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Obama on Dodd-Frank: Is He Serious?

Posted by Larry Doyle on August 20th, 2013 10:10 AM |

Three full years after the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, less than 40 percent of the watered-down rules within the reform have actually been written.

And those that have fall mostly under the heading of low-hanging fruit.

President Obama played the populist card again yesterday, calling on Congress and the independent regulators to complete their work on this reform.

Does President Obama think the American public actually believes Wall Street has been or will be reformed via Dodd-Frank? Really? Is he serious?

Read the rest »


The Ghost of Robert Rubin

Posted by Larry Doyle on August 19th, 2013 9:27 AM |

There was a point in time — pre-crisis, of course but in reality not all that long ago — when former Fed chair Alan Greenspan was viewed as almost god-like. Greenspan was supposedly smarter than all other central bankers. Well, those times have passed.

In retrospect, Greenspan has been shown to be a central player amid the cabal that controls our market and economy. In a recent commentary, Bloomberg’s Bill Cohan defines this group as The Club.

The Club has many wannabe members running around Washington and Wall Street, but the true inner circle of The Club consists of a small handful of power brokers and none bigger than Robert Rubin.

You remember Rubin, right?  Read the rest »


Americans Are Pissed Off from Being Pissed On

Posted by Larry Doyle on August 16th, 2013 9:38 AM |

What do readers think about launching a new means to measure consumer sentiment?

We can continue to measure Consumer Confidence, but I propose we also launch a monthly reading hereby defined as The Pissed Off Indicator.

Why do I sense that so many in our country are pissed off? For the very simple reason that they are sick and tired of being pissed on.

This sense of disgust is not healthy or conducive to growing our economy, but it strikes me as self-evident. I write on this topic today given a steady stream of commentary I have received from regular readers over the last few days.  Read the rest »


Feds Let JPM London Whale Swim Free; Go After London Minnow

Posted by Larry Doyle on August 15th, 2013 8:00 AM |

Can you imagine if instead of suspending Alex Rodriguez and others for the use of PEDs that Major League Baseball went after the clubhouse boy, who may have been perhaps knowingly delivering them “the stuff,” and presented that to the public as cleaning up the game?

Or, if we were to steal a scene from the fabulous flick Goodfellas, picture the Feds charging the young and impressionable Spider for his involvement — albeit as a barboy — in “the family” running rackets and presenting that to the public as one of the first cases to clean up the mob.

The authorities in either case would face a fair bit of ridicule. As well they should.  Read the rest »


Federal Reserve: A 100 Year Old Failure

Posted by Larry Doyle on August 14th, 2013 8:30 AM |

The Federal Reserve was founded in 1913 and here we sit 100 years later wondering who will be the next chair of this all powerful institution.

While there is serious politicking going on for both Larry Summers and Janet Yellen, will it really matter whether it is one or the other running this institution?

Perhaps at the margin and for optics the choice of Summers vs Yellen might matter, but in the grand scheme of things neither of these individuals is going to redirect the Federal Reserve from its failed policies. You don’t think so?  Read the rest »


Did We Waste The Crisis? Is the Pope Catholic?

Posted by Larry Doyle on August 13th, 2013 8:16 AM |

In late November 2008, incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel told a group of corporate executives, “you never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”

Well, here we sit almost 5 years later. Is there any doubt that in terms of utilizing the crisis to implement the necessary meaningful financial regulatory and structural reforms, we have, in fact, wasted this crisis? Come on, do we even have to ask?

Adam Davidson of The New York Times would seem to believe the same as he wrote the following in a recent commentary: Read the rest »


Mortgage Fraud Task Force Stats: Did You See This? WOW

Posted by Larry Doyle on August 12th, 2013 7:41 AM |

In what has to be one of the greatest indictments to date of the lack of meaningful integrity in Washington, news broke late last week regarding mortgage fraud investigation and enforcement statistics that totally blew me away.

Before we dive into the cesspool that defines this story, let’s set the proper backdrop.

One would think that a government initiative with the name Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force would have been incredibly busy over the last few years. For those unaware, President Obama established this initiative in November 2009. Its mission?

. . . to hold accountable those who helped bring about the last financial crisis as well as those who would attempt to take advantage of the efforts at economic recovery. Read the rest »


Business Talk with Jim Campbell

Posted by Larry Doyle on August 10th, 2013 6:02 AM |

What are you doing this weekend?

I hope the weekend allows you to spend quality time with family and friends. While I figure out some plans for today, tomorrow I will definitely set aside an hour to listen to the following:

Nationally Syndicated Business Talk with Jim Campbell.
Sunday August 11th @ 10-11am & 10-11pm EST

Powerhouse Lineup on Insider Trading
Gretchen Morgenson – Assistant Business & Finance Editor, New York Times
Charles Gasparino – Senior Correspondent, Fox Business Network
William D. Cohan – Author, Fall of Bear Stearns and Goldman Sachs
Anita Raghavan – Author, “The Fall of the Galleon Hedge Fund”

Topic: Steven A. Cohen and the Criminal Indictment of SAC Capital Read the rest »


What/Who Is Holding Back Small Business? Washington DC, That’s Who

Posted by Larry Doyle on August 9th, 2013 8:17 AM |

Put aside everything else that streams across the daily news wire, there is no doubt that the prevailing issue that causes the most concern for people in our nation is how they are putting bread on the table.

Yes, we can dispense with all the noise that spews forth from far too many sources, the issue that is most prominent to our economic well being remains JOBS, JOBS, JOBS. So where are the jobs and why aren’t they being created to any meaningfully degree a full five years after the outset of our economic crisis?  Read the rest »


Marks and Klarman: There’s No Free Lunch

Posted by Larry Doyle on August 8th, 2013 9:01 AM |

What will future generations do with the massive tab that has been and continues to be run up under the guise of propping our economy?

That is not a rhetorical question.

Many individuals far wiser than I maintain that we will experience generational defaults as our children and children’s children determine that the bills being left to them are not worth paying or able to be paid. That day may not be all that far off. In fact, it has already come in selected municipalities in our nation with surely more to follow.

For more on this topic, I thank the regular reader who shared a fabulous read by Oaktree’s Chairman Howard Marks. Those with the time will appreciate the full memo. I welcome highlighting Marks’ concluding comments in which he shares the wisdom of The Baupost Group’s Seth Klarman as well: Read the rest »


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Larry Doyle

Larry Doyle A Wall Street veteran's views and instincts on the markets, economy, and all things financial.







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