Swindling however ingeniously done will remain swindling after all. Even the 'casinoisation' is not new. It is endemic to capitalism. The peice,masterful in its treatment and sweep, is though a bit "too long".
A good long piece. There are several other aspects regarding development of subprime loan crisis. Giving loans to subprime borrowers ( bprrowers with loew credit score) LOans were given with low or no margins. i.e. 100% loans as aganst 70 or 80% with a 30% or 20$ margis. Loans were also given at low interest rates initially & rates were to go up later. All thi made loans more attractive for the moment. This was all right as long as house price were increasing & interest rares were comming down. The things changes when house prices started comming down & interest rates going up. Securitization emade it possible for banks giving housing loans to transfer it to other institutions & investors all over the world. So when the loans turned bad the impact was not lomited to US banks that gave such loans first but to other subsequebnt investors spread over glob.The derivative instruments further enlarged the intensity & spread of the crisis.It is true that capitalism has moved from crisis to crisis and this too wouldnot be its last crisis.
sanjeev chandorkar Its worth noting what Allen Greenspan, former FED chairman, has to say while deposing in front of Committee of Government Oversight and Reform on October 23, 2008 '' the whole intellectual edifice ... collapsed because the data inputted into the risk management models generally covered only the past two decades, the period of euphoria. Had the models been fitted to historic periods of stress... the financial world would have been in much better shape'' ( as quoted in Monthly Review Dec 2008 )
the article on the crisis of US financial system is great.
ReplyDeleteSwindling however ingeniously done will remain swindling after all. Even the 'casinoisation' is not new. It is endemic to capitalism.
ReplyDeleteThe peice,masterful in its treatment and sweep, is though a bit "too long".
A good long piece. There are several other aspects regarding development of subprime loan crisis. Giving loans to subprime borrowers ( bprrowers with loew credit score) LOans were given with low or no margins. i.e. 100% loans as aganst 70 or 80% with a 30% or 20$ margis. Loans were also given at low interest rates initially & rates were to go up later. All thi made loans more attractive for the moment. This was all right as long as house price were increasing & interest rares were comming down. The things changes when house prices started comming down & interest rates going up. Securitization emade it possible for banks giving housing loans to transfer it to other institutions & investors all over the world. So when the loans turned bad the impact was not lomited to US banks that gave such loans first but to other subsequebnt investors spread over glob.The derivative instruments further enlarged the intensity & spread of the crisis.It is true that capitalism has moved from crisis to crisis and this too wouldnot be its last crisis.
ReplyDeletesanjeev chandorkar
ReplyDeleteIts worth noting what Allen Greenspan, former FED chairman, has to say while deposing in front of Committee of Government Oversight and Reform on October 23, 2008 '' the whole intellectual edifice ... collapsed because the data inputted into the risk management models generally covered only the past two decades, the period of euphoria. Had the models been fitted to historic periods of stress... the financial world would have been in much better shape'' ( as quoted in Monthly Review Dec 2008 )
And what were Greenspan & Co doing while the misfitting of the models was going on? Sunbatheing in Spain? He is suddenly wise after the event!
ReplyDelete