Create the Path Forward

Catherine, Daily Musings, News & Commentary on April 6, 2010 at 11:04 am · No Comments


Max Keiser and Matt Taibbi

Today, Matt Taibbi describes Max Keiser’s proposal that Greece should nationalize their banks, abrogate debts that were criminally originated and work through the painful adjustment of rebuilding their real economy:

The No Pay Movement

Matt invites comment on the merits of this plan.

Max’s proposal is sound. First, it moves us towards a fundamentally healthy and sound economy. Second, it is in accordance with age old financial and legal principles. If a debt is “fraudulently induced,” it can be invalidated in whole or in part.

Look up “fraudulent inducement.” My position as the former Assistant Secretary of Housing-Federal Housing Commissioner and then as lead financial advisor to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is that the majority of the mortgages originated in the United States after 1996 were fraudulently induced.

The way to deal with criminals is to treat our contracts with them in a manner reciprocal to how they have treated their contracts with us.

Will a growing movement to abrogate contracts with institutions who have broken the law be disruptive? Yes. Will that require painful adjustments? Yes. That is the price we pay to deal with the challenges we face. This includes the fact that the banks have sold criminally originated debts to our pension funds and retirement accounts as well as to allies and institutions around the world.

It is much less painful, however, than the price we will pay if we continue to operate by a double standard whereby large institutions and a small group of people are permitted to live and operate above the law. So let’s address the lawlessness in the financial sector, face the national security issues involved in using our financial markets for economic warfare and begin the transformation.

Thanks, Max. Good Idea. Thanks, Matt. Good conversation. We have options. We will create the path forward.