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> The 2007–2008 financial crisis, or Global Economic Crisis (GEC), was the most severe worldwide economic crisis since the Great Depression. Predatory lending i
by lucianbr 3y ago
> The 2007–2008 financial crisis, or Global Economic Crisis (GEC), was the most severe worldwide economic crisis since the Great Depression. Predatory lending in the form of subprime mortgages targeting low-income homebuyers,[1] excessive risk-taking by global financial institutions,[2] a continuous buildup of toxic assets within banks, and the bursting of the United States housing bubble culminated in a "perfect storm", which led to the Great Recession.
(from wikipedia)
> In total, 47 bankers served jail time as a result of the crisis, over half of which were from Iceland
One example of countless that could be found, that legal consequences are the exception, not the norm.
- paulryanrogers 3y agoOthers getting away with similar (or even worse) isn't a strong argument that such fraud is OK. Plenty of voices rose up during that fiasco, and rules were changed.
- vincnetas 3y agoWell done Iceland. I would like to see ratio of jailed bankers to total bankers in country. Because now it looks like GES was mostly caused by Icelandic bankers :)
- lucianbr 3y agoI recently read a comment by an icelander saying that they're basically just the same as the rest of the world, incapable of punishing bankers and rich people. Just that on this occasion, the banking sector being so small, something like 90% of it failed, so they really had no choice but to jail some people. Definitely hearsay, but it really saddened me.
- ghaff 3y agoThat sounds about right. It's a small homogeneous country and the situation really was dire. Much more so than in many other countries, including the US, in general. The US had some big failures but the system largely held together (with the help of the government of course).