I received shocking and disturbing word today that a friend of mine who's an escrow agent is on his way to federal prison for money laundering, having knowingly taken cash from a drug kingpin so that Scarface could buy a house.
I am shocked, dismayed, disturbed, saddened and disgusted.
And not surprised.
Like I've said all along folks, the housing bubble was evil. Rational people did irrational things. Greed ruled America, and it's going to take years to sort out the illegal behavior (Casey Serin), insider stock sales (Bob Toll), fraud (mortgage brokers), deceit (realtors and appraisers), distortion (David Lereah) and swindles (straw men).
So many will go to jail in the next few years, you'll be shocked. A lot of people will kill themselves. Lives will be ruined. Fortunes will be lost. Jobs will go away. And America will never be the same.
Was it all worth it?
Today is a sad day in America. I never thought we'd see this again after the dot-com crash, but alas, now we will. We are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the (recent) past, not learning our lesson, not understanding obvious financial history as a people.
There is something in the DNA of humans that make us all chase dreams, god bless us. Some do it on the up-and-up. Others, like my salt-of-the-earth friend, can be stupidly, temporarily and inexplicably tempted by the dark side and easy money, and will now pay a huge price. This is ALWAYS and ESPECIALLY evident during financial manias.
Bernie Ebbers. Dennis Kozlowski. Andrew Fastow. Al Dunlap. Sanjay Kumar. Ken Lay. Joseph Nacchio. Frank Quattrone. John Rigas. Scott Sullivan.
And now my friend.
Today is a sad day at HP.
And a sad day for America.
December 13, 2006
Today, the housing bubble hit home, and it hurts.
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30 comments:
Wow.
Money makes rational people do irrational things
I posted this as a response to another thread, but would like to reiterate the words of Tim Iacono from Dollar Collapse "This is a classic financial bubble, not supported by the fundamentals and it will end badly for many, many people."
Send him some K-Y and the DVD of "How to do deepthroat".
You aren't talking about Greg Swann are you?
"And America will never be the same."
...................
The same as what?
A Norman Rockwell painting? Mayberry?
The United States began in murder and lies masquerading as truth and continues to this day. It's never been a very pretty sight.
Greg Swann may not do time but he'll burn in hell all the same
With all the media attention how is Casey Serin still a free man?
"and america will never be the same."
for sure, it will never be the same when it comes to quality of life.
Read Rachel Dollar's Mortgage Fraud Blog if you would like to stay up to day on the mortgage world's white collar crimes committed by all sorts of people in the real estate and mortgage business.
Smug
I bet you wish it was Gregg Swann.
If Greg Swann were to be arrested, would that be the final sign?
Everybody post's anonomous and can only come up with one sentence? The ejumication level on hp is shrinking.
Keith, Sorry about your friend. I could go on to list hundreds more examples such as you've cited. Some will never be prosecuted, but many will. This episode in history will end badly. This country (the U.S.) has been in decline ever since it became a debtor nation. Morals and scruples are non-existent. The U.S. is now rife with every type of rip-off artist ever known to man. That is how we exist. We no longer build, we destroy. We no longer give, only take. Your friend sacrificed his future for a little bit of paper money, their money, which they print for next to nothing. Some men will kill and steal even for a very small amount of this script. It is very sad. Don't be sucked in by the money changers. A clear conscience is its own reward.
Money laundering is not wrong. He shouldn't have to register his f-ing financial transactions with the feds. Your friend is not going to jail for wrongdoing, but is just another innocent victim of the war on drugs.
anon 2:13:12, I agree with you in priciple, but we live in a fascist plutocracy. They make the rules, we dance to the music.
n
"And America will never be the same."
...................
The same as what?
A Norman Rockwell painting? Mayberry?
The United States began in murder and lies masquerading as truth and continues to this day. It's never been a very pretty sight. "
Well put. But after we bring democracy and liberty to the middle east, we'll get a great reputation, count on it. Its not about the oil.
Sorry to hear about your friend.
The Housing Bubble's like the war in Iraq, you're gonna lose a lot friends before its over with...
Bernie Ebbers. Dennis Kozlowski. Andrew Fastow. Al Dunlap. Sanjay Kumar. Ken Lay. Joseph Nacchio. Frank Quattrone. John Rigas. Scott Sullivan.
Yeah, I put your buddy the escrow monkey into this category.
"You see Bud, the thing about money is that it makes you do things you don't want to do."
Money laundering is not wrong. He shouldn't have to register his f-ing financial transactions with the feds. Your friend is not going to jail for wrongdoing, but is just another innocent victim of the war on drugs.
Remember Ivan Boesky and Michael Milken? This is nothing new. It is destined to happen when an economy is predicated upon an inflating money supply. There will always be an overspill of liquidity in the system that will be taken advantage of by unscrupulous and greedy people. Some will get caught, some won't, and to quote Kurt Vonegut, so it goes....
It's too bad your friend got caught on the wrong side. Karma's a bitch sometimes.
the steve job's video reminds us to "steal from the rich and give to the poor" since the rich won't be around long....
seriously, "money laundering" is the reason why I think the housing bubble started.
do you remember that congressman in california who got defense industry kickbacks via real estate transactions?
and Obama, the democratic darling, is also rumored to have done the same thing.
giving bribes through "legitamite looking transactions" was apparently better than "insider information" or "a quote job unquote after you leave washington."
Money laundering is not wrong. He shouldn't have to register his f-ing financial transactions with the feds. Your friend is not going to jail for wrongdoing, but is just another innocent victim of the war on drugs.
==================================
Just how f-cking stupid are you? Our entire financial system is soaking in illegal drug money proceeds. Where the hell do you think real estate, stock market, along with professional sports and entertainment get their capital? From the drug trade you idiot!
Bring on more regulations not less and lets shut down this stupid drug economy where no body produces a damn thing for society anymore.
I could care less about Keith's friend other than the government should get the higher ups too.
And I care about that because ...?
If you care about the influence of illegal drug money on our economy, perhaps you should considering ending their prohibition so that no one can make such large amounts of money on drugs.
And I care about that because ...?
If you care about the influence of illegal drug money on our economy, perhaps you should considering ending their prohibition so that no one can make such large amounts of money on drugs.
Money laundering is not wrong
Actually... the drug trade in the US is the second biggest producer of jobs I believe (we're talking billions of dollars which makes it bigger than GM, Ford and Chrysler combined).
The problem however, is that the drug dealers are investing their US dollars offshore. (ie just like the Chinese are not willing to take US dollars and reinvest them into the states, so to are the cartels buying businesses and properties outside of the US with US dollars. This is NOT good for the American economy since the capital flees the country and is not reinvested).
In all honesty, if the government actually ever did manage to quash the drug trade - it would make this housing collapse seem like a firecracker next to a nuke. The US economy would go belly up in no time.
So I'm wondering... if you wanted to be patriotic... should you keep on toking up?
hmmm... maybe Clinton and dubya really are great americans...
Just don't inhale!
"Actually... the drug trade in the US is the second biggest producer of jobs I believe (we're talking billions of dollars which makes it bigger than GM, Ford and Chrysler combined)."
LOL! spoken like a true stoner. Too many factual errors and too much bullsh_t for one sentence, d-u-u-d-e. No cred for you.
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