Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?

Originally posted by Xtraeme
reply to post by Chinesis

 

You do realize you're describing fraud, right? Assuming fraud these people could be and should be investigated by the FBI. As of now though the fact is the statistic stands against this argument, and demonstrably shows the majority of mortgage fraud overwhelmingly involves collaboration or collusion by industry insiders. By all means, though, please feel free to report these reckless criminal borrowers. I'd be interested to learn whether or not the FBI thinks you have a legitimate claim.

edit on 7-3-2011 by Xtraeme because: (no reason given)

I personally was offered a home at 7% interest.
I was told they could make it work despite my income being too low.
My buddy neighbor (2 years ago) was able to get a house worth $600,000 with an interest only loan.

He claimed his mother who spoke zero English "didn't know" but it's just not true.
Many of the agents I was privy to are no longer in the industry.

They knew a balloon was coming in a few years.
They were told they could take the growing equity and use that as a down and refinance.

We all know how that turned out.

reply to post by dolphinfan

I find it comical that you talk about "generalized platitudes" without citing a wink of research while insinuating, despite the fact that the real-world numbers run counter to your claims, that somehow, you're right. I'm sorry, perhaps since you're on ATS, you thought by virtue of the general intelligence quotient of this website, that a statement like, "you are not going to put the plumber on main street in jail because he misrepresented his finances" will actually be taken as something more than unsubstantiated bollocks.

For something a little more "real" take a look at this: Biggest BitTorrent Downloading Case in U.S. History targets 23,000 Defendants. Kind of ruins your pet theory.

Asking why Wall Street isn't in jail is like asking why the prison warden isn't behind bars.

YOU are in jail. The screws are the Wall Street Bankers.

The thing I hate about all this is the argument that somehow greed wasn't the primary reason for the economic fallout. Also, buying a house in America is what everyone dreams about. If the bank suddenly tells you you're elegible for a mortgage it's not like you aren't going to consider it.

People probably would've been thinking a little more rationally if the banks had denied mortgage applications as they should have instead of giving out mortgages like sweaters at Old Navy.

Behind closed doors they had to have known what would eventually happen. But, no, everything was fine, right?

Of coarse, if you picture the CEO of a big financial firm focused on their 1.5 million dollar office remodel or a 4-figure umbrella rack it's easy to understand why they felt that way! Give us your money, everything will be fine!

-ChriS