Seattle Bubble Forum Archive

Anyone see the "House of Cards" special on CNBC (I know...) tonight? I missed the first half hour, but the rest of it did a good job explaining how the whole housing/credit fiasco happened. What was noticeably missing however, was anything but a passing comment about how the taxpayers are now being asked to pay to bail out those who causes all this. I don't suppose that could have anything to do with how rah-rah CNBC is about the various bailout and stimulus bills. I don't know when the show was filmed, however.

I saw the first 20 minutes and most of the last hour. Fortunately, I dvr'ed it, so I'll be able to catch the whole thing this weekend. It was very good, however, it seemed like they didn't talk much about real estate professional's role in this, but mainly focused on the financial aspects of the crisis.

Do they mention how it was all those idiotic investors, willing to buy dubious securities, or the consumers, eager to shoulder debt loads way beyond their income levels, who are the main culprits in this debacle?

It was just disgusting to see how EVERYONE was trying to get something for nothing. Whether it was high-yield securities or McMansions, everyone thought they could cheat fate in the greatest Ponzi scheme of the last 100 years.

After all, it's the connee who is most to blame for their misfortune, not the con-artist. Grifters have long understood that you can't cheat an honest man...

8 minute video (trailer) about the show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11li6Iw4TeY

What bothers me is the constant use of the possessive pronoun OUR.

They are taking OUR home.

This is OUR home.

Um, isn't it actually THE BANK's home?!?

Additional airings:

Sat, from 4 PM - 6 PM

Sat, from 7 PM - 9 PM

Sun, from 6 PM - 8 PM

I understand what you're saying, Charles, but I suppose my definition of ownership means that I don't have any more payments to a third party. Most people throw around the terms "my house", "my car", but until you have the title with no leinholder or no mortgage, I feel that you're simply just in a "rent-to-own" situation.

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A former Bear Stearns economist has the answer! No really! All we need to do is continue with the fantasy real estate valuation process!
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I just finished watching "House of Cards" on CNBC. It is an excellent, excellent program with regards to providing an overview of the current "credit crisis". I strongly recommend anyone taking the time to watch it.
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It will be shown again on CNBC on Monday, 16 Feb, 3 AM to 5 AM Pacific Time (set your recorders) and again at 5 PM to 7 PM Pacific Time.
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Two interviews that were especially good IMO:
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Mr. Greenspan said that there was little anyone could have done to stop the real estate bubble, due to human nature (read greed) being what it is. He also said that the very same situation will happen again sometime in the future, implying that bubbles are a predictable, cyclical occurrence.
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There was another interview with a former Wall Street banker who admitted that "some" of the subprime mortgages he was packaging as MBS's were suspicious, but he felt pressured to accept them anyway because the business would just go elsewhere.
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Again, "House of Cards" is well worth your time.
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http://www.cnbc.com/id/28892719/
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"House of Cards" SHOW TIMES

US
Saturday, February 14th 7p | 10p ET
Sunday, February 15th 9p ET
Monday, February 16th 8p | 12a ET
Sunday, March 1st Midnight ET
Sunday, March 15th 9p ET
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The show was ok, but I didn't think it was all that wonderful. They gave the impression that the root problem is due to over-zealous mortgage lending and CDOs when this is really a much broader problem caused by an explosion of credit in general (be it for leveraged buy-outs, junk bonds, or mortgage securities). They hinted that other types of credit (besides mortgages) have been impacted, but it sounded as if that was primarily due to mortgage blowback.

All the unflattering talk about regulators made it sound as if there was something they should, or could, have done to prevent the crisis.

Lastly, I think they let home-buyers off fairly lightly, making it seem as if they were largely victims of greedy bankers. Heck, even that poor little Norwegian town that lost it's shirt in CDOs was handled with kid gloves, leaving the definite impression that they were just dupes of slick salesmen in Armani suits.

As I've said before, I think the lions share of the blame lies with investors who were willing to buy dodgy securities and with the borrowers themselves who were more than happy to gorge on debt they knew they couldn't repay.

Sniglet -

While I agree the program did play up the emotional side of people losing their homes, it did include interviews of these same people in which they admitted their financial troubles stemmed from expectations of ever increasing home values. Equity due to appreciation disappeared and they were in trouble. While the show did not hit you over the head with that little detail, it certainly brought it out.

I think the point of the little Norwegian village was that investors all over the world were buying AAA rated CDO's, without understanding what a CDO actually was. I thought it an excellent point that most everyone involved in buying / selling CDO's did not understand them or even what exactly they were made up of. Investors saw the nice man in an Armani suit, the AAA rating, and the good return on investment - what else do you need to know?
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Did anyone notice that the words "realtor" or "appraisal" were not uttered once in this program?

Maybe appraisers and realtors were considered too low in the food chain to be worthy of mention?