If you know anything about us, you know we’re big fans of getting up in people’s faces all self-righteously, and if there are coordinated tee-shirts to speak of, all the better. So we were delighted to hear of some organizing going on up in CT this weekend, though sorely disappointed to not have gotten in on that shit ourselves. The Stamford Advocate reports that hundreds of protesters from the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America gathered outside the home of William Frey, CEO of Greenwich Financial services on Sunday, in order to “denounce predatory mortgage lending practices.”
The event is apparently part of a “national accountability campaign” aimed at getting Frey and his ilk* to support refinancing loans. Sunday’s message was underscored by the yellow T’s at left, bearing the slogan “Stop Loan Sharks,” with a picture of a rather menacing one, which was thought to be the brain child of Greenwich resident and event participant S. Cohen (who was sadly talked out of the idea of tossing an effigy of Frey in the Hirst tank, “just to show them we mean business”).
Somewhat oddly, the group apparently made a stop at Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack’s home in Rye before Frey’s to shout about the same issue, but perhaps that was merely a matter of organizers needing to stretch their legs during the interminably long Metro North ride, and not part of the ‘people who a thin argument at best can be made to blame’ segment of the event. If we’re going with the latter, however, we have it on good authority John Paulson is being targeted next (owns large home).
More: Grab Your Torch ‘n Pitchforks! A Predator’s Tour
*NACA’s “Most Wanted” list includes Lloyd Blankfein, Barclays CEO Robert Diamond, Credit Suisse’s Robert Shafir, HSBC’s Brendan McDonagh, National City Mortgage’s Peter Raskind and Carrington Capital Management CEO Bruce Rose.
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STOP EATING FATTIES!
Making CEO is apparently the new Child Molester Reintegration Program (“CMRP”).
another topic
Unless the automakers show by March 31 that they will be able to return to profit and repay the money, the government can demand return of the loans.
@3- thanks for information we got approximately 2 months ago.
@1 –> Right on
http://www.fatchicksinpartyhats.com/
@3 – Automakers are done. Lutz would not leave if their was a snowball’s chance in hell for Detroit’s second favorite industry.
Has anyone heard what Associate Loan Shark bonus numbers are coming in at this year (stub, not full year; top bucket)? Thanks.
So wait, I take out a ARM for a house that I can’t afford and with a teaser rate that can’t possibly stay that low and then take out a Home Equity Line of Credit to stupidly use my house to finance my huge SUV and Flat Screen and when I get into trouble it is the fault of the CEO? Glad to know that I bear no responsibility for anything I did.
Too long; didn’t read.
Is it possible to get those t shirts on ebay?
@8: Amen.
Must be Steelers fans.
@8 Of course not – the font on the agreement was too small.
Plus who has time for all that reading? What with unlimited free breadsticks down at the OG…
Seriously, can we not bring the Olive Garden into this…
@8
Lenders lent because house prices would go up forever. They dropped their lending standards to collect more fees and make money immediately. Then flipping a foreclosed house was always going to be a winner. Right?
Now, who gets the biggest bailout? You have 5 seconds to answer.
@8
Stop whining just because you’re jealous that you didn’t have the foresight to take out a thrice jumbo mortgage to buy that hot 1 bed @ 40 Mercer, a Maserati Granturisimo, and a 103″ panasonic flatscreen back in the good ol’ days of ’06.
We should be celebrating these forward thinkers, instead of jealously criticizing them for being “financially retarded and irresponsible!”
15, lenders can’t lend if people aren’t willing to sign away their financial responsibilities. That’s like saying it’s McDonald’s fault because they serve food that is fattening. You don’t want to be a fat ass, don’t eat a Big Mac. Eat a friggin’ salad.
@ 13 hahahaha — that complimented 8 extremely well.
@8
Amen!!
@17… that’s funny sh!t. What the hell is wrong with people?!? Always somebody else to blame but yourself. Pathetic losers.
@17
Lenders were not forced to lend, how is that so hard to understand? They are not lending now, get it?
And don’t bring the subprime crap to this. Fact is that the Alt-A, like Option ARM and other “affordability” products are now sinking prime borrowers who can’t refinance.
The lenders conveniently forgot their 3 Cs:
creditworthiness, capacity, and collateral
to make money fast in a housing bubble.
They also didn’t have the insight that a high FICO score borrower that can do well under relatively low amounts of debt can sink when the debt burden increases, as those mortgage products do with time. When refinancing is not available to you, then you are sunk.
@ 20
Your supporting points are ok, your initial argument is not so much so.
Without writing a thesis-length paper, it was very simple:
originator sold crap, passed the crap to someone else to package into aggregated/leveraged crap, who sold it to lazy free-yield seeking “investors” happy with the AAA rating stamp.
Once this scheme came to a halt (i.e. defaults started) it snowballed, which caused the securitization machine to seize up, which inhibited anyone’s ability to “lend” and destroyed “investors” demand for the crap simultaneously.
So I guess you’re right, “lenders” weren’t “forced” to lend per se (key phrase), but would you have wanted to be the Executive who said in ’06 that you were shutting down your structured finance/mortgage practise (or severely raising standards) to the severe detriment of profitability for the next 7 quarters until the sh!t collapsed?
methinks not.
@21
Are you reducing this to executives making bad business decisions for self-preservation? Who would have thunk that? I agree that happened across the board, and not only at those “evil” institutions like FNMA.
But when the shit hit the fan, what should have happened to those executives and their companies? Give them a huge bailout? Let them continue collecting fat paychecks and perks while their companies are wards of the state?
Yeah, I know. Too big to fail. Everybody gets screwed. Fact is there were no grownups checking that this was getting out of hand across the entire supply chain and then putting a stop to it.
Captain Renault: I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
Mr. Greenspan: That must be flaw in the model. I’ll check with the saloonkeeper.
Woman: What makes saloonkeepers so snobbish?
Banker: Perhaps if you told him I ran the second largest banking house in Amsterdam.
Carl: Second largest? That wouldn’t impress Rick. The leading banker in Amsterdam is now the pastry chef in our kitchen.
Banker: We have something to look forward to.
bravo. you made the cut today. fat-ass protestors, big yellow shirts and tan mozillo. could that combo ever be a loser. bess, your’re inside.
also was nice stuff from EP on the flat tax. flat tax revolution. led by the fiscal pez mechanics in peru.
45 best MFing stories out there. for today monday. in one friggin link.
including word that THC slows small cell lung cancer tumour growth. serious as the tight sweater bess wears.
the fed is insolvent. we got that story.
2 of Dealbreaker stories made the cut. 1 for EP and 1 for Bess.
http://bit.ly/IoYJ
jeesus h keerist, what about predatory borrowing?
fat people are stupid. no more lending to fat people
Rob Shafir? who the heck is he? the name kind of has a sham wow sound to it. “sham wow, by rob shafir!”