"The Banks gave loans to people who couldn't afford them". Isn't that the point?

[inthebrain]

I get a laugh everytime I hear someone say this. Isn't that the point of giving out a loan in the first the place?

Oh my!!!! The poor fucking banks!!!!

Gotta be kidding me with this shit. These group of tripple dippers that also invest in corporations so they can mooch labors profits, buy out the political process and make money off people because they can't afford shit, are playing like it's the workers they screw every day that are the ones responsible.

Sorry, but that's capitalism. Capitalism is not designed so the workers at the bottom get ahead. It's designed so that those up top can fuck em in the ass every which way they can. They don't even use lube. That's the whole point behind the pyramid scheme that is capitalism.

And yeah, sounds like these idiots hung emselves with their own rope to me. Oh, wait, we're supposed to pay for this shit so they can continue to ass rape us.

But it's us, the workers, that are responsible for this bullshit.....AGAIN!!!!

[midnight]

1. Well the banks took a bailout they didn't need!!! I guess

we will be blamed for not making congress listen to us.

[inthebrain]

4. Well of course!!!

We don't have enough money to buy em out.

Maybe we should have gone to a bank for a loan.

Imagine explainin that;

Loan officer, "Why are you using the money for?"

Loanee, "Well sir, I read that you gave senator X $250,000 last year. I need the $250,001 so he will support legislation that will give me a raise that's roughly 50 cents an hour. Oh, and I figure it would be beneficial to this bank because they already own a 30% share of the company I work for. "

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!!!

[Occam Bandage]

2. No, the point of a loan is not to give money to people who are likely incapable of paying it back.

That is what they mean by people "being able to afford" loans.

[inthebrain]

6. Yeah it is, that's called RISK!!!

And the point of giving a loan is because people can't afford to buy shit like housed and cars. Things that most folks need to survive and will pay out the ass for em because they have to.

You think someone takes out a home loan because they can afford the house?

[Occam Bandage]

7. Yes, risk exists. If the likely risk of default outstrips the likely profit on a type of loan,

a bank should not make that type of loan, and if they do so on a large scale they are going to fail.

Secondly, yes, people take out loans to buy things they cannot afford. The loan is always going to be for more money than they have on hand, obviously, or they wouldn't be taking out the loan. However, that isn't what they mean by a loan that people cannot afford. Rather, when commentators talk about loans that people cannot afford, they are talking about loans that people cannot ever pay back.

[inthebrain]

9. The whole point is that you really can't "afford" to pay it back

The irony is totally lost on you.

To claim that "the banks gave loans to people that couldn't afford em" is stupid no matter which you look at it. And if we were using your reasons "can't afford to pay it back" that further proves my point. That's why they have a credit rating system, because you CAN"T afford to pay this shit back. It's a matter of will you go without food, healthcare, gas etc AND pay this back.

So in reality people can't afford to pay back loans.

And if you don't, they fuck you with the credit rating system which many corporation now use to determine if you can get a job there. Afterall, can't have an employee that choses to feed his kids and take me to the DR rather than fatten their investors. Anyways, those fat pigs that invest in the company are gonna milk the fruits of your labor anyways.

But no, they are gonna really fuck you for your disloyalty to THEIR family. Their gonna fuck your credit so you can't get a job or even get a nice Ford Escort to live in.

[firedupdem]

3. What bothers me with that crap is the fact that people lost jobs

and couldn't afford their homes etc. any longer. Hell, I've always been frugal and saved money and paid my bills. First my job was gone...got another one at half the pay. Then my husbands job was gone. How fucking long do they think you can manage if you don't have a job? That blame the consumer mess pisses me off.

[inthebrain]

5. Most people still in their homes can't afford the payments

That's why the home values sky rocketed in the first place. So the banks could make more money and get more of your check. Everyone knew most folks were paying about 50% of the monthly income on their mortgages. The banks don't give a shit. More money for them.

Not that if you worked for a publicly traded company they weren't already skimpin off your ass cause you haven't gotten a raise in ten years. Heck, Alan Greenspan what their man at the Fed for this very reason.

[NYC_SKP]

8. Regulators looked the other way when ridiculous loans were being offered.

Brokers were shameless, borrowers should have known better, but in the end lack of oversight and regulation let this whole think happen.

Twenty years ago you needed to build credit, then put a hefty down payment down. There were balloon terms after, say, seven years where you'd have to refinance or sell, but by then you'd have equity.

These subprime and interest only loans (dealt to buyers with sketchy credit) should never, ever, have been allowed to be offered or to be consummated.

:patriot:

[jeanpalmer]

10. The housing bubble was the ultimate ponzi scheme,

perpetrated by the Fed. Through inflation, the Fed induced people to buy in at higher and higher prices. Early investors were paid off by later investors. Finally, prices got way too high and the last people in lost their money and the money of their backers. And the scheme collapsed. Now, the government is trying to revive it. Go figure.

[MarjorieG]

11. The bundling is so bad that homeowners paying affordable mortagages are foreclosed

Also that banks heavily prodded people who weren't interested to get into the opportunity to pay bills, etc. Like boiler rooms for stocks, bad behavior with mortgages.

[inthebrain]

12. ?

[phleshdef]

13. Whenever people start blaming the borrowers for being stupid....

I always say something along the lines of "fine, but blaming the borrowers isn't helping the failing economy, you can't legislate anti-stupidity laws, but you can make regulations that prevent stupid people from being taken advantage of for their stupidity, and when the good of the economy is at risk, which would you rather do? Sit around and talk shit about how stupid people are or actually do something to prevent them from taking actions that harms everyone in the end."

Thats really the only effective way to argue the issue with discompassionate Conservatives that love to blame people for being suckered but never want to place responsibility on the snakey assholes that rope them into these scams.

Personally, I don't feel that many of the borrowers being "stupid". I feel like the system was rigged in such a way that you would have to have a degree in finance to even comprehend what you were getting into in the first place. The language behind the terms of these sub-prime loans is excruciating and complex. People who get paid to communicate the terms of these kinds of loans should be fully responsible for making sure people understand what the terms REALLY mean. Not every potential home owner should have to take a class in legalise in order to responsibly buy a home.

[cottonseed]

14. There were simple formulas to follow. Whether people could pay the loan.

Banks didn't care. They bundled them up, sent them to Wall Street to inject into Foreign Governments, Retirment Accounts, Hedge Funds, and Local Governments, they collected the fees for originating the loans. They didn't give a shit. We shouldn't either.

On a note... These "banks" that we're discussing. They're just the big multi-nationals. Their purpose is to loan money for M&A activity and other big ticket items. They don't give a crap about real people -- those are serviced from small regionals and credit unions -- you know the financial institutions that aren't on the verge of bankruptcy.