What caused the eonomic meltdown?

[Saigon]

What do you consider to be the MAIN driving force behind the 2008 economic meltdown?

 

[Unkotare]

Several "eonomic" factors.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

The poll gives no possible way an honest and knowledgeable person person can answer. Bush is responsible in that he did not work hard enough to mitigate the the Clinton era policies that inflated the housing bubble. Those policies had wide bipartisan support, so blaming them on Democrats is as stupid as blaming the lack of regulation when the financial sector is so tightly regulated that it is impossible to fart without requesting permission three weeks in advance. The excessive regulation prohibited people from responding to the market risk when government backed junk bonds were rated higher than they should have been. On top of that there were other factors, like the fact that the government stepped in and bailed out the people who made the mistakes. That one is squarely on Bush by the way.

 

[Saigon]

QW -

I agree that all of the factors listed share some responsibility, but it is so clearly established that the lack of regulation over 30 years sparked the rush of greed and fraud that I don't know why anyone would suggest otherwise.

Bush was on watch at the time, and holds massive responsibility for ignoring the warnings that were being made by experts. Martin Wolffe in the Financial Times outlined the crisis in great detail three months before it happened - Bush ignored that information.

 

[Two Thumbs]

It's a combination of things.

A huge combination

But I'd say the main contributor was clinton forcing banks to loan money to people they would Never consider before so they could buy houses, or allow people into bigger homes than they could afford.

That forced banks to shuffle money around in phoney ways.

Anyone that says it's just Bushs fault is lying and/or running for President.

 

[Saigon]

How did Clinton "force" banks to loan money?

 

[Unkotare]

QW -

I agree that all of the factors listed share some responsibility, but it is so clearly established that the lack of regulation over 30 years sparked the rush of greed and fraud that I don't know why anyone would suggest otherwise. .

The ignorant foreigner wants a simple answer.

 

[edthecynic]

It's a combination of things.

A huge combination

But I'd say the main contributor was clinton forcing banks to loan money to people they would Never consider before so they could buy houses, or allow people into bigger homes than they could afford.

That forced banks to shuffle money around in phoney ways.

Anyone that says it's just Bushs fault is lying and/or running for President.

What a complete load of racist bullshit.

Clinton required banks to make loans to QUALIFIED minorities that banks would never consider not because thy were not qualified, but because they were minorities. To a racist no minority is ever qualified for a loan. Making loans to the unqualified did not happen until Bush's Dec 2003 ADDI. Starting in 2004 everything went to hell.

Banks shuffled money around in phony ways out of pure greed and nothing else.

 

[bigrebnc1775]

What do you consider to be the MAIN driving force behind the 2008 economic meltdown?

Why do you care? Are you vested in the American economy?

 

[waltky]

Saigon wrote: What do you consider to be the MAIN driving force behind the 2008 economic meltdown?

The real estate industry, Wall St. bankers, and our incompetent politicians...

... the real estate industry for colluding with mortgage companies to come up with the subprime mortgage scheme...

... Wall St. bankers for bundling mortgages and selling them as an investment while creating a counter-market of credit default swaps/derivatives...

... and our incompetent politicians on both sides of the aisle for being asleep at the wheel and failing to regulate either industry.

 

[editec]

What do you consider to be the MAIN driving force behind the 2008 economic meltdown?

Derivatives were the pebbles that started the avalange.


Those made it possible for the banksters to craft crap mortgages that they foisted off to an unsuspecting public and bonds that weren't worth a shit to the unvestor classes, too.

But the real root cause of our crappy economy is the steady erosion of working class's purchasing power that's been happening since the early 1970s.


Obviously had the working classes salaries kept up with the rate of inflation, the banksters would not have had to create LIARS LOANS to keep lending.

 

[Toro]

The primary cause of the tech and housing bubbles is not politics but central banks. Politics played a role but both the housing and tech bubbles were driven by the excess creation of money and lax lending standards. When credit becomes too abundant, it can feed into asset markets and create bubbles. This wasn't the only reason - there were many - but it was the primary reason. And both the tech and housing bubbles are linked.

People trying to blame Democrats or Republicans or the GSEs or the CRA or whatever are missing the point. This was a global issue, not simply an American issue.

Cause ---> effect.

Effect = housing bubbles in many countries across the globe.

Ergo, the cause is global, and you must look for global causes.

Of course, politics in America had an affect, but the CRA or George Bush didn't cause housing bubbles in Spain, Australia, Canada, Ireland, etc.

 

[Two Thumbs]

It's a combination of things.

A huge combination

But I'd say the main contributor was clinton forcing banks to loan money to people they would Never consider before so they could buy houses, or allow people into bigger homes than they could afford.

That forced banks to shuffle money around in phoney ways.

Anyone that says it's just Bushs fault is lying and/or running for President.

What a complete load of racist bullshit.

Clinton required banks to make loans to QUALIFIED minorities that banks would never consider not because thy were not qualified, but because they were minorities. To a racist no minority is ever qualified for a loan. Making loans to the unqualified did not happen until Bush's Dec 2003 ADDI. Starting in 2004 everything went to hell.

Banks shuffled money around in phony ways out of pure greed and nothing else.

Everyone take note.

His reply was an utter failure of reason, the very core of libtardia.

I never mentioned race, yet he was forced to use race. In other words, he's lying and he knows he's lying.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

It is really quite simple.
1) - The vehicle. The delivery system...the central banks.
2) - The corruption and compliance of global governments, local bankers, real estate firms etc.
3) - The willingness of the population to foolishly accept a mirage..a bribe if you will... and in return they make themselves indentured servants to the above system.

It took all three.
The central banks are the "La Costa Nostra"...they are at the top of the food chain.
The governments, smaller banks, realtors, loan officers etc. etc. - they are the "soldiers". They both carry out the policies of the central banks via corruption and greed.
And finally there is us. We are the targets. We are nothing more than a crop to harvest by the system. We accept their bribe - the amazingly foolish belief that you can have it all now - and in return we give them nearly everything we earn for most of our lives...we are, in every way, an indentured servant. The worker bee. Mindless.

And we are already repeating the process again.
And oh...I almost forgot...it is the Democrats fault...or maybe the Republicans fault.

 

[California Girl]

It's a combination of things.

A huge combination

But I'd say the main contributor was clinton forcing banks to loan money to people they would Never consider before so they could buy houses, or allow people into bigger homes than they could afford.

That forced banks to shuffle money around in phoney ways.

Anyone that says it's just Bushs fault is lying and/or running for President.

What a complete load of racist bullshit.

Clinton required banks to make loans to QUALIFIED minorities that banks would never consider not because thy were not qualified, but because they were minorities. To a racist no minority is ever qualified for a loan. Making loans to the unqualified did not happen until Bush's Dec 2003 ADDI. Starting in 2004 everything went to hell.

Banks shuffled money around in phony ways out of pure greed and nothing else.

Your ridiculous use of the race card made me

 

[uscitizen]

Obama!

 

[TakeAStepBack]

The primary cause of the tech and housing bubbles is not politics but central banks. Politics played a role but both the housing and tech bubbles were driven by the excess creation of money and lax lending standards. When credit becomes too abundant, it can feed into asset markets and create bubbles. This wasn't the only reason - there were many - but it was the primary reason. And both the tech and housing bubbles are linked.

People trying to blame Democrats or Republicans or the GSEs or the CRA or whatever are missing the point. This was a global issue, not simply an American issue.

Cause ---> effect.

Effect = housing bubbles in many countries across the globe.

Ergo, the cause is global, and you must look for global causes.

Of course, politics in America had an affect, but the CRA or George Bush didn't cause housing bubbles in Spain, Australia, Canada, Ireland, etc.

Mostly this. The lowered interest rates, plus govt. policies on housing and lending, is what led the abundant credit into real estate. It should also be noted that the reason that the credit went there, is that there was little room for it to go elsewhere. As in, the remaining wealth of the US nation was in our real properties. Being riddled with govt. and household debt, lending conduits had little place else to go.

 

[uscitizen]

Lets not forget how the ratings agencies rated the junk securities as AAA with absolutely no history to go on.

 

[regent]

On these boards we must all put a political cause to any problem, be it economic, diplomatic, natural or other. Our problem solving of any problem is determined by out politics. Maybe I'll wait for the book to come out.

 

[Saigon]

Lets not forget how the ratings agencies rated the junk securities as AAA with absolutely no history to go on.

Yes, that's an intersting point. I think a few agencies found themselves more than a little humiliated by the collapse of some apparently solid banks.