It was private banks doing it. Warren Buffett: Libor Scandal Involves 'The Whole World' But if we get rid of "big government" the common man will have more power to prevent this type of thing, right?
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR8014IlTxg]Immortal Technique - The Martyr - Rich Mans World (1%) - YouTube[/ame]
Private manipulation can only sway things a very very minor amount. Not even remotely close to the manipulation done by governments. Only government can manipulate enough to actually cause widespread economic destruction. Nice try though.
However, "Give me control of a Nation's money, and I care not who makes the laws" - Mayer Amschel Rothschild I feel like people, especially around here come from two schools of thought, either they put all/most blame on "1%ers", or they put all/most blame on government. In my opinion its an equal combination of both, and that collusion causes depression and destruction. They use each other for their own gains, and the people are the ones who end up suffering in the end.
I don't have any school of thought. If a problem is government caused I blame government. If it has some other cause l'll put the blame where it belongs. It just so happens that government is at the heart of most problems. Economic problems are nearly 100% government caused. It is what it is.
The gov't is bought out by the banks...It's not necessarily banks in general that are the problem, but those specific banks play a HUGE part.
But if there was no Gov. then the banks couldn't buy it. Government is the problem. Crony Capitalism is the problem. The Gov. protections of the criminals.
And if their were no banks they couldnt buy out the government. Unfortunately, society believes it needs both to function.
Manipulate your figures to get a closer (cheaper) relationship for lending with central banks and your fellow international liquidity junkies. Yeah, no incentives created to change behavior by central banks there. OP might as well be (is) complaining that people & institutions respond (read: change behavior) to the incentives given to them. If you want to change behavior, you must analyze the incentives, as opposed to simply complaining about the bad behavior. If a bank gets more generous lending from the act of misrepresenting it's own financial position, the bank is going to do it every single time. Take away the lender of last resort, and the institutions sink or swim on their own merits. Thus is the moral hazard of having a lender of last resort, it gives the incentive to take huge risks and put lipstick on the pig, because that's how you get EVEN more liquidity to engage in progressively riskier and potentially more profitable ventures. Whaddya know, the key regulator in chief was complicit in the whole thing, shocking. UPDATE 2-INSIGHT-Fed knew of Libor issue in 2007-08, proposed reforms | Reuters Lookie lookie, all those big moniezz given to Li(e)bor manipulators by the Fed afterwards (December 1, 2007 through July 21, 2010). Yep, needs m0ar regulation.
you say that like its a bad thing... Iceland Their economic collapse was the beginning of an amazing peaceful revolution. We can only hope ours goes as smoothly, when it eventually comes. Which it will, it's only a matter of time.
Looks like they are actually investigating the corruption for once. The banks will probably just get a slap on the wrist but its better than nothing. US builds case against bankers over Libor - Americas - Al Jazeera English
That's right. In a free market, businesses must follow the market signals or face possible bankruptcy. As someone said, "Price" is the balance point between supply and demand. Without a government to bail them out, businesses had better stay pretty close to that balance point. Government pays no attention to market signals because they don't have to. They don't have to show a profit, they don't have to please their "customers" (us), and they cannot and will not go "out of business" (very easily).
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBBzSVOeRH8]Judge Napolitano: "LIBOR Scandal One of the Largest Bank Orchestrated Frauds in History" - YouTube[/ame] [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLZjwBjqT_s]Paul C. Roberts on "the REAL LIBOR scandal" and "Bond Market Armageddon!" - YouTube[/ame]