On Mon, 6 Oct 2008 11:03:12 -0700 (PDT), w...@g...com wrote:

>Lehman's Richard Fuld, during this morning's congressional hearings,
>mentioned the pressure re: giving mortgages to previously unqualified
>people, read mostly Blacks. And Wells Fargo boasting about mortgages
>for illegal aliens.

That's a cop out by Lehman. It has nothing to do with leverage,
derivatives, CDS's, or the other side bets made by Wall Street which
caused the mess. Nobody in Congress understands this system. They'd
best get somebody to explain it to them.

>The question is; was this sort of an alliance between the liberals who
>pressured the mortgage
>industry to accept worthless paper. Or, in response to liberal/
>governmental pressure, did the banks jump on the bandwagon
>anticipating an ultimate end to the ponzi scheme?

None of the above. You conveniently forget that the repeal of Glass-
Steagall and the following legislation sponsored by Gramm opened the
door fully, where before it had been slightly ajar. After reading your
post - derivatives, CDS's, and other "insurance" which leveraged the
US housing market to the hilt are above your pay grade. You can go
back to Limbaugh or Hannity now.

WB Yeats