Thursday, October 18, 2007

Treasury's Paulsen: Don't Blame the Big Boys

The Treasury Secretary awoke when the Big Boyzzz started feeling the heat. But are they the bad actors?

...On the other hand, the former head of Goldman Sachs is a member in good standing of the club of Wall Street CEOs. When the subprime meltdown began to disturb the CEOs' sleep, he responded with alacrity. Even as he had harsh words for the entire mortgage complex—from brokers to credit-rating agencies—and recommended far-reaching reforms, Paulson was careful to single out one class of actors for protection. He noted that the issue has been raised as to "whether greater liability should be imposed on securitizers and investors." In other words, should the Wall Street firms that peddled mortgage-backed securities that turned out to be worthless a few months later be subject to greater accountability through the legal system? His answer: "In my view, this is not the answer to the problem."

Just how bad ARE those mortgate-backed securities? Go here to see the pricing.

We are continually reminded by the BushBots that over the last 10 years or so, the assets of Americans have risen substantially.

But if housing prices continue to degrade, that "assets" picture will not look so rosy.

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