Financing the banker’s funeral

We need a national white-collar crime system that can take on finance bigwigs and hold them accountable.

by Ken Georgetti
Rabble.ca
April 30, 2008

In recent months, as U.S. hedge funds have imploded south of the border, working Canadians have been told our economy isn’t “subprimed.”

Sure, the experts say, current problems in global credit markets may mean less cash is available for Canadian companies. It will certainly mean fewer buyers for Canadian exports as U.S. workers face house foreclosures and higher costs for basic necessities.

But be thankful, the experts reassure, you could be someone else. You could be one of the two million Americans who recently lost their homes after shady mortgage brokers sold them on crooked contracts.

You could be one of the 14,000 workers at Bear Sterns, some of who taped $2 to their office windows to symbolize what their employee shares were now worth (down from $68 only days before).

You could be a citizen of several small towns in Norway who, until recently, were unaware that hucksters had exposed them to the subprime market. After her town lost $64 million, one mayor remarked, “Because of this, we can’t focus on things that matter, like schools or care for the elderly.”

Dear readers: don’t believe the hype. Working Canadians have suffered enormously from Bay Street bigwigs, but most aren’t aware of it. Union pension funds will take a huge hit after dodgy credit investments (once billed as secure) blew up last summer. To make matters worse, officials are letting the perpetrators bury the victims in secrecy, while pension funds, average Canadians and the public purse finance the funeral costs.

Here’s what happened. While many of us enjoyed [ . . . ]

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