CBS Says What Caused Financial Crisis, Now Let's Ask Who?

Hello Papamoka Bloggers - Did any of you watch the 60 Minutes report last night that explained one of the main reasons we're in this financial mess today? The CBS report explained what Warren Buffet once called "financial weapons of mass destruction," referring to credit derivatives or the now-dreaded credit default swaps. Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes did a FANTASTIC story explaining the multi-trillion dollar market.

We should all be aware of how our elected representatives acted LIKE IDIOTS! We all need to be aware of how President CLINTON and the Republican Congress of 2000 (supported by our weak and pathetic Democrats) pushed legislation SUPPORTED BY WALL STREET AND GREENSPAN to allow gambling on Wall Street. Wow, I'm even happier we chose Obama and not Hillary. I really don't want Bill anywhere near the White House now.

The derivatives market is thought to have been one of the most important reasons why some of the biggest financial institutions in the world crashed this year. As the report explains, the new derivatives are nothing more than legalized gambling, which allow you to wager on financial outcomes without ever having to actually buy the stocks and bonds and mortgages. See the whole report here.

I've been aware of the many pieces of deregulation legislation pushed by leading Republicans that lead to market erosion, but I was stunned to learn of this specific piece of legislation that allowed the same gambling many believe caused the first Great Depression. It was supposedly pushed by Alan Greenspan himself during the last few hours of the Clinton presidency, which is why many believe it was carried overwhelmingly by both parties. They trusted him, the MORONS!

I will be doing my own research into the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 to find out more about WHO WE SHOULD BLAME! I need to know more about who pushed it, and who dropped the ball in investigating it. As citizens we are paying for these mistakes, so it is up to us to find out which of our elected officials SCREWED UP! This goes beyond parties. This is about corruption. I want to know who did this and why. This is only the beginning, so stay tuned.

Michael Boh
Papamoka's Left Coast Contributor
from Our Rants & Raves Blog