Comments on: Halacha Meets the Subprime Market

By: dovid

dovid — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 14:42:38 +0000

LOberstein, it appears to me you follow the crowd, no matter what the crowd consists of, no matter where the crowd is rushing. Yesterday, it was the stock market. Now, it is the young, 21st century president hopeful. With your permission (or w/o), I will invite you for a re-evaluation of the situation. I hold that just as the stock market crushed, America with Obama will crush. Your saying “I never imagined this would happen.” would not help the situation. With your vote, you made it happen.

By: LOberstein

LOberstein — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:11:37 +0000

Wachovia was a small North Carolina bank that bought up other banks and became huge,now it is being bought by Wells fargo. As banks stopped holding on to their loans and sold them to investors, it became further from the community. Everybody along the way was making money on the deal and there was every incentive to pass the loan on.When the borrower defaulted, it wouldnt be the lender’s problem. Now the stock market fell over 2,000 points in a week! I never imagined this would happen. I hope that the next administration puts alal of these shady practices under a microscope and puts into place reasonable rules. Greed got us into this mess but we need good government to help us out. This crisis has pushed me back into the Democratic Party. I hope a new broom will sweep clean, a young President with21st century ideas who will lead our country out of systemic problems that can sink us all. We must develope renewable energy sources.We can’t allow our country to be bought by the Arabs, it certainly isnt good for the Jews or anyone else.
Those who wallow in conspiracy theories and care more about tarring Obama than getting a new administration have lost, they just can’t admit it.Have a great holiday.

By: Ben Tzion

Ben Tzion — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:07:00 +0000

How many times during the week of selichos and Yom Kippur do we say אשמנו בגדנו…יעצנו רע. Yasher koach to the writer and to Rav Kaminetsky.

By: Bob Miller

Bob Miller — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 02:27:20 +0000

Unfortunately, the social compact by which America has been governed lately (and don’t leave Congress out of this) is:

1. The politicians agree to lie
2. The citizens agree to be lied to

Without Item 2, Item 1 would never have caused so many problems.

By: dovid

dovid — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:25:07 +0000

“Visit your local river to see the heads of all the crooks and semi-crooks who put together this sub-prime scam floating by one after another.”

I only see the skulls of (1) those who bought houses they could ill afford and (2) the shareholders and stakeholders of insurance companies and pension funds that invested in mortgage-backed securities that were secured by assets worth considerably less than their stated value. The skulls of (a) the brokers and mortgage bankers who knowingly originated bad loans and (2) that of the investment bankers who knowingly packaged and marketed mortgage-backed securities that were not worth their nominal value are not floating in the river. Thus far, they got away free.

By: Garnel Ironheart

Garnel Ironheart — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:27:58 +0000

As Rav Salanter, zt”l, once noted: the world is like an expensive hotel. Every luxury must be dearly paid for.

Including the physical, it would seem.

By: dovid

dovid — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:01:47 +0000

Dear Rabbi Adlerstein: Thank you for telling over this incident and showing Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky’s intransigence and abhorrence in the face of an עוולה. We are often tempted to be מורה התר לעצמו, to judge ourselves charitably and search for excuses to perpetrate actions against Jewish law and against the law of the country. Praiseworthy is the “young kollel-trained man” who had the strength of character of asking a most qualified person how to conduct himself in business. He didn’t choose to go to someone who may have found some “leniency” in advising a faceless client to commit financial suicide.

“The young man thought that Rav Shmuel was perhaps instructing him in some ethical nicety, going beyond the minimum requirements of black-letter law.”

This statement, unfortunately, reflects the attitude of many brokers, attorneys, doctors, etc. who are delinquent in their fiduciary obligations of giving the best advice to their client even if this would result in their losing the deal.

By: Big Maybe

Big Maybe — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:39:14 +0000

This has nothing to do with dishonesty. Bad advice is prohibited by Lifnei Iveir. The institutions should not have facilitated the bad loans, and they share some blame for the current crisis. But in the end, the primary responsible persons were those who took loans they couldn’t afford.

לוה רשע ולא ישלם

Refers also to one who take a loan he knows he cannot repay.

By: joel rich

joel rich — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:03:37 +0000

It’s also a telling commentary that a story which reflects such basic halacha needs to be told as a seemingly novel insight.
GCT
Joel Rich

By: Chaim Fisher

Chaim Fisher — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 08:01:44 +0000

How nicely explained.

And how quickly was Divine punishment exacted from the wrong-doers. Visit your local river to see the heads of all the crooks and semi-crooks who put together this sub-prime scam floating by one after another.

By: Adamchik

Adamchik — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 06:20:04 +0000

The investment management folks (i.e. financial planners or brokers selling you mutual funds) are very concerned with “investment suitability” when choosing investments for clients. They are afraid that you might lose a lot of money, and sue them later, so they want to try to make the investment choices a reasonable fit.

However, the more heavily-regulated (retail) banking world is more concerned about disclosure (did you clearly the client that the rate could go up?). Since the loans were sold and resold, there is much less of a feeling of accountability for any recommendations.

Some financial observers say that dishonesty is at the root of our current financial mess.

Kovod Harav!