Beyond Economics

1/14/2010 – From the testimony of four of the nation’s top bankers before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission charged with determining the causes of the nation’s financial debacle.

Whatever we did, whatever the standards of the time were, it didn’t work out well.
– Lloyd Blankfein, CEO – Goldman Sachs

Somehow we just missed that, ah, you know, that home prices don’t go up forever.
– Jamie Dimon, CEO – JPMorgan Chase

These guys either take us for fools or are willing to look stupid themselves. They did get ot climb ack into their limos and laugh all the way back to their banks and bonuses. You can see these statements and more in a segment of the Colbert Report from Thursday night. It leads into a satire on derivatives. Very funny and clever.

The Word – Honor Bound (7 minutes)

Your honor was so precious to the banks that they bundled it with other people’s honor, cut that into securitized honor derivatives, and sold it to Wall Street honor speculators…until the honor bubble burst…but, that doesn’t mean that they are responsible.