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New York's JPMorgan Chase Lawsuit: Are the Critics Right? by Richard (RJ) Eskow, OurFuture.org | October 28, 2012
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has filed a lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase over allegations of wholesale fraud by Bear Stearns, which JPM acquired during the 2008 financial crisis. The lawsuit's critics, including Rep. read more »New York's JPMorgan Chase Lawsuit: Are the Critics Right? by Richard (RJ) Eskow, OurFuture.org | October 28, 2012
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has filed a lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase over allegations of wholesale fraud by Bear Stearns, which JPM acquired during the 2008 financial crisis. The lawsuit's critics, including Rep. read more »You? Fix The Debt? You Gotta Be Kidding by Isaiah J. Poole, OurFuture.org | October 26, 2012
Americans for Tax Fairness does a pretty devastating take-down of the group of CEOs who were at the New York Stock Exchange Thursday ringing the opening bell under the banner "Fix the Debt." Their picture makes the point: read more »Why Freddie Mac Resisted Refis by Jesse Eisinger, propublica.org | October 25, 2012
Freddie Mac, the taxpayer-owned mortgage giant, made it harder for millions of Americans to refinance their high-interest-rate mortgages for fear it would cut into company profits, present and former Freddie Mac officials disclosed in recent interviews. In closed door meetings, two Republican-leaning board members and at least one executive resisted a mass refi policy for an additional reason, according to the interviews: They regarded it as a backdoor economic stimulus. Freddie's policy was financially brutal: During the worst years of the Great Recession, when homeowners most needed the savings they could have gotten from refinancing to lower interest rates, Freddie helped keep millions of borrowers locked in high-interest-rate mortgages. read more »We Must Stop Protecting The Rich From Market Forces by Ha-Joon Chang, The Guardian | October 25, 2012
Gore Vidal, the recently demised American writer, once famously quipped that the US economic system is "free enterprise for the poor and socialism for the rich". Since the outbreak of the global financial crisis in 2008, not only has the US lived up to Vidal's caricature but the whole of the rich capitalist world has become more "American". The poor are increasingly exposed to market forces, with tougher conditions on the diminishing state protection they get, while the rich have unprecedented levels of protection from the state, with virtually no strings attached. read more »How Wall Street Won the Election Long Before The First Vote Was Cast by Nomi Prims, alternet.org | October 24, 2012
Before the campaign contributors lavished billions of dollars on their favorite candidate; and long after they toast their winner or drink to forget their loser, Wall Street was already primed to continue its reign over the economy. For, after three debates (well, four), when it comes to banking, finance, and the ongoing subsidization of Wall Street, both presidential candidates and their parties’ attitudes toward the banking sector is similar – i.e. it must be preserved – as is – at all costs, rhetoric to the contrary, aside.Obama hasn’t brought ‘sweeping reform’ upon the Establishment Banks, nor does Romney need to exude deregulatory babble, because nothing structurally substantive has been done to harness the biggest banks of the financial sector, enabled, as they are, by entities from the SEC to the Fed to the Treasury Department to the White House. read more »Unfortunately, The Fiscal Cliff Joke Is On Us by Stan Collender, OurFuture.org | October 23, 2012
Originally published at Capital Gains and Games. Have you heard the one about the big-name financial services CEOs who last week released a letter to Congress and the president demanding they do whatever it takes to avoid the fiscal cliff? read more »Revolving Doors Matter by James Kwak, baselinescenario.com | October 23, 2012
It is common fare for people like me to point disapprovingly to the revolving door between business and government, which ensures that every Treasury Department is well stocked with representatives of Goldman Sachs. In 13 Bankers, the revolving door was one of the three major channels through which the financial sector influenced government policy, alongside campaign contributions and the ideology of finance. The counterargument comes in various forms: people like Robert Rubin and Henry Paulson are dedicated civil servants who wouldn’t favor their firms or their industries, the government needs people with appropriate industry experience, etc. It is certainly possible that industry experts provide valuable skills and experience to the government. But that value comes with a cost; put another way, it’s not just the public good that benefits read more »The Danger of Wealth at the Top by Paul R. Pillar, consortiumnews.com | October 19, 2012
America’s growth-inhibiting inequality is making it less able to compete, and less able to serve as an exemplar for others, in the global arena. Ideologically driven myopia, which mistakenly cherishes anything in the private sector status quo, even when it is destructive of free markets and vigorous competition, and disdains anything government does, even when it is necessary for economic growth and the fullest use of human capital, is needlessly weakening the relative as well as absolute position of the United States. read more »How Obama Can Smoke Out Mitt: Call for Breaking Up the Biggest Banks, and Resurrecting Glass-Steagall by Robert B. Reich, robertreich.org | October 19, 2012
President Obama should propose that the nation’s biggest banks be broken up and their size capped, and that the Glass-Steagall Act be resurrected. It’s good policy, and it would smoke out Mitt Romney as being of, by, and for Wall Street — and not on the side of average Americans. It would also remind America that five years ago Wall Street’s excesses almost ruined the economy. Bankers, hedge-fund managers, and private-equity traders speculated on the upside, then shorted on the downside — in a vast zero-sum game that resulted in the largest transfer of wealth from average Americans to financial elites ever witnessed in this nation’s history. read more »
The Latest
Goldman Sachs 'Most Aggressive' In Demanding Cash From AIG, Huffington Post | July 9, 2010
Goldman Sachs was the "most aggressive" financial firm to demand cash from AIG on what it viewed as souring deals during the financial crisis, the head of a federal investigative panel said Wednesday. more »
N.Y. Challenger Saujani Embraces Wall Street in Bid to Enseat Rep. Maloney, The Washington Post | July 8, 2010
They did not always feel this way about Maloney. The 64-year-old Democratic representative hasn't faced a serious challenge to her seat since she was first elected in 1992. For nearly two decades, they have viewed her as a solid, if unremarkable, member of Congress. more »
Lobbyist Urges Community Banks to Back Regulatory Reform, Not Wall Street, bloomberg.com | July 7, 2010
A lobbyist for community banks privately urged his industry not to oppose the U.S. regulatory overhaul, warning that smaller lenders are being used by Wall Street to derail the legislation. more »
Sen. Brown: 'I'm Liking What I See' on Financial Reform Legislation, thehill.com | July 6, 2010
Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) offered a hint that he may support the financial reform bill when it comes to a final vote later this month.
“I’m going to be making a decision soon, but I’m liking what I see,” Brown told WHDH television station in Plymouth, Mass., on Sunday. more »
Wall St. Plans Payback for Reg Reform, Politico | July 6, 2010
That compromise hasn’t stopped the financial community from singling out Lincoln for scorn.
"She told us she knew Congress had to be sensible in its approach to dealing with derivatives, and then she went and hit us with her amendment,” a financial executive said. “It was pretty amazing.”
Lincoln says she’s not worried, despite facing a difficult reelection fight this fall.
Democratic Campaign Committees Losing Big Wall Street Donors, The Washington Post | July 6, 2010
The drop in support comes from many of the same bankers, hedge fund executives and financial services chief executives who are most upset about the financial regulatory reform bill that House Democrats passed last week with almost no Republican support. The Senate expects to take up the measure this month.
Senate Dems Closer to Wall St. Overhaul as Cantwell Voices Support, blogs.abcnews.com | July 2, 2010
Senate Democrats took a big step towards passing the Wall Street reform bill tonight as Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, announced that she will vote for the measure.
Cantwell had opposed the bill when it first passed the Senate in May, but she now will support the version that emerged from the conference committee.
Regulators Made Sure Goldman Sachs Got All Of Its Bailout Money, truthdig.com | June 30, 2010
A devastating report in The New York Times documents how Timothy Geithner’s New York Fed worked tirelessly to make sure that AIG was forced to pay banks such as Goldman Sachs 100 percent on dubious contracts that might otherwise have been slashed or subjected to lawsuits. For his efforts, Geithner was promoted to run the rest of the nation’s economy. more »
Kagan Hearing Day One: The Battle To Define ‘Judicial Activism’ , wonkroom.thinkprogress.org | June 29, 2010
If someone does a word cloud of today’s opening statements in the Kagan hearing, the word “activism” will dominate the screen. And this is nothing new. Conservative senators figured out a long time ago that if they label anyone to the left of Samuel Alito a “judicial activist” then their more progressive colleagues will put their tail between their legs and cower.
Knocking Kagan's Experience, GOP Attack May Backfire , Huffington Post | June 28, 2010
As the Senate begins hearings for Elena Kagan’s Supreme Court nomination, Republicans are returning to a critique that separates Kagan from every sitting Justice. She has no judicial experience. more »
