A book has documented what many observers and I have been saying for the past several years, to overcome the drivel on the perceived story behind the financial meltdown of 2008, that the conventional media, blamed on “greedy” bankers.
Ironically, those who were chiefly responsible for the financial meltdown, were able to further legislate their failed regulation into the even more questionable, flawed Dodd-Frank Act, naming the bill after two of the legislative actors responsible for the original debacle.
Surprisingly, the book is from a long-time New York Times reporter, Gretchen Morgenson, and the financial analyst, Joshua Rosner, and is titled "Reckless Endangerment." The Times represents the media friendly to the sentiment that has permeated past thinking on the subject.
Morgenson and Rosner have offered critiques of all the participants in the financial mess; the rating agencies, investment bankers, real estate brokers, etc.
However, with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and to their political benefactors and organizations, the incentives were always there for more mortgage production, more insider profits, and more party campaign contributions.
The warning signs were there. The admonitions for caution were there. Key members of Congress were in the forefront of waiving off disciplinary warnings.
With a couple of prominent exceptions, the politicians claimed to do good for the poor. The supposed idea was to give homes to the poor but the rich got much richer, while the poor couldn’t even afford what homes they got for so little.
Along the way, insiders enriched themselves and their friends, stuffed campaign coffers, and resisted all attempts to enforce market discipline. When the inevitable collapse arrived, the entire economy suffered, (See the Earl J Weinreb NewsHole® comments and @BusinessNewshole tweets.)
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