Forum Post: Reality Check!

Seems as though a lot of you are very uneducated on the facts. ---

"banks sold securities they knew were high-risk"

Bonds and securities were sold as low risk because the gov't (fannie and freddie) fully-backed them, and explicitly did so WITHOUT any documentation. Meaning that people just lied about their income and were able to get loans they otherwise shouldnt have been able to get. The gov't said documentation was not needed, if the gov't is backing it then there is basically no reason to do any due diligence...

"banks were just given money" Many of you also seem to think that the banks just took all this money in bailouts (aka TARP) for free and never gave it back. In REALITY, many banks were forced to take the money and not only did they pay upwards of 9% on the loans but the gov't also got equity ownership in the banks. ALL TARP money has essentially been repaid and the gov't actually made a bunch of money on the deal (interest payments and capital gains)

It may be easier to just blame the banks, which do deserve some, but the real fault lies from main st to wall st. What about the average person who took a loan and bought a second house they KNEW they should not be able to afford? "no big deal... I'll just refinance with the new teaser rate in 5-years.. it'll be all okay"

There are jobs out there but it seems that most of these protesters feel over entitled and think that certain jobs are "beneath" them. If you are without work and need money you have to lower your job standards before going and asking the gov't and the productive and successful to support you while you protest against them.

http://jobsearch.nytimes.monster.com/jobs/?where=New__2dYork__2dCity__2c__2dNY&rad=75&sort=dt&x=52&y=10