The Libor syndicate has been going on for decades, according to numerous financial insiders and people from Wall Street, meaning that the megabanks and the central banks have been pulling a confidence game on regular folk for as long as we can remember. According to one industry veteran, “[f]ifteen years ago, the word was that LIBOR was being rigged,”.

“It was one of those well kept secrets, but the regulator was asleep, the Bank of England didn’t care and…[the banks participating were] happy with the reference prices.” Says another: “Going back to the late 1980s, when I was a trader, you saw some pretty odd fixings…With traders, if you don’t actually nail it down, they’ll steal it.”

Yeah, so mortgages, credit cards and virtually every loan based product was manipulated and was set up to benefit a few people that believed they were truly superior somehow, because they refer to themselves as “masters of the universe”.

Thanks to Barry Ritholtz’ blog for the tip.