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Archive for the ‘Wall Street’ Category

5 years After Lehman: Has Anything Really Changed?

Posted by Larry Doyle on September 10th, 2013 7:07 AM |

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

For those in and around Wall Street and Washington who pretend that there has been meaningful change in the issues that brought about our crisis in 2008, I have endless archives to highlight all too much remains the same.

Rather than diving into the archives, though, let’s navigate a Bloomberg commentary that qualifies as a Sense on Cents instant classic (and would serve as a fabulous promo for my upcoming book).

The simple fact is both Wall Street and Washington remain very much the same as details within Banks Seen at Risk Five Years After Lehman Collapse attest. What is Wall street currently?  (more…)

Wall Street & ML Baseball: A Common Thread

Posted by Larry Doyle on September 4th, 2013 10:07 AM |

With the five year anniversary of the demise of Lehman Brothers right around the corner, a financial reporter from a major news outlet reached out to me yesterday to get my take on the current situation on Wall Street.

He was interested in touching upon the current culture within the industry and what has changed.

We had a fair bit to discuss and I was not bashful. (more…)

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?

(more…)

UK Leads, USA Follows: Changing Banking for Good

Posted by Larry Doyle on June 19th, 2013 8:10 AM |

At one point in time, the USA may have been viewed as the preeminent world leader on major financial issues.

While many arrogant bankers, regulators, and political leaders here in the USA might care to continue to believe they hold that leadership position, I think most who might read this blog know that those days have passed.

Dodd-Frank reformed our financial system? Really? Then why is it that bankers from Citigroup are virtually writing entire new legislation under the heretofore now designated Fraud-Dank umbrella?

If we care for a more honest assessment of the comparably incestuous, crony, corruptible dynamic at play within these parts, let’s redirect our focus across the pond. (more…)

Bank America Mortgage Racket: We Were Told To Lie

Posted by Larry Doyle on June 14th, 2013 9:02 AM |

Not that we needed any further evidence of the racketeering enterprises run within the mortgage operations on Wall Street, but with the recently delivered testimony of Simone Gordon, a senior collection officer within Bank of America’s mortgage ‘racket’ . . . we got it.

I first questioned whether the activities within the mortgage servicing enterprises on Wall Street rose to the level of racketeering in early 2011 after having becoming aware of Wall Street’s practice of robo-signing mortgage documents in order to engage in the fraudulent conveyance of countless mortgages. (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…)

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…)

Holder Refutes Obama with “Indictment” of TBTF

Posted by Larry Doyle on March 12th, 2013 8:25 AM |

In December 2011, President Obama was interviewed on 60 Minutes and had the following exchange with CBS’ Steve Kroft in regard to behaviors on Wall Street:

KROFT: One of the things that surprised me the most about this poll is that 42%, when asked who your policies favor the most, 42% said Wall Street. Only 35% said average Americans.

My suspicion is some of that may have to do with the fact that there’s not been any prosecutions, criminal prosecutions, of people on Wall Street.

And that the civil charges that have been brought have often resulted in what many people think have been slap on the wrists, fines. “Cost of doing business,” I think you called it in the Kansas speech. Are you disappointed by that? (more…)

Will Uncle Sam Expand “Too Big to Fail?”

Posted by Larry Doyle on February 20th, 2013 9:45 AM |

There is not even one credible individual in the world today who would believe that we do not still operate under a “too big to fail” model for our banking industry.

We now know that “too big to fail”also means “too big to regulate” and “too big to prosecute.” Free market capitalism is dying a slow and steady death in the process.

Might we ever get out from under the heavy burden of this model? We can only hope. Yet I awaken this morning and vomited my coffee as I read in the WSJ,

Should the government backstop even more of the financial system than it already does?

Sure, if you love a mix of crony capitalism and socialism, wave it in, right?  (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…)






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