Quote:
Originally Posted by WilsonFourTwo
This part just kinda stuck out for me. If the "Bankers" are only partly to blame, who wears the rest of it?
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I guess it depends on what exactly you are talking about. My argument was referring more to what lead to the bailout, hosing bubbles, the credit crisis, and later the recession.
In that regard than yes to me bankers are only part of equation. Did they make foolish loans to people they knew couldn't afford their mortgages? Yes. But in order to make that loan you need an irresponsible person to accept the loan knowing full well that they won't be paying it back. So are people who borrow beyond their means at fault? I'd say yes they bare some of the responsibility. What about the rating agencies who rated the CDO's and other mortgage back securities AAA, saying they where as good as cash. That to me is irresponsible and mislead a number of investors. What about the pension, mutual, and hedge funds that created the amazingly high demand for these toxic instruments that nearly broke the entire financial system? What about governments who allowed mortgage regulation be diminished to almost nothing on the backs of lobbyist? I'd say they share the blame.
All of those entities are players in the same game, but when everything went to hell, and the banks had to be bailed out, blame was placed 100% on the bankers because of the bailouts and bonuses. They are an easy target for that reason. But maybe instead of just finger waving at them the American consumer should ask himself why he took out a $500,000 mortgage when he was working a part-time job at McDonalds. Maybe the ratings agencies should ask why they took complete crap and rated it as good as gold. Maybe businesses and money managers who inflated the demand for toxic assets should be wondering why they didn't do more due-diligence to understand what exactly they where getting themselves into. And maybe the government, instead of reprimanding the banks, should be wondering how they let his entire thing go on right under their nose.