The Spectacle of the Tragedy

The euro was ever meant to bind countries, but it seems that it will split countries. Strong countries do not want to pay for the weaker countries in the South. Politicians keep taking steps towards an economically and politically unified system. To them, this seems the ‘best’ way to create European trust and keep the economic engines running. The current political elite fails to involve citizens into their unclear system and does not realize what kind of fire they are playing with. The Spectacle of the Tragedy shows a transparent and visual story about the behavior of politicians who navigate the euro crisis. By collecting fragmented online news media into a visual narrative, an overview is created of the irresponsible behavior of our leaders, mistakes, and about what’s happening behind the political smiles. It is a compilation about the European Show and its leading actors; at the same time it tells the story about the obvious destruction of the euro by financial operations and human failure. By repurposing the existing imagery a database is created that presents itself to the public as website; a website in which the content is based on the fragmented and temporary news articles about the financial crisis. The Spectacle of the Tragedy is an analytical response to the attitude of our leading actors and their current system. The website questions and takes a critical view on the European leaders and their actions.

[thespectacleofthetragedy]

The Girls of Berlusconi

# 01 Elena Russo* 1971, Italian

# 02 Evelina Manna 1973, Italian

# 03 Belen Rodriguez 1984, Argentine

# 04 Mara Carfagna 1975, Italian

# 05 Francesca Lodo 1982, Italian

# 06 Linda Santaguida 1978, Italian

# 07 Sara Tommasi 1981, Italian

# 08 Aida Yespica 1982, Venezuelan

# 01 Elena Russo* 1971, Italian Source

# 02 Evelina Manna 1973, Italian Source

# 03 Belen Rodriguez 1984, Argentine Source

# 04 Mara Carfagna 1975, Italian Source

# 05 Francesca Lodo 1982, Italian Source

# 06 Linda Santaguida 1978, Italian Source

# 07 Sara Tommasi 1981, Italian Source

# 08 Aida Yespica 1982, Venezuelan Source

# 09 Maylin Aguirre 1983, Cuban Source

# 10 Barbara Guerra* 1980, Italian Source

*These are Berlusconi's favorite girls. Based on the number of dates and the amount of money against it, the media claims that Berlusconi prefers some of the girls over others.

[thespectacleofthetragedy]

How Goldman Sachs Invested in Child Sex Trafficking

The biggest forum for sex trafficking of under-age girls in the United States appears to be a Web site called Backpage.com. This emporium for girls and women — some under age or forced into prostitution — is in turn owned by an opaque private company called Village Voice Media. Until now it has been unclear who the ultimate owners are. That mystery is solved. The owners turn out to include private equity financiers, including Goldman Sachs with a 16 percent stake. Goldman Sachs was mortified when I began inquiring last week about its stake in America’s leading Web site for prostitution ads. It began working frantically to unload its shares, and on Friday afternoon it called to say that it had just signed an agreement to sell its stake to management. “We had no influence over operations,” Andrea Raphael, a Goldman Sachs spokeswoman, told me. Let’s back up for a moment. There’s no doubt that many escort ads on Backpage are placed by consenting adults. But it’s equally clear that Backpage plays a major role in the trafficking of minors or women who are coerced. In one recent case in New York City, prosecutors say that a 15-year-old girl was drugged, tied up, raped and sold to johns through Backpage and other sites. Backpage has 70 percent of the market for prostitution ads, according to AIM Group, a trade organization. Village Voice Media makes some effort to screen out ads placed by traffickers and to alert authorities to abuses, but neither law enforcement officials nor antitrafficking organizations are much impressed. As a result, pressure is growing on the company to drop escort ads. After my last column on this issue, 19 U.S. senators wrote the company, asking it to stop abetting traffickers. On Thursday, antitrafficking campaigners protested outside the Village Voice newspaper (which is owned by Village Voice Media). A petition on Change.org criticizing the company has gathered 220,000 signatures. In Washington State, the governor signed a bill into law on Thursday that could expose Backpage to criminal sanctions if it advertises under-age girls for sex without verifying their ages. (There’s some uncertainty about the constitutionality of the law.) Village Voice Media has been able to resist pressure partly because, as a private company, it doesn’t disclose its owners. But I’ve obtained documents that, with some digging, shed light on who’s behind it. The two biggest owners are Jim Larkin and Michael Lacey, the managers of the company, and they seem to own about half of the shares. The best known of the other owners is Goldman Sachs, which invested in the company in 2000 (before Backpage became a part of Village Voice Media in a 2006 merger). A Goldman managing director, Scott L. Lebovitz, sat on the Village Voice Media board for many years. Goldman says he stepped down in early 2010. Let’s be clear: this is a tiny investment by a huge company, and I have no reason to think that Goldman’s top executives knew of its connection to sex trafficking. Goldman prides itself on its work on gender: its 10,000 Women initiative does splendid work supporting women in business around the globe. Full disclosure: Goldman’s foundation was one of about 15 funders of a public television documentary version of a book that my wife and I wrote about the world’s women. That said, for more than six years Goldman has held a significant stake in a company notorious for ties to sex trafficking, and it sat on the company’s board for four of those years. There’s no indication that Goldman or anyone else ever used its ownership to urge Village Voice Media to drop escort ads or verify ages. Elizabeth L. McDougall, chief counsel for Village Voice Media, told me Friday that she was “unaware of any dissent” from owners. Several lesser-known financial companies also hold significant stakes in Village Voice Media, and one person close to the company says that there are about a dozen owners in all. One is Trimaran, an investment company in New York. It wouldn’t disclose the size of its stake but told me that it had “no influence whatsoever” on management and is now trying to sell its shares. Two other companies, Alta Communications and Brynwood Partners, did not respond to my repeated inquiries about ties to Village Voice Media (Brynwood may be an asset manager rather than an owner). One thought: If the minority shareholders, Goldman included, worked together instead of rushing for the exits, they might be able to pressure Village Voice Media to get out of escort ads. There are no easy solutions to sex trafficking. I think the most important single step is for prosecutors to focus more on pimps and johns. Closing down the leading Web site used by traffickers would complicate their lives, and after so many years of girls being trafficked on this site, it’s time to hold owners accountable.

[thespectacleofthetragedy]

Barroso Build The Secret Plan for a New Europe

Prime Minister David Cameron has clashed with French President Nicolas Sarkozy over the UK's involvement in discussions about the eurozone crisis. Mr Sarkozy believes the final talks on Wednesday should be limited to nations which actually use the euro. Mr Cameron said all EU leaders should be present to debate issues which could affect them in one way or another. The clash came on the day when leaders agreed to change the Union's treaty if necessary to help resolve the crisis.

EU president Herman Van Rompuy said after a day of emergency talks in Brussels that members would "explore the possibility of limited change". Mr Cameron said he had sought assurances to protect the UK's interest if there is change. All EU leaders are now set to attend the final meeting on Wednesday, which was originally meant to be attended by only the 17 countries that use the euro. That prompted French leader Mr Sarkozy to speak out. He said he was sick of reading in newspapers about advice Mr Cameron and his Chancellor George Osborne were offering the eurozone. At one point in the exchanges, Mr Sarkozy was quoted as telling Mr Cameron: "We are sick of you criticising us and telling us what to do."

On Sunday morning the leaders of all the European Union's 27 members held talks about the Greek debt crisis, recapitalising banks, and bolstering the bailout fund. This was followed in the afternoon by a separate meeting of the 17 nations that use the euro. Speaking after the meeting, Mr Van Rompuy said that altering the treaty was under discussion. Although no proposed details were given, any change is likely to involve closer fiscal and economic cooperation. "The aim is deepening our economic convergence and strengthening economic discipline," Mr Van Rompuy said. He said the words "limited change" meant "not a general overhaul of the institutional architecture". He added: We also said that we would need the agreement of all the 27 (member states) before we can decide on a treaty change."

'Progress needed'

Mr Cameron said he had secured safeguards to ensure that Britain's national interest within the EU was protected as the eurozone nations moved towards greater fiscal and economic integration. He told a news conference: "This must not be at the expense of Britain's national interest. I have secured a commitment today that we must safeguard the interests of countries that want to stay outside the euro, particularly with respect to the integrity of the single market for all 27 countries of the EU." The prime minister said the EU needed to build on the progress of the work done on Saturday on recapitalising the banks. "More progress is needed. I think we are beginning to see the elements of a strong package coming together," he said. Mr Cameron has cancelled visits to Japan and New Zealand this week in order to attend Wednesday's summit.

Speaking alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a joint press conference on Sunday, Mr Sarkozy said "a quite broad agreement was taking shape on the reinforcement" of the bailout fund. Mrs Merkel said a French idea for the fund to acquire a banking licence was dead, leaving a mix of plans to use the fund to offer insurance to eurozone bond holders, and moves to create a "fund within the fund" that would be topped up by some of the main emerging nations. On Saturday eurozone finance ministers struck a provisional deal that will see banks raise more than 100bn euros (£87bn) in new capital to shield them against possible losses to indebted countries. It is conditional on a wider accord, including a write-down of Greek debt.

BBC business editor Robert Peston said the 100bn euros agreed in the deal will be provided to banks by commercial investors, national governments and the EU's bailout fund. Debt-laden Greece has been bailed out - twice - along with the Irish Republic and Portugal. The eurozone is working on a third package for Greece, as well as a solution that could help the much bigger economies of Spain and Italy, which are faltering.

Source

[thespectacleofthetragedy]

An Extraordinary Romance

Merkel and Sarkozy applaud at the conclusion of a European elections rally in Berlin. May 10, 2009

Merkel and Sarkozy in Berlin after talks on battling the Greek debt crisis. October 9, 2011

Merkel and Sarkozy wave to the crowd at the Chancellery in Berlin. October 18, 2010

Sarkozy welcomes Merkel to a working lunch at the Elysee palace in Paris. December 5, 2011

Merkel and Sarkozy wave to the crowd at the Chancellery in Berlin. June 17, 2011

Merkel and Sarkozy applaud at the conclusion of a European elections rally in Berlin. May 10, 2009

Merkel and Sarkozy in Berlin after talks on battling the Greek debt crisis. October 9, 2011

Merkel and Sarkozy at the Chancellery on in Berlin, Germany. June 17, 2011

Sarkozy and Merkel stroll at sunset along a beach promenade in Deauville, France. October 18, 2010

[thespectacleofthetragedy]

The Fallen Leaders

# 01 Brian Cowen

# 02 Gordon Brown

# 03 Jose Socrates

# 04 Robert Fico

# 05 Mari Kiviniemi

# 06 Lars Rasmussen

# 07 Iveta Radicova

# 08 George Papandreou

# 09 Silvio Berlusconi

# 10 Jose Zapatero

# 11 Borut Pahor

# 12 Tarja Halonen

# 13 Mark Rutte

# 14 Lucas Papademos

# 01 Brian Cowen Former Prime Minister of Ireland Date of Resignation March 9, 2011 Lost elections Source

# 02 Gordon Brown Former Prime Minister of United Kingdom Date of Resignation March 11, 2010 Lost elections Source

# 03 Jose Socrates Former Prime Minister of Portugal Date of Resignation June 5, 2011 Lost elections Source

# 04 Robert Fico Former Prime of Slovakia Date of Resignation June 13, 2010 Lost elections Source

# 05 Mari Kiviniemi Former Prime Minister of Finland Date of Resignation June 22, 2011 Lost elections Source

# 06 Lars Rasmussen Former Prime Minister of Denmark Date of Resignation October 3, 2011 Election defeat Source

# 07 Iveta Radicova Former Prime Minister of Slovakia Date of Resignation October 11, 2011 Fall of government Source

# 08 George Papandreou Former Prime Minister of Greece Date of Resignation November 11, 2011 Resigned under pressure from Europe Source

# 09 Silvio Berlusconi Former Prime Minister of Italy Date of Resignation November 16, 2011 Resigned under pressure from Europe Source

# 10 Jose Zapatero Former Prime Minister of Spain Date of Resignation December 20, 2011 Resigned under pressure from Spain Source

# 11 Borut Pahor Former Prime Minister of Slovenia Date of Resignation February 10, 2012 Fall of government Source

# 12 Tarja Halonen Former President of Finland Date of Resignation March 1, 2012 Fullfilled maximum term as president Source

# 13 Mark Rutte Former Prime Minister of The Netherlands Date of Resignation April 22, 2012 Fall of government Source

# 14 Lucas Papademos Former Prime Minister of Greece Date of Resignation May 17, 2012 Transitional government Source

# 15 Nicolas Sarkozy Former President of France Date of Resignation May 6, 2012 Lost elections Source

[thespectacleofthetragedy]

The Goldman Sachs Masters

Antonio Borges 1949, Portugal

Petros Christodoulou 1960, Greece

Guillermo De La Dehesa 1941, Spain

Mario Draghi 1947, Italy

Luis De Guindos 1960, Spain

Otmar Issing 1936, Germany

Karel Van Miert 1949, Belgium

Mario Monti 1943, Italy

Lucas Papademos 1947, Greece

Romano Prodi 1939, Italy

Antonio Borges 1949, Portugal Head of IMF European Department since 2010 till 2012. Former vice chairman and managing director of Goldman Sachs International in London from 2000 till 2008. Source

Petros Christodoulou 1960, Greece Head of Greece’s dept management agency since 2010. Banker at Goldman Sachs from 1987 till 1998. Source

Guillermo de la Dehesa 1941, Spain Monetary expert of the Economic and Monetary Committee of the European Parliament. International advisor of Goldman Sachs International. Source

Mario Draghi 1947, Italy President of the ECB since November 2011. Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs International for Europe from 2002 till 2005. Source

Luis de Guindos 1960, Spain Minister of Economic Affairs in Spain since December 2011. Former Banker of Lehman Brothers from 2006 till the downfall in 2008. Source

Otmar Issing 1936, Germany Former board member of Bundesbank from 1990 till 1998 and the European Central Bank from 1998 till 2006. Adviser to Goldman Sachs. Source

Karel van Miert 1949, Belgium Former EU Competition Commissioner from 1993 till 1999. International Advisor of Goldman Sachs. Source

Mario Monti 1943, Italy Prime Minister of Italy since November 2011. International Advisor of Goldman Sachs from 2005 till 2011. Source

Lucas Papademos 1947, Greece Prime Minister of Greece from November 11 2011 till May 17 2012. Governor of the Greek central bank from 1994 till 2002. In this capacity, he falsified the public accounting in cooperation with Goldman Sachs. Source

Romano Prodi 1939, Italy Prime Minister of Italy from 1996 till 1998. President of the European Commission from 1999 till 2004. From March 1990 to May 1993 and when not in public office, Prodi acted as a consultant to Goldman Sachs. Source

Peter Sutherland 1946, Ireland Former Attorney general of Ireland. Prominent voice during Irelands bail-out from 2008 till 2011. Director (non-executive) of Goldman Sachs International. Source

[thespectacleofthetragedy]

Merkel's Style — The Blazer

June 10, 2008 Meseburg Germany

Sept 28, 2009 Berlin Germany

June 1, 2012 Berlin Germany

June 1, 2008 Berlin Germany

June 11, 2008 Meseberg Germany

May 22, 2012 Berlin Germany

June 28, 2011 Berlin Germany

Oct 29, 2010 Muninch Germany

Feb 17, 2012 Berlin Germany

April 3, 2009 Baden Baden Germany

Sept 9, 2008 Berlin Germany

June 9, 2011 Berlin Germany

August 25, 2010 Berlin Germany

March 31, 2009 Berlin Germany

August 26, 2009 Berlin Germany

June 17, 2011 Berlin Germany

July 15, 2008 Berlin Germany

Feb 12, 2008 Berlin Germany

Sept 27, 2011 Berlin Germany

June 16, 2011 Berlin Germany

June 5, 2009 Dresden Germany

June 28, 2011 Berlin Germany

May 21, 2010 Berlin Germany

August 26, 2009 Berlin Germany

August 25, 2010 Berlin Germany

July 24, 2008 Berlin Germany

June 11, 2008 Meseberg Germany

Oct 4, 2010 Berlin Germany

June 5, 2010 Meseberg Germany

June 10, 2008 Meseburg Germany

Feb 2, 2012 Beijing China

May 5, 2009 Berlin Germany

Oct 14, 2010 Berlin Germany

July 15, 2008 Berlin Germany

Jan 9, 2012 Berlin Germany

July 8, 2009 L’aquila Italy

Nov 5, 2010 Leipzig Germany

April 1, 2010 London England

April 23, 2012 Wolfsburg Germany

May 22, 2012 Berlin Germany

Nov 19, 2010 Berlin Gemany

Sept 28, 2009 Berlin Germany

May 19, 2012 Washington United States

June 25, 2009 Washington United states

Feb 9, 2009 Berlin Germany

July 25, 2011 Bayreuth Germany

June 9, 2011 Berlin Germany

March 15, 2011 Berlin Germany

April 28, 2010 Berlin Germany

Feb 12, 2008 Berlin Germany

April 3, 2009 Baden Baden Germany

Feb 22, 2009 Berlin Germany

April 23, 2010 Berlin Germany

August 21, 2011 Berlin Germany

May 20, 2012 Chigago Illinois

June 17, 2011 Berlin Germany

July 18, 2008 Nuremberg Germany

August 31, 2011 Berlin Germany

Sept 9, 2008 Berlin Germany

Oct 27, 2009 Berlin Germany

Sept 6, 2009 Düsseldorf Germany

July 25, 2010 Bayreuth Germany

July 8, 2008 Toyako Japan

April 12, 2010 Washington United states

Sept 27, 2011 Berlin Germany

May 27, 2011 Deauville France

May 15, 2012 Berlin Germany

Feb 17, 2012 Berlin Germany

May 18, 2011 Berlin Germany

Sept 29, 2011 Berlin Germany

Dec 30, 2011 Berlin Germany

Sept 30, 2009 Berlin Germany

Sept 28, 2007 Berlin Germany

Oct 22, 2009 Berlin Germany

April 23, 2009 Berlin Germany

Feb 5, 2011 Munich Germany

June 16, 2011 Berlin Germany

August 29, 2010 Berlin Germany

Oct 14, 2009 Berlin Germany

June 20, 2011 Frankfurt Germany

March 31, 2009 Berlin Germany

Jan 15, 2009 Frankfurt Germany

July 30, 2011 Salzburg Austria

July 4, 2008 Berlin Germany

Sept 22, 2010 Berlin Germany

March 5, 2010 Berlin Germany

Feb 23, 2011 Berlin Germany

Oct 29, 2010 Muninch Germany

April 4, 2011 Berlin Germany

Dec 7, 2011 Berlin Germany

Nov 3, 2010 Berlin Germany

Oct 1, 2008 Berlin Germany

April 3, 2009 Baden Baden Germany

Nov 2, 2010 Brussels Belgium

June 1, 2008 Berlin Germany

Jan 23, 2008 Berlin Germany

Jan 9, 2009 Erfurt Germany

Jan 11, 2011 Berlin Germany

Oct 8, 2009 Berlin Germany

Nov 11, 2010 Seoul South Korea

Nov 29, 2011 Berlin Germany

Sept 7, 2011 Berlin Germany

June 12, 2010 Sassnitz Germany

Nov 18, 2011 Berlin Germany

Nov 20, 2010 Lisbon Portugal

March 18, 2012 Berlin Germany

March 16, 2008 Ben Gurion Israel

June 17, 2009 Berlin Germany

Feb 13, 2011 Berlin Germany

March 3, 2011 Berlin Germany

Nov 14, 2011 Leipzig Germany

Oct 9, 2008 Berlin Germany

Oct 13, 2008 Berlin Germany

Dec 5, 2011 Paris France

Jan 5, 2009 Berlin Germany

Dec 3, 2008 Berlin Germany

Feb 23, 2012 Berlin Germany

Oct 30, 2008 Londen England

Nov 17, 2008 Berlin Germany

Nov 9, 2008 Berlin Germany

[thespectacleofthetragedy]

Lagarde Leads IMF But Pays Not Any Taxes

[thespectacleofthetragedy]

Everything You Need Know About Hollande

[thespectacleofthetragedy]

Rutte Laughs about Something

April 18, 2008 Amersfoort Netherlands

Nov 17, 2008 Blijswijk Netherlands

May 12, 2009 Almere Netherlands

Feb 25, 2010 Alblasserdam Netherlands

May 25, 2010 The Hague Netherlands

June 10, 2010 Scheveningen Netherlands

August 10, 2010 The Hague Netherlands

Oct 14, 2010 The Hague Netherlands

Jan 29, 2011 The Hague Netherlands

March 1, 2011 The Hague Netherlands

June 9, 2011 The Hague Netherlands

Sept 21, 2011 The Hague Netherlands

Dec 5, 2011 Stockholm Sweden

Sept 22, 2011 The Hague Netherlands

Jan 27, 2012 Rotterdam Netherlands

April 19, 2012 Amsterdam Netherlands

Sept 30, 2005 — —

Dec 9, 2005 — —

May 21, 2006 Leeuwarden Netherlands

Sept 15, 2007 Veldhoven Netherlands

Nov 10, 2007 The Hague Netherlands

April 18, 2008 Amersfoort Netherlands

April 18, 2008 Leusderkwartier Netherlands

May 18, 2008 Scheveningen Netherlands

June 2, 2008 Zeeland Netherlands

June 5, 2008 Amsterdam Netherlands

Nov 17, 2008 Blijswijk Netherlands

Dec 8, 2008 Veenendaal Netherlands

May 11, 2009 Almere Netherlands

May 12, 2009 Almere Netherlands

July 4, 2009 The Hague Netherlands

June 13, 2009 Amsterdam Netherlands

Dec 4, 2009 Apeldoorn Netherlands

Dec 11, 2009 The Hague Netherlands

Feb 10, 2010 — —

Feb 23, 2010 Ede Netherlands

Feb 25, 2010 Alblasserdam Netherlands

April 17, 2010 Utrecht Netherlands

May 18, 2010 The Hague Netherlands

May 25, 2010 The Hague Netherlands

May 25, 2010 — —

May 29, 2010 Harderwijk Netherlands

May 29, 2010 Noordwijk Netherlands

June 5, 2010 The Hague Netherlands

June 10, 2010 Scheveningen Netherlands

June 16, 2010 The Hague Netherlands

June 30, 2010 The Hague Netherlands

August 3, 2010 The Hague Netherlands

August 10, 2010 The Hague Netherlands

Sept 22, 2010 The Hague Netherlands

Sept 30, 2010 The Hague Netherlands

Oct 14, 2010 The Hague Netherlands

Oct 21, 2010 The Hague Netherlands

Oct 26, 2010 The Hague Netherlands

Oct 28, 2010 The Hague Netherlands

Nov 18, 2010 The Hague Netherlands

Nov 19, 2010 Berlin Germany

Dec 1, 2010 Astana Kazachstan

Dec 1, 2010 Zurich Switzerland

Dec 19, 2010 Enter Netherlands

Jan 14, 2011 Nieuwpoort Netherlands

Jan 18, 2011 Groningen Netherlands

Jan 25, 2011 Haren Netherlands

Jan 29, 2011 The Hague Netherlands

Feb 4, 2011 Brussel Belgium

Feb 16, 2011 The Hague Netherlands

Feb 26, 2011 Purmerend Netherlands

Feb 26, 2011 — —

March 1, 2011 The Hague Netherlands

March 3, 2011 The Hague Netherlands

April 13, 2011 Ooij Netherlands

May 5, 2011 Wageningen Netherlands

May 6, 2011 Wageningen Netherlands

May 21, 2011 The Hague Netherlands

June 9, 2011 The Hague Netherlands

June 15, 2011 Vught Netherlands

June 25, 2011 The Hague Netherlands

June 30, 2011 Zaltbommel Netherlands

July 21, 2011 Brussel Belgium

August 1, 2011 Almelo Netherlands

August 6, 2011 Spaarnwoude Netherlands

August 16, 2011 The Hague Netherlands

August 23, 2011 — —

Sept 20, 2011 Amsterdam Netherlands

Sept 21, 2011 The Hague Netherlands

Sept 21, 2011 The Hague Netherlands

Sept 22, 2011 The Hague Netherlands

Oct 15, 2011 London UK

Oct 28, 2011 Moscow Russia

Oct 28, 2011 The Hague Netherlands

Nov 6, 2011 Lunteren Netherlands

Nov 8, 2011 Lubmin Germany

Nov 12, 2011 Frankfurt Germany

Nov 29, 2011 Washington United States

Dec 5, 2011 Stockholm Sweden

Dec 20, 2011 Hilversum Netherlands

Jan 19, 2012 The Hague Netherlands

Jan 27, 2012 Rotterdam Netherlands

Feb 13, 2012 Berlin Germany

March 1, 2012 Brussels Belgium

March 7, 2012 Kunduz Afghanistan

March 20, 2012 — —

March 29, 2012 The Hague Netherlands

April 12, 2012 The Hague Netherlands

April 19, 2012 Amsterdam Netherlands

April 19, 2012 Amsterdam Netherlands

— — —

— — —

— — —

— — —

— — —

— — —

— — —

— — —

— — —

April 21, 2012 The Hague Netherlands

[thespectacleofthetragedy]

Leaders In Talks Over Eurozone

[thespectacleofthetragedy]

French Prosecutor Launches DSK Rape Probe‎

Everything was in place to enable Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF head, to declare next month his candidacy for the Socialist primary, ahead of French presidential elections next year. Polls consistently showed that he was the most popular Socialist candidate, and the best placed to beat President Nicolas Sarkozy in a run-off. But Mr Strauss-Kahn's arrest on May 14th in New York, for an alleged sexual assault, has thrown all those plans in the air, and looks almost certain to wreck his political future.

Mr Strauss-Kahn was arrested when he was already aboard an Air France plane at Kennedy International Airport, just minutes before it was due to take off. New York police said he was charged with ‘criminal sexual act, attempted rape, and an unlawful imprisonment in connection with a sexual assault’ on a chambermaid in a Manhattan hotel. Reports suggested that Mr Strauss-Kahn had left his hotel room in a hurry. His lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, told Reuters that his client would plead not guilty.

The news has rocked the political class in Paris. Martine Aubry, the Socialist Party leader, called it a ‘thunderbolt’. Others talked of a ‘cataclysm’. Even were Mr Strauss-Kahn to be cleared eventually of the charges, the prospect of a court case and the intense scrutiny of his private life would make it virtually impossible for him to return to France to fight a primary. Already, in 2008, he faced an internal IMF investigation into an affair with a fellow member of staff. In the end, the fund concluded that Mr Strauss-Kahn had not abused his position, but he accepted their view that he had made ‘a serious error of judgment’. His wife, Anne Sinclair, a popular and well-known French television journalist, stood by him. The Fund‚Äôs decision then to keep him on now looks timid and ill-judged.

Even before this latest shock, it was becoming clear that the French presidential campaign was set to be a nasty exercise in low politics. Over the past week or so, doubtless fed by the political right, the French media has been filled with reports about Mr Strauss-Kahn's lifestyle, complete with photographs of his pad in Marrakech and swanky Paris flats. A picture of him getting into a Porsche, belonging to an adviser, set off a fierce and tortured French debate about whether it is possible to be left-wing and rich.

[thespectacleofthetragedy]

Men who made £1bn as banks were bailed out

Lloyd Blankfein Goldman Sachs

Jimmy Cayne Bear Stearns

Eric Daniels Lloyds

Robert Diamond Barclays

Richard Fuld Lehman

Stephen Green HSBC

Andy Hornby HBOS

Stan O'Neal Merill Lynch

Henry Paulson Goldman Sachs

Charles Prince Citigroup

John Varley Barclays

Sanford Weill Citigroup

Lloyd Blankfein Goldman Sachs Total remuneration £163.1m (since 1999 or during length of service) Bank market capitalisation (August 2007) £37.8bn Bank market capitalisation (now) £24.6bn Credit crunch hits  (since August 2007) £19.4bn Source

Jimmy Cayne Bear Stearns Total remuneration £164.2m (since 1999 or during length of service) Bank market capitalisation (August 2007) £6.8bn Now Bear Stearns delisted, June 2008 Credit crunch hits  (since August 2007) £2.3bn   Source

Eric Daniels Lloyds Total remuneration £10.2m (since 1999 or during length of service) Bank market capitalisation (August 2007) £66.4bn Bank market capitalisation (now) £10.7bn Credit crunch hits  (since August 2007) £11.0bn Source

Robert Diamond Barclays Total remuneration £39.8m (since 1999 or during length of service) Bank market capitalisation (August 2007) £44.4bn Bank market capitalisation (now) £7.4bn Credit crunch hits  (since August 2007) £26.1bn Source

Richard Fuld Lehman Brothers Total remuneration £134.5m (since 1999 or during length of service) Bank market capitalisation (August 2007) £15.9bn Now Lehman Bros delisted, September 2008 Credit crunch hits  (since August 2007) £21.2bn Source

Stephen Green HSBC Total remuneration £12.5m (since 1999 or during length of service) Bank market capitalisation (August 2007) £105.8bn Bank market capitalisation (now) £65.7bn Credit crunch hits  (since August 2007) £26.7bn Source

Andy Hornby HBOS Total remuneration £7.6m (since 1999 or during length of service) Bank market capitalisation (August 2007) £66.4bn Bank market capitalisation (now) £10.7bn Credit crunch hits  (since August 2007) £21.1bn   Source

Stan O'Neal Merill Lynch Total remuneration £196.7m (since 1999 or during length of service) Bank market capitalisation (August 2007) £30.9bn Now Merrill Lynch bought by Bank of America Credit crunch hits  (since August 2007) £60.5bn   Source

Henry Paulson Goldman Sachs Total remuneration £119.9m (since 1999 or during length of service) Bank market capitalisation (August 2007) £37.8bn Bank market capitalisation (now) £24.6bn Credit crunch hits  (since August 2007) £19.4bn Source

Charles Prince Citigroup Total remuneration £77.5m (since 1999 or during length of service) Bank market capitalisation (August 2007) £114.8bn Bank market capitalisation (now) £13.0bn Credit crunch hits  (since August 2007) £140.6bn Source

John Varley Barclays Total remuneration £11.8m (since 1999 or during length of service) Bank market capitalisation (August 2007) £44.4bn Bank market capitalisation (now) £7.4bn Credit crunch hits  (since August 2007) £26.1bn Source

Sanford Weill Citigroup Total remuneration £121.7m (since 1999 or during length of service) Bank market capitalisation (August 2007) £114.8bn Bank market capitalisation (now) £13.0bn Credit crunch hits  (since August 2007) £140.6bn Source

[thespectacleofthetragedy]

Carla Bruni Handbag Collection

May 26, 2011 Deauville France Silver Metal Clutch Bag

Sep 23, 2008 New York United States Golden Silk Clutch Bag

June 22, 2008 Jerusalem Israel Christian Dior Babe Frame Bag

Oct 27, 2009 Tunis Tunisia Nude Guilted Handbag

Sep 13, 2004 Paris France Beige Leather Shoulder Bag

Nov, 2008 New York United States Goyard Hotel Du Parc Bag

June 14, 2011 Paris France YSL Cabas Chyc Leather

March 28, 2010 New York United States Christian Dior 3D Handbag

March 26, 2008 London England Christian Dior Babe handbag

May 27, 2011 Deaville France YSL Cabas Chyc Leather

May 26, 2011 Paris France Hermes Victoria Travel Bag

Sep 24, 2009 Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Hermes Clutch Bag

Sep 24, 2009 Coraopolis Pennsylvania Hermes Leather Clutch Bag

Dec 5, 2010 New Delhi India Brown Leather Bowling bag

Dec 5, 2010 New Delhi India Roger Vivier Miss Viv Bag

Dec 22, 2008 Rio de Janeiro Brazil Purple Handbag

April 3, 2009 Baden Baden Germany Chanel Floral Clutch Bag

April 4, 2009 Strasbourg France Chanel Bubble Quilted Bag

April 3, 2009 Strasbourg France Christian Dior Babe Handbag

June 23, 2008 Jerusalem Israel Navy Silk Clutch Bag

April 27, 2009 Madrid Spain Navy Satin Purse

Sep 12, 2008 Paris France Lana Marks Handbag

Nov 11, 2008 Douaumont France Hermes Bombay Bag

June 23, 2008 Jerusalem Israel Christian Dior Babe Handbag

March 16, 2009 Paris France Black Handbag Golden Chain

June 18, 2010 London England Christian Dior 3D Handbag

March 6, 2009 Paris France Roger Vivier Miss Viv Bag

March 26, 2008 London England Christian Dior Babe Handbag

Dec 5, 2010 New Delhi India Pochette Roger Vivier Léopard

March 24, 2009 Paris France Black Leather Purse

Jan 27, 2012 Paris France Black Velours Clutch Bag

June 4, 2012 Paris France Navy Canvas Tote Bag

Feb 11, 2009 Burkina Faso Africa Black Canvas Tote Bag

April 27, 2009 Madrid Spain Black Shiny Clutch Bag

Jan 30, 2009 Paris France Black and Metal Velours Purse

March 27, 2008 London England Christian Dior Babe Frame Bag

March 29, 2010 New York United States Roger Vivier Miss Viv Bag

Sep 18, 2010 New York United States Black Leather Handbag

Nov 18, 2009 Doha Qatar Gucci Bamboo Handbag

July 27, 2009 Paris France Black Leather Shoulder Bag

— — — Chanel 2.55 White Handbag Source

May 26, 2011 Deauville France Silver Metal Clutch Bag Source

Sep 23, 2008 New York United States Golden Silk Clutch Bag Source

April 30, 2008 Tunis Tunisia Nude Leather Shoulder Bag Source

June 22, 2008 Jerusalem Israel Christian Dior Babe Frame Bag Source

Oct 27, 2009 Tunis Tunisia Nude Guilted Handbag Source

Sep 13, 2004 Paris France Beige Leather Shoulder Bag Source

— — — Tod’s G Shoulder Bag Source

Nov, 2008 New York United States Goyard Hotel Du Parc Bag Source

Feb 28, 2008 Cape Town South Africa Carla Yellow Shoulder Bag Source

June 14, 2011 Paris France YSL Cabas Chyc Leather Source

March 28, 2010 New York United States Christian Dior 3D Handbag Source

March 29, 2010 Paris France Brown Leather Handbag Source

March 26, 2008 London England Christian Dior Babe handbag Source

May 27, 2011 Deaville France YSL Cabas Chyc Leather Source

— — — Hermes Kelly Handbag Source

May 26, 2011 Paris France Hermes Victoria Travel Bag Source

July 29, 2010 Paris France Leather Shoulder Bag Source

Sep 24, 2009 Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Hermes Clutch Bag Source

Sep 24, 2009 Coraopolis Pennsylvania Hermes Leather Clutch Bag Source

Dec 5, 2010 New Delhi India Brown Leather Bowling bag Source

Dec 5, 2010 New Delhi India Roger Vivier Miss Viv Bag Source

Dec 22, 2008 Rio de Janeiro Brazil Purple Handbag Source

— — — Hermes Constance Bag Source

April 3, 2009 Baden Baden Germany Chanel Floral Clutch Bag Source

April 4, 2009 Strasbourg France Chanel Bubble Quilted Bag Source

April 3, 2009 Strasbourg France Christian Dior Babe Handbag Source

June 23, 2008 Jerusalem Israel Navy Silk Clutch Bag Source

July 10, 2011 South of France France Blue Printed Shoulder Bag Source

April 27, 2009 Madrid Spain Navy Satin Purse Source

Sep 12, 2008 Paris France Lana Marks Handbag Source

Nov 11, 2008 Douaumont France Hermes Bombay Bag Source

Sep 21, 2009 New York United States Black Handbag Source

May 23, 2007 Cannes France Decorative Black Purse Source

June 23, 2008 Jerusalem Israel Christian Dior Babe Handbag Source

Sep 20, 2010 Paris France Christian Dior Libertine Hobo Source

March 16, 2009 Paris France Black Handbag Golden Chain Source

June 18, 2010 London England Christian Dior 3D Handbag Source

March 6, 2009 Paris France Roger Vivier Miss Viv Bag Source

March 26, 2008 London England Christian Dior Babe Handbag Source

— — — Roger Vivier Miss Viv Bag Source

Dec 5, 2010 New Delhi India Pochette Roger Vivier Léopard Source

— — — Tommy Hilfiger Handbag Source

March 24, 2009 Paris France Black Leather Purse Source

— — — Chanel Velours Black Handbag Source

2010 — — Christian Dior Shoulder Bag Source

Jan 27, 2012 Paris France Black Velours Clutch Bag Source

June 4, 2012 Paris France Navy Canvas Tote Bag Source

Feb 11, 2009 Burkina Faso Africa Black Canvas Tote Bag Source

April 27, 2009 Madrid Spain Black Shiny Clutch Bag Source

Jan 30, 2009 Paris France Black and Metal Velours Purse Source

March 27, 2008 London England Christian Dior Babe Frame Bag Source

Sep 24, 2009 Pittburgh Pennsylvania Roger Vivier Black Clutch Source

March 29, 2010 New York United States Roger Vivier Miss Viv Bag Source

July 14, 2009 — — Christian Dior Babe Handbag Source

Sep 18, 2010 New York United States Black Leather Handbag Source

Nov 18, 2009 Doha Qatar Gucci Bamboo Handbag Source

— — — Roger Vivier Carla La La Source

July 27, 2009 Paris France Black Leather Shoulder Bag Source

March 21, 2010 New York United States Roger Vivier Miss Viv Bag Source

[thespectacleofthetragedy]

Leading from the Front

Oslo Norway April 12, 2008

Oslo Norway April 12, 2008

Oslo Norway April 12, 2008 Source

Oslo Norway April 12, 2008 Source

[thespectacleofthetragedy]

Merkozy Teddy Bear

# 01 Nicolas Sarkozy unwraps a gift from Angela Merkel. October 25, 2011 

# 02 Pleased by the Angela Merkel choice of a Steiff teddy bear. October 25, 2011 

# 03 Sarkozy hands Merkel his mobile phone. October 25, 2011 

# 04 The chancellor then congratulates Carla Bruni on the birth of her baby. October 25, 2011 

# 01 Nicolas Sarkozy unwraps a gift from Angela Merkel. October 25, 2011 

# 02 Pleased by the Angela Merkel choice of a Steiff teddy bear. October 25, 2011 

# 03 Sarkozy hands Merkel his mobile phone. October 25, 2011 

# 04 The chancellor then congratulates Carla Bruni on the birth of her baby. October 25, 2011 

[thespectacleofthetragedy]

People to Blame for the Financial Crisis

George Bush

Joseph Cassano

Jimmy Cayne

Bill Clinton

Chris Cox

Kathleen Corbet

John Devaney

Richard Fuld

George W. Bush From the start, Bush embraced a governing philosophy of deregulation. That trickled down to federal oversight agencies, which in turn eased off on banks and mortgage brokers. Bush did push early on for tighter controls over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but he failed to move Congress. After the Enron scandal, Bush backed and signed the aggressively regulatory Sarbanes-Oxley Act. But SEC head William Donaldson tried to boost regulation of mutual and hedge funds, he was blocked by Bush’s advisers at the White House as well as other powerful Republicans and quit. Plus, let’s face it, the meltdown happened on Bush’s watch. Source

Joseph Cassano Before the financial-sector meltdown, few people had ever heard of credit-default swaps (CDS). They are insurance contracts — or, if you prefer, wagers — that a company will pay its debt. As a founding member of AIG’s financial-products unit, Cassano, who ran the group until he stepped down in early 2008, knew them quite well. In good times, AIG’s massive CDS-issuance business minted money for the insurer’s other companies. But those same contracts turned out to be at the heart of AIG’s downfall and subsequent taxpayer rescue. So far, the U.S. government has invested and lent $150 billion to keep AIG afloat. Source

Jimmy Cayne Plenty of CEOs screwed up on Wall Street. But none seemed more asleep at the switch than Bear Stearns’ Cayne. He left the office by helicopter for 3 ½-day golf weekends. He was regularly out of town at bridge tournaments and reportedly smoked pot. (Cayne denies the marijuana allegations.) Back at the office, Cayne’s charges bet the firm on risky home loans. Two of its highly leveraged hedge funds collapsed in mid-2007. But that was only the beginning. Bear held nearly $40 billion in mortgage bonds that were essentially worthless. In early 2008 Bear was sold to JPMorgan for less than the value of its office building. “I didn’t stop it. I didn’t rein in the leverage,” Cayne later told Fortune. Source

Bill Clinton President Clinton’s tenure was characterized by economic prosperity and financial deregulation, which in many ways set the stage for the excesses of recent years. Among his biggest strokes of free-wheeling capitalism was the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, a cornerstone of Depression-era regulation. He also signed the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which exempted credit-default swaps from regulation. In 1995 Clinton loosened housing rules by rewriting the Community Reinvestment Act, which put added pressure on banks to lend in low-income neighborhoods. It is the subject of heated political and scholarly debate whether any of these moves are to blame for our troubles, but they certainly played a role in creating a permissive lending environment. Source

Chris Cox The ex-SEC chief’s blindness to repeated allegations of fraud in the Madoff scandal is mind-blowing, but it’s really his lax enforcement that lands him on this list. Cox says his agency lacked authority to limit the massive leveraging that set up last year’s financial collapse. In truth, the SEC had plenty of power to go after big investment banks like Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch for better disclosure, but it chose not to. Cox oversaw the dwindling SEC staff and a sharp drop in action against some traders. Source

Kathleen Corbet By slapping AAA seals of approval on large portions of even the riskiest pools of loans, rating agencies helped lure investors into loading on collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) that are now unsellable. Corbet ran the largest agency, Standard & Poor’s, during much of this decade, though the other two major players, Moody’s and Fitch, played by similar rules. How could a ratings agency put its top-grade stamp on such flimsy securities? A glaring conflict of interest is one possibility: these outfits are paid for their ratings by the bond issuer. As one S&P analyst wrote in an email, “[A bond] could be structured by cows and we would rate it.” Source

John Devaney Hedge funds played an important role in the shift to sloppy mortgage lending. By buying up mortgage loans, Devaney and other hedge-fund managers made it profitable for lenders to make questionable loans and then sell them off. Hedge funds were more than willing to swallow the risk in exchange for the promise of fat returns. Devaney wasn’t just a big buyer of mortgage bonds — he had his own $600 million fund devoted to buying risky loans — he was one of its cheerleaders. Worse, Devaney knew the loans he was funding were bad for consumers. In early 2007, talking about option ARM mortgages, he told Money, “The consumer has to be an idiot to take on one of those loans, but it has been one of our best-performing investments.” Source

Richard Fuld The Gorilla of Wall Street, as Fuld was known, steered Lehman deep into the business of subprime mortgages, bankrolling lenders across the country that were making convoluted loans to questionable borrowers. Lehman even made its own subprime loans. The firm took all those loans, whipped them into bonds and passed on to investors billions of dollars of what is now toxic debt. For all this wealth destruction, Fuld raked in nearly $500 million in compensation during his tenure as CEO, which ended when Lehman did. Source

Burton Jablin The programming czar at Scripps Networks, which owns HGTV and other lifestyle channels, helped inflate the real estate bubble by teaching viewers how to extract value from their homes. Programs like Designed to Sell, House Hunters and My House Is Worth What? developed loyal audiences, giving the housing game glamour and gusto. Jablin didn’t act alone: shows like Flip That House (TLC) and Flip This House (A&E) also came on the scene. To Jablin’s credit, HGTV, which airs in more than 97 million homes, also launched Income Property, a show that helps first-time homeowners reduce mortgage payments by finding ways to economically add rental units. Source

Wen Jiabao Think of Wen as a proxy for the Chinese government — particularly those parts of it that have supplied the U.S. with an unprecedented amount of credit over the past eight years. If cheap credit was the crack cocaine of this financial crisis — and it was — then China was one of its primary dealers. China is now the largest creditor to the U.S. government, holding an estimated $1.7 trillion in dollar-denominated debt. That massive build-up in dollar holdings is specifically linked to China’s efforts to control the value of its currency. China didn’t want the renminbi to rise too rapidly against the dollar, in part because a cheap currency kept its export sector humming — which it did until U.S. demand cratered last fall. Source

Fred Goodwin For years, the worst moniker you heard thrown at Goodwin, the former boss of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), was “Fred the Shred,” on account of his knack for paring costs. A slew of acquisitions changed that, and some RBS investors saw him as a megalomaniac. Commentators have since suggested that Goodwin is simply “the world’s worst banker.” Why so mean? The face of over-reaching bankers everywhere, Goodwin got greedy. More than 20 takeovers helped him transform RBS into a world beater after he assumed control in 2000. But he couldn’t stop there. As the gloom gathered in 2007, Goodwin couldn’t resist leading a $100 billion takeover of Dutch rival ABN Amro, stretching RBS’s capital reserves to the limit. The result: the British government last fall pumped $30 billion into the bank, which expects 2008 losses to be the biggest in U.K. corporate history. Source

Phil Gramm As chairman of the Senate Banking Committee from 1995 through 2000, Gramm was Washington’s most prominent and outspoken champion of financial deregulation. He played a leading role in writing and pushing through Congress the 1999 repeal of the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act, which separated commercial banks from Wall Street. He also inserted a key provision into the 2000 Commodity Futures Modernization Act that exempted over-the-counter derivatives like credit-default swaps from regulation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Credit-default swaps took down AIG, which has cost the U.S. $150 billion thus far. Source

Alan Greenspan The Federal Reserve chairman — an economist and a disciple of libertarian icon Ayn Rand — met his first major challenge in office by preventing the 1987 stock-market crash from spiraling into something much worse. Then, in the 1990s, he presided over a long economic and financial-market boom and attained the status of Washington’s resident wizard. But the super-low interest rates Greenspan brought in the early 2000s and his long-standing disdain for regulation are now held up as leading causes of the mortgage crisis. The maestro admitted in an October congressional hearing that he had “made a mistake in presuming” that financial firms could regulate themselves. Source

David Oddsson In his two decades as Iceland’s Prime Minister and then as central-bank governor, Oddsson made his tiny country an experiment in free-market economics by privatizing three main banks, floating the currency and fostering a golden age of entrepreneurship. When the market turned ... whoops! Iceland’s economy is now a textbook case of macroeconomic meltdown. The three banks, which were massively leveraged, are in receivership, GDP could drop 10% this year, and the IMF has stepped in after the currency lost more than half its value. Nice experiment. Source

Stan O’Neal Merrill Lynch’s celebrated CEO for nearly six years, ending in 2007, he guided the firm from its familiar turf — fee businesses like asset management — into the lucrative game of creating collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), which were largely made of subprime mortgage bonds. To provide a steady supply of the bonds — the raw pork for his booming sausage business —O’Neal allowed Merrill to load up on the bonds and keep them on its books. By June 2006, Merrill had amassed $41 billion in subprime CDOs and mortgage bonds, according to Fortune. As the subprime market unwound, Merrill went into crisis, and Bank of America swooped in to buy it. Source

Henry Paulson When Paulson left the top job at Goldman Sachs to become Treasury Secretary in 2006, his big concern was whether he’d have an impact. He ended up almost single-handedly running the country’s economic policy for the last year of the Bush Administration. Impact? You bet. Positive? Not yet. The three main gripes against Paulson are that he was late to the party in battling the financial crisis, letting Lehman Brothers fail was a big mistake and the big bailout bill he pushed through Congress has been a wasteful mess. Source

David Lereah When the chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, an industry trade group, tells you the housing market is going to keep on chugging forever, you listen with a grain of salt. But Lereah, who held the position through early 2007, did more than issue rosy forecasts. He regularly trumpeted the infallibility of housing as an investment in interviews, on TV and in his 2005 book, Are You Missing the Real Estate Boom?. Lereah says he grew concerned about the direction of the market in 2006, but consider his January 2007 statement: “It appears we have established a bottom.” Source

Bernard Madoff His alleged Ponzi scheme could inflict $50 billion in losses on society types, retirees and nonprofits. The bigger cost for America comes from the notion that Madoff pulled off the biggest financial fraud in history right under the noses of regulators. Assuming it’s all true, the banks and hedge funds that neglected due diligence were stupid and paid for it, while the managers who fed him clients’ money — the so-called feeders — were reprehensibly greedy. But to reveal government and industry regulators as grossly incompetent casts a shadow of doubt far and wide, which crimps the free flow of investment capital. That will make this downturn harder on us all. Source

Ian McCarthy Homebuilders had plenty to do with the collapse of the housing market, not just by building more homes than the country could stomach, but also by pressuring people who couldn’t really afford them to buy in. As CEO of Beazer Homes since 1994, McCarthy has become something of a poster child for the worst builder behaviors. An investigative series that ran in the Charlotte Observer in 2007 highlighted Beazer’s aggressive sales tactics, including lying about borrowers’ qualifications to help them get loans. The FBI, Department of Housing and Urban Development and IRS are all investigating Beazer. The company has admitted that employees of its mortgage unit violated regulations — like down-payment-assistance rules —at least as far back as 2000. It is cooperating with federal investigators. Source

Angelo Mozilo The son of a butcher, Mozilo co-founded Countrywide in 1969 and built it into the largest mortgage lender in the U.S. Countrywide wasn’t the first to offer exotic mortgages to borrowers with a questionable ability to repay them. In its all-out embrace of such sales, however, it did legitimize the notion that practically any adult could handle a big fat mortgage. In the wake of the housing bust, which toppled Countrywide and IndyMac Bank (another company Mozilo started), the executive’s lavish pay package was criticized by many, including Congress. Mozilo left Countrywide last summer after its rescue-sale to Bank of America. A few months later, BofA said it would spend up to $8.7 billion to settle predatory lending charges against Countrywide filed by 11 state attorneys general. Source

Frank Raines The mess that Fannie Mae has become is the progeny of many parents: Congress, which created Fannie in 1938 and loaded it down with responsibilities; President Lyndon Johnson, who in 1968 pushed it halfway out the government nest and into a problematic part-private, part-public role in an attempt to reduce the national debt; and Jim Johnson, who presided over Fannie’s spectacular growth in the 1990s. But it was Johnson’s successor, Raines, who was at the helm when things really went off course. A former Clinton Administration Budget Director, Raines was the first African-American CEO of a Fortune 500 company when he took the helm in 1999. He left in 2004 with the company embroiled in an accounting scandal just as it was beginning to make big investments in subprime mortgage securities that would later sour. Last year Fannie and rival Freddie Mac became wards of the state. Source

Lew Ranieri Meet the father of mortgage-backed bonds. In the late 1970s, the college dropout and Salomon trader coined the term securitization to name a tidy bit of financial alchemy in which home loans were packaged together by Wall Street firms and sold to institutional investors. In 1984 Ranieri boasted that his mortgage-trading desk “made more money than all the rest of Wall Street combined.” The good times rolled: as homeownership exploded in the early ‘00s, the mortgage-bond business inflated Wall Street’s bottom line. So the firms placed even bigger bets on these securities. But when subprime borrowers started missing payments, the mortgage market stalled and bond prices collapsed. Investment banks, overexposed to the toxic assets, closed their doors. Investors lost fortunes. Source

Sanford Weill Who decided banks had to be all things to all customers? Weill did. Starting with a low-end lender in Baltimore, he cobbled together the first great financial supermarket, Citigroup. Along the way, Weill’s acquisitions (Smith Barney, Travelers, etc.) and persistent lobbying shattered Glass-Steagall, the law that limited the investing risks banks could take. Rivals followed Citi. The swollen banks are now one of the country’s major economic problems. Every major financial firm seems too big to fail, leading the government to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to keep them afloat. The biggest problem bank is Weill’s Citigroup. The government has already spent $45 billion trying to fix it. Source