01/19/10 Stockholm, Sweden – In this thought-provoking clip, The Colbert Report’s Stephen Colbert dissects the real reason behind the mortgage meltdown. It wasn’t a matter of predatory lending, or irresponsible borrowing… it was actually a matter of honor:
“When you signed that mortgage you gave your word, and your word is who you are…
“…and I think this is a question of honor. The banks thought your honor was worth something and they gave you, they gave you a mortgage in exchange for your honor. It was so precious to those banks that they bundled your honor with other peoples’ honor and cut that honor bundle into securitized honor derivatives which they then sold to Wall Street honor speculators. And, in an attempt to get more honor to sell, they mixed your honor with the honor of people who did not honor their honor and eventually the honor bubble burst, but… that doesn’t mean they’re responsible.”
Pure genius. This video came to our attention via The Mess That Greenspan Made in its post on “honor bound.” The clip follows below.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| The Word - Honor Bound | ||||
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Rocky Vega
Rocky Vega is publisher of Agora Financial International, where he advances the growth of Agora Financial publishing enterprises outside of the US. Previously, he was publisher of The Daily Reckoning, and founding publisher of both UrbanTurf and RFID Update -- which he ran from Brazil, Chile, and Puerto Rico -- as well as associate publisher of FierceFinance. Rocky has an honors MS from the Stockholm School of Economics and an honors BA from Harvard University, where he served on the board of directors for Let’s Go Publications, Harvard Student Agencies, and The Harvard Advocate.
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In post-mafia days:
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