Unfortunately, I was working and people were talking and all sorts of stuff tried to distract me from it, but I attached a little portable radio to my belt (was moving around a lot) and tried my best to follow it while working and communicating with my work mates. Luckily I caught the website to TAL and will be able to hear what I missed. I actually found a torrent I might go for that is available right now.

Here is my main concern. It seems like they didn’t mention or get in to “Fractional Reserve Banking”! Perhaps I missed it. It’s very possible I missed it. But I wonder how it fits into this equation, cuz I’m sure it plays a key role.

If you are ignorant to the “Fractional Reserve Banking”, then check out this: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=9DAF8813F0358C04
It does a similar great layman’s terms explanation of the Fractional Reserve Banking system as this one here does an the current Banking Crisis.

So does this theory allow for Fractional Reserve Banking?

Today on 60 minutes, Harry Markopolos mentioned that fraud is wide-spread on Wall Street.

I used to work for one the major banks mentioned on NPR. Two years I blew a whistle on my employer, and I am still involved with this case. There was no action from the government during this time, the bank’s share prices went down 90% and they are still dragging on my case.

To say that fraud was limited to mortgage appraisal is a major understatement. Actually, the organization you pointing to filed suit against rating agencies – the ones that rated securitized pool of mortgages as AAA investment. That fraudulent rating process tool place long after fraudulent house appraisal.

I have access to some scholarship funds (e.g., for students, small nonprofits, etc.) – if interested, please contact me at lewisma9@msu.edu.
CHECK IT OUT: http://www.ncrc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=376&Itemid=91

http://www.ncrc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=371&Itemid=118

and

http://www.ncrc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=409&Itemid=118

It is all so complicated! NCRC also created the national Appraisal Institute which has had some success already in raising standards for the home appraisals which underlie all those toxic mortgages - fraud, as Boris writes.
Don't get discouraged, get mad! and join with the efforts that are making some headway against the greed and malfeasance that led to this cascading tragedy.
[signed: one of the many volunteers in NCRC's economic justice network]

They came very close to saying the f-word – fraud – which has to be acknowledged before the real fix can be found. One economist was saying that banks’ and government’s statements are close to deception, but, again, nothing accusatory.

There was some dancing around Deutsche Bank’s LaVorgna’s opinion letter, calling these people mafia, but it is not the same as calling for criminal prosecution of bankers and mortgage brokers – one of which was featured in the second installment (repeat of Planet Money episode), who according to the presenter “avoided committing most of the abuses”.

Until some heads roll, there will be no solution to this crisis as fraud will continue.

I haven’t caught up with this broadcast yet. But there is one thing you can do to control this situation and that is talk about it. Just what you are doing. If one outcome seems almost unspeakable, talk about it anyway – a burden shared is a burden halved.

Wired, for example, has a piece on “radical transparency” (see http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-03/wp_reboot?currentPage=all) that argues that …

“That’s why it’s not enough to simply give the SEC—or any of its sister regulators—more authority; we need to rethink our entire philosophy of regulation. Instead of assigning oversight responsibility to a finite group of bureaucrats, we should enable every investor to act as a citizen-regulator. We should tap into the massive parallel processing power of people around the world by giving everyone the tools to track, analyze, and publicize financial machinations. The result would be a wave of decentralized innovation that can keep pace with Wall Street and allow the market to regulate itself—naturally punishing companies and investments that don’t measure up—more efficiently than the regulators ever could.”

It’s suggestions like these, developed through the frank exchange of dissimilar ideas, that are our best hope.

Last weeks “Plan B” program was hilarious.

And there is nothing I can do to control this situation. the worst feeling in the world. . .