The Sub-Prime Meltdown
Roosevelt jailed 1000 bankers for fraudulent practices.
During the S&L crisis Wm K Black helped Reagan do the same.
In The Best Way to Rob A Bank is to Own One Black give a nod
To the central role of “Control Fraud”
The sub prime meltdown required fraud on a massive scale
With Ninja loans deceptively crafted to support a sale
And contracts signed in parking lots on hoods of cars
With income left blank to be filled in by broker
Packages with loans likely to default
Were specifically designed to fall apart
And brokers knowing this from the start
Made millions by selling their client’s funds short
And part of the process worked like this
Rating agencies were pressured to give
Triple A rating to junk status stocks–
Misrepresentation and fraud without a doubt.
So I remarked to a broker I thought the remedy was jail
For sanctioning loans and funds designed to fail
And was shocked to hear her elicit the pathetic excuse
That an investor caveat absolved the brokers of abuse
According to Black criminality on such a wide scale
Should lead to prosecutions and time in jail
For it only can occur non-stop
With the knowledge and complicity of those at the top
And the fraud was massive with fraudulent loans
Targeted at minorities particularly blacks
Who with inevitable default lost their homes at a horrific rate
With no relief to help them get them back.
No when the system imploded and Bear Stears went down
It was clear the bankers in their greed had sold trash
The world around
Grinding the world economy into the ground
And Hank Paulsen with a gun the head
Said give me billions in bailout or the system is dead
And we did bail out the banks rather than let them fail
And the bankers all managed to avoid going to jail.
And over the next few years we see
Quantitative easing to the tune of 80 billion a month
As the people bought toxic loans
Keeping interest rates near zero-a boon to the banks
While the public paid usurious rates.
Greed is good it has been said
But the result is that the system is dead
As the solution – austerity
Means the people pay for the bankers’ mistakes.
Aside from Bernie Maddow not one banker
Has had for his crimes to answer
Because the banks are too big to let fail
And the bankers to important to end up in jail.
So I have great difficulties with my broker acquaintance
In absolving bankers of their responsibility
A caveat not withstanding
For causing wide spread homelessness and suffering
A caveat is fine if funds were legitimate
But do not absolve when fraudulently made
And the truth of the product assiduously concealed
The system may be beyond redemption.
The bankers resist anything that might
Limit their ability to continue
And Dodd-Frank is under continuous attack.
And Elizabeth Warren work restricted… or something.
Howard P. Charman, MD 12-20-2015