Spitzer was trying to clean up Wall Street

[babsbunny]

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/wall-street-on-spitzer-there-is-a-god/

As news that New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been linked to a prostitution ring swept Wall Street Monday afternoon, the reaction can be described in one word: schadenfreude.

The cause? Mr. Spitzer, for years the state’s attorney general, had served as the scourge of the Street, meting out punishment for a litany of sins like the Furies of mythology. Armed with the Martin Act, Mr. Spitzer took on investment banks, insurance companies and the New York Stock Exchange for their transgressions, giving other attorneys general a model for assuming the Mr. Clean mantle.

On CNBC, markets reporter Bob Pisani quoted an unnamed trader’s reaction, which spoke for the vast majority on Wall Street. “There is a God,” the trader was quoted as saying.

[Smarmie Doofus]

1. Hmm... but he works in mysterious ways:

>>>>On CNBC, markets reporter Bob Pisani quoted an unnamed trader’s reaction, which spoke for the vast majority on Wall Street. “There is a God,” the trader was quoted as saying.>>>

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

2. Here is a link to a thread from last week. It's about an op-ed in the WAPO by Spitzer

Not too long after it was published, Spitzer was outed like Valerie Plame was outed in a different way for Joe Wilson's NY Times op-ed/

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=4053731

Link to a video about this at our Political Video Forum

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x194923

[DainBramaged]

3. And for all of the self-righteous types here who shouted at me for defending him

(and who I still believe was set up by these pricks on Wall Street)






we're ALL going to pay because you thought he should have resigned, and now the house of cards came tumbling down. At least Spitzer got laid, we got fucked.

[stillcool]

4. Doesn't matter...

he had sex. From what I understand the American people find that to be such a heinous crime, that it nullifies everything else he has ever done in his life.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021302783.html


Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime
How the Bush Administration Stopped the States From Stepping In to Help Consumers

By Eliot Spitzer
Thursday, February 14, 2008; Page A25

Several years ago, state attorneys general and others involved in consumer protection began to notice a marked increase in a range of predatory lending practices by mortgage lenders. Some were misrepresenting the terms of loans, making loans without regard to consumers' ability to repay, making loans with deceptive "teaser" rates that later ballooned astronomically, packing loans with undisclosed charges and fees, or even paying illegal kickbacks. These and other practices, we noticed, were having a devastating effect on home buyers. In addition, the widespread nature of these practices, if left unchecked, threatened our financial markets.

Even though predatory lending was becoming a national problem, the Bush administration looked the other way and did nothing to protect American homeowners. In fact, the government chose instead to align itself with the banks that were victimizing consumers.

Predatory lending was widely understood to present a looming national crisis. This threat was so clear that as New York attorney general, I joined with colleagues in the other 49 states in attempting to fill the void left by the federal government. Individually, and together, state attorneys general of both parties brought litigation or entered into settlements with many subprime lenders that were engaged in predatory lending practices. Several state legislatures, including New York's, enacted laws aimed at curbing such practices.

What did the Bush administration do in response? Did it reverse course and decide to take action to halt this burgeoning scourge? As Americans are now painfully aware, with hundreds of thousands of homeowners facing foreclosure and our markets reeling, the answer is a resounding no.

Not only did the Bush administration do nothing to protect consumers, it embarked on an aggressive and unprecedented campaign to prevent states from protecting their residents from the very problems to which the federal government was turning a blind eye.
--------------------
In 2003, during the height of the predatory lending crisis, the OCC invoked a clause from the 1863 National Bank Act to issue formal opinions preempting all state predatory lending laws, thereby rendering them inoperative. The OCC also promulgated new rules that prevented states from enforcing any of their own consumer protection laws against national banks. The federal government's actions were so egregious and so unprecedented that all 50 state attorneys general, and all 50 state banking superintendents, actively fought the new rules.

But the unanimous opposition of the 50 states did not deter, or even slow, the Bush administration in its goal of protecting the banks. In fact, when my office opened an investigation of possible discrimination in mortgage lending by a number of banks, the OCC filed a federal lawsuit to stop the investigation.

The writer is governor of New York.

[ThePowerofWill]

5. He should have worked on cleaning up himself.

You can't be a fighter against corruption, and vice only to get caught. I don't care he had sex, or even paid for it. I do care he was a hypocrit, and thats what killed him.