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HomeWill ‘Too Big to Fail’ Banks Charge for Deposits?
Posted by Larry Doyle on November 25th, 2013 9:38 AM |
$82 billion.
What does that figure represent? The subsidy (aka competitive advantage) that accrues to our major banking institutions from favorable borrowing rates given their status as ‘too big to fail.’
Those tens of billions of dollars truly represent a nice, big head start for a handful of banks, and a withering assault on the precepts of free market capitalism for the rest of us.
As if $82 billion were not enough of a subsidy, let’s not forget that these banks pay you, as a depositor, virtually zero interest for the ‘privilege’ of holding your money there. Well, that may be changing. How so? How would you like to actually pay interest to the banks in order to keep your money in their institutions? Really? No way?
Yes way. (more…)
FINRA ‘Cracks Down’ on High-Risk Brokers. What About Management?
Posted by Larry Doyle on November 22nd, 2013 6:53 AM |
I have long maintained that a self-regulatory model for monitoring Wall Street does not and will not work. To think that the brokerage industry could be properly monitored by an organization that it funds in large measure strikes me as ridiculous.
I witness further evidence of this reality in a report that some might think is an indication that this self-regulator, FINRA, is getting tough on Wall Street. If this is tough, then let me puff up the pillows for you and get you a cup of warm cocoa. Let’s navigate as The Wall Street Journal writes this morning:
Under pressure from Washington to crack down on rogue stockbrokers, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is highlighting a fast-track program it began earlier this year to go after what it calls “high-risk brokers.” (more…)
Janet Yellen Reminds Me of Chauncey the Gardener
Posted by Larry Doyle on November 21st, 2013 10:44 AM |
I do not think there is any doubt that Janet Yellen will be fully confirmed as our next chair of the Federal Reserve.
I have read plenty of material about Ms. Yellen but will admit that I have never heard her speak. After listening to her platitudes this morning, I was struck by the likeness of her delivery, message, and physical appearance to another individual who was thought to have real wisdom on our economy and monetary policy.
Who is that? Chauncey the gardener. I am only half kidding.
Let’s take a few minutes to listen to Ms. Yellen.
And now a few minutes more to listen to Chauncey.
What can I say? Do you agree?
Navigate accordingly.
Larry Doyle
Please pre-order a copy of my book, In Bed with Wall Street: The Conspiracy Crippling Our Global Economy, that will be published by Palgrave Macmillan on January 7, 2014.
For those reading this via a syndicated outlet or receiving it via e-mail or another delivery, please visit the blog to view these clips and to comment on this piece of ‘sense on cents.’
Please subscribe to all my work via e-mail.
I have no business interest with any entity referenced in this commentary. 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.
Jeremy Grantham Equity Call: Negative Real Returns Over Next Seven Years
Posted by Larry Doyle on November 20th, 2013 9:20 AM |
A week ago noted investor Ray Dalio projected annual equity returns of a less than robust 4% over the next decade.
Now we hear from another one of my favorite investment gurus, this being Jeremy Grantham. While Grantham believes the current equity ‘party’ has one more leg up over the next year or maybe two, we will then experience the third serious market correction since 1999.
When Grantham talks, I listen. He had plenty to say in his recent quarterly letter.
My personal view is that the Greenspan-Bernanke regime of excessive stimulus, now administered by Yellen, will proceed as usual, and that the path of least resistance, for the market will be up. (more…)
Census-gate: Whistleblowers Claim Pre-Election Labor Reports Manipulated
Posted by Larry Doyle on November 19th, 2013 8:42 AM |
. . . the only way to deal with a whistleblower’s accusations – again, every single time and often against your own instincts – is with a hyper-bias toward believing that the informant is onto something big. Such a bias must impel you to investigate every claim ferociously.
Jack and Susy Welch, Reuters, May 1, 2012
Do you recall how former GE chairman Jack Welch was vilified by many in the mainstream media and our government for vociferously challenging the integrity of the pre-election October 2012 Employment Report? He was. As a reminder, back then Welch released this tweet:
Obamacare: “Going To Blow a Hole In The Budget”
Posted by Larry Doyle on November 18th, 2013 7:10 AM |
WALLACE: I’m not saying it’s a scandal. I’m just, what it seems to be is rank incompetence.
WOODWARD: Yeah, there’s no question about that . . .
That rank incompetence is being felt each and everyday by millions across our nation as people learn they are not only losing their healthcare plans, but their doctors as well.
Can you imagine your elderly grandmother losing access to her doctor with whom she has had a longstanding relationship? It is happening folks. Which party is throwing Grandma over the cliff? Evidence of just such a development is detailed in a weekend article from the WSJ: (more…)
Obama Presidency, 01.21.09 — 11.15.13: R.I.P
Posted by Larry Doyle on November 15th, 2013 9:53 AM |
“Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.”
Sir Walter Scott, in Canto VI Stanza 17 of “Marmion” (1808)
I do not think I can count the number of times that I have actually written the specific words, “truth, transparency, and integrity” at my blog over the last 5 years. When I write those words and the importance of putting them into practice, I actually mean them.
Regrettably, far too much that emanates from Washington on both sides of the aisle bears little resemblance with those virtues. Collectively we suffer tremendously as a result.
Before commenting on our President’s attempted Hail Mary, administration-saving pass delivered yesterday, I would like to pose a question to those who might read this post. Have you ever worked with or for an individual for whom telling the truth is secondary to advancing his/her own personal agenda? I have. (more…)
Judge Rakoff: Why Have No High Level Executives Been Prosecuted In Connection With The Financial Crisis?
Posted by Larry Doyle on November 14th, 2013 11:15 AM |
None other than Judge Jed Rakoff, who has heard many of the major financial suits brought over the course of the last few years, spoke the other day to the New York City Bar Association regarding the question so many in our nation still ask, “Why have no high level executives been prosecuted in connection with the financial crisis?”
In what might have been a fabulous foreword to my upcoming book, Rakoff skillfully delivers what I believe is an incredibly excoriating indictment of those within the Department of Justice,the SEC, and elsewhere. (more…)
Bloomberg Interview with Mary Jo White
Posted by Larry Doyle on November 13th, 2013 6:30 AM |
In February 2009 Congressional testimony, Harry Markopolos publicly stated that the Securities and Exchange Commission deserved an A+ in incompetence. Given the massive failings of the commission over many years, I think most investors would say the SEC had earned that grade.
Do many people think that the SEC’s level of competence and practice of rigorous enforcement dramatically improved under Mary Schapiro? Ms. Schapiro’s rather rapid departure from the commission last December left many wondering as to what was really going on within the halls of our nation’s top financial police force.
Many questions are still left unanswered. (more…)
“Greatest Wall Street Backdoor Bailout of All Time”: Sense on Cents Instant Classic
Posted by Larry Doyle on November 12th, 2013 10:01 AM |
It is not often that, in the midst of my daily morning reads, my jaw drops and I am left aghast by a writer’s hard hitting delivery. While many an editorial and commentary dive into topics that I appreciate and find riveting, I do not often find a writer from inside the arena who freely and openly speaks his/her mind.
This morning I had just such a pleasure.
While America and the world have been force-fed the notion that the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing programs have been the magic elixir nursing our economy back to health, Andrew Huszar has a decidedly different take.
Who is Huszar? Only a former Fed official responsible for executing a large part of the Fed’s bond buying. Currently a senior fellow at Rutgers Business School, Huszar gains immediate induction into the Sense on Cents Hall of Fame as he pulls no punches in delivering a knockout in this morning’s WSJ. He begins with an apology. It only gets better from there.
I can only say: I’m sorry, America. (more…)
