Tuesday
Apr132010
Excessive Greed Led To Financial Crisis, Says Democrat Levin
Tuesday, April 13, 2010 at 4:30PM
By Antonia Aguilar
University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service
The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on Tuesday examined how high mortgage lending practices helped create the financial crisis of 2008.
“This Subcommittee investigation and the Wall Street excesses we’ve uncovered provide an eerie replay of a 1934 Senate Committee investigation into the causes and consequences of the 1929 stock market crash,” said the committee's Chairman, Carl Levin (D-Mich).
In his opening statement, Levin referred to the case of Washington Mutual Bank (WaMu), saying its decision to issue “shoddy” high risk, poor quality mortgage loans combined with lax regulations and second rate securities are what led to its downfall, and contributed greatly to the overall financial crisis.
“To rebuild our defenses, it is critical to understand that the recent financial crisis was not a natural disaster,” said Levin. “It was a man-made economic assault. People did it. Extreme greed was the diving force. And it will happen again unless we change the rules.”
University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service
The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on Tuesday examined how high mortgage lending practices helped create the financial crisis of 2008.
“This Subcommittee investigation and the Wall Street excesses we’ve uncovered provide an eerie replay of a 1934 Senate Committee investigation into the causes and consequences of the 1929 stock market crash,” said the committee's Chairman, Carl Levin (D-Mich).
In his opening statement, Levin referred to the case of Washington Mutual Bank (WaMu), saying its decision to issue “shoddy” high risk, poor quality mortgage loans combined with lax regulations and second rate securities are what led to its downfall, and contributed greatly to the overall financial crisis.
“To rebuild our defenses, it is critical to understand that the recent financial crisis was not a natural disaster,” said Levin. “It was a man-made economic assault. People did it. Extreme greed was the diving force. And it will happen again unless we change the rules.”
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