UMD Libertarians

For gross negligence, or fraud, or both.

Until quite recently both were yammering about how the economy was fine, there was no real crisis, etc.

Now, suddenly Bernanke fesses up to congress that unless the bailout passes, things are going to get very bad, and the US faces a dramatic crises.

If they didn’t see this coming, given their responsibilities and position, I think this is negligent on their part.

But I believe it’s more likely that they knew, and pretended otherwise. Whatever their excuse, that’s fraud, and they should be held responsible.

squeeky wheel gets the grease, and they’re asking for a LOT of grease right now
Nah lets just let the people who caused the mess try to fix it then punish them later
Yeah it’s definitely their fault. Let’s blame the govt for the banks’ decisions to package mortgages together and create derivatives on top of derivatives, and the peoples’ decisions to take on loans they couldn’t afford.

I honestly believe Greenspan did what he thought was best at the time and although he can be accused of mismanagement, I don’t think his conduct rises to the level of negligence.

Bernanke & Paulsen changed their tunes basically overnight. Greenspan fessed up long before either of them did. No excuse for them imo.

for their role in the policies that helped lead us into this mess, absolutely. and their complete mishandling of the situation, and astounding failure in their duties to help mitigate the problems.

that’s what gets me- until just a few days ago, if you listened to Bernakne, everything was fine. Now, suddenly, we need this bailout or things are going to fall apart, and the US is facing a severe crisis. Give me a break. If he was too dense to not see this coming despite being warned over and over and over, he has absolutely no business being in charge of a lemonade stand, much less the federal reserve.

BS, I read an article with an interview with Bernanke in MAY saying that he saw the economy heading for a recession…why not much was done and who’s fault that is…I don’t know.
link to article? I recall Bernanke mentioning recession as a possibility, but even so, his stated expectations were for something mild. Every mention of financial crisis was met with a brush off.

I didn’t save it.

As far as I recall he was saying all indicators pointed to a recession and the article didn’t mention how bad it would be.

How do you know what has been said by these guys behind closed doors?

It would be a disaster if Bernanke were to ever publicly utter the words, "Great Depression" no matter how strongly he believed it.

according to this, as of May 21, Bernanke didn’t clearly say he thought the economy was in recession. I found some articles that quoted him as saying it was possible, but he didn’t mention anything close to what he’s said over the past few days.

That’s what I’m saying. If he’s lying about it, concealing it, etc. that is FRAUD. Plain and simple.

Fed chairmen never give a straight answer. Ever.

"the clearest signal yet that Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and other bankers believe the economy is in a recession."

seems like he pretty much said it. These guys don’t have a crystal ball…they can’t predict the future and they can’t tell the american public what they THINK MIGHT happen.

ummm. he isn’t an elected official. no, it’s not.

That’s the thing. Fed chairmen seems to have made an art out of coloring over things they don’t want to directly address.

So … I doubt that you’ll ever be able to claim fraud on Bernanke. Negligence, certainly. Not fraud.
of course it is. As chairman of the Fed, the buck stops at his desk for what the fed is selling. if he’s telling lies that has an impact on the transactions that people enter into with the Fed, that’s fraud

even so, there should be an investigation, and stricter rules in place for accountability. an investigation could help prompt those rules.

yet Bernanke will happily go on record claiming the economy is fine, the problems are minor and are being addressed. maybe a minor recession, but nothing serious.

now all of a sudden that changes. this man is in charge of the banking system for the entire country. If we’re pointing fingers at investment bankers, those fingers also need to be pointed to the man at the very top.

without good knowlege of what’s going on, the appropriate words are ‘I don’t have enough information to make a statement’

otherwise, it raises the negligence issue.

I doubt that went on.

if you just look at the article and the stats and then add in the housing crisis we were already going through any semi intelligent person could tell things were not going to be good.
Bernanke has been quoted numerous times saying that the situation was not a calamity and a recession was a ‘possibility’ and should be mild, if anything.

frankly, whatever the outcome, I believe that the American people have a right to know exactly what went on behind closed doors.

We are paying for this mess out of our own pockets, each and every one of us. I don’t buy the politician’s explanation that it’s greedy bankers’ faults. I want to see what is under the rug.

Pro Tip: Paulson was the CEO of the nations #1 investment bank. He was one of the major players in the subprime mortgage disaster and have intimate inside knowledge well before any of it came to light.
I didn’t know this. And I’m willing to bet that I don’t know a LOT more, and that very few other people do either. I think everyone has a right to know exactly what has been going on, and exactly what types of connections people have with each other, and where their interests lie.

I’m sure someone will get an exposè on it one day. But, probably not for 10 years or so.

I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or serious
I’m being 100% serious. I’m sick of hearing nothing but buck passing by politicians. If Wall St. should be held accountable, our government should be held accountable too. No talk of another bailout package until doors are opened and the American people get to see clearly what is & has been going on.

I agree.
Oh look, Paulsen just said people should be more scared than mad:

The guy has a hand in the worst financial crises in decades, and he’s telling us to not be so mad!

"He should be angry and he should be scared – and I think right now he’s angrier than he is scared,” said Paulson “And it puts us in a difficult position"

Noose around the neck is a difficult position. I wonder what Mr. Paulsen would think about that.

yes they can
An expert on economic growth, to be sure.

and they have been. and spinning it as authoritative, to boot. We’ve heard for a long time now that things are fine. Now all of a sudden it’s impending doom. They didn’t care enough to consider the risks openly until this past week, but they were content to brush everything under the rug and say that things were alright. Not "I think things are ok", but "things are ok".

bingo. and many of the people who patted themselves on the back for fixing things up after the scandal are now exposed for their true accomplishment- missing the big picture by a couple billion miles.

Why stop at just Bernanke and Paulsen.
Let’s also investigate politicians that got money from Freddy and Fanny too.
Follow the kickbacks and take a look at everyone who dipped their pens in the ink.
I fully agree. I saw on the news that the FBI is actually investigating Fannie & Freddy now. How far it will go though, who knows.

maybe someone can answer me this.

Why should we believe a word out of Bernanke’s mouth re: necessity of the bailout, if the guy didn’t see this coming? Suddenly the light switch goes on and he has enough knowledge to say what’s necessary and what isn’t? He totally missed the boat (or was lying). His testimony isn’t worth squat.
I wholeheartedly agree.

And then I hope they all get arrested and spend a lot of time in federal jail.

That’s change I can believe in.

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