October 28, 2008

Try to sum up the Great Housing Ponzi Scheme and Crash in twenty words or less


Here's my shot at it:



Unregulated obscene leverage gambled and lost by fraudsters, sheeple and thieves while corrupt and incompetent politicians and reporters slept.


Or the simpler one-word version:


Greed.


51 comments:

Anonymous said...

capitalism on the way up, communism on the way down.

Ross said...

That's a good synopsis of the essence of this blog, but what's the answer? I need a three pronged approach that could really turn this ship around. And how can HPer's help? All we do is sit around and whine and talk about the fact that no one listened to us. I need a plan of action damnit!

To that guy who always calls you Qweefer: You're an HPer too, you sanctimonious blowhard. Face it.

Anonymous said...

George W. Bush IN,

George W. Bush OUT.

Anonymous said...

A perfectly good waste of Vaseline!

Anonymous said...

Buy high, sell low?

Anonymous said...

.



You ain't seen nothin yet!



.

Anonymous said...

one word = Euronomics

with Eurotards joining the global economy they brought with them the same thinking that created the dark ages.

Anonymous said...

FRAUD

Professor Ichiro Vader said...

"Suzanne researched this."

Anonymous said...

Wall Street enriched themselves at the expense of Joseph Sixpacks 401K and never had to wear a mask during the robbery.

Paul E. Math said...

Loose monetary policy, combined with a culture of short-term thinking, consumption and materialism to produce not only the widespread belief that housing was an infallible investment but also made the means of acting on this belief available to all.

Anonymous said...

Land Shortage.

Anonymous said...

Stupidity.

Anonymous said...

Orange Man.

Anonymous said...

Stupidity, Fraud, Greed and more Stupidity

Anonymous said...

TEOTWAWKI

Anonymous said...

Prayer!

Anonymous said...

"It is easier to stay out than get out."
Mark Twain

Anonymous said...

A crazed horde of housing gamblers, flush with funny money, bid prices up to insane levels...

then the music stopped.

{perfect 20} ;^D

Saul said...

Privatise the gains, socialise the losses. Systemic failure, deceit and leadership incompetence. Possibly the beginning of the end.

edd browne said...

Ignorant populace enables
ignorant/evil govsters and banksters
who piss on democracy because
they have an unhealthy lack of fear.

Anonymous said...

No one forced these dumb fuck home buyers to take on debt that they couldn't afford in the first place. Nobody held a gun to their heads as empty as those heads are.

Mark said...

Legislature's real values are codified in laws passed. Executive branch's real values are codified in regulations written, enforced... and not.

AndrewHac said...

Fat Ass, Overweight, Obese, Diabetic, Pompous, Ignorant Americano perishing like flies in the land of the Great Snapper Turtle.

Mark said...

Ross,

Here are the answers:
(1) Voters: stop voting for people who are obviously incompetent. If we no longer knowingly vote in totally unaccomplished, untalented and uninspiring people, our odds of not fucking up the next two generations of Americans skyrockets. Warning: this may mean disenfranchising social conservatives.
(2) Federal government: make massive investments in a wide range of technologies like to bear revenue-producing products and intellectual property.
(3) Federal government: cut massively back on non-essential spending.
(4) Inflate the currency. Not elegant, but straightforward and proven way to get out from under a mountain of debt.
(5) Cut taxes.
(6) For all securitized assets (mortgages, school loans, credit cards, whatever else Wall Street dreams up), make independent verification of application information mandatory. Note: this service already exists and costs only $30.
(7) All resulting securitized instruments to only be sold to end customers accompanied by the above (though de-personally-identified) application information. This would allow the ultimate end customer (some hapless banker at UBS for example) to verify the quality of the asset. He has skin in the game, so I want him to be able to run his own risk models against the input data.
(8) Change accounting rules to force total transparency of all asset classes onto the books of the institutions holding them.
(9) Make fraud and/or malfeasance a death penalty offense. If death is good enough for murderers, it is good enough for people who knowingly mislead others to financial ruin.
(10) Make interest on savings tax exempt.

That is it Ross. Any hard problems for me?

-Mark

Anonymous said...

Thievery

Anonymous said...

While I was reading your first version, I was thinking of your second already.

Anonymous said...

The Electric Mortgage Kool-Aid Asshead Test

Anonymous said...

The Great Housing Ponzi Scheme & Crash, (haiku edition):


four beds, three baths
then suzanne asks
don't you want granite?


-DA in Boston

Anonymous said...

The parasites couldn't help but overfeed on the hosts. Almost (or may still) kill both of them.

Anonymous said...

GIFI - Greed Infused Financial Instruments!

Anonymous said...

explosive grand finale to a corrupt and unsustainable ponzi scheme of epic proportions.

Anonymous said...

Keynes convinces economic intellectuals that wealth is created not by saving and production but by debt and consumption.

Anonymous said...

.







FUCKED!







.

Anonymous said...

Always up up up
borrow, leverage, spend now
oh bloody shitcakes

Anonymous said...

Reganomics + Radical Religious Redneck Retards

Anonymous said...

535

Anonymous said...

1. TARDS
2. TOOLS
3. TANGELO
4. SUBPRIME
5. COUNTRYWIDE
6. BUSH
7. REALITWHORE
8. SWANN
9. SNAPPERHEAD
10. FRANK THE JERK
11. CONGRESS
12. WALL STREET
13. DUPED INVESTORS
14. FLIPPERS
15. FREDDIE
16. FANNIE
17. CONSUMERS
18. DEBT
19. DOLTS
20. DOPES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SEE YOU AT THE POPCORN LINE.

Anonymous said...

The Great New Depression TGND.

Coming to your neighborhood today.

Eat Shit and Die.

McCain-Palin, LOL!

Anonymous said...

Government central planning leads to malinvestment in real estate. When it collapses, government tries unsucessfully to prop it back up.

Anonymous said...

How about making it a math problem?

$150,000 home + 10 years + granite countertops + $100 worth of shrubs ≠ $750,000.

Anonymous said...

Whale oil beef hooked


(speak like an Irishman)

Anonymous said...

Douchebaggery

Anonymous said...

Flying Monkeys and Brown Shirts

Anonymous said...

I'm getting pretty tired of hearing people cite "greed" as the cause. You sound like McCain.

Greed is a part of the human condition. We can't do anything about it. Therefore, identifying greed as the cause is a worthless sentiment.

Low interest rates was the cause (thank Greenspan). Greed always exists, regulation is always inadequate or counter-produtive; but the bubble was caused by artificially low interest rates.

Anonymous said...

Moral hazard, facilitated by Fannie, Freddie and CDS made it possible for wall street and legions of greedy salespeople on commission to fleece greedy and/or ignorant sheeple.


Homeowners had no skin in the game because of non recourse loans and no down payments. Banks had no skin in the game because they sold loans to Fannie and Freddie as fast as they could close them on top of having bond insurance and CDS just in case. Fannie and Freddie's management knew if TSHTF Uncle Sam would bail them out so they had no skin in the game either. All private parties involves managed risk poorly because they perceived they had none. Turns out they were right as Uncle Sam was the only one to bear the consequenses of failure.

Anonymous said...

TO ANON 9:47PM

YOU FRICKIN TOOL, GREED IS ALWAYS THE MAIN FACTOR!!!!

GO TO SCHOOL AND GET A DEGREE YOU FRICKIN DOLT TARD PIECE OF SH!T PIG VOMIT DOPE!!

GREED IS WHAT CAUSES THOSE THAT COMMIT FRAUD TO GET CAUGHT!!!!

COMPLETE IGNORANCE, YOU PUSS-FILLED DOUCHE!!!!

ROT IN HELL WHERE YOU CAN ENJOY YOUR HIPPIE DELUSIONUAL IDEAS!!!!!

GRRED IS THE MAIN FACTOR IN THIS SHIT AND ALL OTHER SHIT FILLED FALLOUTS!!!!

WHAT WE NEED ARE PEOPLE THAT CANNOT BE BOUGHT!!!!!

REREAD THAT LAST STATEMENT!!!

WE NEED PEOPLE THAT ARE NOT FOR SALE!!!!!!!

STUPID ASS TOOLS!!!

DOPES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

what.. i get 1 percent interest on my savings so let the landlord rent out for one percent of value.....er it would not pay the local taxes.................

oneclickplus said...

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness.

You shall not covet your neighbour’s house, wife, ox, donkey, etc.

Anonymous said...

This planet has WAY TOO MANY Dumb people who need eliminated permanently.

Anonymous said...

Children of Hameln...