Die Bankenkrise

„There will be no further crash in our lifetime“

John Maynard Keynes

„Thanks goodness we bailed out Bear Stearns back in March if we hadn’t we might have lost Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and who knows what else. Oh wait…“

Alex Tabarrok

„As it turn out, the really risks in the system were being created not by hedge funds but by boring old investment banks and insurance companies. Sure there have been hedge fund failures but none on the scale and with the repercussions of the recent failures of Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and the government sponsored mortgage companies. Hedge funds might not have had all that many rules governing their behavior but their incentive pay structure seems to have regulated their risk far better.“

John Carney

„The turmoil in the housing market and the resulting financial crisis is just the latest example of political failure. Politicians wanted more home ownership than the market produces on its own, especially among low-income families.“

Russell Roberts

„The American central bank has adopted the financial equivalent of the military strategy of scorched earth.“

Antony Mueller

„We are all talking about subprime loans and the havoc they’ve wreaked on the economy, but no one is talking about why banks give out these loans — they are required to by law. Since the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, Congress requires banks to offer loans to minorities in low-income areas, even if the clients can’t make down payments, don’t have good credit histories, or even employment histories.“

M. Franks

„Die Niedrigzinspolitik hat in den letzten Jahren vor allem den Finanzsektor zu immer risikoreicheren kreditabhängigen Investitionen ermuntert.“

Thorsten Polleit

„Müssen wir über Gier reden, wenn ich einem Alkoholiker eine Flasche Schnaps auf den Tisch stelle? Und dann, wenn er wieder beginnt, sich dreckig zu fühlen, gleich zwei neue?“

Rayson

Eigentlich ist alles gesagt. Und trotzdem reden alle davon, als sei es das Ende der Marktwirtschaft und des Kapitalismus, wenn Gelder aus unrentablen Bereichen abgezogen werden.

Noch mehr Links um die ganze Krise zu verstehen:

The Subprime Lending Crises by Lawrence White (Part 2)

An Austrian Theory of Business Cycles by Ben Best