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HomeBloomberg 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…)
Pray for The Philippines: Shocking Images and Video
Posted by Larry Doyle on November 11th, 2013 9:31 AM |
A year ago the metropolitan New York area was dealing with the devastation brought onshore by Hurricane Sandy. Many are still suffering from the impact of that horrific storm.
Now the world turns its eyes and its hearts to those in the Philippines and elsewhere in southeast Asia who have been left homeless if not far worse than that by Typhoon Haiyan. As we remember and pay our respects today to all those who served our nation to protect our freedom, I would ask that you also remember those who are suffering in the Philippines.
Please pray for these people.
UPDATE: Here is a less than 2-minute video clip from Earth Uncut TV:
Additionally, UK-based The Independent provides shocking images of what many have described as the worst storm in history:
NY Fed’s Dudley Indicts Banks’ “Lack of Respect for Law, Regulation, Public Trust”
Posted by Larry Doyle on November 8th, 2013 7:33 AM |
Wow, just wow.
It is not often if ever that a major Federal Reserve governor will turn on his own banking bedmates, but we witnessed just that yesterday in an address delivered by New York Fed governor William Dudley at the Global Economic Policy Forum in New York City.
Dudley’s talk was intended to provide an outline for ending the ongoing ‘too big to fail’ reality of our major banking institutions.
Hey, wait a second. I thought Dodd-Frank ended too big to fail, didn’t it? President Obama told us so. Well, he also told us that if we liked our health care plan and our doctors and our hospitals that we could keep them . . . and we see where that got us. Back to Dudley’s talk in which he let slip a statement that should unnerve Wall Street and Washington to their very core. (more…)
Goldman’s Call As to Future Federal Reserve Policy
Posted by Larry Doyle on November 7th, 2013 9:06 AM |
What might be the next move by the all powerful Federal Reserve as it goes about trying to nurse our economy back to health?
Mike O’ Rourke, chief market strategist at Jones Trading recently highlighted that the folks at Goldman Sachs believe Fed policy may be set to shift. I mean, who on Wall Street might have the ear of the Fed more than the folks at Goldman, right? Ok, ok, enough of the sarcasm.
Let’s navigate as O’ Rourke interprets Goldman’s reading of the Fed’s tarot cards regarding future monetary policy. (more…)
Exclusive Frontline Video: Stevie Cohen Gets Grilled
Posted by Larry Doyle on November 6th, 2013 6:17 PM |
The saga of Stevie-boy Cohen of SAC Capital and the billion dollar plus fine his firm has just been tagged with is the stuff that sells books, papers, movies, and more.
Yet Cohen himself is largely a recluse. The folks at Frontline just released the following brief videos of Stevie-boy undergoing serious questioning regarding insider trading allegations and more at his firm.
This is truly riveting.
In a never-before-published video, hedge fund titan Steven A. Cohen, whose firm this week agreed to plead guilty to securities fraud, describes federal securities laws as “vague,” and asks for an explanation of the basic Securities and Exchange Commission rule that prohibits insider trading. (more…)
Madoff Trial: Defendants Hope to Put SEC ‘On Trial’
Posted by Larry Doyle on November 6th, 2013 10:27 AM |
How did Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld escape the clutches of justice while steering his firm right into bankruptcy? He played the card that many Wall Street execs have played over the last 5 years.
Fuld and other Wall Street execs maintained that the regulators were right there in their offices — or perhaps more aptly described, “in bed with” them — so if the brakes were not applied to what they were doing, then how can they be held accountable. Hell, it worked for Fuld et al so why not keep playing the card, right?
We see an iteration of this very play being called once again in the ongoing trial of former Madoff employees. Bloomberg touches upon it this morning in writing: (more…)
Obama’s Rubicon: You Can’t Lie to American Public
Posted by Larry Doyle on November 5th, 2013 11:55 AM |
The scarlet letter attached to these more genteel descriptions is the “Big Red L.”
Say what you want about our current President, but the simple fact is after his scrambling of the last few days, he has crossed the Rubicon and broken the sacred bond that is supposed to come with his occupying the highest office in the land and the most powerful position in the world.
Mr. President, you should know that you cannot lie to the American public. (more…)
Lowney:Pope Francis:Why He Leads the Way He Leads
Posted by Larry Doyle on November 4th, 2013 11:17 AM |
I have long railed on the crony if not corrupt actors that populate much of our public stage.
One poll after the next highlights the fact that our current global economic and political landscape lacks true leadership. Not a day goes by in which I am not reviled by what some might define simply as spin, but serious critics including myself would call verbal diarrhea if not outright lying.
We pay the price in immeasurable ways for the societal blight weighing upon us while so many sociopaths and their ‘bedmates’ occupying high profile positions driven by ego and power prosper at unprecedented levels.
Where might we turn to get a whiff that there is some degree of hope in the world to stem this tide of legal and illegal corruption? A greater power is needed to counteract the all too pedestrian forces filling our airwaves and legislative halls. Indeed, the power of faith works in wondrous and mysterious ways. (more…)
Aguirre Addresses Likely Cause of Next Market Crisis: Selling Counterfeit Stock
Posted by Larry Doyle on November 1st, 2013 10:53 AM |
“The message is simple: Wall Street crime pays and there is no downside.”
Will there be another market crisis and if so what will precipitate it?
In what is an instant Sense on Cents classic, noted attorney and former SEC whistleblower Gary Aguirre takes us on a walk down the path that seems self-evident to me will cause our next market crisis.
Can you imagine if you discovered a businessman went about selling a product, collecting revenues on those sales, but never actually delivered the product sold?
Think that sort of fraud might attract the interest of the authorities? But what if the authorities, in this case our financial regulators, turned a blind eye to the practice? (more…)
