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I think Lewis hits the nail on the head about how the media hysteria over the relatively minor (when you look at the dollars compared to the counterparty payout
by brown9-2 17y ago
I think Lewis hits the nail on the head about how the media hysteria over the relatively minor (when you look at the dollars compared to the counterparty payouts) AIG bonus issue managed to completely miss the entire point and importance of the fiancial fiasco with AIG.
If we (society, etc.) can't even get the story straight about what really happened, what hope do we have to avoid repeating the same mistakes that lead to this bubble 5/10/25 years down the road from now? We're screwed.
- bwd 17y agoMost of the media don't have enough knowledge to get the story straight (remember that Lewis was once a bond trader), they just find the angle with the most emotional impact and drive it into the ground with very little regard for the actual facts. The politicians either don't realize how incorrect the reporting is, or can't be bothered to try to correct the oversimplifications and explain the real truth to voters, who are most likely to undereducated to understand it anyway. It's much easier for them to ride the wave of outrage in the direction of the nearest camera and then pound the table about how angry they are and how someone needs to do something about it and how they are people that will do it, even though some of them (such as Barney Frank) bear a share of the responsibility because they pushed the idea of better access to credit for "under served" (i.e. high risk) potential home buyers and because they blocked improved regulations at the GSEs that might have shut down some of the irresponsible lending. Has anyone seen any good articles with an overview on what went wrong at Fannie and Freddie? I've seen bits and pieces but for the most part the silence is deafening.