Friday 20th November
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Federal Prosecutors Bungle Case Against Bear Stearns Fund Managers
Written on 11 Nov, 2009 at 14:07
Regardless, it's hard to imagine that you can cost investors $1.6 billion, get caught with a paper and email trail that shows that you knew what you were doing as you lied your ass off along the way, and then... (Continue reading)
See, That’s What I’m Talking About – Banks are Broke & Broken
Written on 20 Oct, 2009 at 21:10
According to FDIC, the program was established a year ago at the height of the financial crisis, and was intended to “help thaw the freeze in bank-to-bank lending,” and it’s obviously been very effective in that regard. Mark that... (Continue reading)
Get Over It America???
Written on 16 Oct, 2009 at 20:59
2. Goldman must either start lending like a bank, or it's not allowed to keep its status as a "Financial Holding Company," which is what allows it to put more than $125 BILLION at risk without having to worry about... (Continue reading)
Cioffi & Tannin, Bankers That Broke The World, Part 2
Written on 13 Oct, 2009 at 2:49
From the beginning, the banking lobby has tried to blame this crisis on everyone but the banks. It was the banking lobby that started the P.R. campaign that blamed borrowers… then they blamed mortgage brokers… then sub-prime lenders… everyone... (Continue reading)
Cioffi & Tannin: Future Household Names, if Anyone Still Owns a House in the Future
Written on 11 Oct, 2009 at 18:54
It would seem that they told themselves that the Funds' bleak prospects would change, come around, and that their incomes and reputations would remain intact. Just a couple of months later, on June 9, 2007, when the Funds' collapse... (Continue reading)
My Grandmother, Standard Oil & the Banks
Written on 11 Sep, 2009 at 7:30
With the foreclosure crisis still being allowed to ravage the country unchallenged, the risk to banks going forward is both significant and real. The line between being accepted by the public and being a pariah, is as thin as... (Continue reading)
Bernanke’s Fed: The Only Decent Thing to Do Is to Deceive Us
Written on 29 Aug, 2009 at 18:10
So, the Federal Reserve said: “Okay, we’re sorry,” and released the information. What? It could happen. It didn’t, of course, but it could… maybe… someday. In real life, the Fed is preparing an appeal. ... (Continue reading)
Bringing Up the Rear: ABA President Edward Yingling
Written on 24 Aug, 2009 at 19:07
“It is now widely understood that the current economic situation originated primarily in the largely unregulated non-bank sector. Banks watched as mortgage brokers and others made loans to consumers that a good banker just would not make and they... (Continue reading)
So, It Wasn’t the Subprimers After All… Go Figure.
Written on 20 Jul, 2009 at 8:06
"The evidence from a huge national database containing millions of individual loans strongly suggests that the single most important factor is whether the homeowner has negative equity in a house -- that is, the balance of the mortgage is greater... (Continue reading)
Former Sub-Prime Lenders Are Back to Profit Off of the Housing Meltdown. Seriously?
Written on 18 Jul, 2009 at 16:16
Basically, the architects of the sub-prime lending that caused the greatest financial crisis in the history of mankind, are now going to profit from the crisis they caused by buying and selling the very sub-prime loans they couldn’t sell before,... (Continue reading)
Wells Fargo Closes Accounts if Firms Offer Loan Mod Services
Written on 30 Jun, 2009 at 7:22
Last week, when I learned that U.S. banks were systematically canceling the merchant accounts of firms offering loan modification services, thus preventing the firm from accepting payment by credit card, I was stunned. And I thought to myself… well,... (Continue reading)
Wells Fargo’s “Ghetto Loans” and the “Mud People”
Written on 28 Jun, 2009 at 22:40
Beth Jacobson says that she and fellow loan officers at Wells Fargo Bank systematically singled out blacks in and around Baltimore in order to sell them high-interest sub-prime mortgages, whether they would have qualified for prime loans or not. ... (Continue reading)
The People of the United States v. Wall Street’s Bankers
Written on 15 Jun, 2009 at 21:48
As I’ve watched the economy deteriorate over the last two years, I have been amazed and bewildered at our government’s response, or lack thereof. And the more I’ve learned, the worse I’ve felt about our ability to fix what... (Continue reading)
The Bank’s Latest Tactic to Shut Down Loan Modification Firms
Written on 13 Jun, 2009 at 0:29
I got a call today from someone who is in the loan modification business In Arizona. He told me that if you’re a loan modification company, you will not be allowed to have a merchant account with Wells... (Continue reading)
Former sub-prime lenders are back to profit off the mess they made. Seriously?
Written on 9 Jun, 2009 at 15:22
Apparently, they were not quite satisfied with the hundreds of millions they stole… I mean made, so they’ve launched a company that will buy distressed mortgages from banks and the government at a discount, modify the loans so that the... (Continue reading)
Bank of America Says They Modified 50,000 Mortgages… Whatever That Means…
Written on 24 May, 2009 at 16:23
Woohoo! Yea! The wonderful, caring philanthropists at Bank of America have reached out to help American homeowners because they see that our nation is in crisis and they wanted to do the right thing and help out wherever they... (Continue reading)
Martha My Dear… You Are An Inspiration
Written on 16 May, 2009 at 1:35
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is hunting for bank. She just bagged Goldman Sachs, among others, and they’re writing down mortgages faster than you can say “fraudulent securitization”. She’s my God damn hero. I think I’m voting for her... (Continue reading)
Dear God, Give Me Strength
Written on 15 May, 2009 at 6:03
As I sat down to watch Bethany McLean, the financial reporter that broke the ENRON story, appearing on PBS’ NOW with David Brancaccio, talk about the $18 billion in bonuses that Wall Street’s New York executives paid themselves in... (Continue reading)
Goldman Sachs… You’re a Liar!
Written on 16 Apr, 2009 at 9:01
But, Goldman Sachs… you’re a liar. A phony. A manipulator of the rules. A company willing to mislead, misinform and malign. You cannot be trusted. And during times like these, to act in such a... (Continue reading)
Obama Administration is Drawing Up Plans to Disclose Conditions of Biggest Banks
Written on 15 Apr, 2009 at 22:44
Here we have a senior official who declined to speak on the record because: “the extent of the disclosures were still being debated?” Were they now? By the Obama administration? Now that’s transparency. Change I can Goddamn... (Continue reading)
