It seems the LIBOR banking scandal is becoming more and more....scandalous. LIBOR stands for London Interbank Offer Rate, and is set daily when a select group of major international banks declare (on an honor's system) what they would have to pay for an unsecured loan from another bank. It seems that back in 2007-2008 when the world economy was in mid-collapse the banks lied by declaring an unrealistically low rate considering their deteriorating state.
Big Whoop. How does this effect you? Many adjustable rate loans are tied to the LIBOR rate. Many municipalities, for example, lost millions of dollars (each) because of the crooked bankers. Same with many retiree pension funds. In fact YOU may have a loan tied to the LIBOR. The damage was massive and world-wide. The fraud was discovered in 2008 and now Barclay's Bank has been fined $450M and the others are circling their wagons. They claim they were just trying to make their banks look healthier than they really were, but those more cynical say the banks were trying to enhance their profits at the expense of...well...everyone else.
In their defense Barclay's said what they did was "dirty", but that they were on the "clean end of the dirty scale". Read: Other banks cheated worse. (What's that saying? "No honor among thieves.") Now their next line of defense to protect themselves from criminal prosecution is that what they did was known by the regulators in both the US and the UK at the time. They say if criminal prosecution is pursued against them they will tell all they know about their banks and their cozy relationship with the regulators, naming names, etc. (Told you the whole stinkin' bunch were in bed together!)
Banks have been caught so many times cheating recently they no longer respond to shame....they could care less what people think of them. (Their PR guys have become expert at putting lipstick on the pig.) All they care about is money, and now there's talk all those who lost millions (each) could band together and sue the banks for tens-of-BILLIONS of dollars in damages.
I'm thinking "group ledge jump". Pardon me for not shedding any tears.
S
I'll hold all of their i-Pads when they jump.
ReplyDeleteI'll push them.
ReplyDeleteBanks acting crooked? I'm shocked, shocked I say! There's no low they won't sink to but since they own all the money and all the politicians they can do whatever they please, screw up the world's economy and then make us pay to bail them out.
ReplyDelete