Quote:
Originally Posted by spence
You keep trying to drag this back to the government like some socialistic parasite is at the root of the problem, but it simply is not, there is no clear chicken and egg here.
You are right to say that lending used to be different. A significant component of this is that in years past the government didn't allow commercial, investment banks and insurance houses to mingle. A repeal of this law in 1999 dramatically changed the way financial products were offered and traded as the banks now had the ability to profit from multiple facets of the same investment.
These changes weren't made for purely idiological reasons. Industry lobbied hard for changes and influence the actions of our politicians. They argued that more flexibility would allow them to better serve their customers. I'm sure there were some legitimate reasons, but hindsight is 20:20.
Was this the only reason? Heck no, as I stated above there are many pieces to this pie. If you want to place blame, place it on our continued inability to learn from past mistakes.
-spence
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I didn't mention socialism here. I asked if government might not be at "the root of the problem." Your response is that in the past "government didn't allow commercial, investment banks and insurance houses to mingle." And then, in a bi-partisan move, government DID allow it. (BTW, Joe Biden voted for Gramm-Leach-Blilely.) Government didn't allow, Government did allow, Government regulated, Government didn't regulate . . . Government, Government, Government. And your description of the mess is that it is too obfuscated to tell a bad loan from a good. That there is no chicken or egg dispute. That everybody is to blame.
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