Everybody Lies, but only some get paid for it

That core parts of our economy & government are openly & severly corrupt is not really a secret. Consider securitized mortgage lending, in all its stages, as it existed 6 years ago: Borrowers lie routinely. Mortgage brokers both lie for borrowers, and to them. If the borrower was unqualified, they would qualify them. If they were qualified for a decent loan, the brokers would sell them on a worse one, to increase their kickbacks. Originating lenders happily accepted either way, knowing they could dump the garbage on securitizers. The securitizers really went big, into billions of dollars, stealing from both ends & the middle. Then, once the loans started to go bad, the servicers filed mounds of utter BS to foreclose on the borrowers, and keep them out of decent modifications. Judges & sheriffs looked the other way at the crap passing from the banks, so the property went back onto the market.

Which isn't really the topic, but just to point out how pervasive and blatant it all is. What we need to do is look at how many ways this all should have been stopped, and why each of them isn't functioning. I smell long running series! An easy to understand one is the Press. Take Washington Post reporters chats. Please. Despite persistent faceplants, they keep sending out their troops to amuse us with their ineptitude. This weeks highlight was an apologia for Bain by someone claiming to be a Rabbi but unfamiliar with the Rabbinical tradition of having a clue what you're talking about.

Q.pension funds how much money did bain leave for taxpayers to pickup after they removed pension funds from companies they bankrupted? – May 23, 2012 12:00 PM Permalink A.Brad Hirschfield : Quite a bit actually, because the profits get taxed, but that is not what you are asking. I think that you are asking about the lives of those workers who lost out when a business was closed by Bain. And there is no doubt that that did occur. Of course the profits from those closures went to other pension funds, including billions to public employee funds, that sustained other workers.

Wouldn't "I don't know, and have no busines discussing this until I find out" have been a much btter answer?

Q.Rate of job losses You said earlier: "The rate of job loss in those companies Bain controlled were w/in 1% of the average durring those years.". Do you have any sources for that? I'll wait. – May 23, 2012 1:39 PM Permalink A.Brad Hirschfield : Ah an easy one. Just a simpl request for more information. I love it. Check out today's Washington Post, especially the Editorial page. As I am on line writing you, i can not get you the link. Thanks for understanding!

The study he referred to was on Private Equity refis overall, not Bain. And, thank you DougJ:

Q.Bipartisanship I love your blog because you're one of the few bipartisan centrists who realize that both sides do it, where "it" is pretty much any bad thing. You're like the post-punk David Broder. Have you always been so fair and balanced or is it something you learn over time as journamalist? – May 22, 2012 11:14 AM Permalink A.Alexandra Petri : ALL RIGHT, WHO FILLED THIS CHAT WITH PLANTS WHO ARE BEING MUCH TOO KIND? I'm going to start using "post-punk David Broder" on my promotional materials. Thank you for saying this. I don't know how often I succeed at this, but I really, really try. When I finally retrieved my mail after several months of allowing it to suppurate in the mail room, I was pleased to have notes from both sides complaining in strident terms that I was ruining everything. Some weeks the bar swings one way and some weeks it swings the other, but obviously no one party has a monopoly on idiocy. That would make things too easy.

I read some of her other entries. She's very careful to say or know nothing. Not quite as bad as Shailagh Murray. Her dismissive stupidity set a standard none could hope to match. And now, she's paying the price. Time to remember what a good reporter is: