Apparently Barry Bonds and Angelo Mazillo have the same spin doctor. Those close to Bonds are supposed to have told the press that he took steroids to keep up with home-run slugger Mark McGwire, who Bonds believed was using illegal enhancement substances. Now Mazillo is telling the LATimes:
"Most of the large bank lenders, as well as Countrywide, were limited, slow, reluctant followers behind the lenders who most aggressively relaxed underwriting guidelines," the company said in a written response to a question from The Times.
In other words, the McGwire's of the lending world were offering juiced-up packages, so Countrywide (CFC) was forced to as well. The company says that banks wouldn't loan them money if they didn't sell the juiced-up stuff along with the prime stuff.
A childish response, we know. Angelo, if you saw the other kids jumping off a bridge, would you do it too? Society isn't going to buy it.
But there are similarities between the regulating authorities, the ones we trusted to keep the games safe. In baseball, the commissioner's office had dismissed steroid abuse with a wink-and-a-nod for years. It was good for the game when home-run records were being trashed. Now we know why. The commissioner's lax policies allowed dishonesty to flourish.
Same in the housing markets. The Fed was asleep on the job, both in regulating mortgage sellers and in calculating the rate of inflation without properly considering housing appreciation. The lack of regulation allowed the market to flourish, and the lack of assessment in regards to housing prices led them to keep rates too low too long.
In both instances, the regulatory authorities appear to have been co-opted by the people who own the franchises. Who would trust either of them now?
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