and prosper during a time when millions of people won't. It pays to read and know whats "really" going on in the world.
Due to the recession, there are fewer opportunities for bloggers to write online for extra income today. The payment for bloggers' post has been greatly reduced by the advertisers. But there are many signs of recovery these days. Let's looking forward to the rise in post payment soon.