Morals and the meltdown
It's easy, when grappling with questions like how mortage-backed securities actually work, to lose sight of the fact that Wall Street's current crisis has moral as well as financial implications.
So thank you, Joan Vennochi, for your column in today's Globe, which admirably captures that point. An excerpt:
The country's conservative moralists shake their finger at
low-income home buyers who dared to make a grab for a humble piece of
the American dream. When the dream turns nightmarish, the
foreclosed-upon are held personally accountable for their bad debt.
But
there's no personal accountability for those who actually understood
the fine print behind those shaky loans, because they wrote it. No one
tells them to hand back their bonuses. If they are eventually forced
out, they walk out with huge paychecks.
Vennochi also has harsh words for John McCain, as well as some tough advice for Barack Obama. Be sure to take a look.