The Responsibility of the Federal Reserve for the Mortgage Meltdown
There has never been more confusion about mortgages than at this particular time in history. The world economy has collapsed. Much of the world lays the blame for the collapse at the feet of greedy Americans. While this is patently unfair (who’s not happy to sell us crap?), it is true that three American parties do share the blame. The first two are those who bought homes they couldn’t afford and those who gave them mortgages. Of these, the most dangerous and most responsible party, the Federal Reserve Bank, is also the malefactor fingered the least.
The Federal Reserve increased the amount a bank could loan relative to the amount the bank holds in deposits. It is hard to argue that the increase to a 30-1 ratio was simple idiocy. Jon Stewart repeatedly hammered this point home when demolishing Mad Money host Jim Cramer on March 12th. Why is Republican Congressman Ron Paul the only politician in Washington pointing at the Federal Reserve Bank? Why are heads not rolling and careers ending at Treasury?. And they should pay. Congress must rescind the Bank’s charter and replace it with a central bank controlled by the Treasury Department.
Mortgage brokers tried selling a subprime mortgage to any prospect that had a pulse. With interest rates at historic lows (until now, and God help us), mortgages were made to people that mortgage brokers knew could not afford the payments if interest rates were to return to their historic averages.
These shaky mortgages were then bundled and sold to financial firms as ‘asset backed paper,’ the now infamous ‘toxic assets’ we, the taxpayer, are buying from the banks. Toxic assets don’t exist in the real world. In the real world they have a different name: liabilities. The government is effectively using your money to buy these liabilities named toxic assets.
And lastly are the people who bought homes they couldn’t afford, and then started whining that they didn’t know they had an adjustable rate mortgage. I know that’s harsh, but it is the truth. Pity them, yes. Bail them out? Not a chance.