It seems just like now...a big party for anyone who had what it took to ante up..
http://www.inthe80s.com/sandl.shtmlhttp://www.rationalrevolution.net/war/bush_family_and_the_s.htmIn the early 1980s, under Reagan, regulatory changes took place that gave the S&L industry new powers and for the first time in history measures were taken to increase the profitability of S&Ls at the expense of promoting home ownership.
A history of the S&L situation can be found here:
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/historical/s&l/What is important to note about the S&L scandal is that it was the largest theft in the history of the world and US tax payers are who was robbed.
The problems occurred in the Savings and Loan industry as they relate to theft because the industry was deregulated under the Reagan/Bush administration and restrictions were eased on the industry so much that abuse and misuse of funds became easy, rampant, and went unchecked.
Savings and Loan Scandal
Here are some facts on the infamous S&L scandal of the eighties which we are still paying for.
* The Savings and Loan scandal is the largest theft in the history of the world.
* Deregulation eased restrictions so much that S&L owners could lend themselves money.
* The Garn Institute of Finance, named after Senator Jake Garn, co-authored the deregulation of the industry and received $2.2 million from industry executives.
* Neil Bush, George Bush's son, never servered time in jail for his part in running an S&L into the ground.
* Represenative Fernard St. Germain, who was head of the House of Representatives banking, co-authored the deregulation and was voted out of office after other questionable dealings and was sent back to D.C. as an S&L lobbiest.
* Charles Keating, when asked if massive lobbying efforts had influenced the government officials, he replies "I certainly hope so."
* The rip-off began in 1980 when the government raised the federal insurance on S&L's from $40,000 to $100,000 even though the typical savings account was only around $6000.
* Some of the seized assets were a buffalo sperm bank, a racehorse with syphilis, and a kitty litter mine.
* James Fail invested $1000 of his own money to purchase 15 failing S&L's. The government reimbursed him $1.85 billion in federal subsidies.
* It sometimes took over 7 years to close failing S&L's by the government.
* When S&L owners who stole millions went to jail, their sentances were typically one-fifth that of the average bank robber.
* The goverment bail out will cost the taxpayers around $1.4 trillion dollars when it is over.
* If the White House had stepped in and bailed out the S&L's in 1986 instead of delaying until after the 1988 elections, the cost might have been only $20 billion.
* With the money lost from the S&L scandals, the government could have provided prenatal care for every American child for the next 2,300 years.
* With the money lost from the S&L scandals, the government could have purchased 5 million average homes.
* The authors of "Inside Job", a book about the S&L scandal, found criminal activity at every S&L they investigated.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(342 posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
