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HomeSpitzer: Lanny Breuer at DOJ Was a Disaster
Posted by Larry Doyle on June 20th, 2013 8:26 AM |
Hat tip to Barry Ritholtz at The Big Picture and our friends at eWallStreeter.
Say what you want about Eliot Spitzer’s personal shortcomings but when it comes to many of the regulatory capture issues addressed regularly at this blog, he is not evasive or deferential as so many former pols and regulators are wont to be.
True to form, Spitzer pulls no punches in a recent Bloomberg Law interview. What does he think of the former Assistant AG for the Criminal Division of the US Department of Justice Lanny Breuer’s tenure? Simply a “disaster.”
What does he think of the revolving door, current SEC chair Mary Jo White, and the practice of “neither admit nor deny”? (more…)
Sex, Lies, Stupidity, Oh My: SEC Whistleblower David Weber Vindicated, Receives Huge $ettlement
Posted by Larry Doyle on June 10th, 2013 8:21 AM |
“Doing the right thing can be hard” . . .
David Weber, former assistant Inspector General of the SEC, June 10, 2013
——————————
In a world in which it is all too easy to look the other way, to go along to get along, and to sit down when the public needs you to stand up, hope springs eternal.
I am heartened that America still has a chance to eradicate the corrosive and corruptible elements that have thrived within our financial regulatory system when I learn that there are still people who care enough to do the right thing. Who is one of those people?
Former assistant inspector general of the SEC David Weber. Today is his day and America should feel very good about that. (more…)
Taibbi Further Investigates Furey v SEC
Posted by Larry Doyle on June 3rd, 2013 10:11 AM |
Wouldn’t you like to have been a fly on the wall to witness what really went on — and still goes on — within the offices of the SEC and our other financial regulators?
Oh the stories and tales of woe that one might be able to share. Every now and then, though, one does not need to worry about being a fly because details of internal intrigue make their way out of the commission.
To that end, a few weeks back both Bloomberg’s Bill Cohan and I shed light on the incredible allegations of incompetence, negligence, if not outright corruption within the SEC made by an internal whistleblower Kathleen Furey.
Over the weekend Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi provided even greater transparency on the incredible — or in light of what we have learned about the SEC, perhaps not so unbelievable — allegations made by Ms. Furey in her whistleblower complaint. Those familiar with this case may recall that Furey alleged her superiors within the SEC’s New York office maintained that they did not handle cases dealing with investment managers. Incredible? Unbelievable? Maybe not so much.
(more…)
Simon Johnson: Financial Power Corrupts System
Posted by Larry Doyle on May 23rd, 2013 9:05 AM |
Incestuous activity in every fashion is a destructive and corruptible force. Would anybody hoping to be regarded as a serious, credible individual dare say, “Hey, I think incestuous activity is actually pretty good.”
Certainly not, although those engaged in the behaviors may appreciate the benefits that accrue to them without wanting them brought to light.
On that note, the incestuous dynamic that defines the Wall Street-Washington-Regulatory menage-a-trois continues to thrive. You don’t have to take my word for it. Let’s listen to what Simon Johnson, former chief economist of the IMF, professor at MIT Sloan, and a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics has to say on this topic. (more…)
What Is “Too Big To Regulate?”
Posted by Larry Doyle on March 4th, 2013 8:38 AM |
Going on three years since the passage of the Dodd-Frank Financial Regulatory Reform legislation, aside from a few politicians and perhaps the head of the Federal Reserve nobody — and I mean nobody — believes that our major financial institutions are anything but “too big to fail.”
We have also learned that “too big to fail” has also come to encompass “too big to regulate” and “too big to prosecute” as well.
How is it that the banks have become “too big to regulate?” Let’s navigate and review a bite-sized script from the Wall Street Journal that highlights this point. (more…)
POGO Opens Wall Street-Washington Revolving Door
Posted by Larry Doyle on February 12th, 2013 7:04 AM |
A few years back in the course of an interview with Fox Business host David Asman, I was asked what I thought of the exceptionally close relationships between the regulators and the industry. I responded, “David, I think the term there is ‘incestuous’.”
Fast forward three plus years and we receive a scathing review of just how widely developed and deeply embedded the incest runs. Let’s navigate as the folks at the Project on Government Oversight take us round and round through this revolving door in releasing,
SEC’s Revolving Door Blurs Line Between Regulator and Industry
A Project On Government Oversight (POGO) study of thousands of government records found that former staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) routinely: (more…)
“How Washington Hurts Small Community Banks”
Posted by Larry Doyle on January 31st, 2013 9:52 AM |
The other day I addressed the current David vs Goliath situation in the banking industry and presented The Case for Community Banks. There is no doubt that the crisis that emanated on Wall Street required some real regulatory attention. Regrettably the “one size fits all” regulatory changes embedded in Dodd-Frank is not the answer. Not that people in Washington with little background in markets and the economy might understand that.
Let’s listen to former Inspector General for the TARP, Neil Barofsky, who provides a brief 2-minute dose of ‘sense on cents’ on how Washington has hurt the small community banks in our country. Props to American Banker for this clip.
Larry Doyle
Isn’t it time or overtime to subscribe to all my work via e-mail, an RSS feed, on Twitter or Facebook.
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.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Hits FINRA Hard
Posted by Larry Doyle on July 20th, 2011 8:49 AM |
Would your blood start to boil if you felt a hand in your back pocket going for your wallet? Damn right it would.
Then your blood should also boil when the topic of financial regulatory reform comes up. Why?
For the very simple reason that the quality of our financial regulations has an enormous impact on that hand reaching for your wallet.
Do you have confidence that either the crowds on Wall Street or in Washington will truly and effectively protect you from that hand? Not much, right? Me neither. Who will? (more…)
Insiders’ Views on Financial Regulatory Reform
Posted by Larry Doyle on July 16th, 2010 1:02 PM |
What do industry insiders think of the Financial Regulatory Reform package coming out of Washington? The Wall Street Journal provides a fascinating review in Fed Gets More Power, Responsibility. Let’s navigate.
1. Henry Paulson
Former Treasury secretary
Grade: Incomplete
The systemic-risk council, tougher Fed regulation over top financial institutions and new authority to wind down failing institutions are essential steps forward. Improving derivatives rules is a real positive. But the bill doesn’t tackle Fannie and Freddie, and there are too many unknowns as to how the regulations will be applied.
Will it help prevent another crisis? (more…)
At the Corner of Wall Street and the Gulf of Mexico
Posted by Larry Doyle on June 16th, 2010 9:43 AM |
The distance from the canyons of lower Manhattan to the now soiled beaches of the Gulf Coast runs about 1300 miles. A long way and decidedly different lifestyles, you may think? I do not think so. In very real terms, the economic disasters centered in each of these locales are virtually contiguous.
As I watched a replay of President Obama’s speech last evening (Red Sox and Celtics games took priority until both those games were effectively decided), I was struck by one segment of Obama’s speech and the stark similarity in the disasters centered on Wall Street and the Gulf. Which segment and which similarity? (more…)
