It’s bonus season, and while many in the junk bond market should expect coal in their stocking, the rest of Wall Street remains hopeful that Santa Claus remembers them this year. Given the Fed’s rate hike, though, more than a few financiers are losing faith.

It would help, perhaps, if Wall Street had a direct line to Santa Claus. Once upon a time, it did. For much of the 19th century, Santa Claus had a branch office at No. 12 Wall Street. This was the “Saint Nicholas Bank,” established in 1853 and capitalized at $500,000.

The origins of the Saint Nicholas Bank are a bit murky. Aside from the fact that it built a safe that Bankers’ Magazine described in 1854 as “the largest in the United States, if not the world,” the new institution attracted very little notice.

At this time, state-chartered banks in the United States issued their…

In May 2009 Congress created a special commission to examine the causes of the financial crisis. The idea was to emulate the celebrated Pecora Commission of the 1930s, which used careful historical analysis to help craft regulations that gave America two generations of financial stability.

But some members of the new commission had a different goal. George Santayana famously remarked that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” What he didn’t point out was that some people want to repeat the past — and that such people have an interest in making sure that we don’t remember what happened, or that we remember it wrong.

Read More: ‘The Big Short,’ Housing Bubbles and Retold Lies – The New York Times

The financial crisis struck a chord with Hollywood this year as two major motion pictures were listed in the nominations for the 73rd Golden Globe Awards, which were announced early Thursday morning.

The Big Short was one of three motion pictures to lead the nominations for the 73rd Golden Globe Awards, which were announced early Thursday morning.

The comedy motion picture flashes back to the 2008 timeframe where the subprime debacle was just taking hold.

The cast of characters bet against the big banks, and potentially, the American economy to get rich while the Empire crumbled.

Add in a couple of Hollywood A-listers and you get The Big Short movie, based on the book by Michael Lewis.

Golden Globe nominations for The Big Short include:

• Best motion picture – musical or comedy
• Best performance by an actor in a motion picture – musical or comedy – Christian Bale
• Best performance…