Michael Bloomberg: 'It Was Not The Banks That Created The Mortgage Crisis' [WATCH]

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he disagrees with the Occupy Wall Street protesters on who deserves the blame for ordinary Americans' economic woes.

Banks have been at the forefront of Occupy Wall Street's loudest criticisms.The movement labels itself as a group "fighting back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process." But, when it comes to who's responsible for that "corrosive power", Capital New York reports Bloomberg said he believes the blame rests in Washington.

"I hear your complaints," Bloomberg said at a Tuesday business breakfast. "Some of them are totally unfounded. It was not the banks that created the mortgage crisis. It was, plain and simple, Congress who forced everybody to go and give mortgages to people who were on the cusp."

Former New York Mayor Ed Koch, who was also at the breakfast, took issue with Bloomberg's claim, saying that he wants a major corporate executive to receive a criminal punishment for their actions during the financial crisis, according to The Associated Press.

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said on Tuesday that a specific segment of Washington is to blame for the protest movement's gripes. Reid said the GOP is working for the 1 percent. The remarks came in response to Republicans' resistance to a proposal that would provide funding for infrastructure and transportation initiatives.

"Now they take home more than half of all the money earned each year in this great country, even after taxes," said Reid in a floor speech highlighting income inequality. "That means this one percent now makes more than the other 99 percent combined."

While Bloomberg falls into the one-percent bracket, the NYC mayor has been relatively diplomatic regarding the protests. Back on Columbus Day, he noted that as long as the movement stayed within the city's laws, protesters could stay indefinitely.

"The bottom line is -- people want to express themselves. And as long as they obey the laws, we'll allow them to," Bloomberg told the Wall Street Journal. "If they break the laws, then, we're going to do what we're supposed to do: enforce the laws."

But, security may put a wrench in the movement's hopes for sustainability in New York. Protesters camped in Zuccotti Park have been grappling with assault, rape and other criminal behaviors. Occupiers met Monday evening to discuss safety and hopefully tone down the disturbing trend.

Take a look at how political leaders have reacted to the Occupy movement:

Comments

[yoursotruly]

11:56 PM on 11/14/2011

Here's one of the one-percent telling the ninety-nine per cent that they don't understand who is responsible for their economy crashing and how this economy should work. Thank You, Mr. Elite for your one per cent solutions, let the ninety-nine percent talk now.

[AyeChart]

08:34 PM on 11/14/2011

Bloomberg is, for once, right!  Stop the presses!

[SIMPLICIMUSS]

09:16 PM on 11/14/2011

Bloomberg /Rendell 2012 !!

[mjd34741218]

07:50 PM on 11/14/2011

well for starters if a person can not afford to pay off the loan then they should not get one .That is how they did it before responsiblity .Screw washington

[CanadjunBeef]

07:56 PM on 11/14/2011

Sure, but mortgage sellers made a lot of money by originating mortgages that they didn't need to care about, because they are permitted to just pass them up the food chain.

[CanadjunBeef]

07:39 PM on 11/14/2011

And the Wilfull Blindness Award 2011 goes to . . . NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg!
"It was, plain and simple, Congress who forced everybody to go and give mortgages to people who were on the cusp."
Rrriiiiightttt. Federal agents scoured the country, visiting every mortgage originator, FORCING them to issue subprime mortgages? Which the government then forced CitiGroup to buy, AIG to insure, and Standard and Poor's to grade AAA?
And you thought 9-11 conspiracies were the biggest bat-guano around?

[BigJimVeteran]

08:18 PM on 11/12/2011

It's the Bankers and Congress swapping off handjobs and as a result America it taking it in the rear

[Maureen Stemberg]

08:08 PM on 11/08/2011

OMG! Let me try to see if I can connect the dot's to a pattern Mitt Romney, has... Oct. 4Th Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, expressed an *Unsympathetic View* of Occupy Wall Street Movement. While he was speaking in Fla. to a retirement home. Meaning most likely wealthy Palm Beach AKA Romney's people they are rich like ROMNEY!
Romney went on to say, "I think it's dangerous, the class warfare. I just want to Occupy The White House." I think this were *we the people* should start laughing. Now this is where we can see clearly the pattern and the problem with MITT. Oct. 10th speaking in New Hampshire. He said, "I worry about the 99 percent in America." He continued, " I understand how those people feel." The problem here is not called *flip/flopping* the problem is he tells people half truths to get what he wants. He did it in Business and he is still trying to get away with it to get into The White House.
Mr. Romney, IMO: You are the one *We The People* should fear. You lie, deceive & tell stories that you do not believe to be true...Only that you need to get these votes anyway you can. Romney, do you understand that is why people do not TRUST you? Can you for once tell the truth? I do not think you even know the difference. *We The People* We will stick to *Mitt Isn't It!*

[CanadjunBeef]

07:42 PM on 11/14/2011

Another whopper from Mitt: the GOP had to fight to retain the Bush tax cuts, over the opposition of Obama! Never mind that Obama wanted to continue the cuts for the 99 per cent, and it was the GOP that threatened to halt unemployment checks unless the Bush cuts were extended also to people with incomes above a quarter mil a year.
Mittens is a real piece of . . . work.

[dgibson969]

06:45 PM on 11/08/2011

If we didn't fix the blame on the ones at fault, everytime there is a disaster! Then everyone would continue to do greedy thngs like what the banksters did in their lending practices. When the news first broke of the crisis, the banks were oh so quick to point out, that it was the people not paying their mortages that was the problem! Well, yes that is true thanks to the peditory practices of the the banksters!Hello

[thyme4chng]

12:35 AM on 11/06/2011

NO BLOOMBERG, EVERYONE IS AT FAULT. What happened to this country where doing what is right came first personally and professionally? I have friends who bought $359k homes, no money down, made 40k per year as 1099 employees, who went into foreclosure, but got 24 months of free rent, recouping all their costs plus some...and indignantly told me it is the banks fault?????? Why didn't you read the docs or paid an attorney to explain them to you? Then banks gave loans to these sort of forks? Banks have the stats to prove what is a good deal. And then the banks packaged mortgages to sell to middle class folks ...sinking the whole country???? Everyone is at fault. I do blame everyone (except those who lost their jobs in the recession) for being irresponsible, pushing off bad deals to other people, and ultimately putting our economy in the current horrible position that it is in. Unhappy? YES. What is amazing is these folks (ex-homeowners and banks) are better off, with effectively no repercusions. They got off scott free? How about the consumer is not allowed to buy another property for 10 years, AND the banks can't do another loan for 10 years? This situation is a key demonstration that capitalism in this country is dead for the people who are responsible and do the right things. EVERYONE IS TO BLAME. Find a way to bring back TRUE capitalism. The entrepreneur has little hope unless change is made.

[CanadjunBeef]

07:46 PM on 11/14/2011

You can select one party to blame (and you blame the little guy). But without fly-by-night mortgage originators drawing in the public, without Goldman Sachs bundling, buying and reselling the trash, without AIG insuring it, with Standard and Porrs declaring it AAA, there could have been no real estate bubble. Who profited the most? The chump stuck with a house he can no longer afford? Really? Sophisticated bankers and analysts didn't understand the mortgages and their dangers, but you expect John Q. Public to figure it out.

[rcmfla]

11:27 PM on 11/05/2011

It's amazing how Bloomberg either doesn't know or take the banks explanation of events around the crisis. Out of touch and without a clue.

[Maureen Stemberg]

08:15 PM on 11/08/2011

He is out of touch. The same with Romney. They represent the 1%...We can not think for one moment that if someone like Romney gets near the White House he would ONLY help himself and HIS people...If your not a 1%er. We The People...Forget us. Trust me. I know the man.

[Bobjack23]

10:28 PM on 11/05/2011

Au contraire, it was the banks…investment and Fd.

[teecee656]

01:47 PM on 11/05/2011

Why is it that no one wants to blame the people that borrowed more money than they could afford, bought houses beyond their means, or took out 2nd mortgages to pay for excess's. Then, when the balloon popped, just walked away. No one held a gun to anyones head, and forced them to take out loans. It's not the government and it's not Wall Street, it is individual greed and a penchant for materialism. Individuals that failed to fulfill contractual obligations and left bond and mortgage holders high and dry need to realize their responsibility. Just because the value of your house goes down, doesn't mean you don't still owe the money you borrowed.

[indygrits]

05:32 PM on 11/05/2011

This is why "no one" wants to blame the borrowers: http://mandelman.ml-implode.com/2011/05/if-you-think-the-meltdown-was-the-fault-of-homeowners-think-again/

If you have the time to read that you may understand why people are so angry at the banks. If you can't be bothered to read that or do some research on who caused and profited from the bubble in the first place, then just say "there but for the grace of God go I," and let it go at that. The borrowers have paid a very high price for the big banks' gambling with other people's money.

[CanadjunBeef]

07:52 PM on 11/14/2011

So true. Home-buyers can't create bubbles, because they don't set the lending criteria. They don't originate mortgage-backed securities and then rate them AAA for sale to pension funds. Only the short-term obsessed, greedy, combined suction of Wall Street can create a market for mortgage-backed securities and then create a secondary (really a tertiary) market for betting for and against what they have created.

[CanadjunBeef]

07:54 PM on 11/14/2011

Watch out - that Web page you linked carries a Trojan, according to my virus blocker.
TROJ_KAZY.

[stratego]

01:20 AM on 11/05/2011

The deregulated banking industry caused the global economic crisis.

[stratego]

01:17 AM on 11/05/2011

If I had answered one one thousandth of the juicy credit card offers sent to me in the last year, I would be completely bankrupt. Good thing I'm not naive enough to be taken in by big banks, isn't it?

[Bids Well]

09:04 PM on 11/04/2011

Really, Mike? Did congress also force people to use their houses like ATM machines? Did congress also force people to try and flip homes?

[Sam D man]

07:49 PM on 11/04/2011

The name of the game is !!!!!!!! WHOS TO BLAME !!!!!!!!!
and our Finalist this week are.
Ralph ( Senior Loan Officer at SCREWU mortgage lenders)
Joann ( Realtor at Century 22 ***thats when you'll finish paying your mortgage )