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HomeSenator Warren Indicts Regulators ‘In Bed with Wall Street’
Posted by Larry Doyle on February 7th, 2014 10:06 AM |
“The question I’m asking is whether or not there’s adequate deterrent to prevent the largest financial institutions in this country from breaking the law,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said at a Senate Banking Committee hearing today. “Right now, if financial institutions can just settle their claims out of court, and get a raise for settling them, then where’s the deterrent?”
Senator Warren pressed regulators about their current enforcement efforts, noting that the “the public has little confidence in regulators’ willingness to seek the kind of penalties that will actually deter future financial crimes.”
With those two statements, Senator Warren (D-MA) indicts the current scandalous practices if not outright corruption that lies at the intersection of Wall Street and Washington and provides the public’s concluding sentiment as detailed in In Bed with Wall Street. The clip runs a mere 6-minutes.
What to do about this? How about we start with the following:
1. Congress should launch a privately run Office of Whistleblower Protection.
2. Wall Street’s private police detail, that is the financial self-regulatory organization FINRA, should no longer have absolute immunity and should be subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
3. Wall Street arbitration should be optional and not mandatory so as to end the kangaroo court.
4. End the self-regulatory oversight of Wall Street.
5. BREAK UP THE ‘TOO BIG TO FAIL’ BANKS!!
Is anybody in favor of the ongoing cronyism and corruption that defines our current system?
Larry Doyle
Please order a copy of my book, In Bed with Wall Street: The Conspiracy Crippling Our Global Economy.
For those reading this via a syndicated outlet or receiving it via e-mail or another delivery, please visit the blog to view the embedded video clip and to comment on this piece of ‘sense on cents.’
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The opinions expressed are my own. I am a proponent of real transparency within our markets so that investor confidence and investor protection can be achieved.
Hank Paulson Trusts Neither Wall Street Nor Washington
Posted by Larry Doyle on February 6th, 2014 8:46 AM |
Do you ever wonder if those who ‘find religion’ late in life so to speak are trying to conveniently cleanse their souls before making their way to the pearly gates?
I think in the case of public officials, it is fair to ask if the ‘cleansing process’ is done for purposes of resurrecting an image or if the individual is truly engaging in a meaningful transformation.
I ask these questions this morning as I see a headline cross the news wire that none other than former Wall Street titan and Washington heavyweight Henry Paulson now trusts neither Wall Street nor Washington.
Is that right? Well ol’ Hank would seem to be having a ‘come to Jesus’ moment here. (more…)
The Effect of the Obamacare Tax
Posted by Larry Doyle on February 5th, 2014 12:46 PM |
The release of the Congressional Budget Office report yesterday on the effects of Obamacare has not surprisingly set off a firestorm in respective political camps and among their media friends.
Let’s dispense with the heavy clanging noise connected to this topic that is resonating throughout our land and take a more measured approach in assessing the impact of the tax connected to Obamacare.
First and foremost, although many do not like associating the term “tax” in discussing Obamacare, let’s not forget that none other than Chief Justice Roberts told us that is exactly what it is in handing down his ruling upholding Obamacare.
Without being overly simplistic, whenever taxes are imposed behaviors change. To think otherwise is naive. (more…)
Janet Yellen “Will Spot Asset Bubbles Before They Burst.” Can She Also Walk on Water and Cure Aging?
Posted by Larry Doyle on February 4th, 2014 9:42 AM |
Do you ever get incoming e-mails that just leave you scratching your head and thinking, “Are you kidding me?”
I am going to guess that we all do and most would typically delete them in short order. I almost did that late yesterday when I saw an incoming message informing me that Janet Yellen, the new head of the Federal Reserve, possessed powers and vision that some might define as otherworldly. Let’s navigate as the Cornell University Media Relations Office released the following:
Robert C. Hockett, former Resident Consultant for the Federal Reserve Board, international finance expert and professor of Law at Cornell University, discusses how Janet Yellen will usher in a new era of a proactive Fed. (more…)
Not Surprised by Size but Swiftness of Market Decline
Posted by Larry Doyle on February 3rd, 2014 2:06 PM |
Without trying to be a Monday morning quarterback, I am not at all surprised by the market’s decline.
I remain hard pressed to believe that our domestic economy and the global economy remain on sufficiently firm ground that would justify the fact that equity valuations belong even at current levels.
That said, I long ago gave up “fighting the Fed” and other global central banks that have been engaged in pumping liquidity into the system in order to prop the markets in the hope of stimulating the economy. So where should we look for a measure of support in the market? (more…)
NY Times Exposes Wall Street-Washington Revolving Door
Posted by Larry Doyle on February 3rd, 2014 9:41 AM |
There are very few issues in our nation today that can generate such a uniformly vehement reaction as the practices encompassed within the Wall Street-Washington revolving door.
The American public may often be duped by those politicians and lobbyists well schooled in the art of working backroom deals, but the blatant elitist crony style behaviors captured in yesterday’s New York Times article, Law Doesn’t End Revolving Door on Capitol Hill, should surprise nobody.
Laws written that would appear to mitigate the effect of influence peddling only to allow the cronies to navigate through easily drafted loopholes might seem to be the stuff of third world banana republics but are now standard operating procedure within a world unto itself, aka Washington DC.
The American public gets this as evidenced by the 175 overwhelmingly derisive comments generated by that article. (more…)
Mary Schapiro Leaving Promontory Financial Hmmmmmmmmmmm…….
Posted by Larry Doyle on February 1st, 2014 4:55 PM |
In the category of things that make you go hmmmm, we read a late Friday evening announcement that former SEC chair — and Sense on Cents Hall of Shame 2009 inductee — Mary Schapiro is leaving her role at Promontory Financial after a mere 9 months.
Let’s navigate as DealB%k reports, Former Chief of SEC to Shift Consulting Job:
Mary L. Schapiro spent four years as head of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Her next act was far shorter.
Just nine months after joining the Promontory Financial Group, a consulting firm that straddles the worlds of Wall Street and Washington, Ms. Schapiro is planning to leave her full-time role there. (more…)
What’s Going On: Market Pullback, Pump ‘n Dump?
Posted by Larry Doyle on January 30th, 2014 7:02 AM |
The consensus opinion by most market strategists coming into the year was that our equity markets would follow up the 25-30% gains of 2013 with another 8-10% gain this year.
The markets will have to experience a hellacious rally in the next two trading days or make an exception to an age old rule that January’s price action sets the direction for the year as a whole.
So what is going on with the markets? Are they simply experiencing a long overdue pullback? No doubt about that. Aside from a mild pullback last August and September of approximately 3-4%, the S&P 500 Index went straight up for the next 3 months to the tune of 12% to end the year with a 30% gain.
The 4% loss year to date certainly qualifies as a pullback but comes nowhere close to qualifying as a correction which market technicians define as a 10% decline. The S&P 500 would have to retrace another 110 points on top of the ~75 points it has lost year to date to meet that definition. (more…)
Eric Ben-Artzi: Another Whistleblower Who Was Fired
Posted by Larry Doyle on January 29th, 2014 8:52 AM |
Recently Deutsche Bank surprised the markets by pre-releasing its earnings with a surprise loss of 1.5 billion Euros.
Do you think that the bank may have been previously mismarking positions or, in layman’s terms, ‘cooking the books’ and is just now playing catch up given that the stock price of the bank has rebounded? Does that sound like a practice that some might define as ‘pump and dump’? You think?
What happened to the individual who brought attention and exposure to Deutsche Bank’s financial chicanery? Let’s meet another whistleblower who received a pink slip, in this case Eric Ben-Artzi, who spoke recently at Auburn University. (more…)
Dennis Kelleher Calls Out President Obama on Mortgage Fraud
Posted by Larry Doyle on January 28th, 2014 10:59 AM |
Do you plan on watching President Obama’s State of the Union address this evening?
Why do I think I hear many people who might read this blog say, “Why would I want to do that?”
In the midst of leaving an event last evening in New York City, a very informed pollster told me that the overwhelming sense in the nation today is that people are totally fed up with Washington and Wall Street. No surprise there, but why is that? Well, because all too often our politicians from both sides of the aisle over-promise and then under-deliver.
As an example of just that practice, I commend Dennis Kelleher, President of Better Markets, for releasing the following statement regarding the Obama administration’s promise he made two years ago in his State of the Union to bring real accountability to Wall Street. (more…)
