Government regulators and policymakers, as well as titans of Wall Street finance, are culpable for the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008, according to an official report released Thursday by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC).
The report, a 633-page tome, constitutes the first official governmental take on the underpinnings of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. In it, the commission finds that the crisis was avoidable and driven largely by human error or inaction.
But this official take did not receive unanimous support of the congressionally appointed FCIC commissioners. Rather, the findings were approved down party lines, with the six commissioners appointed by Democrats signing off on the report, while the four selected by Republicans issued two separate dissents.
The report reaches far and wide to cast blame for the financial crisis.
"A crisis of this magnitude cannot be the work of a few bad actors," the report states.
It points fingers at government officials and regulators for failing to anticipate the crisis.
"We had allowed the system to race ahead of our ability to protect it," the report says.
In particular, the report homes in on the Federal Reserve for its "pivotal failure to stem the flow of toxic mortgages" by not demanding more prudent mortgage-lending standards.
"The Federal Reserve was the one entity empowered to do so, and it did not," the report states.
Read more here
The report, a 633-page tome, constitutes the first official governmental take on the underpinnings of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. In it, the commission finds that the crisis was avoidable and driven largely by human error or inaction.
But this official take did not receive unanimous support of the congressionally appointed FCIC commissioners. Rather, the findings were approved down party lines, with the six commissioners appointed by Democrats signing off on the report, while the four selected by Republicans issued two separate dissents.
The report reaches far and wide to cast blame for the financial crisis.
"A crisis of this magnitude cannot be the work of a few bad actors," the report states.
It points fingers at government officials and regulators for failing to anticipate the crisis.
"We had allowed the system to race ahead of our ability to protect it," the report says.
In particular, the report homes in on the Federal Reserve for its "pivotal failure to stem the flow of toxic mortgages" by not demanding more prudent mortgage-lending standards.
"The Federal Reserve was the one entity empowered to do so, and it did not," the report states.
Read more here
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