This is old news now (almost a year), but i think it fits like a glove into this thread... and also ties into the whole 'Occupy Wall Street' movement currently underway. The banks engaged in predatory subprime lending because —thanks to the magic of mortgage "securitization" and the ability to obtain triple-A ratings on such "derivatives" (e.g., collateralized debt obligation) —they never really cared about any risk when loaning money... because they were able to turn around and sell that risk en masse to greedy and/or foolish investors. All that's left is to foreclose like mad... to sweep their books clean of the evidence. [I believe Steely Dan had an album called "The Royal Scam"].

And some wizards were able to wager that the whole mess would go awry (akin to someone buying fire "insurance" on someone else's house), and they pocketed major coin when it all collapsed.

crazy

Last edited by Hal Itosis; 10/09/11 10:05 PM.