Virtually every sovereign nation in the world is over indebted with the United States leading the way. We’ve all seen the fiascos in Greece and Ireland and are awaiting the meltdowns in Italy, Spain and Portugal. While we may be familiar with the debt our federal government owes and what the implications are, we may not be aware of just how over leveraged other nations are.

ENDGAME examines the effect and impact of the present financial crisis on the world and the USA economy and examine what may happen when all these countries can no longer borrow.

Charles Gasparino talks about Wall Street’s “love affair” with risk. From the 1980’s and the advent of mortgage-backed securities, to the packaging of mortgages to bonds, to the selling of those to Wall Street.  He speaks on the bond market situation in 1986 and Alan Greenspan, the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, who in 1987 lowered interest rates and  bailed out Wall Street.

Charles Gasparino explains the trail of culpability, including the Government’s encouragement of home ownership which prompted mortgage brokers to give loans to people who did not have the means to pay back the money loaned and the underwriters who invested in risky debt.  He states the outcome was an abdication of collective responsibilities on the part of government, homeowners and financial institutions and for Wall Street – greed and risk taking.

Overall, Charles Gasparino says it was about avarice, arrogance, stupidity and greed… and the “selling off of the American Dream.”

Niki Nicastro McCuistion
Executive Producer/ Producer

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1812 – 01.24.10

• Steve Forbes – President and CEO of Forbes Magazine and author of Power, Ambition, Glory: The Stunning Parallels between Great Leaders of the Ancient World and Today . . . and the Lessons You Can Learn
• Thomas E. Woods, JR., PhD – Senior Fellow at Ludwig von Mises Institute and author of Meltdown

During this conversation centering around the financial crisis, Thomas Woods asserts that people are tired of conventional wisdom.  Guest, Steve Forbes believes most of the present problem in the breakdown of the free market economic system was caused by huge government errors. Forbes contends that the Federal Reserve printed too much money and made it artificially cheap. In addition lenders such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac underwrote too many junk mortgages.

“If private business makes a mistake they pay for it, if government does, we all do. Wall Street underwrote and securitized, but government distorts the free market.”

Thomas Woods touches on his new book, Meltdown,  and the reason he pushed hard to have the book released early. He believes having a free market perspective on the credit crunch is essential for people to understand what has truly happened. He says, “the government and the Federal Reserve’s fingerprints are all over this situation.”

Dennis addresses the Fred Foldvary prediction of a real estate depression in 2008.

They conclude with comments on the speculation in real estate, the magnificent money creation machine government made and how this was an artificial stimulus to speculation.

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1801 – 09.27.09