So God made a banker

Nice job Brett.  Venture capital and commercial loans are good societal tools.  Usurious interest rates, zero risk management, and government backstops were three additional cardinal sins concocted in the den of iniquity.

God did not make politicians. Most politicians just THINK they are God's gift to us.

So when do we get your take on

So God made a politician???

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/255237/november-11-2009/goldman-sachs-does-god-s-work

In the Old Testament they were called "money exchangers" they did it without blinking, "you give me more than I am worth" Jesus over turned their tables as they were set up in the public square to rip off the  poor. Then again "The LOVE of money is the root of all evil. Not money, the "love" of money.   

God made bankers? Heavens no. It was the prince of darkness.Just kidding. Some of my best friends are bankers. The problem is, some of THEIR best friends are politicians.

So easy to pile on, Brett.  For your next assignment, please riff on Mr. Harvey's fine work again with a rendition of "So God Made a Columnist."  Be sure to include the verses on needing someone who adds no real value, ghoulishly relishes the suffering of others for the headlines produced, and abdicates responsibility to speak truth to power when the political winds blow in his face.  That seems about as fair an assessment as your trite parody.   

The telling fact: bankers borrow money from the people at the lowest rate possible, now close to 0%, and lend it at the highest rate possible.

Some people call this 'individual enterprise'. I call it greed.

The essence of capitalism.

I thought all bankers originated in Hadies.

So what banks ran to the Fed for TARP??  Two maybe three of the big banks...GS, MS, and maybe Citi.

The big banks were forced to take TARP.  The vast majority didn't need TARP.  They were flush with cash. So they paid TARP back as fast as the gov't would allow. All of the Big Banks repaid TARP within a year...if not 6 months. TARP cost most of the big  banks over 10%.

Lesser know fact...many small banks and credit unions did ask for TARP money...and have yet to repay the debt.

Next...few banks make mortgage loans.  Mortgage companies (mortgage bankers) make mortgage loans.  Yet Arends pretends they are all the same.

What banks created the investment paper backed by shoddy mortgages?  Investment banks.  Only 4 or 5 of the largest banks in the US do investment banking. (GS, MS, Citi, JPM, B of A).

Arends fails to distinguish these different banks.

Finally...most of the shoddy mortgages were made by sub-prime lenders.  Most of those are out of business.  World Savings, WAMU, Countrywide, IndyMac....are all gone...most purchased by someone else who is now cleaning up their mess.

Finally...the no income proof mortgages?  An approved product...created by FNMA and Freddie Mac.  Have we learned any lessons?  Today..you can still get a mortgage with 5% down....via the troubled FHA.

This guys really doesn't like bankers :/

...Look up to Canada...

Who would like to advise to this reporter that , GOLDMAN SACHS , is GOD.  Not much on this green earth not influenced and enhanced by them.  

Nonsense.  How many of us could buy homes or cars for cash without loans?  Banking/investment connects capital and entrepreneurs.  This is like blaming the car for chasing mice.  Did some bankers misbehave?  Sure, and more of them should go to prison, but to indict the entire idea of banking, while absolving the government meddlers of all responsibility is liberal, socialist, anti capitalism nonsense. 

Financial terrorism is what they unleash.Here we are 6 years later and the economy still hasn`t recovered. Their penalty? Some fines,that amount to giving back some the money they fleeced. What a absolute joke.

It`s like if you were to rob a 7/11 of a $1000 and your penalty for the theft is a $100 fine.Knowing that you`d be coming back to rob it again.No doubt that`s what they have in store.

So bankers are now responsible for the greed and ignorance of everyone?  I would think a WSJ columnist would make better use of his time than this.

Never could stomach Paul Harvey ...By the way farmers also run to the government for their subsidies. Portraying bankers as devils is not helpful, accurate or prudent....................... Good Day

Well done.

But make sure you include the main banker, The Fed, from which all of the other listed crimes flow.

Yes, I do deny that it is clever.  It is inane, not creative, and plays on the worst stereotypes.  And what's worse, had you given me the topic and told me to parrot the Paul Harvey add from the Super Bowl, I could have written it.

This is far from original or thought provoking.  Arends is just apeing the Super Bowl commercial.  But frankly from watching his apperances on CNBC and his pieces (less and less frequent) in the WSJ, he seems unfortunately reduced to this type of clap-trap.

The fish always sticks from the head first - The Federal Reserve system has failed us with boom bust cycles and easy credit.  The Government and crony capitalist are all along  for the ride.  Three fish and they all stink.  

Answer;

Sound money and free market capitalism.  We have seen any of those for over 100 years.  

Jeez - where is everyone's sense of humor?

Yes it's an oversimplification, and yes bankers provide a service, but it's supposed to be humorous.  It's factual, and it's sad, and it's no different now than it was when we were on the brink of collapse, but you can't deny it's clever.

First banker was Lorenzo de Medici during the de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic, and also the mentor for Leonardo da Vinci and Michaelangelo which stayed in his home while working. He basically financed the Renaissance with his new banking idea, and of course that movement brought us a few things we use today, airplanes, vehicles, power and water, etc. So, basically, we all owe our last 500 years of advancement to the first banker.

What a ridiculous simplification.

Brett - please do an article on journalists.  Better yet, business journalists that is similarly an oversimplification..

I thought I was on CNN iReports but realized this was posted on Marketwatch.  Standards are dropping.  Is this an article, observation, or harrangue?

If the beloved farmers would simply wake up from their imbecilic stupor, and stop VOTING for Republican puppets of Wall St. bankers and the even worse Koch Bros., whose goals consist of gutting programs for the poor in order to have their taxes lowered and regulations wiped away, then maybe we could have a truly decent country again. The absolute CENTER of the dumb, lower-class, OLD white male vote from sea to shining sea is FARMERS!! Why don't you farmers start praying to that God who made you for some political insight, for a change? Quit voting for the fat cats who only want to stripmine America and wreck the lives of poor blacks and the much more numerous poor whites, many of whom live right in your sad rural county.