One shocking aspect of the Great Mortgage Meltdown and the Bajillion Dollar Boondoggle Bailout was the fact that many of the parties that were directly responsible for the fraud, meltdown and collapse were paid off IMMEDIATELY 100% of EVERYTHING THEY COULD EVER CLAIM TO BE OWED. No negotiation, no reduction in value, just good ole USA cuts a check to AIG, Goldman, Merrill, et. al. for 100% of their investment, to the tune of $62 Billion Dollars.
Today’s Wall Street Journal reports that the massive payoffs were the result of a ploy by the French where they essentially floated a totally nonsense theory that their creditors had to receive their full investment back…and not one penny less…or risk jail. According to the reports…..
The banks and the regulator, known as the Commission Bancaire, said bank executives could be criminally liable for accepting a discount on their contracts, according to a November report of the inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
While true in the abstract, “their argument was very overstated,” said Pierre-Henri Conac, a University of Luxembourg law professor and a director of France’s oldest corporate-law review. “Banks give haircuts every day.”
Just so we’re clear, the French come up with some totally nonsense, the feds and their friends just buy right into it and US taxpayers cut a $62 billion dollar check….that’s nice work…
