Too many people were making too much money too fast and no-one wanted to be the first to take their foot off the accelerator.

I’m sure there were plenty who knew perfectly well where it was going in their ‘heart of hearts’.

There’s more than a few people to blame but that can wait.
It isn’t fun for anyone when when things go as bad as they just might.

Anyone with a few dozen immoral buddies and a decent IQ could short a bank on any fine day but is it really smart?

The real problem is only being compounded by greed looking to make a quick buck out of sending us fully down the river.
Us is the keyword, no-one will escape the ride. Afterwards there will be so much regulation and taxation that it’ll be awfully hard to make a real buck.

Not a smart time to be adding to the bad behaviour, if you respectfully get what I mean. Trust and confidence certainly won’t be restored by greed. Apart from that you can make a truckload more money when things are good than in a depression.

Remember a depression is where everyone has waited too long for it to bottom out and it just doesn’t come up. Everyone loses. I’d say ask the old guys – but they’re dead so read a few books.

This is global and we’ve got enough other problems to deal with. This isn’t starting out anything like the 21st century I dreamed of. What about you?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3977861761825160732

Can’t anyone spell laxative right?

The Black Commission found that Federal Reserve’s organizational culture and decision-making processes had been a key contributing factor to the crisis. Federal Reserve managers had known that investment bank Bear Stearns structuring of the CDOs contained a potentially catastrophic flaw in the MBS securitization since 1997, but they failed to address it properly. They also ignored warnings from loan officers about the dangers of securitization in such a lax regulatory environment and had failed to adequately report these technical concerns to their superiors.

The disaster resulted in a 32-month hiatus in the shuttle program and the formation of the Rogers Commission, a special commission appointed by United States President Ronald Reagan to investigate the accident. The Rogers Commission found that NASA’s organizational culture and decision-making processes had been a key contributing factor to the accident. NASA managers had known that contractor Morton Thiokol’s design of the SRBs contained a potentially catastrophic flaw in the O-rings since 1977, but they failed to address it properly. They also ignored warnings from engineers about the dangers of launching on such a cold day and had failed to adequately report these technical concerns to their superiors. The Rogers Commission offered NASA nine recommendations that were to be implemented before shuttle flights resumed.

“competition in regulatory laxity”

Everyone saw it coming several years ago. I saw it coming. WTF is Floyd talking about.

PS: Your blog is “best of the web”. Hopefully the travelling dolts and chatters don’t discover it too soon. (how selfish am I).

yes, there are parallels in here.

interesting

“…not possible in this world of sophisticated financial techniques made possible by the wonders of electronic technology,” he said.”

This is a technological problem as he states in “the wonders of electronic technology”. His statement reflects part of the problem, it is always “wonders” not “terrors”, not “disasters”, not “chaos”, not “anarchy”. It seems we have agreement by most analysts that, without massive Central Bank Intervention and suspension of regulation we would have had chaos and anarchy, only a bit of which we have now.

So, 10,000 Hedge Fund and other rogue computers whirring away are not creating “wonders”, Mr. Volcker they have created a disaster.

By propping up this technological disaster, the Fed just encourages more chaos down the road with more models and more computers whirring away. Only those on modern technological chemical suppressants will trust such a system.

I hope you will explore more about Volcker’s statement and its ramifications too stark to explore here in a short post. There is ample evidence also in other sectors of our civilization that technology is out of control and will create similar terrors and chaos elsewhere. Though the parallels are there, the relationships are never made to the Financial World.

(I will make one small analogy, not exact but somewhat illustrative of what is happening. Imagine the “whizbangs” creating a car which can avoid all policing and regulation on all Highways in the US. How long before the Highway system would be in absolute chaos? Ben is the Trooper trying to bring those anarchic super techno autos under control.)

Re: On June 22, 2006 the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs released its final report on the scandal.[16] The report states that under the guidance of the Mississippi Choctaw tribe’s planner, Nell Rogers, the tribe agreed to launder money because “Ralph Reed did not want to be paid directly by a tribe with gaming interests.” It also states that Reed used non-profits, including Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform, as pass-throughs to disguise the origin of the funds, and that “the structure was recommended by Jack Abramoff to accommodate Mr. Reed’s political concerns.”
ABC News reported on November 15, 2006 that Jack Abramoff told prosecutors that Senator Harry Reid (D) requested contributions of $30,000 from Abramoff’s clients and that Reid agreed to assist him in matters concerning Indian casinos.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Jac…obbying_scandal