Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Bette Middler as Economic Commentator


Yes, the women above is now an economics commentator. She tweets:





For the record, bank deregulation had nothing to do with the financial crisis. The crisis was caused by Federal Reserve money manipulations. And FDIC insure created moral hazard that caused consumers not to care which bank they placed their money with, BUT that was government intervention in the economy, not deregulation. 

As far as Glass-Steagall being eliminated, which allowed commercial banks to get into investment banking, that had nothing to do with the epicenter of the financial crisis. The two major financial collapses were Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, both of which were investment banks with no commercial bank operations. Glass-Steagall played no role in those collapses.

Middler ought to stick to bad singing, she is much better at in than economic commentary.

3 comments:

  1. For the record, lax regulation had everything to do with the banking crisis. Texas failed to suffer a banking crisis because of regulations enacted after the S&L crisis (half the S&L bailout money went to Texas).

    Quote: "In the subprime mortgage market, Texas law also restricts balloon payments to no more than twice what borrowers had been paying earlier; bans most negative amortization loans (in which the loan balance grows as borrowers write checks because payments don't cover interest); and prohibits the prepayment penalties that elsewhere locked hapless home buyers into high-cost mortgages. And when Congress passed legislation regulating mortgage brokers in 2008, Texas and North Carolina were the only states already meeting the new law's national standards, according to Commissioner Doug Foster of the Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending."

    ReplyDelete
  2. Pretty disingenuous to say Glass Stegall repeal played no role

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not disingenuous in the slightest. Had Glass-Steagall been in place ... the conditions for Lehman/Bear Stearns collapse still would have existed. They still would have blown up. The 2004 SEC ruling on net capital had more to do with the collapse of those institutions than Glass-Steagall did. Leverage, easy money and arrogance killed them ... not Glass-Steagall. So sick of hearing that endlessly proffered as a reason by those who don't understand what happened and why.

      Delete