Subscribe: RSS Feed | Twitter | Facebook | Email
Home | Contact Us

You’re Screwed by Wall Street Mortgage Settlement

Posted by Larry Doyle on March 20th, 2012 1:06 PM |

The American system of justice used to be predicated on the fact that those who committed transgressions paid the penalty. Regrettably, that system of justice is now a distant memory in regard to the adjudication of certain massive and egregious financial practices.

Has it become all too overwhelming for you to keep up with the violation of contracts and moral hazards in America today? I implore you not to give up the fight as future generations are counting on us to stand up for real justice. I addressed the injustice last week in writing, Mortgage Settlement Defines Racketeering:

If the Wall Street mortgage settlement is supposed to define justice, then crime certainly does pay. Read the rest »


Do You Trust Uncle Sam?

Posted by Larry Doyle on March 20th, 2012 9:01 AM |

Don’t believe anything that you read or hear and only half of what you see… 

Almost from the outset of launching my blog back in early 2009, I coined the phrase the Uncle Sam economy to describe the massive presence and ultimate takeover of so many parts of our economy by the old man. I cautioned people that Uncle Sam was not a good business partner.

What makes a good business partner?  Anybody involved in business knows there will be many times when you disagree with your partners. Disagreeing with partners will not kill a business relationship. What will kill a relationship? A lack of trust.

Given that we are all in business with Uncle Sam whether we like it or not, I ask, “Do you trust Uncle Sam?” Read the rest »


Can American Students Compete? Hmmmm…..??

Posted by Larry Doyle on March 19th, 2012 9:13 AM |

Can we accept as a premise that the health of our economy is predicated on our ability to compete on the world stage?

Strikes me as a basic principle of Sense on Cents.

Stephane Garelli of IMD, a Swiss-based school which is a pioneer in the field of executive education, zeroes in on the key factors on this topic in writing on The Competitivenes of Nations: The Fundamentals. Garelli asserts,

Competitiveness is thus one of the most powerful concepts in modern economic thinking.  Read the rest »


Adding Fuel to Goldman Exec Greg Smith’s Fire

Posted by Larry Doyle on March 18th, 2012 10:06 AM |

Former Goldman executive Greg Smith created quite a firestorm on Wall Street this week. Smith tarred and feathered his former firm for the manner in which they engage their clients.

While I believe Smith should have been more pointed in directing his fire, for those impugning Mr. Smith, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, I would offer that what Mr. Smith asserts is HIGHLY unlikely just a Goldman issue.

Why do you think JP Morgan’s CEO and Morgan Stanley’s CEO James Gorman informed their troops to hold their own fire in response to the bombshell launched by Mr. Smith?  Read the rest »


Happy St. Paddy’s Day . . . What’s the Craic?

Posted by Larry Doyle on March 16th, 2012 6:30 AM |

With a name like Doyle and more siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews than I might possibly count, I beg your indulgence if I maintain that . . . with the greatest of all holidays falling on a weekend this year, prudence dictates that to gain a full appreciation of the special day and all it means that we celebrate it over a 48 hour time period.

Knowing full well that many of the boys and girls on “the street” will be in full festive attire –and demeanor — right from the get go this morning, I recommend you put a little splash in your coffee and forget about what troubles you.

What’s the craic?

Put simply, having craic is having a good time or a laugh.

Read the rest »


Oppenheimer’s Al Loewenthal: Better to Remain Silent and Be Thought a Fool…

Posted by Larry Doyle on March 15th, 2012 8:06 AM |

Reactions I heard to the Jerry Maguire type bombshell launched by former Goldman exec Greg Smith ran the gamut yesterday.

There are those who questioned Mr. Smith’s sanity at committing career suicide. Others appreciated his airing of dirty laundry and “come to Jesus” expose. I personally believe if Mr. Smith wanted to lash out at those at Goldman who created the culture he came to detest, he may have been more laser like in his approach.

The hand grenade he launched into the Goldman camp was the equivalent of friendly fire and also hit plenty of very good people who work very hard to make an honest living everyday. I know very honest and very good people in the firm.

I welcome being the harshest critic of those who deserve to be called out.  Read the rest »


Goldman’s Greg Smith Skewers Firm, Airs Dirty Laundry

Posted by Larry Doyle on March 14th, 2012 8:25 AM |

Thanks to a regular reader for sharing a New York Times editorial which will captivate Wall Street today.

Our friends at FINRA who may be faced with real backlash from the news spreading of their losing 8 hours of testimony in an arbitration case might want to buy lunch and dinner for Goldman Sachs’ senior executive Greg Smith.

Perhaps I should say former senior executive Greg Smith as he admits that today will be his last day at the firm. What else does Mr. Smith have to say? A LOT and if you see smoke rising off the top of 200 West Street today it is likely the steam rising from the heads of Lloyd Blankfein, Gary Cohn, and the other chiefs at Wall Street’s dominant firm.  Read the rest »


A Chinese Official’s View on America

Posted by Larry Doyle on March 14th, 2012 6:55 AM |

A regular reader of Sense on Cents recently returned from three weeks in the People’s Republic of China. I hold this individual in very high regard for his understanding of our economy, markets, and national psyche.

We exchanged messages recently in reaction to a commentary I had run. With his permission, I welcome sharing what he defines as:

An Obituary for the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

When Washington houses the worst offenders, where are the people to turn?

I just returned from three weeks in China.  The citizens there are proud of their country and proud to be a citizen of the PRC.  While their confidence level in their own form of government is not 100 % (no country rates itself that high) it is certainly far higher than in the US, where “honest politician” and “public servant” have become oxymorons. Read the rest »


How Does FINRA Lose 8 Hours of Testimony? Wall Street’s “Kangaroo Court”

Posted by Larry Doyle on March 13th, 2012 11:03 AM |

I will admit that having written extensively and aggressively about Wall Street’s self-regulator FINRA over the last three years, I did not think there was anything more I could see that would surprise me.

Today I am surprised, shocked, and saddened.

For those in our nation who have a semblance of decency and a desire to see due process reflected in legal hearings and financial arbitration, I believe you will be similarly dismayed.

The case to which I will refer strikes deep into the core of Wall Street arbitration.  Read the rest »


Mortgage Settlement Defines Racketeering

Posted by Larry Doyle on March 13th, 2012 5:51 AM |

If the Wall Street mortgage settlement is supposed to define justice, then crime certainly does pay.

Having asked repeatedly in 2011 whether Wall Street mortgage servicing practices qualified as a racket and thus the charges filed should have been addressed as a RICO violation, yesterday we received our answer.

By any measure of ‘sense on cents’, the evidence provided screams of a RICO violation. The verdict delivered?  Read the rest »


« Newer Posts — Older Posts »

Larry Doyle

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







Recent Posts


ECONOMIC ALL-STARS


Archives