Memo to the US sub-prime mortgage finance sector

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

I work in the financial sector. When you get stock market crashes like this one, members of my team get dragged off to cover emergency fire-fighting in other areas- fund switches, enquiries from panicky customers, pro-active assessment of key customer investments, etc.

Result? No staff. Deadlines looming. Regulator getting pissed off and mentioning expressions like "suspension". Management getting scared and asking dumb questions. Gimp getting annoyed. Arguments, recriminations, brutal slayings, etc, etc...

[Dauphin]

When accounting and financial things go tits up it means more work for me. If they didn't I wouldn't have a job. Bring it on.

[Saras]

Originally posted by Dauphin
When accounting and financial things go tits up it means more work for me. If they didn't I wouldn't have a job. Bring it on.

Dauphin, you're FSA, right? Want to volunteer to give our idiot regulators an education?

[Dauphin]

Not FSA, I'm part of the forensic department at an accountancy firm. Although my department does have quite a few people go on secondment there on a regular basis I personally have never been.

[Provost Harrison]

Does this tits up mean they need people to get out of the pharmaceutical sector?

[Japher]

I'm doing fine... thank God I got out while I could.

Pharma still looking good. Unless you work for Pfizer or J&J

[Saras]

Originally posted by Dauphin
Not FSA, I'm part of the forensic department at an accountancy firm. Although my department does have quite a few people go on secondment there on a regular basis I personally have never been.

Wasn't someone at Poly either interned there or actually employed? Thought it was you.

[Dauphin]

Drogue has, and will be working there again.

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Japher
I'm doing fine... thank God I got out while I could.

Pharma still looking good. Unless you work for Pfizer or J&J

GSK is looking great, just not at Dartford Monday is the day. My manager has taken a decision about the future of my career I am vehemently opposed to. And that means either resolution in my favour or a parting of the ways.

[Japher]

let me know what happens, I hate managers who feel it's their job to guide your career

step off!

Our Ohio plant just has been having difficulties since we have one drug that hasn't been marketed properly and another that is about to come off patent. However, the MHRA was just here and sounds like the poorly marketed one will get approval, and we have the soul license to market in the EU. The one coming off patent probably won't face much competition for another 3-4 years and will top $1Billion in sales this year. Also, we just got slated for 1 possibly 2 new products to start production here in 2009 if all goes well. On top of that we have on going efforts with Amylin that look promising.

So, it looks like we'll be busy.

We still have way too many QA folk though

[Lancer]

On the news 97% of mortgagees are paying their mortgages. So 3% are screwing up the world? I don't buy it.

[One_more_turn]

Subprime lending disaster already happened once during the last decade in US housing. But it only hit the manufactured housing industry hard, and it still hasn't recovered from that bust almost 10 years later.

The fundamental problem is that builders and lenders are encouraging people to buy stuffs they can't afford. As the consequence, many houses were built and many delinquent loans were made.

The good thing, of course, is that homes will stay cheap years to come. For people with lots of cash to spare or lots of FUTURE earning powers, this is a great situation.

[snoopy369]

Maybe i don't get subprime lending... but why is it bad that they offered black people more subprime mortgages than they offered white people? Isn't it the peoples' responsibility not to over borrow, and a good thing that they're getting offered the loans?

[Lancer]

I think they're suggesting that comperable whites got better rates.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by snoopy369
Maybe i don't get subprime lending... but why is it bad that they offered black people more subprime mortgages than they offered white people? Isn't it the peoples' responsibility not to over borrow, and a good thing that they're getting offered the loans?

The US press has been portraying subprime lenders as a step above conmen, hoodwinking borrowers into signing off on loans by downplaying or even failing to disclose all of the many significant risks. Since these were generally going to first-time home buyers, who were generally from a class of people who historically had nevevr been homemowners, they were an especially naive group of clients/suckers.

On the one hand, caveat emptor; on the other hand, if we really believed in caveat emptor, we wouldn't have laws against fraud and usury.

Bottom line: IF what they were doing crossed the line from cunning to wrong (and I have no idea, per my post above), then targeting a minority group on whom to prey compounds the wrongdoing.