Business

Bloomberg Tells OWS They‘re Going After the Wrong ’Villains’

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says that the Occupy Wall Street protesters are going after the wrong villains, writes Newser.

“I hear your complaints,” Bloomberg said at a business breakfast held in midtown New York.

“Some of them are totally unfounded. It was not the banks that created the mortgage crisis. It was, plain and simple, Congress who forced everybody to go and give mortgages to people who were on the cusp,” Capital New York reports Bloomberg saying.

“Now, I‘m not saying I’m sure that was terrible policy, because a lot of those people who got homes still have them and they wouldn’t have gotten them without that,” he added.

Watch Bloomberg’s remarks:

What was his reasoning for blaming congress?

“. . .they were the ones who pushed Fannie and Freddie to make a bunch of loans that were imprudent, if you will. They were the ones that pushed the banks to loan to everybody. And now we want to go vilify the banks because it’s one target, it‘s easy to blame them and congress certainly isn’t going to blame themselves,” Bloomberg reasoned.

“At the same time, Congress is trying to pressure banks to loosen their lending standards to make more loans. This is exactly the same speech they criticized them for,” he added.

Simply put, Bloomberg thinks the Occupy Wherever protesters are mainly engaging in “cathartic” and “entertaining” behavior to vent their frustration.

However, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch strongly disagreed with Bloomberg.

“I do believe in punishment,” said Ed Koch, who, according to the New York Daily News, “blasted” the SEC for only fining Wall St. titans like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup for their financial misconduct.

“What the hell do they care? That’s the cost of doing business,” Koch said of the banks. “I want to see somebody – some CEO, some CFO – punished criminally.”

That about sums up the attitude of the entire Occupy movement.

To gauge the general reaction to Bloomberg’s comments, John Johnson of Newser highlights two different articles, one from the left and one on the right, that weigh in of the issue.

“While the government-sponsored mortgage giants were certainly not blameless, Federal Reserve data shows conclusively that it was private mortgage brokers, not Fannie and Freddie, who drove the subprime housing bubble,” writes Pat Garofalo of Think Progress:

However, Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey believes that Bloomberg is correct on the issue.

“While Wall Street made the situation worse by developing risky derivatives on those securities and failed to recognize the risk inherent in the securities themselves, the collapse wouldn’t have occurred at all had the federal government not intervened to distort lending for their own social-engineering goals,” Morrisey writes.

(h/t Newser)

Comments (84)

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  • wisehiney
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 8:27pm

    This mini blizzard plus the cost of supporting the ows wackos is busting h-e-double hockey sticks out of NYC budget. Bloomie getting worried, will have to announce more union member layoffs.

    Report Post »  
    • pamela kay
      Posted on November 2, 2011 at 6:08am

      Isn’t he though? What a tangled web we weave. There is no way to avoid reality. But many Americans put themselves in financial ruin, knowing full well that they were living beyond their means. The progressives just dangled the brass ring in front of their noses realizing it was never in their reach yet knew that the temptation would be hard to resist. Goes back to the old saying, “If it sounds to good to be true, it probably isn’t true.”

      Report Post » pamela kay  
  • Fight for America
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 8:17pm

    At the risk of being accused of beating a “bunny”, how about putting some of the responsibility on the people who got into home purchases that were beyond their means? I know several good people who decided to ignore the reality of their own finances and purchased houses – and the furniture, new cars, etc. to go with those homes. They also decided to have kids or more kids before they were financially stable. Um – that takes bucks! They also went on multiple vacations they couldn’t afford, ate out a lot, frequented pricey entertainment, etc. And they “planned” on raises each and every year.

    And then there was the bailout to the banks. Well gee – thanks geniuses in Washington – did you put any rules in there that they would actually help homeowner and that they couldn’t dump lots of bucks into their existing executive staff? No, Washington, you didn’t. That was stupid to give away the money without any strings. Just as it was stupid to rain money on Solyndra. Who is in charge of things anyway…..oh, right, our current president and his Chicago buddies. Remember – Illinois and Chicago are financial pits. What did you think the whiz kids would do with the country?

    Report Post »  
    • Eliasim
      Posted on November 1, 2011 at 8:31pm

      The Congress is guilty for forcing the banks to give loans to unqualified people, and the Community organizing groups are guilty of thug tactics, but the bankers had to know that the people would default on the loans because it is the bankers’ business to know. When the government forced them to do things which they didn’t like, they should have put their principals before greed and shut their doors.

      Report Post »  
    • DrewA72
      Posted on November 1, 2011 at 8:32pm

      As a former banker I can tell you those guilty are all of the above! Uhhh the things I know could fill a thimble compared to the big execs but I know the investors down to homeowners are all guilty on this. To try and tell that to these OWS zombies is futile, they have been programmed to hear one side. Let me be clear there were more homeowners that were victims but many were guilty of running scams too. Unless you worked in the industry and have a handle of what happened you probably think they were only victims. Do you have any idea how many times Id get a call from my underwriter about a homeowner trying to put one over on our company?! Many times followed by a call to my clients asking them “Are you aware….“ where the call ended with me saying ”its a dead deal”.

      The machine was corrupt to the core and its why I got out before the collapse in 07. Only to pay a dire price… blackballed for working in the banking industry which led to a massive unemployment gap to where its next to impossible for me to get a job I am more than qualified for. 20yrs work experience, legitimate college degree all down the drain.I’ve asked everyone for help only to answered with silence… Anyone in SO CA wanna help a brother out email me: A.Avilla at yahoo.com

      Report Post »  
    • Eliasim
      Posted on November 1, 2011 at 8:33pm

      But no matter, they have caused a poverty that is going to eventually flow all the way to the top and affect the elites also.

      Report Post »  
    • Eliasim
      Posted on November 1, 2011 at 8:37pm

      Whether or not something has value anyways is based on perception, but over-all it’s really nothing less than an illusion.

      Report Post »  
    • Davtam
      Posted on November 1, 2011 at 9:04pm

      So you’re supporting the crystal ball theory?

      Report Post »  
    • Wisdomseeker
      Posted on November 1, 2011 at 9:26pm

      Rome is about to fall. The fat cats in the big buildings in Washington are giving away whats left of the cash to their buddies. they don’t even know we exist. It is written and will come to pass that the US will fall as well….“All English Speaking Nations will become enslaved from within”……..See you on the flip side….Get er done……

      Report Post » Wisdomseeker  
    • Dalady
      Posted on November 1, 2011 at 9:43pm

      @Drewa72…I have friends in the mortgage underwriting business and hear the stories but certainly not as bad here in the reasonable midwest. Your state is underwater and Gov. Moonbeam is going nowhere with his ideas of reform. My advice to you is get out of SO CA.

      Report Post »  
    • nom de plume
      Posted on November 1, 2011 at 11:15pm

      To DrewA72′s comment:

      You are right that many constituencies are to blame in this situation, but what your description shows is that “the market” created a situation where loans were made and taken in when they should not have been. And people did so because of the market situation, NOT because Congress forced anyone to do this.

      The fact is, the Community Reinvestment Act, which is what Bloomberg is blaming here, only required that a certain segment of banks make loans. They were required to make these loans because they were setting up banks in communities, encouraging deposits and then refusing to make loans to those same communities claiming they were, in their entirety, too risky.

      The CRA only required that if banks were going to accept deposits from a community, it must make some loans to those in the community that QUALIFIED. In no way did it require the banks accept unbearable risk.

      Further, the vast majority of the entities that made subprime loans WERE NOT UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE CRA!. They made these loans because there was a MARKET for them. That market was financial institutions that put them into mortgage backed securities that they then BET AGAINST knowing they were crap.

      This market place was the main driver of the crisis. With no market, there would be no loans for unscrupulous (or over their heads) borrowers to take out. Period.

      Report Post »  
    • Servant Of YHVH
      Posted on November 2, 2011 at 4:54am

      @Eliasim
      “the bankers had to know that the people would default on the loans because it is the bankers’ business to know. When the government forced them to do things which they didn’t like, they should have put their principals before greed and shut their doors.”
      What planet are you from? While it is a good idealistic statement which I do for the most part happen to agree with but we both know that the banks even though that know that it is wrong and is FORCED into by the government would not shut their doors and put themselves and the hundreds if not thousands of people out of work. Especially even though everyone including the ones in the government that forced the banks to do that knew that most of the loans (if not all) would default, there was that one in a trillion chance that it wouldn’t happen.

      Report Post » Servant Of YHVH  
  • pinchanze
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 8:17pm

    Canging your mind there Bloomberg because the OWS might come to your door? What an idiot!

    Report Post » pinchanze  
  • venom95washere
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 8:16pm

    Thank you Mayor for telling the truth. I remember all those mortgage loan ads saying “No Credit, Bad Credit, No Problem”. I always new it was a problem. FHA loans were basicly an insurance policy for the banks. The banks could go back to the Government to get their money back and that is what happened a few years ago.

    Report Post »  
  • A Doctors Labor Is Not My Right
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 8:16pm

    ““While the government-sponsored mortgage giants were certainly not blameless, Federal Reserve data shows conclusively that it was private mortgage brokers, not Fannie and Freddie, who drove the subprime housing bubble,” writes Pat Garofalo of Think Progress:”

    This is extremely misleading. Private mortgage brokers “drove” the housing bubble only in the sense that they were misled by artificial credit expansion and coerced by the government.

    See here.

    ‘Repeal’ of Glass-Steagall Irrelevant to Financial Crisis
    http://www.tomwoods.com/blog/repeal-of-glass-steagall-had-nothing-to-do-with-the-crisis/

    And here (to understand the Austrian Business Cycle Theory).

    Smashing Myths and Restoring Sound Money | Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAzExlEsIKk

    Report Post »  
  • garbagecanlogic
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 8:10pm

    Bloomberg ought to know, he is one they should be going after.

    The U.S. Out Of The U.N.
    The U.N. Out Of The U.S.

    Report Post »  
    • chazman
      Posted on November 1, 2011 at 8:27pm

      … yeah, Doomberg. You AND congress are responsible. We’re coming after you, traitor!

      Report Post »  
    • 22
      Posted on November 1, 2011 at 8:54pm

      Her, here!!

      Report Post » 22  
  • endgamer
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 8:02pm

    Bloomberg 100% dead on.. Here’s the proof : http://articles.businessinsider.com/2009-06-27/wall_street/30009234_1_mortgage-standards-lending-standards-mortgage-rates

    Report Post » endgamer  
  • jazven123
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 7:57pm

    Doesn’t everybody remember that Obama trained ACORN to threatened banks? In Bridgeport CT. that’s what they did, and the banks were forced to give mortgages to people that did not have way of paying back.

    Report Post »  
  • garyM
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 7:55pm

    It was the dems both in the oval office and the congress who pushed the loans and they knew the people who they were making the loans to couldn’t make the payments. There were a few RINO’s in congress involved. There were also some republicans who warned of the dangers of Fanny and Freddy making those improper unsecured loans and Barney and the dems wouldn’t listen and change the rules becuase they were in control of the committee that regulated Fannie and Freddie!
    Conclusion: Democrats fault!

    Report Post »  
    • RBSWORLD
      Posted on November 3, 2011 at 12:39am

      Everything “IS THE DAMN democRATS FAULT” all this crap we are going through today was engineered by the democRATS and the “FRICKIN’ PROGRESSIVES”!! THEY SHOULD ALL BE HUNG FOR TREASON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      Report Post »  
  • nobull14
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 7:47pm

    Thieves in the government not to mention fanny and freddie.not one Government official has been brought up on charges!!!!! we the people need to clean house ??

    Report Post »  
  • 00gabooga
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 7:47pm

    Bottom line, if I’m being forced to take on risky lenders, and I find a way to eliminate the risks by selling off crappy loans, I’m going to do it. I have a business to run, with REAL customers and REAL employees to worry about.

    Report Post » 00gabooga  
    • villaSF
      Posted on November 2, 2011 at 12:20am

      That is the best post I’ve seen on this topic. We should all remember that the mortgage meltdown was not caused by the free market, but by government preventing the free market from working. For decades the housing market worked just fine when people had to have at least 20% for a down payment, a real job, and be an acceptable credit risk to buy a home. It is when the government stepped in and threw those requirements out the window that it all fell apart — maybe not immediately, but it put into place an unsubstanable system.

      Report Post »  
    • RBSWORLD
      Posted on November 3, 2011 at 12:43am

      @VILLASF
      You are 100% correct on that stetement!

      Report Post »  
  • Seede
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 7:42pm

    Where is bawny fwank when you need him? Real quiet now isn’t he?

    Report Post »  
  • brntout
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 7:40pm

    Very well put.Wasn’t put on the curb for a reason.They will become the cattle to slaughter.Thank you for the redirect!

    Report Post »  
  • barber2
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 7:35pm

    I have been very bothered by the Democrats vilification of the banks which includes this resurrected pressure on them to “loosen”loaning standards. ( that worked so well the first time they pressured Fannie and Freddie) This is just more of the same mess caused by the DEMOCRATS who play the Race/ Discrimination Card to get loans for “poor minorities” and then play the Blame Card to accuse the banks of either making bad loans or for NOT making loans. The current Far Left Democrats are a danger to this country. They hate capitalism and seem hell bent on destroying it with their disastrous policies. Center for American Progress should be renamed Center For American Economic Destruction.

    Report Post »  
    • Max jones
      Posted on November 1, 2011 at 7:59pm

      The result of progressive policy over time is a state of inertia. The politics become totally polarized and set at loggerheads; witness the lack of fiscally reasonable legislation coming out of congress lately. Progressive policy calls for the nanny state tactics, that end up costing more than any .nation could afford. At the same time, the conservative remnant rails against the spending that most of the sheeple need just to get up in the morning.
      The Republicans desire to preserve the republic by sticking to the laws and constitution….the left wants to rewrite our history to creat a populace of beggars willing to trade their liberty for a bowl of pottage

      Report Post » Max jones  
    • RBSWORLD
      Posted on November 3, 2011 at 12:59am

      IT was GEORGE BUSH’S FAULT “NOT”, AND WHERE DID ALL THESE RICH AND EXTREMELY RICH democRATS get what they got? (FROM CAPITALISM THAT’S WHERE)!! THEY JUST DON’T WANT ANYONE ELSE TO HAVE ANY, BECAUSE THEY WANT IT ALL! DOESN’T TAKE A SCOULAR TO FIGURE THAT ONE OUT NOW DOES IT? CAN YOU SAY “SHOOT YOURSELF IN THE FOOT”? BUT I WISH THEY WOULD SHOOT THEIRSELVES IN THE HEAD, TRUTHFULLY!!!!!!

      Report Post »  
  • TRONINTHEMORNING
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 7:32pm

    Ahhhhh, forget about it, Mayor Bumberg….You brought these probs on yourself. Grow a spine.

    Report Post »  
  • progressiveslayer
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 7:25pm

    Government is the problem and central planning caused the housing melt down,we have to vote out all progressives if we’re to have a chance to save the republic,I hope it isn’t too late.

    Report Post » progressiveslayer  
  • copatriots
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 7:24pm

    Hey trolls, will you believe it now that one of your own says it? IT WAS 2 DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTS WHO PUSHED IT (your hero, Clinton, and Carter before him). I do love how Bloomie is trying to place blame on Congress. It was, again, Democrats and RINO’s who forced this mess on the banks. I agree with Bloomie in that regard…..place the blame where it belongs!

    Report Post »  
  • Stoic one
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 7:22pm

    “Federal Reserve data shows conclusively that it was private mortgage brokers, not Fannie and Freddie, who drove the subprime housing bubble,” writes Pat Garofalo of Think Progress”

    Yes the private brokers had something to do with it:
    …………………………THEY FOLLOWED THE LAW AS DIRECTED BY CONGRESS

    This once again is unintended results of “well meaning” legislation. When I financed out of a land contract in 2005, I had to jump through hoops while doing triple back flips. The reason?? I am the wrong demographic. IF I lived in a distressed neighborhood; or had the correct ethnic background… the lenders response would have been “Sign here please”

    and yes I asked the broker why this was difficult, and he told me off the record.

    Report Post » Stoic one  
  • TxMadMac
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 7:21pm

    Mike, who gave you permission to tell the truth ? Did you get kicked out of the party ? I think you’re going to get audited this year ! Shame on you ! You better stop that or somebody might start believeing you. I’m absolutely stunned. I just don’t know what to think now.

    Report Post »  
  • Nathan R Jessup
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 7:18pm

    Massachusetts Liberal carpetbagger!

    Report Post » Nathan R Jessup  
  • copatriots
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 7:18pm

    I‘ll say it since you won’t, BLOOMINGIDIOT. IT WAS A TERRIBLE POLICY! The infinitesimal few that the policy may have helped was by no means worth the disastrous corruption and ultimate failure. Propaganda at is finest.

    Report Post »  
  • phillipwgirard
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 7:17pm

    Sure attack congress, so 0bama can dissolve it and everyone would be happy. 1 less thing in 0bamas way. [sarcasm strongly intended here]

    Report Post » phillipwgirard  
    • ehbardin
      Posted on November 1, 2011 at 7:32pm

      Sarcasm is not the issue here; it’s the realism that scares the crap out of me.

      Report Post »  
  • Shasta
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 7:12pm

    They seem to be trying to have it both ways. They say “End capitalism now. Wait, I like being wealthy”. So then they say “Ok, it was the government’s fault. Get the politicians. Wait, I am a politician”. Finally they say “Yes, I am wealthy corporate fat cat, and I am a politician, but I am the 99% and I am on your side”. Dancing the dance of the liberal

    Report Post » Shasta  
  • Psychosis
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 7:05pm

    blame the democrats that started screwing things up at full speed as soon as they gained majorities in both houses in 2007

    2007…………………………dems gained majority

    2007 ………………………….dems started screwing the country without lube

    2010……………………………… WE DECIDED WE DIDNT LIKE GETTING SCREWED

    2012…………………..DEMS GET A SWIFT KICK IN THE NUTS

    Report Post » Psychosis  
    • 1casawizard
      Posted on November 1, 2011 at 8:06pm

      2012 hasn’t happened yet. We have to make it happen and we just gotta, and I mean gotta KEEP THE PRESSURE on em. They can’t handle it. Then they’ll show weakness. The majority of undecided voters vote with the herd. WE know how we‘re gonna vote and it’ll be with the TEA PARTY favorite. The undecided voters are the same ones who blame Bush for everything from 2000-2008. They don’t know or vote mid-term elections. So with that thinking Bush is responsible for everthing until bambam took the OATH TO UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, SO HELP ME GOD. Psyc, you’re on track. Don’t lose track. KEEP THE PRESSURE ON EM. WE GOT EM. 2012 can be a start to unravel the crap from the last four years.

      Report Post » 1casawizard  
    • Rollo2
      Posted on November 1, 2011 at 8:16pm

      2007—– Dems gained majority, and immediately raised the Fed Min Wage. Just as HS and College students were starting to look for summer jobs!
      When did we start seeing reports that unemployment was starting to rise sharply? Wasn‘t it around June and July of ’07?

      Report Post »  
  • brntout
    Posted on November 1, 2011 at 7:00pm

    Are they beginning to eat their own?

    Report Post »  
    • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
      Posted on November 1, 2011 at 7:09pm

      Nope, this is just one more case of each group playing the others to try and gain dominance for the final showdown among themselves; they are not eating one another — they are preparing to slaughter one another.

      Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
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