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culture and thinking to convince us that greed is good, celebrate the idea that ANY transaction is a good one, and place enough people from or in sympathy with investment banks in government positions where they can influence policy. This was combined with wholesale purchase of politicians who wrote (and are writing) legislation that weakens or destroys the protections put in place since the Great Depression, creating a "moral hazard" in which they act in ways that they would not if their own assets, or those of their investors, were on the line.
This gave them the freedom to create collateralized debt obligations, (and cdo squared, and cdo cubed), so intricate that simply paying an insurance premium is sufficient to create a security - THEY DON'T EVEN NEED THE BORROWERS TO SCREW ANYMORE, and leveraging these by 10, 20, or 30 times with borrowed money. It allowed them to bathe whole neighborhoods with repeated refinancing of homes; higher and higher and higher until they fall in value, and then pointing at the people who were suckered in as the reason 30 million people (an increasing number) are unemployed, or are working and can't pay their bills, why whole cities are facing bankruptcy, and why people who depend on their pensions may well lose all or part of their safety net at a time in their lives when they most need it.
The results of that "cultural change" has been the "bailout" with taxpayer money for the reckless decisions of the banks, while people are taught to blame the poor, the lazy, the dark-skinned. It has been so wildy successful that it resulted in the president of the country, in a meeting, with the bankers, making the statement that "this administration is the only thing standing between you and the pitchforks".
Can you image a more successful campaign for compliance, when you can convince an entire political party, whose reputation was partly made by standing in front of the single parent, the hungry child, the worker and their job, to turn in place and protect the people who are trying to hurt them?
just sayin'...
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