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>I'm not sure I get the hate on bankers. Because they're parasites on the real economy? You effectively have to pay taxes to the banking system to engage in th

>I'm not sure I get the hate on bankers. Because they're parasites on the real economy? You effectively have to pay taxes to the banking system to engage in the real economy. Taxes which get spent on gold watches and sports cars. >Can someone explain why I should feel anger instead? Depends. Do you believe that fraud should be a crime? It's currently not being prosecuted as a crime on Wall Street.

MichaelBurge 11y ago
You don't need to use big banks to participate in the financial system. It's easy to get federal assistance to set up your very own credit union. The members of the union often pay $1 to buy a single share of the credit union, so its owned by its own members, with everyone having equal representation. They offer checking and savings accounts, along with personal loans and mortgages. You do need investment banks to e.g. IPO your company or issue corporate bonds. Let's ignore that issue, since the typical person doesn't 'have to' IPO their company or get multiple billions of dollars in bonds issued. For the fraud, let's pick on a specific company: Goldman Sachs. Everyone hates Goldman Sachs. I hate Goldman Sachs. Their CEO at the time was Lloyd Blankfein. What did Lloyd Blankfein do that was considered fraud and that should land him in jail? I don't believe that Goldman directly loans money for mortgages, so he should be immune to criticisms of mortgage fraud on any specific application. If you were going to prosecute him, which event would you focus on?
- Retric 11y ago
  Insider trading and undisclosed conflict of interest is the primary issues with GS. How much of that is the CEO's fault is a little up in the air. But, you could likely get him for a whole lot of conspiracy to commit X crimes. However, we don't know because he is not being investigated. So, the dude might be squeaky clean.
  - MichaelBurge 11y ago
    Thanks - I was able to find this. I think it's relevant because someone else in the thread mentioned a CDO: https://www.sec.gov/news/press/2010/2010-59.htm https://www.sec.gov/news/press/2010/2010-59.htm Is that press release representative of the crimes and their magnitude that people would attribute to Goldman Sachs? It says investors lost $1 billion, and GS later settled for $550 million(presumably GS didn't profit the entire $1 billion).

MichaelBurge 11y ago

You don't need to use big banks to participate in the financial system. It's easy to get federal assistance to set up your very own credit union. The members of the union often pay $1 to buy a single share of the credit union, so its owned by its own members, with everyone having equal representation. They offer checking and savings accounts, along with personal loans and mortgages. You do need investment banks to e.g. IPO your company or issue corporate bonds. Let's ignore that issue, since the typical person doesn't 'have to' IPO their company or get multiple billions of dollars in bonds issued. For the fraud, let's pick on a specific company: Goldman Sachs. Everyone hates Goldman Sachs. I hate Goldman Sachs. Their CEO at the time was Lloyd Blankfein. What did Lloyd Blankfein do that was considered fraud and that should land him in jail? I don't believe that Goldman directly loans money for mortgages, so he should be immune to criticisms of mortgage fraud on any specific application. If you were going to prosecute him, which event would you focus on?

Retric 11y ago
Insider trading and undisclosed conflict of interest is the primary issues with GS. How much of that is the CEO's fault is a little up in the air. But, you could likely get him for a whole lot of conspiracy to commit X crimes. However, we don't know because he is not being investigated. So, the dude might be squeaky clean.
- MichaelBurge 11y ago
  Thanks - I was able to find this. I think it's relevant because someone else in the thread mentioned a CDO: https://www.sec.gov/news/press/2010/2010-59.htm https://www.sec.gov/news/press/2010/2010-59.htm Is that press release representative of the crimes and their magnitude that people would attribute to Goldman Sachs? It says investors lost $1 billion, and GS later settled for $550 million(presumably GS didn't profit the entire $1 billion).