need to add title here

Inside The Collapse, Part 2

March 14, 2010 12:07 PM

Michael Lewis talks about the current situation on Wall Street, the large bonuses still being paid and his predictions for the future of the industry. Steve Kroft reports.

Wall Street: Inside The Collapse
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by georgann21 November 1, 2010 10:16 AM EDT
and the country is poised to toss out the Dems?

I recognize that the DEMS are infected with the Wall St monies - but there are few choices in this environment.

Unfortunately if you vote DEM - you get gay marriage and illegals with your clean water ... if you want clean water.

If you vote GOP - you lose more jobs to multi nationals and turn the other cheek to spills and poisonings of our world. -- oh, but they will keep your 18 year old from getting an abortion.

a pox on both their houses.
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by pkmsbl August 18, 2010 1:17 AM EDT
Hank Paulson, Tim Geitner, Larry Summers, Robert Rubin - what do they have in common? All Goldman Sacs Boys. Put these sharks in with a fishbowl full of guppies (Congress, George Bush, Obama) who are so uneducated and ingnorant and what do you get? A multi trillion dollar bailout for all the morons on wall street and who pays? The little people. I remember our US Senator Patty Murray say "This bailout is not about wall street - its about main street" Have you gotten your bailout? Follow the money and you'll see who makes the rules. Ultimately the biggest fools are the American people for allowing this. The Bible in Hosea 4:8 says "My people perish for they lack knowledge".

Wake Up America!
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by megawavez May 18, 2010 10:42 AM EDT
Perhaps not this year, but maybe going into next, we might see a witch hunt begin for these folks...
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by JayneMike May 6, 2010 8:48 PM EDT
My husband and I have a paltry amount of money. We used to have large 401k's. All our money was lost..what happened? Corporate Greed. It is still happening. Our jobs have gone down over 50 percent and we are expected to keep paying rising utility bills and more? Please..we are barely getting by. I warn all AMERICANS TO NOT INVEST IN THE STOCK MARKET!! I have only three words..CROOKS, CROOKS, CROOKS!!
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by tyburbank April 4, 2010 9:39 PM EDT
This segment makes me wonder about the recent bull market on wall street. Anyone buying stock now should beware of a sharp downturn. Should the DOW be trading at 10,900 like it is right now so soon after the collapse?
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by tyburbank April 4, 2010 9:28 PM EDT
This revelation makes me wonder about the recent run up in the stock market. Wall street is back to the old game of pumping stocks. The dow should be trading much lower than 10,900, like it is now.
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by Jingogunner March 23, 2010 3:42 PM EDT
Wall St is not separate from humanity. They are very much the same sort of people as those who control the military, the public services, the justice system and every other human organisation you can think of anywhere in the world. Wall St have shown themselves to be greedy, uncaring, monstrously incapable and pathologically in Denial. I find this dismal truth extremely frightening. No wonder every human agency is riddled with incapacity, failure,and corruption. How long before people responsible for nuclear weapons, foriegn policy, or any other essential national function allow their failings to take over just as Wall St have? In the future we may look back on the sub-prime fiasco as a fond memory of happier times. . .
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by Richardhg March 23, 2010 3:09 PM EDT
Sorry, not a Futures Exchange: a Derivatives Exchange, modeled after the Futures Exchange. :)
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by SMUFinanceGuy March 22, 2010 1:06 AM EDT
Wall Street's role in this financial crisis comes down to one word. . . ACCOUNTABILITY. Put more simply, if I go gambling in Vegas for the weekend and loose all my savings, then I will suffer and my family will too, but it is not going to bring down the whole US economy. Wall Street needs it's incentives aligned with responsible decision making, not the outrageously profitable.

Forget the packaging of these securities, how responsible were the people who allowed these loans to be made in the first place. I know nim witts who made a killing in the mortgage business pre- 2007.

Please know that I do not believe investment banks and the bright people who work for them are evil. These are some of the most intelligent and exciting people to work with and their service provides businesses, who employ workers, to grow and succeed in the US and internationally. Investing will fuel our transition to clean energy and advancement in technology and medicine.

Lastly, I feel very passionately that a world class education is the tool we need for innovation, which ultimately leeds to jobs. Im perhaps most concerned about the high cost of education and the budget cuts at universities. ID LIKE TO HEAR A CREATIVE IDEA PLACING GREATER INCENTIVES TOWARD STRONG ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN COLLEGE. MAYBE A REDUCTION IN YOUR LOANS??
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by nens12 March 18, 2010 1:05 PM EDT
Very misleading. He use the example saying that wall street was advising their clients to load up on subprime security and at the same time betting against them. But Wall Street was on the same side as their clients, if they wasn?t then they wouldn?t be in this situation. Yes I am sure they also had short position against the subprime market but that was just an attempt to limit risk. These institutions were NET LONG the housing market. The same overall position as most of their clients. But he made it sounds as if they were doing something evil when in fact what they were doing was a normal part of business.

Ask yourselves this question; why were these low grade loans in the market in the first place? If the markets were allowed to operate freely without government intervention these loans would have never been in the market. Analyze the political side of the housing boom. Dems use the housing boom as a tool to garnish votes.

Lastly, these banks for whatever reason, made some really bad business decisions. However, that does not equate to them being evil and suddenly becoming responsible for the entire economy.

Businesses are allowed to make mistakes as long as they are acting within the law. Their goal is to generate returns, not to make decisions that would benefit the entire economy.
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