That's interesting though i'm not sure that's the right kind of fraud. The fraud Bury was referring to was related to mortgage lending, both on the part of the borrowers (fraudulent documents supporting income, etc.) and on the part of the immediate lenders (the banks / lead generators for mortgages). The comparable type of fraud here would be businesses inflating their assets or income streams to acquire bank loans that they couldn't otherwise qualify for. It may be that that kind of fraud is on the rise, but I don't think the examples you cited (with the notable exception of 1MDB) are instances of it.
It's not causal, it's symptomatic. People tend take bigger risks, even criminal ones, when they have less to lose or less to gain. It's an interesting proxy for economic desperation.
That's an interesting perspective that I hadn't considered. I'm not sure if it's right though. You think it's symptomatic of desperation? I don't think of the lead-up to the 2007 financial crisis as a particularly desperate time for most people.
One interpretation is that for many who took on debt they couldn't support, it was a desperate attempt to continue a lifestyle that wasn't possible for them any more due to changes in both the global and local economies, aided by technology, which resulted in the reduced value of their labor.
>>The fraud Bury was referring to was related to mortgage lending
To be frank, I guess the parent was talking about general fraud trends. It will be a little disingenuous to suggest the same set of events have to repeat for it be classified as fraud.
For eg, these days start ups with no way of turning in profits, but raising billions in debt could be suggested as a fraud eventually.
