Some thoughts

[moon_razor]

1. Greed and corruption on Wall Street is not a revelation

Comments

[niffer5150]

no kidding on #5. what a joke.
i couldn't believe she said the people who got shitty loans weren't responsible and "it's not your fault". i guess anyone retarded enough to not read loan papers or do an of the math *would* believe that they had _nothing_ to do with it.

[fiametta]

Certainly the record high levels in job losses have something to do with people not being able to afford mortgages that they previously were able to afford too. There's also the fact that some places in the world don't have any houses for <300K, or more and so one must either move away from friends and family where it is more affordable and there are more jobs (the smart thing to do) or buy a house they can barely afford and won't be able to afford is anything changes for the worse at all.

IMO The blame neither lies *solely* on 'wall street greed,' nor on 'stupid people living beyond their means.' Shit happened - and it was a multi-variable causality that has been long overdue - that's the way I see it, anyway.

[niffer5150]

i agree. there's enough variables on the whole collapse, that no one side can take the brunt of the blame, BUT i think absolving people of their portion of it is absurd. every single person from the buyers, to the loan officers, to the big companies, should all feel the shame of this.

[fiametta]

Yeah, I totally agree - that we *all* need to feel the burn of the shame to avoid starting this fire again. It's not someone else's problem, it's OUR problem. In my lab, when something big fucks up we all help to get it back on track b/c we know it affects us all. Humans weren't meant to work together in such large groups, perhaps. :sigh: (Ugh... I sigh a lot these days :eyeroll:)