This quote from the new chairman of Citigroup is just about the most tone-deaf register from the siren of the Waaaahmbulance I've heard in quite some time:
- HONOLULU - Citigroup Inc.'s new board chairman, Richard Parsons, said financial institutions are being targeted for creating the nation's financial crisis, but they aren't the only ones responsible.
"Everybody participated in pumping up this balloon. Now the balloon has deflated," he said Monday. "Everybody, in reality, has some part of the blame. But it's much more in the culture to find a villain and vilify the villain."
"Besides banks, there was reduced regulatory oversight, loans to unqualified borrowers were encouraged and people took out mortgages or home-equity loans they couldn't afford."
Atrios has the
perfect smackdown of this self-pitying nonsense:
Reduced regulatory oversight...of banks and big financial institutions.
Loans to unqualified borrowers made by... banks....
People took our mortgages and home-equity loans from they couldn't afford from...banks who abandoned underwriting requirements.
The rich assholes who run the world are babies.
