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Was fraud commited in the subprime crisis?

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Eugene posted on Wed, Jan 5 2011 4:00 PM

I'd like to hear your opinion.

Thank you.

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Yes. Many home buyers lied about their income when they applied for home loans.

To paraphrase Marc Faber: We're all doomed, but that doesn't mean that we can't make money in the process.
Rabbi Lapin: "Let's make bricks!"
Stephan Kinsella: "Say you and I both want to make a German chocolate cake."

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Yes. Many home buyers lied about their income when they applied for home loans.

I think the actual problem was that the banks eventually stopped asking about income. Weren't there even cases of banks giving out loans to dead people?

There was probably a lot of fraud committed by everyone involved in subprime loans.

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There was probably a lot of fraud committed by everyone involved in subprime loans.

There is a lot of fraud committed by everyone everywhere all the time.

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Eugene replied on Thu, Jan 6 2011 12:05 AM

So you think people should sit in jail for this?

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I think the actual problem was that the banks eventually stopped asking about income.

I believe many of them simply stopped asking for proof of income so they wouldn't seem as liable. They'd be able to say, "Oh no. People lied to us," when everything went down. And they did. But low-income people who took out adjustable-rate mortgages on homes they clearly couldn't afford definitely deserved to have the homes (not 'their homes') taken away.

So you think people should sit in jail for this?

If someone lies about their income in order to get a bank loan, yes. That's forcing the bank to take a risk it cannot afford.

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All I know is, when I "lend" money to my deadbeat friend, I know I'm not getting it back... so I don't even consider it a loan... and I certainly won't make the government or an insurance company pay me back.  I knew I wasn't getting the money in the first place.

Can't we just say that "everyone" had their hand in the pot?  Why jump immediately to homeowners, as if the banks did nothing wrong?
 

In States a fresh law is looked upon as a remedy for evil. Instead of themselves altering what is bad, people begin by demanding a law to alter it. ... In short, a law everywhere and for everything!

~Peter Kropotkin

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Can't we just say that "everyone" had their hand in the pot?  Why jump immediately to homeowners, as if the banks did nothing wrong?

Everyone did do something wrong. The difference is that the banks only hurt themselves (before the bailout) while many homeowners lied about their income in order to scam the system. The fact that the banks were doing this, though, strongly convinces me that they knew they'd get TARP payments before TARP became known to the public.

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Prime replied on Thu, Jan 6 2011 1:09 AM

So did Fannie/Freddie make these mortgages directly, or did they buy them in a secondary market? If it's the latter, then the original lending institutions didn't really care if they were going to get paid back.

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Brian Anderson:
Everyone did do something wrong.

What did I do wrong?

To paraphrase Marc Faber: We're all doomed, but that doesn't mean that we can't make money in the process.
Rabbi Lapin: "Let's make bricks!"
Stephan Kinsella: "Say you and I both want to make a German chocolate cake."

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The fact that the banks were doing this, though, strongly convinces me that they knew they'd get TARP payments before TARP became known to the public.

They knew that since about 1971.

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So did Fannie/Freddie make these mortgages directly, or did they buy them in a secondary market? If it's the latter, then the original lending institutions didn't really care if they were going to get paid back.

That's what I'm saying.  This was a deliberate plan to sabotage the public.  People knew what was going on, but just like a pyramid scheme, they thought they could squeeze just a few more dollars out of it, and hope the next poor schmuck is the one to get ruined.  Except there was a key difference..

A select group of these schemers at the top are the political establishment (i don't think I need to remind the members of this site how many positions in the exutive are filled w former Goldman Sachs and other top bank executives).  Selling the "end of the world" propaganda was a surefire false flag. 

In States a fresh law is looked upon as a remedy for evil. Instead of themselves altering what is bad, people begin by demanding a law to alter it. ... In short, a law everywhere and for everything!

~Peter Kropotkin

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What did I do wrong?

Haha, both parties we were talking about did something wrong. Not "everyone". My fault.

They knew that since about 1971.

What do you mean?

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