Would you credit it?

Everybody is painfully aware of the reasons for the global Credit Crunch of 2008. American banks were lending mortgage money to people who couldn't repay, on the false premise that their house "secured" the loan. The technical name for this widely-shared delusion is "sub-prime lending" and it was partly made possible by over-optimistic Credit Reports.

One of the main credit agencies, Standard and Poor's has at last been hit with a fine of $77million (£50million) for their part in the matter, by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In the pipeline is the possibility of a further, much larger fine of perhaps a year's income for S&P of more than a billion $ from the US Department of Justice.

Wheels grinding slowly, but exceeding fine?

To quickly fix the credit crunch, as you call it, they need to penalize the banks. the banks will fold maybe, but their assets and staff will remain. then, they could liquidate themselves and sell the assets to share the money with the shareholders. everybody wins. money represnts what you can buy, not what you physically have.

An interesting post, Charlatan. If a British company fails, its shareholders are the very last in the queue to share in any remaining assets, after secured Creditors, the taxman, employees and administrators then perhaps unpaid suppliers.

Is it different where you are?