Re: Economist nonsense Soc.Sec. and houses

On Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:00:11 -0800, Peter Franks wrote:

> Mason C wrote:
>> That is a failure of the unregulated free market -- overselling and in
>> many cases outright deception if not criminal fraud.
> 
> What is an example of the deception and/or fraud?

Dang where to start.

Deception and fraud was made in the rating of the bonds that were 
composed of very dicey mortgages which were then sold off as sound 
investments. I believe this is what did the real 'setting off' not the 
individual loans themselves nor the building of the houses.

Banks were deceptive to the home buyer by telling them 'it was ok' to 
take out loans based on the 'projected(!!)' value of that home. They
were also deceptive to their own shareholders by not concerning 
themselves all that much, it seems, with the ability of the buyers to pay 
off the loan.

Then we come into the world of derivative swaps, institutional short/long 
selling vis a vi insider trading. In the end however we must address the 
core deception of a debt based economy. 

> How come I didn't get suckered into the deception and fraud when I
> refinanced several years ago?

Was it a 'consolidation loan'? Who now owns the loan? 

All's well that ends well.