The Secret History of the Global Financial Collapse. Meltdown

An incredibly enlightening and informative series i stumbled across last night from the CBC about the financial 'meltdown' since 2008 and the various factors involved. In depth and complicated, it's worth your time.

HOUR 1: The Men Who Crashed the World Greed and recklessness by the titans of Wall Street triggers the largest financial crash since the Great Depression. It's left to US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, himself a former Wall Street banker, to try and avert further disaster.

HOUR 2: A Global Tsunami The meltdown's devastation ripples around the world from California to Iceland and China. Facing economic ruin, desperate world leaders are at each other's throats.

HOUR 3: Paying the Price The victims of the meltdown fight back. In Iceland, protestors force a government to fall. In Canada, ripped off autoworkers occupy their plant. And in France, furious union members kidnap their bosses.

HOUR 4: After the Fall Investigators begin to sift through the meltdown's rubble. Shaken world leaders question the very foundations of modern capitalism while asking: could it all happen again?

Something that stood out to me at the very end of 'hour 4' was the claim that Cina was on the verge of the next major housing bubble being burst.

fun facts from the series: Half of America owns only 2.5% of country's wealth. The top 1% owns a third of it.

The gap between the top 0.01% and everyone else hasn't been this bad since the Roaring Twenties.

In 1950, the ratio of the average executive's paycheque to the average worker's paycheque was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to one.

In 2008, the total national household debt in Canada has reached an all-time high of $1.3 trillion. A survey found that 42% of respondents said their personal debt was rising in the past three years, and 21%said they couldn't manage their debt.

61% of Americans "always or usually" live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49% in 2008 and 43% in 2007. The numbers are similar in Canada.

A staggering 43% of Americans have less than $10,000 saved up for retirement. In America today, the average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks.

In 2008, the World Economic Forum rated Canada's banking system No. 1 in the world. The U.S. came in right behind — Namibia.

www.cbc.ca...

TImeline for a Meltdown:

1980s

New mortgage laws in the United States allow for higher interest rates and a greater range of products. Many of these target borrowers with bad credit.
1986

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's 'Big Bang' deregulates London's financial industry.
1987

Alan Greenspan is appointed Chairman of the Federal Reserve in the United States. He will become the most influential figure in the global economy.

1997

Efforts to regulate these new credit derivatives are resisted by Wall Street and blocked by the White House.
1999

The US Congress repeals the Glass-Steagall Act after a $300 million US lobbying effort by the banking and financial services industries. The law had separated commercial banks (money lenders) from investment banks (those who organize the sale of bonds & equities).

2003

Iceland’s three biggest banks have assets of only a few billion dollars. Over the next three-and-a-half years bank assets grow to over $140 billion US, on paper. From 2003-2007, the Icelandic stock market multiplies by nine times. And in Rejkjavik, real-estate prices triple.

2004

Goldman Sachs CEO Hank Paulson lobbies the US Securities & Exchange Commission to allow investment banks to increase their debt-to-capital ratio from 12:1 to 30:1 or higher.

Assistant FBI Director Chris Swecker warns that the booming mortgage market, fueled by low interest rates and soaring home values, has attracted unscrupulous professionals and criminal groups whose fraudulent activities could cause multibillion-dollar losses to financial institutions. "It has the potential to be an epidemic," says Swecker.

2005

Testifying before Congress, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan says, "Although a "bubble" in home prices for the nation as a whole does not appear likely, there do appear to be, at a minimum, signs of froth in some local markets where home prices seem to have risen to unsustainable levels."

2006

The boom in U.S. housing prices abruptly reverses course. Prices fall. Defaults rise. Dozens of subprime mortgage lenders will soon be going bankrupt. CNN Money later reports that subprime mortgages have five times the delinquency rate of prime loans.

Ben Bernanke – an academic and Great Depression scholar - succeeds Alan Greenspan as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the United States Federal Reserve.

Henry Paulson – former CEO of the investment bank Goldman Sachs - is sworn in as United States Treasury Secretary. Paulson was forced to sell $500 million US worth of Goldman stock at the peak of the bull market to adhere to conflict-of-interest rules. During his tenure as CEO, Goldman issued almost $37 billion US in bonds backed by subprime loans or second mortgages.

28.3.2007

"At this juncture, however, the impact on the broader economy and financial markets of the problems in the subprime market seems likely to be contained," says Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
22.6.2007

It is revealed that two hedge funds run by Bear Stearns are faltering because of investment in bonds backed by subprime mortgages.
8.2007

Subprime mortgage problems go global as hedge funds and banks around the world reveal substantial holdings of mortgage-backed securities in their investment portfolios. France's BNP Paribas announces on August 9 that it cannot value the assets held by three of its hedge funds.
10.8.2007

With lending markets drying up around the world, central banks coordinate to inject liquidity into credit markets for the first time since 9/11. The U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and the Banks of Australia, Canada, and Japan all inject money.

13.9.2007

The BBC reports UK mortgage lender and bank Northern Rock has asked for emergency support. Within minutes of the bulletin, customers began logging on to Northern Rock's website and withdrawing their cash. The website then crashed, fueling panic. The next morning, line-ups of depositors withdraw £1 billion in Britain's largest bank run in more than a century.
9.10.2007

Dow Jones Industrial Average hits a record peak of 14,164. By February 2009, the Dow will fall to just over 6,500.

17.3.2008

Bear Stearns, Wall Street's fifth-largest bank, avoids collapse with an last minute rescue by rival JP Morgan in a deal is backed by the United States government.

19.6.2008

Bear Stearns executives Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin are arrested and charged with fraud. To date, Cioffi and Tannin remain the only major US financial figures to face criminal charges related to the financial meltdown. They were later acquitted of criminal wrongdoing but face civil charges.

17.9.2008

Lloyds TSB announces it is to take over Britain's biggest mortgage lender Halifax Bank of Scotland. 25 September 2008 American bank and mortgage lender Washington Mutual is closed by regulators. It is the second largest bankruptcy in American history and the US largest bank failure ever.
29.9.2008

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average falls 778 points -- the biggest point drop in a single day ever.

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reply to post by incrediblelousminds


Your time line as to when it started is partically correct. I believe it started in late 1990`s to early 2000`s. The two presidents in charge at the time were able to float the boat past their terms, and as I do agree Obama and the entire government seems to be pushing it ever faster, it happens to be the time is know for the immenent disaster to occur. I half believe in NWO/OWO, if it is true then what a better way to dessolve the world economies and take control of the ants-the commoners. If it is not true NWO/OWO then I place the blame on Bush and Obama as they and their houses both have worked in selfish greedy intentions towards or shall I say against us americans and the world peoples lives and monies. ( im kinda thinking there is more then just usa involved also )

reply to post by lbndhr


as the time line shows (its not mine, but is from the cbc, and is not complete) this goes back MUCH further than Bush/Obama. Such attempts to simplify it into such terms only serves to obfuscate the real roots of the issue, which are de-regulation of the financial sector.

reply to post by incrediblelousminds


You are right.

Originally posted by lbndhr
reply to post by incrediblelousminds

 

You are right.

No, you are.

I have to say, when they are interviewing Dominique Strauss-Kahn in the 4th episode, and he was discussing the need for strong international regulatory agencies to monitor these huge lending institutions, I couldn't help but think that woud be a very compelling reason for these fabled 'banksters' to go after him with such efficient vigor.

Very interesting read. Thanks for sharing. But how exactly is this information secret?

Do you think the meltdown is over?