Quote:
Originally Posted by StuartD
And here I thought it had to do with a mortgage collapse and costly wars. How foolish of me.
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You know... I have been putting alot of thought into the corporate/right wing propaganda machine lately. It has occurred to me that they were successful in placing the blame for the financial collapse on bad mortgages when this is really a smoke screen for what really occurred. The real truth is that in 1999-2000 right before Bush took office the Republican controlled Congress passed the "
Commodity Futures Modernization Act" that Clinton signed into law (obviously without reading the fucking bill).
At the beginning of the 20th century, Bucket Shops lined NYC's streets. These Bucket Shops were, essentially, casinos where people could bet on whether the stock market would go up or down. It's called "speculating," when you can bet on something where you don't own any involved party. For example, if I bet on Microsoft stock doing well, I do it by buying the stock. Now I own part of the company. If I'm betting on a football game, though, I don't own the Jets or Cowboys (yet), so I've got no horse in that race. That bet is called "speculation" and a "derivative."
Well, at the turn of the century, these Bucket Shops were hugely popular, and they are linked, directly, to the extent of the 1907 market crash. Lawmakers were appalled at Bucket Shops' influence, and they passed state laws that, essentially, said, "This can never happen again." States made Bucket Shops, or any venue where you speculate on the economy, a felony.
Time went by, and we evolved into the current system of government, drenched with lobbying and love for big business -- the administration and Congress. Congress rolled back the Bucket Shop laws in a bill called The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, which pulled derivatives and credit default swaps from federal oversite. It also clearly laid out that states couldn't enforce Bucket Shop laws.
Done. Of course, the financial businesses were big backers of this bill, throwing millions at lobbyists to make it happen. And it did happen. Gambling and speculation on the economy was legal again! That is your government looking after you. Free market mentality at it's best.
So who was responsible for fucking us? Everyone! It was a truly bipartisan bill.
Dems voting Yes: 186
Reps voting Yes: 193
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2000-540
Btw... since the bailout AIG has allegedly traded up to $50 Trillion in derivatives.... and the current market value of the derivatives market is $513 Trillion... think about that for a minute in perspective with the total value of US Real Estate (housing) - $14 Trillion.