I'll let all you economics majors argue over who shot John (the butler did it). But I'm more than a bit appalled at the license that the author of the opinion piece took with Mayor Bloomberg's statement. I don't necessarily disagree with the author's facts (once they're stripped of the author's unnecessary hyperbole). But the author tees-off on Bloomberg by opening with this:
The Big Lie made a surprise appearance Tuesday when New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, responding to a question about Occupy Wall Street, stunned observers by exonerating Wall Street: ***8220;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.***8221;
That's "The Big Lie?" that supports the author's accusations of a rewrite of history by "Wall Street" (whoever that is). Then why is this "rewrite" buried in the last few lines of the piece?
Bloomberg was partially correct: Congress did radically deregulate the financial sector, doing away with many of the protections that had worked for decades. Congress allowed Wall Street to self-regulate, and the Fed the turned a blind eye to bank abuses.
Oh! So Bloomberg was
not lying? Well then, never mind.
If you can't make you points (and good ones) without resorting to the lamest form of fallacy (straw man), then I've got no more time to waste on you, Mr. Ritholtz. Get an adult to help you with your next column.