Monday, January 28, 2008

60 Minutes Legitimizes Walking Away

from Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

There was a nice expose on CBS 60 Minutes this weekend called House Of Cards. I seldom watch TV but happened to catch it.

Steve Kroft reports on how the U.S. sub-prime mortgage meltdown, in which risky loans drove a housing boom that went bust, is now roiling capital markets worldwide.

Get the video and a summary after the click ...

Steve Kroft: "It sounds complicated but it's really very simple. Banks lent hundreds of billions of dollars to homebuyers that can't pay them back. Wall Street took the risky debt, dressed it up as fancy securities and sold them round the world as safe investments. If it sounds a little bit like a shell game or a ponzi scheme, in some ways it was".

My comment:

So, I guess the answer would be to de-regulate some more?

In related stories:

"Countrywide CEO to Give Up $37.5 Mln in Payments" (Reuters)

"Even CEOs think CEOs are overpaid: survey" (Reuters) - the rewards of screwing it up for all of us.

"Citigroup CEO Prince Falls to Subprime Debacle"
(NPR)

In return for driving CitiGroup into the ground, Prince was awarded a $40Million severance package. Think you could get by on that?

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