The Reckoning - WaMu Built an Empire on Bad Loans

"And I think if we've done our job, five years from now you're not going to
call us a bank."
- Kerry K. Killinger, chief executive of Washington Mutual, 2003

Where did all of the bad mortgages behind the bad mortgage-backed securities
holdings that caused the gigantic bank losses that resulted in trillions of
dollars of taxpayer-funded bailouts, come from? Washington Mutual, the
nation's largest bank failure, is a fine example of the fraud that
penetrated every corner of the residential real estate market from top to bottom. Like a gold rush, everyone wanted part of the action, not just the
rich and powerful. It was a financial conspiracy of unprecendented
proportions and it wasn't only happening at WaMu, but just about everywhere
in America that mortgages were sold.

Where is the blowback? This is an unusual kind of blowback in that it
results from domestic policies that caused international economic
devastation. The resulting hatred and mistrust of the United States and its
policy makers and consequent aversion to investment in the American economy
due to fears about its financial system, will hurt every sector of the
American economy and make us poorer.