How We Got Swindled!

How We Got Swindled by Wall Street Godfathers, Greed & Financial Darwinism ~ The 30-War Against the American Dream; foreword by David Satterfield, 2 times Pulitzer Prize-winner

"With keen intellect and searing wit, Henry Schoenberger’s How We Got Swindled exposes the myriad of financial hijinks and colossal leadership failures that have turned the first decade of the new century into an economic disaster. Schoenberger not only identifies the causes, rationales and human failings that led to his mess; he provides some ready answers for how we must go about fixing it. This should be must-reading for every policy maker in Washington and every student of economics and finance."

- David Satterfield, former Business Editor of the Miami Herald, two times Pulitzer Prize - winner

"Having been on the inside of one of the largest sub-prime mortgage lenders that failed, I can attest to the fact the Mr. Schoenberger has got it right. His insights and historical perspectives are on the money. We need to be focusing on how we effectively regulate the markets so that this type of crisis does not come back to bite us again."

- Marc Loewenthal, Esq., Former SVP of Enterprise Risk Management, New Century Financial Corp.

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Bio

Henry Schoenberger is a Cleveland entrepreneur, financial specialist, writer and author.

Schoenberger’s latest book, How We Got Swindled by Wall Street, Greed & Financial Darwinism ~ The 30-Year War Against The American Dream, is due out next month. The book, an insightful look at the failures of Washington and Wall Street as well as all the contributing factors that led to the current depression-like economy and dysfunctional state of the US, includes a foreword from David Satterfield, a veteran financial journalist who shared in two Pulitzer Prizes while he was the business editor at the Miami Herald.

Schoenberger’s 1990 book, Invest for Success, How to Avoid Getting Ripped Off by Real Estate Partnerships, the Stock Market and Diversification became a critical success nationally, and recently B&N decided to carry it again online and in stock. He has authored a number of articles in professional journals and mainstream publications.

A 1964 graduate of Miami University, with a degree in English and Economics, Schoenberger has served in a variety of roles in the financial world. From capital formation consulting, to having been among the earliest financial planners in 1968, to owning his own broker-dealer NASD Member Firm specializing in private placements, to a venture capital CEO leading a small business into and successfully out of Chapter 11. He presented testimony to Senate Finance for TRA 86 at the request of George Mitchell, has spoken before various professional groups and has taught his continuing education course for CPAs, Trust Officers and Trust Department Lawyers for many years.

Schoenberger has been successful in both the insurance and securities businesses for over four decades, and has been a life-long student of economics and economic history as well as a political junkie dating from the day his father gave him an I Like Ike button. He is a poet-philosopher and pragmatic, rational idealist with a point of view encompassing human needs as well as economic realities. He believes the past will be eventually be acknowledged as prologue to provide the lessons to successfully transition from where we find ourselves today to a future that has appropriate concern for the public good. And he believes in the collective spirit of Americans, a spirit that has always found a way to transcend rancorous disagreement to form a stronger union.

From 45 years of personal experience, he understands why we cannot fix our continuing financial tragedy until it is recognized and acknowledged that Financial Darwinism is Born-again Social Darwinism and the survival of the richest ethic has been curbed by rebuilding the barriers against greed. And the Keynesian pragmatic solutions which worked in the after-math of the Great Depression must be applied to solve economic problems that cannot be solved by monetary and fiscal policy.

Foreword
   1

Preface: A Zen Path Through the Minefields
   5

1. Social Darwinism Practiced by “Robber Barons” and Pyramid Builders
   15

2. Financial Darwinism is Born Again Social Darwinism
   21

3. Party Principles vs. Human Considerations –
Democrats vs. Republicans Who Just Say No
   27

4. Housing Prices in Free Fall or in a Return to Value,
Commercial is Rotten Too
   35

5. Greedy Deregulated Banks Abandoned Prudence
and Reason for Fees and Bonuses
   43

6. Wall Street: Financial Investment versus Real Investment,
The Only Ethic is Survival of the Richest
   55

7. Appraisers and Raters Drove the Getaway Cars
   69

8. Self-Serving Regulators Serve the Self-Interested Ultra Rich
   79

9. Financial Engineering – The Quantification of Risk Myth
   103

10. “Too Complex to Explain” Financial Instruments: Derivatives, CDOs,
CMOs, Swaps, and Rancid Tranches – Pools of Worse than Junk Bond Debt
   115

11. Risk Reduction, A Financial Engineering Faith-Based Hoax
   131

12. Risk Measurement Simplified
   143

13. Haute Degrees and Social Standing Do Not Equal Judgment or Ethics
   145

14. Arcane Professional Nomenclature Utilized to
Obfuscate and Sell Empty Promises
   153

15. The Insidious Use and Abuse of Language
by Allowing It to Shape Thought
   161

16. The Financial Media – Reporters or Shills?
Objective Media – a Casualty of the War
   175

17. Malfeasance – The Omission of Significant Information Constitutes Fraud
   191

18. Executive Compensation, Reasonable or Disgusting: Tax Laws
Promote Bonuses Not Dividends; No Enforcement of IRS Sec. 162(m
   201

19. Establish Economic Fairness and Stability by
Rising Up Against Financial Darwinists
   215

Appendix I: Chapters from Invest for Success
   235

Appendix II: Letters From 1989
   259

Appendix II:I Financial Darwinism 1987 Outline
   269