U.S. Sets 50 Bank Probes - WSJ.com

Q & A: WHAT ABOUT BANKERS SALARIES? :U.S. Sets 50 Bank Probes - WSJ.com
Question:

It's easy to blame Fannie and Freddie.

But, who wrote those bad loans? The bankers who walked away with multi-million dollar bonuses and severence packages?


Answer:

Gee, did you check what the top execs at Fannie and Freddie made in salary and bonuses?

And, if you recall, there were warnings to people about the housing bubble - after all, incomes weren't going up - just housing prices and lots of new houses.

It was a ponzi scheme that many people chose not to look at.

Plus, with Basel II, etc. the idea of bankers actually having to think about investments they might make was obviated by just buying AAA rated instruments to ease reserve requirements.

With Basel III, it's gotten worse. All the European banks are flooded with sovereign debt that it is illogical could ever be repaid (e.g. with socialist entitlement costs of 3 to 5 to 15% of GDP (after already heavy taxation) and little or no economic growth (again, with anti-business and anti-growth tax and regulatory policies), it is hard to see how piling up debt year after year can't end anything but badly!

Oh yes, these are Obama policies as well.

And, frankly, they are the result of government policies, not banking policies per se.

Those bankers who can find a way to make huge sums on this stupidity on the part of government and the electorate should receive accolades. They aren't hiding what is going on - rather, they are calling attention to it.

And, as the European governments are trying to legislate out of existence such attention by constraining hedge funds and others who trade against the debt bubble these governments are creating.