or a personality disorder. You might recall that when Wall Street's unsound investment and business strategies caused massive financial chaos, the Street suckled the teats of America in the form of a massive bail-out. Why bring up the inconvenient truth that every self-inflicted wound by the nation's financial whiz kids has required rescue by the lowly taxpayer? Statements like this:
Those on Wall Street, however, are largely unsympathetic, insisting that possible errors in the foreclosure process are beside the point, that the process begins only when a borrower starts missing mortgage payments.
"If you didn't pay your mortgage, you shouldn't be in your house. Period. People are getting upset about something that's just procedural." said Walter Todd, portfolio manager at Greenwood Capital Associates.
Banks too big to fail; homeowners too small to care.
Responsibility begins and ends with the lowly American worker struggling with offshoring of jobs, downsizing of companies, and bloated executive pay to please the financial wizards on Wall Street.
Some said the issue is one of personal responsibility for one's own debts.
Sure, some homeowners have been evicted because of faulty paperwork.
The lack of review is why officials investigating the issue say that some homeowners may actually have been unfairly evicted from their homes.
Yes, banks have been slow to respond in a timely manner to requests for paperwork on loan modifications and foreclosure mistakes.
Thousands of people reported that despite efforts to seek loan modifications or other relief many financial institutions "routinely fail to respond in a timely manner, misplace requested documents, and send mixed signals" about what is required to avoid foreclosures, the lawmakers said.
What this country needs is more lectures on personal responsibility from the psychopaths that created "credit default swaps."
"We're not evicting people who deserve to stay in their house," Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase chief executive, said on a conference call with analysts on the company's third-quarter earnings on Wednesday.
And more companies that used bailout money to buy other companies rather than lend money to small businesses or individuals.
For those who opposed the massive bailout, a report in the New York Times may be little surprise. A reporter was able to get into a telephone conference call with JPMorgan Chase to hear executives discuss the $25 billion it received from Congress. Just four days after the bailout, JPMorgan Chase’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon held the conference call during which an executive admitted that Chase has no intention to use the money to make new loans but instead will use it to try to take over other companies.
Speaking of bloated executive pay, let's start with Jamie Dimon.
"I believe our compensation policies have been and remain appropriate."
Check your pay stub. Did you get $17 million ($327,000 a week) for buying companies with other people's money and rejecting loans for all but the biggest borrowers?
JP Morgan has been roundly hailed as a winner from the credit crunch. Under Dimon's leadership, the bank remained profitable throughout the crisis and, with backing from the US government, it bought the remnants of two collapsing rivals — the Wall Street brokerage Bear Stearns and the Seattle-based high street bank Washington Mutual.
An outspoken figure, Dimon has been a staunch defender of his industry and has criticised aspects of the Obama administration's approach to Wall Street – he complained last month about a special government levy on banks, protesting that Wall Street was being required to pay for bailouts of car companies and insurance firms.
And what does Wall Street want for the billions and billions spent on bribes campaign contributions?
In a question about which two issues the Republicans should focus on after the elections, nearly two-thirds of respondents said extending President George W. Bush-era tax cuts should be a priority, while more than half said boosting economic growth should take top priority.
Reuters, Oct 12, article by Edward Krudy
Since most of the Wall Street piglets are in the upper income brackets, extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich is their number one priority. Boosting economic growth? I assume they mean expanding the profit margins of mutlinational corporations sitting on boatloads of cash rather than hire new workers in America where people might be able to afford to stay in their homes.
And just in case you have lost track of what we have had to shell out to bail out Wall Street, here is the tally. $4.72 Trillion in chump change.
Next time there is a financial crisis on Wall Street, the only responsible thing to do will be to confiscate their assets and throw them in the street.