Stern Words for Wall Street’s Watchdogs, From a Judge

In the New York Times – By Published: December 16, 2013

NTBTGTJWASHINGTON — It used to be common for the federal government to prosecute prominent people responsible for debacles that rattled the financial system. Michael R. Milken, the junk bond artist, went to prison in 1991; Charles H. Keating Jr., the face of the savings-and-loan crisis, pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud in 1999; and it looks like Jeffrey K. Skilling, the former chief executive of Enron, will be in prison until 2017. Continue reading

AIG CEO Robert Benmosche Compares Bonus Criticism to Lynch Mobs

You will love this Matt Taibbi article posted on RSN and Rolling Stone. He’s G-r-r-reat!

Matt-TaibbiAIG has a lengthy history of producing some of the biggest tools on Wall Street. Former CEO Maurice “Hank” Greenberg was considered one of the world’s preeminent unapologetic narcissists even before he sued the government for providing an insufficiently generous bailout.

Joe Cassano, former chief of AIG’s financial products division, was another. First, he arrogantly blew off the accountants who warned him his portfolio of hundreds of billions in uncollateralized bets might destroy the world. Then, after it all went Continue reading

CREDIT SLIPS – Crisis Books… a phenomenal resource

Credit Slips logo

Crisis books  posted by Alan White

I recently stumbled on this excellent compendium of more than 300 books on the financial crisis.  It also includes a list of 25 or so books that predicted the crisis, as well as a useful link to an annotated list of individuals who can be given credit for predicting various aspects of the crisis. [This is terrific reference material. Be sure to bookmark. DC Ed.] Continue reading

“Fraud Was … the F-Bomb”

PBS FRONTLINE – Watch closely – click here.

“To hear some on Wall Street tell it, no one saw the financial crisis coming. As Jamie Dimon, the chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, explained to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, “In mortgage underwriting, somehow we just missed … that home prices don’t go up forever.”  The program in its entirety can be viewed here.  It is definitely a must watch!Frontline 1-22-13 Continue reading