My jaw dropped as I saw President Obama on stage with Silverado Savings and Loan crook, Neil Bush at the Daily Point of Light Award. It's one thing to share the stage with former president Bush (senior) but to share it with the man who took personal loans and participated in the biggest savings and loan failure/bailout/scam in modern times?
The Point of Light program was started by Bush to offset the Republican gutting of social safety net programs and provide reassurance that volunteers would pick up the slack. [note sarcasm] Bush has put his disgraced son, Neil, in charge of the organization. (Wonder if he's taken any loans?)
For those of you who don't remember, the Savings and Loan industry was deregulated ahead of the bank deregulation that gave us the worldwide crash of 2008.
In 1981 changes by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board allowed S&Ls to securitize their mortgage loans (the same practice that the banks later used to tank the world economy)
And as a result 747 out of the 3,234 Savings and Loan companies went belly up. The most famous of these were Lincoln Savings and Loan headed by Charles Keating and Silverado Savings and Loan.
Neil Bush, director of Silverado, was determined to have engaged in numerous "breaches of his fiduciary duties involving multiple conflicts of interest," by the U.S. Office of Thrift Investigation.
Although Neil Bush was never indicted (most likely his father being President of the United States at the time might have played a role here) he was sued by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and settled out of court.
I guess we have to congratulate the Bushes for rehabilitating their son. Perhaps after Jeb takes his turn at the presidency, we'll be ready for an honest to god banking crook to be president.