[geeks] [rescue] E250 temperatures

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

On Tue, 15 Apr 2008, Phil Stracchino wrote:

> Many people expect their bank - to whom they entrust the keeping of
> their money - to take proper care of it, and that includes giving them
> sound financial advice when they ask for it, or at least not actually
> outright lying to them.

I think you'll find that the typical person tangled up in this load
crisis didn't get his home loan from the friendly neighborhood bank up
the road, because the chances are that his friendly neighborhood bank
told him he was a bad risk.  He shopped around for the absolute cheapest
mortgage he could find from some bank he'd never heard of before, he was
all aglow when he found out his completely crap credit history didn't
matter, and he took the salesweasel at face value when he said "Well,
it's adjustable, so it -might- go up, but it -could- go down, too!"

Fish, barrel, shotgun.

I may be just entirely too cynical for my own good, but if someone's
promising me a deal on a loan that I wouldn't make for someone in the
same position, I assume that the other side has a nasty surprise in
store for me.

> And I contend that selling someone on a loan you know they can't
> actually afford to pay is outright lying to them.

And I contend that taking on a responsibility you know you can't manage
is just as much a lie.  The borrower is in a better position to know
this than the bank is.

>> But then, I also believe that there shouldn't be any laws against
>> fraud.  If you get taken by a con-man, you deserve to get taken.
>
> Oh, so Enron didn't do anything wrong except get caught, then?
> Survival of the crookedest shall be the whole of the law?

Why not?  It works for the government.

-- 
Jonathan Patschke | "There is no such thing as a short of reserves...
Elgin, TX         |  one bank can have a problem...the Fed can print
USA               |  money, there is no shortage."
.                 |     --Jim Glassman, US Economist, JPMorgan Chase