Augh. Tell me about it! Though one might argue that loan-sharking is older-skool than the reverse. :P
On the...er, kinda bright side? In the US at least, the banks are getting their backs broken. Their greed sent real estate speculation out of control (as well as various other forms of speculation and usury--Congress is hammering banks' abuse of credit cards before that implodes like the real estate market did), and is partially responsible for the economic crunch everybody's descended into lately. Now the government is cutting loose on them to make sure they don't forget this lesson for at least another 50 years. As economic patterns seem to be fairly consistent across international boundaries, I hope other nations follow suit quickly, if they haven't yet.
(Truthfully, it's also partly Congress's fault, because several years ago, they decided the economy could support it so they repealed some of the laws that prevented such speculation, foolishly assuming that bankers would recognize the risks and be responsible about it.)
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branchandroot
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Date: 2008-06-02 07:09 pm (UTC)On the...er, kinda bright side? In the US at least, the banks are getting their backs broken. Their greed sent real estate speculation out of control (as well as various other forms of speculation and usury--Congress is hammering banks' abuse of credit cards before that implodes like the real estate market did), and is partially responsible for the economic crunch everybody's descended into lately. Now the government is cutting loose on them to make sure they don't forget this lesson for at least another 50 years. As economic patterns seem to be fairly consistent across international boundaries, I hope other nations follow suit quickly, if they haven't yet.
(Truthfully, it's also partly Congress's fault, because several years ago, they decided the economy could support it so they repealed some of the laws that prevented such speculation, foolishly assuming that bankers would recognize the risks and be responsible about it.)