Moneybox: A Secret Scandal

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Moneybox A Secret Scandal The government and the big banks deceived the public about their $7 trillion secret loan program. They should be punished. By Eliot Spitzer Posted Wednesday, Nov 30, 2011, at 06:34 PM ET Imagine you walked into a bank, applied for a personal line of credit, and filled out all the paperwork claiming to have no debts and an income of $200,000 per year. The bank, based on these representations, extended you the line of credit. Then, three years later, after fighting disclosure all the way, you were forced by a court to tell the truth: At the time you made the statements to the bank, you actually were unemployed, you had a $1 million mortgage on your house on which you had failed to make payments for six months, and you hadn't paid even the minimum on your credit-card bills for three months. Do you think the bank would just say: Never mind, don't worry about it? Of course not. Whether or not you had paid back the personal line of credit, three FBI agents would be at your door within hours. Yet this is exactly what the major American banks have done to the public. During the deepest, darkest period of the financial cataclysm, the CEOs of major banks maintained in statements to the public, to the market at large, and to their own shareholders that the banks were in good financial shape, didn't want to take TARP funds, and that the regulatory framework governing our banking system should not be altered. Trust us, they said. Yet, unknown to the public and the Congress, these same banks had been borrowing massive amounts from the government to remain ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Proof That Republicans Sabotaged the Supercommittee: They Keep Insisting They Didn't Humans Should Build a Beacon so Aliens Can Find Us. Here's How We Can Do It. Joke Thief Carlos Mencia Is Making a Comeback, but It's Hard To Cheer for Him	Advertisement
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