The best whistle blowing before the bubble popped had to be Peter Schiff telling a huge crowd of mortgage bankers they were about to lose their jobs in Nov 2006:
Blowing the Whistle on the Mortgage Bubble
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Re: Blowing the Whistle on the Mortgage Bubble
#12Our system is strictly based on confidence at this point. Fiat currency, fractional reserve banking, massive leverage, and more systemic debt than the world has ever seen all rely on the fact that big banks are essentially untouchable. We'll never see prosecutions of big banks or their principles. It would break the entire system.
Re: Blowing the Whistle on the Mortgage Bubble
#13This documentary didn't reveal anything that wasn't already known. There aren't any criminal prosecutions because it's hard to prove that there was fraud. It then goes on to speculate why Breuer hasn't been able to charge anyone.
"There aren't any criminal prosecutions because it's hard to prove that there was fraud."
That's nonsense. The following exchange takes place in the documentary where Breuer admits the reason these banks aren't prosecuted is because it is basically government policy not to...
""" MARTIN SMITH: You gave a speech before the New York Bar Association. And in that speech, you made a reference to losing sleep at night, worrying about what a lawsuit might result in at a large financial institution.
LANNY BREUER: Right.
MARTIN SMITH: Is that really the job of a prosecutor, to worry about anything other than simply pursuing justice?
LANNY BREUER: Well, I think I am pursuing justice. And I think the entire responsibility of the department is to pursue justice. But in any given case, I think I and prosecutors around the country, being responsible, should speak to regulators, should speak to experts, because if I bring a case against institution A, and as a result of bringing that case, there’s some huge economic effect — if it creates a ripple effect so that suddenly, counterparties and other financial institutions or other companies that had nothing to do with this are affected badly — it’s a factor we need to know and understand. """
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-23/assistant-attorney-...
Re: Blowing the Whistle on the Mortgage Bubble
#14Re: Blowing the Whistle on the Mortgage Bubble
#15"industry insiders were ringing the alarm bells"
Just as today many economists are ringing the alarm bells: the governments public debt issues (both in U.S., Japan and many countries in the Eurozone) are going to end up very badly.
Many central banks (including in the U.S.) have basically become bad banks. Anyone holding medium and long-term public government debt (like many insurance products) are basically bankrupt because governments are going to default.
If you think 2008 was bad, wait until the house of cards collapse. It shall make 1929 look like a cute event.
Some economists are predicting a worlwide GDP drop of as much as 25%.
Of course economists that you see on Fox news and CNN like Krugman (sure, lets create a one trillion $ coin, it's a good idea: why not then create 16 of these and be done with our public debt?) either totally lost it or are playing the game that the state asked them to play: propaganda.
Capitalism cannot work if the cost of printing money is zero (quantitative easing).
Actually I don't think we're living in a capitalistic world. I think we live in a socialist world bent on confiscating savings (at the benefit of the state) using inflation. But the system has its limit.
And who are you going to prosecute and hold responsible once everything collapses? The states are basically forcing everyone into buying their junk bonds.
Do you really think anyone would buy government bonds seen the current situation?
The people responsible for this are very very high up the chain. They're desperately trying to prevent the house of socialist cards from falling apart.
"The problem of socialism is that at one point you run out of other people's money". And that's where we're arriving now.
Of course they're going to pretend that it's not the states that created the state debt but "evil" capitalists. What a joke : (
Re: Blowing the Whistle on the Mortgage Bubble
#16I hope pbs eventually covers the zero prosecution for HSBC bank money laundering. Only penalty was a month's worth of profit. Not one person will serve a day in prison. But hey, don't unlock your phone, it's a felony. Or download and free journal articles.
The sensationalism isn't helping. It's perfectly legal to download free articles.
You're absolutely correct: it's perfectly legal to download free articles. But this is why I made my "semantics matter" argument a few days ago: He said "download and free," free being a verb and intending to mean "set them free."
Yes, there appears to be an allusion to Aaron's particular case. However, one could certainly see where a particular journal publisher holds the copyright on many excellent articles made available online for a fee having to protect their copyright from some unscrupulous academician using their paid acces to liberate those writings. And how, given the predilection of prosecutors to scare would-be defendants, automating that task might see the threat of criminal charges.
To actually respond to your comment, it may be legal to download free articles (and it's probably legal to download articles for which you've paid), but is it legal to distribute someone else's copyrighted work without their permission? Price doesn't matter.
Re: Blowing the Whistle on the Mortgage Bubble
#17http://video.pbs.org/video/2327953844 http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/outrageo...
Matt Taibbi isn't what I would call the most distinguished journalist to be getting your info from. He's a bit sensationalist for my taste. For that matter, he seems to enjoy picking a position to write from before he really has all the facts.
Re: Blowing the Whistle on the Mortgage Bubble
#18Our system is strictly based on confidence at this point. Fiat currency, fractional reserve banking, massive leverage, and more systemic debt than the world has ever seen all rely on the fact that big banks are essentially untouchable. We'll never see prosecutions of big banks or their principles. It would break the entire system.
Isn't the system, and the whole concept of money in general, all entirely a confidence game?
Re: Blowing the Whistle on the Mortgage Bubble
#19"industry insiders were ringing the alarm bells" Just as today many economists are ringing the alarm bells: the governments public debt issues (both in U.S., Japan and many countries in the Eurozone) are going to end up very badly. Many central banks (including in the U.S.) have basically become bad banks. Anyone holding medium and long-term public government debt (like many insurance products) are basically bankrupt…
Needs more paragraphs.
Re: Blowing the Whistle on the Mortgage Bubble
#20This documentary didn't reveal anything that wasn't already known. There aren't any criminal prosecutions because it's hard to prove that there was fraud. It then goes on to speculate why Breuer hasn't been able to charge anyone.
"There aren't any criminal prosecutions because it's hard to prove that there was fraud." That's nonsense. The following exchange takes place in the documentary where Breuer admits the reason these banks aren't prosecuted is because it is basically government policy not to... """ MARTIN SMITH: You gave a speech before the New York Bar Association. And in that speech, you made a reference to losing sleep at night, wor…
the reason these banks aren't prosecuted is because it is basically government policy not to
And the reason for that is that it was government policy that created the situation in the first place: wanting everyone to own a home, whether they could afford it or not, and allowing banks to play games to offset the inevitable losses from being forced to give mortgages to people who couldn't afford them. And it was government policy that called a lot of the shots once things started to go south: they were telling banks who had to merge with who, who had to declare bankruptcy, etc.
I'm not saying the banks aren't culpable: they took risks with money that wasn't theirs to risk, it was their depositors'. But the government is culpable too.