Thousands of miles from the trading floors of global stock markets, an abandoned house in one of Tampa's poorest neighborhoods is an improbable place to learn about why the world's financial system is collapsing.
But if you want to understand how we got into this mess, the stucco house at 4809 N 17th St. isn't a bad place to start.
Full Story »
This is a scandal story of drug-dealing house flippers. The finger is pointed at banks and the lack of regulation and oversight, but the investigation here does not succeed in identifying the who and why in the banks and the who and why of the lack of prosecution.
“Saying there was lax oversight is too kind, there was no oversight,” said Doug Pollock, an expert witness for federal agencies prosecuting fraud. “The whole reason we’re in this mess is because of the lenders. This is corporate greed all the way up the ladder.” Nothing will improve without accountability on all levels, Pollock said, especially as the same banks get billions in a taxpayer bailout.
Who was snorting coke at the WaMu parties? Why did bush pull all the FBI investigators of white collar crime and give them jobs looking for terrorists and spying on political opponents? There are fertile avenues for further investigative reporting here.