There Oughta Be A Law!

[xthread]

In another venue, someone argued 'the people who caused the mortgage meltdown be in jail?!'

I don't know if any of you, dear readers, happen to hold that view, but, if you do, would you be so kind as to tell me, in general terms, who you think ought to be in jail, and in specific terms, what you think they should be in jail for?

Let me note two important things at the outset: remember that lying to people is usually only against the law if you're doing so to cheat them out of money (which is why Bernie Madoff is in jail), and it's unconstitutional to make laws that make something retroactively illegal.

Got your moral outrage ready? Go!

Comments

[kest]

I thought that part of the problem with the packages was that it was very hard to tell that they were full of high-risk mortgatges, because they were so well mixed in with other stuff. Like if you make a soup and put a bit of dodgy meat in it, and it tastes fine, and someone else who is an expert tastes it and says 'oh yes, this is really high quality soup!' and then everyone gets sick after.

[xthread.livejournal.com]

Not so much - groupthink had a lot more impact - 'Everyone else has made a lot of money doing this, so it must be safe. If I don't do it, I will miss out on all that money I could be making, so I must do it, even if it is risky.' Oh, and I would dearly love to find the relevant US Trade Representatives who went around helping foreigners think that AIG was fully backed by the US Gov't and beat them repeatedly with a stick. But they didn't do anything illegal, just really, really stupid.

[kest]

cite, please, on who thought what was 'risky'. I am definitely under the impression that the ratings agencies stamping everything A-OK without really looking at it (possibly deliberately) was a big part of the problem. And if you're talking about putting the dodgy meat in in the first place, well, housing prices always go up, right? (I'm down with not illegal, just really stupid - if you'll remember my first comment, I only think that the stupidity *should* have been illegal, not that it was.)