Well said Starkers. These Chrysler folk are a bunch of wankers plain and simple. Talk about insensitive.

Ditto here in the UK. Northern Rock, a failed lender bailed out by public money (my money) who lost peoples' savings, have just handed out £9 million in bonuses to its staff...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1125468/Its-bonus-time-nationalised-Northern-Rock-Failed-banks-staff-share-9m-pay-day.html

It's about time governments started jailing these people... cos you can bet your last tuppence ha'penny that the high rollers were to recipients there, not the rank and file who actually work for a living.

Umm... just to lighten thing's up here [don't hit me starkers]

Me?  Hit you?  Nah, I'm a pacifist... with one exclusion... bankers.

OK, two.... dirty rotten, low-down and greedy corporate big nobs.

If I had my way, there's be sets of stocks set up in every city for corporate high rollers... where we could pelt them with rotten fruit and other putrid missiles.

The most important function of any society (our collective human race) is the successful rearing of children to be able to carry on the race.

Our teachers and mothers/and or rearers are the most important societal members in this respect as the children are our future.

The rest of society fill functions around that central core, to support, nurture and protect it.

It's time we recognize that fact and show the important ones how important they are and why. Money has become an objective means of doing so, but more important is the public recognition and validation of this fact in our words and conduct.

As for the ones who behave in a way as to destroy these "little people" their fates and fortunes should be altered and used to refund the monies of these hard working and little appreciated anonymous "drones" the "high flyers" believe are there to be used and disposed of like so many rags (if thought of at all).

To be forced to work from cradle to grave; to enter this world owing tens of thousands of dollars; to starve to death at an early age (viz. Africa) in order to provide someone else with gold plated toilet fixtures and properties uneeded, to use 90% of the world's resources in order to propagate this master/slave system is as unconscionable as it is intolerable.

One cannot tell me that it's impossible to find those responsible nor where those monies went. Governments have the organs necessary to investigate and find these answers and we should settle for no less.

Part of the answer isn't going to make us happy, because it's our greed as well. Anyone who invests is part of the system: it's success or failings are apportioned.

However, the little investor didn't know of, nor understand and determine the ridiculous and irresponsible policies that precipitated this mess. It seems that those who did are the least to suffer, and that too is intolerable.

We can do little more than voice our feelings. We should do that in the proper quarters, and firmly resolve "No more trust and 'remote control'". We must be 'eyes and hands on at all times'.

@ #10

Very nicely said, Doc, you pretty much summed it up in a few short and concise paragraphs... excellent!

Precisely, and wealth or the lack thereof does not make a child become a better a better adult.  It's the dedicated love, care and nurturing that helps them becpme decent human beings.  If anything, excess wealth spoils a child and they grow up to be just as spoiled, self-centered and greedy as the social circle they spent their formulative years with.

Again, spot on!  The monies were never theirs to begin with, but rather gained by ill-gotten means (faud and embezzlement) and should be returned to the rightful owners... the people they stole it from.  Funny, isn't it, you frequently hear about little people being charged with piracy, copyright theft, and illegal mucic/movie downloads... from the rich corporations, but how often do we hear about rich corporations being charged and convicted of stealing from us???  Seems to me there is a double standard operating there.  If you're rich you cansuccessfully  prosecute such things... and if you're rich, successfully defend/get away with them as well.  But if you're poor, go suck an egg.

Precisely!  There is always a paper trail, even with electronic transfer/banking, if not moreso, so yes, governments can trace these funds and those responsible fore their misappropriation... into personal bank accounts in many cases, particularly with the bankers and their self-awarded bonuses from investors funds... and yes, these mongrels should be prosecuted and imprisoned for their roles in causing the greatest financial collapse since the Great Depression.

I know there will be some who will try to blame it on people taking out greater mortgages than they could afford... and to that I say BOLLOCKS!!  Most people took out mortgages in good faith to buy/build themselves a family home, but with bad bank advice and goading, bank greed hiking up interest rates, and banks getting themselves in the shit with poor decisions, those mortgages got quickly out of hand.... oh, and let's not forget stagnant salaries/wages, frozen at yesteryear levels in today's inflationary world.  And again, that is corporate greed, wanting maximum profit for the barest minimum outlay.

Yes, we should voice our concerns in the proper quarters... to our elected representatives, and demand they take action against the corporate thieves who responsible for this economic chaos we're in.  For the suffering they have caused... the ongoing suffering many will experience for some years yet, prison terms are not enough.  All their assets (which are ill-gotten gain and never truly theirs to begin with) should be siezed to pay back the small investors of this wholesale theft and fraud.

Oh and last but not least....

I have never invested in companies, stocks, bonds or whatever. Given that I have always been at the lower end of the income scale, all my money has gone towards living and I have never had the spare cash to invest. However,I have never been that greedy to want more money than I really need, so get rich quick investment schemes have never been my bag.  I've never had wealth or a surplus of cash... nor do I want it.  So long as I have enough to live on with a little left over that's all that matters... while a few additional material extras would be nice here and there, I have everything I need and I'll die no worse off if I never get them.  Sure is a pity more of the fabulously wealthy with more than they could ever reasonably spend in a lifetime or 3 didn't think more similarly, rather than greedily wanting to accumulate more.

Oh, and before anybody starts preaching about the super rich giving to charity, DON'T. During the 'Feed the World' campaign started by Bob Geldoff during the 80's, my girlfriend of the time and I were assigned a rather affluent suburb of Brisbane to doorknock, while our friends were assigned an ordinary working-class suburb.  We collected just $47.20 from 6 hours of doorknocking, while our friends collected over $1260 in the same period.  Pretty woeful turnout, don't you think, that those with the least to give gave the most, while those with the least to give put them to shame.  To me, the greatest acts of charity are not those where the person has so much they'll never miss it, but rather those who give when they have the least to spare.

If it wasn't for the mob mentality that can turn good but desperate people into less than animals I would agree with you.  Do they deserve it?  Hell yes... in triplicate, but we as civilised societies have put in place measures to protect ourselves from this kind of thing, and we would be hypocrites to take those laws into our own hands simply because we are angry.  Sure, the politicians who bent to these corporate thieves need to be dealt with, but it needs to be done within the bounds of civilised society or we become worse than them.

True, politicians are not going to pass laws which can hurt them, and yes, they have governmental priveleges, but there are still ways to bring them down... and like you say, people power is the way to do it... legally.  I don't live in the US, but I know about unpopular.. even hated politicians retaining their seats at every election because of electoral boundaries being drawn in their favour and the like, so yeah, you have a few electorally advantaged incumbents who have outlasted their usefulness and need to go.  The US Constitutiuon was formulated so that no president could ever serve more than 2 terms, so use the constitution and whatever else to oust those 'passed their use by date' politicians who have become so entrenched in corruption (corporate and otherwise) it has become a way of life to them.

It can be done through people power if people are willing to get into the political shit fight, not necessarily as senators or congressmen, but at grass root levels, in the electoral and party offices, etc.... it's hard for incumbents to retain their seats if they aren't nominated/party preferred.....

Having worked for a couple different banks (im a software developer) Its amazing they run well at all.  Not to mention they really have a good system for squeezing blood from a rock.  They have mechanisms in place that allow them to gather interest every night through their direct deposit accounts (DDA).  These accounts are basically accounts belonging to you and I.  What really tweaks me is the amount of money they make and still charge an ATM fee.  NO bank really needs to do that.  But I guess someone needs to pay for the CEO and board members salary or what.

I remember being asked to make a financial report to have data show up a certain way to mask whatever it was they didnt want to show.  I baulked. 

Good for you! Also probably the last thing you said there. Honesty is the best policy, although the bigwigs enjoy their power th royally screw you if you dare to speak truth to power.

What you have told us here is that banks are unscrupulously greedy, dishonest and underhanded.  I think most of us suspected that, but thank you very much for sharing your inside knowledge that which we suspected but as laymen could never prove.  The most pertinent point to me was your being asked to implement means to cover up/hide information.  That in itself is an indictment on the very institutions we are forced to trust with our money/do business with.

Well I ain't fighting with you, hallv5. The faulty policies (and dumb NAFTA) started under the Clinton Administration, but I don't believe it was with the intent that anything like this would occur: Rather, I believe it was to try to help the people disadvantaged in the past, much the same as the reasons GinnieMae and FannieMay were started.

Things got way out of hand by the implementation of the "No Collateral/No Income" loans that were made so the paper could be sold to China/Asia where the money was sitting (for good reason: They actually makie things!). These are major Felons. What? The thought ANY commodity (Real Estate) will continue to rise didn't bother ANYONE? Nonsense and Greed.

There was a commentator on CNN last nite telling of a Wall Street friend who was unhappy at making $2,000.000 per year. He complained that at that pace it'd take a decade to make $20 million! Well! Can't have that, can we?

That is the root of this evil. Impossibly greedy, disconnected, dysfunctional, unethical and immoral felons who need rounding up and jail. Along with Joe Lunchbucks, who saw what was going on and wanted his...no matter how.

My posts echo yours regarding eveyone's role in this and didn't bother with the quting stuff...sorry.

I knew it!!!!  Someone just had to put the blame back on the average joe, didn't they!!!  Before making this comment, did you do any research into how the banks convince lower income earners how they could easily have afforded the $300k mortgage?  Yup, there was the: "We'll keep interest down and extend the life of the loan so your monthly repayment is affordable."  or the: "Look, interest is really low right now and there's no better time to buy as we can tailor a mortgage to suit your needs and ability to pay." 

And on top of that, there were unscrupulous realtors doing anything and everything underhanded to make a sale.  One realtor, in Illinois I believe, was actually telling prospective customers that his agency would pay the deposit and it would be absorbed by charging the vendor more.  However, the truth was that it got tacked on the purchase price but hidden on the overall contract in supposed taxes and state fees... thus hiking up interest payments via the larger principle loan.

Where did I get this information??  The BBC's US News Service... which I believe to be unbaised because it has no US agenda or axe to grind, unlike US based new services with political and corporate affiliations,

Then of course there were the ever increasing interest rates that went through the roof, while household incomes remained the same and/or grew less through enforced unemployment... and how their disposable funds lost value with inflation and rising prices: ie, fuel, food, clothing. etc.  The average joe on a fixed income was not financially equipped to cater for these factors combined, and thus his/her propensity was drastically reduced.

The true enemy is bank and corporate greed... executives taking far more than they're worth.