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Recent Posts
- Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” Is a Grotesque Giveaway to Fossil Fuel Billionaires While Adding $3.3 Trillion to Nation’s Debt
- Senator Chris Murphy Charges that Trump “Has Opened a Channel for Bribery”
- Congressman Casten: Trump’s Assault on the Rule of Law Is Causing Capital Flight Out of U.S. by Foreign Investors
- Trump’s Approval Rating Drops to 80-Year Low; IMF Says U.S. Tariffs Now Exceed the Highs During the Great Depression
- Nasdaq Has Lost More than 3,000 Points Since Trump’s First Full Day in Office in 2025; the Pain Has Barely Begun
- The Bond Crisis Last Week Was a Global No-Confidence Vote in U. S. President Donald Trump
- Trump’s Tariff Plan Guts $5 Trillion in Stock Value in Two Days; Senator Warren Calls for Emergency Action Before Markets Open on Monday
- Trump’s Attacks on Big Law, Universities, and the Media Have a Common Goal: Silence Dissent Against Authoritarian Rule
- Trump Administration Gives All Clear to Laundering Money through Shell Companies and Bribing Foreign Officials
- Four Megabanks on Wall Street Hold $3.2 Trillion in Uninsured Deposits – Which May Explain Senator Schumer’s Pivot to the GOP to Stop a Government Shutdown
- Here’s What Came Crashing Down Yesterday for Trump’s “Genius” Guy, Elon Musk: Tesla Stock, Access to Twitter (X), His Years of Secret Calls with Putin
- After Banning the Associated Press, Trump Is Now Targeting Specific Journalists That He Wants to See Fired
- Closely Watched Atlanta Fed Model Predicts Negative U.S. Growth in First Quarter
- Trump’s Gangster Diplomacy Makes Front Page Headlines Around the Globe
- Who Benefits Alongside Elon Musk If He Succeeds in Killing the CFPB: the Megabanks on Wall Street that Underwrite His Tesla Stock Offerings
- In Trump 1.0, the State Department Used Taxpayer Money to Publish a Book Elevating Elon Musk to a Superhero; It Was Funded by USAID, the Agency Musk Wants to Quickly Shut Down
- News Host Joy Reid Raises Threat of Trump Selling U.S. to Putin; Ten Days Later Her Show Is Cancelled
- Elon Musk’s DOGE Appears to Be Violating a Court Order; It Has Taken Down Hundreds of YouTube Videos that Educate Americans on How to Avoid Being Swindled
- Barron’s Releases Audio of Jamie Dimon Cursing Out His Workers at a Town Hall, as Dimon Plans to Dump Another One Million JPM Shares
- There’s One Federal Investigative Agency that Neither Trump nor Elon Musk Can Touch: It Just Opened an Investigation into DOGE
- Elon Musk’s Companies Were Under Investigation by Five Inspectors General When the Trump Administration Fired Them and Made Musk the Investigator
- Donald Trump Gives the Greenlight to Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase to Return to Bribing Foreign Officials
- After Tech Geeks Built a Back Door to Loot Billions from FTX, Republicans Refuse to Investigate What Elon Musk’s Tech-Squad Did Inside the U.S. Treasury’s Payment System
- Former Prosecutor, Now U.S. Senator, Informs Tesla That CEO Musk May Be Violating Federal Law and to “Preserve All Records”
- Trump’s Hedge Fund Guy Is Now Overseeing the U.S. Treasury, IRS, OCC, U.S. Mint, FinCEN, F-SOC, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- As Elon Musk Begins Shutting Down Payments to Federal Contractors, a Strange Money Trail Emerges to His Operatives Inside the U.S. Treasury’s Payment System
- JPMorgan Chase Charged by Yet Another Internal Whistleblower with Cooking the Books
- We Asked Google’s AI Search Model, Gemini, Questions About the Fed and Wall Street Megabanks: It Got the Answers Dead Wrong
- With Trump and Melania’s Crypto Coins Likely to Raise Legal Challenges, Why Didn’t Trump Fire the SEC’s Inspector General in His Purge of IGs?
- Fossil Fuel Industry Could End Up Paying Tens of Billions for LA Wildfires and Deceiving the Public on Climate Change for Decades
- It’s Being Called the Biggest Grift by a President in U.S. History: Trump and First Lady Launch their Own Crypto Coins
- Trump Plans to Install a Fracking CEO to Head the Energy Department and Declare a National Emergency on Energy to Gain Vast Powers
- Fossil Fuel Money Played a Role in the Los Angeles Fires and the Push to Install Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense
- When It Comes to Wealth Retention in Retirement, Concrete May Be the New Gold
- Wall Street Watchdog Warns “Clock Is Ticking on a Coming Catastrophic Financial Crash”
- Wall Street Is Sending the Same Message to Americans on Fossil Fuel Financing that It Sent on Cigarettes: Drop Dead
- In a Six-Week Span, this Dark Pool with a Curious Past Traded 3.7 Billion Shares
- Wall Street’s Lobby Firm Hired Eugene Scalia of Gibson Dunn to Sue the Fed for Jamie Dimon
- Postmaster General Louis DeJoy Made $561,051 in Compensation in 2024, as Mail Costs Spiked and Delivery Deteriorated
- Fed Chair Jay Powell Sends a Bold Message to Trump and Tanks the Dow by 1123 Points
- The Head of Fixed Income at T. Rowe Price Makes the Scary Case for the 10-Year Treasury to Spike to 6 Percent
- $663 Billion in Cash Assets Have Gone Poof at the Largest U.S. Banks
- Donald Trump to Ring Bell at New York Stock Exchange Today as Hit List Posters Appear in Manhattan Targeting Wall Street CEOs
- Trump Has a Slush Fund to Prop Up the Dollar – Will He Use It to Prop Up Bitcoin Instead?
- A CEO Assassination; a Billionaire Heiress/NYPD Commissioner; a Secret Wall Street Spy Center – Here’s How They’re Connected
- Despite More than 1600 Tech Scientists Signing a Letter Calling Crypto a Sham, Trump Names a Crypto Cheerleader for SEC Chair
- The Fed Rings a Warning Bell: Hedge Funds and Life Insurers Are Reporting Historic Leverage
- Trump’s Nominee for FBI Director, Kash Patel, Has Businesses Financially Intertwined with Trump
- Donald Trump Is at Risk of Getting Named in a Fossil Fuels Conspiracy Lawsuit
- Trump Is Having Difficulty Getting a Lawyer to Accept the Nomination for SEC Chair: Here’s Why
Category Archives: Uncategorized
JPMorgan Puts Jamie Dimon Underlings In Charge of Investigating Dimon’s Failures In London Whale Episode
By Pam Martens: January 17, 2013 Wall Street’s thoroughly discredited self-regulation that has blazed a trail of corruption across much of the securities trading landscape of America, has now given birth to a new brand of hubris – self investigation and self reporting. Yesterday, JPMorgan released a report from its Board of Directors that found [drum roll] that the Board was not culpable in the London Whale episode, it just needed to tweak a few things going forward. London Whale refers to the blowing up of $6.2 billion of insured deposits at JPMorgan’s commercial bank through reckless trading in derivatives in London. Likewise, a 132-page Task Force report was released which found CEO Jamie Dimon guilty of no greater sin than being too reliant on information from below. The report said: “As Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Dimon could appropriately rely upon senior managers who directly reported to him to escalate significant … Continue reading
When Wall Street Hands Employees IOUs, It’s Time to Pay Attention
By Pam Martens: January 16, 2013 With the nation focused on fiscal cliffs, debt ceilings and austerity plans in Washington, the news from Reuters and the Wall Street Journal might get short shrift that Morgan Stanley has decided to hand its most productive traders and investment bankers IOUs instead of cold hard cash tomorrow for their eagerly awaited 2012 bonuses. When giant Wall Street banks begin to hoard cash and voluntarily impose austerity measures on lavishly paid workers, Congress needs to pay attention. According to Reuters, Morgan Stanley will take up to three years to pay 2012 bonuses. The plan will cover all employees, except retail brokers, who make more than $350,000 in wages and whose bonuses are at least $50,000. Adding more angst, the Wall Street Journal reports the bonuses will consist of half cash and half Morgan Stanley stock. Some traders and investment bankers on Wall Street receive as much as 70 … Continue reading
Regulator Says JPMorgan Engaged in Unsafe or Unsound Banking Practices But Preserves Golden Parachutes For Execs
By Pam Martens: January 15, 2013 Yesterday, two of JPMorgan Chase’s regulators, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve, released the details of their cease and desist consent orders with the mega bank over its lack of proper risk controls in its Chief Investment Office (CIO). The lapses have led to $6.2 billion in losses thus far. JPMorgan, for its part, made sure its golden parachutes – outsized payments to departing executives –would not be limited by the consent agreement. The debacle, known on Wall Street as the London Whale trades, stem from traders in London, particularly Bruno Iksil who is no longer at the bank, engaging in high risk derivatives trading in a thinly traded corporate bond derivatives index. The nickname, “Whale,” derives from the bank making trades so large that it effectively became the market in that index and could not quickly exit the positions. Congress held … Continue reading
Treasury Nominee Jack Lew Retained Citigroup Foreign Investments After Joining Obama State Department; Public Kept In Dark
By Pam Martens: January 14, 2013 It has been previously reported that President Obama’s Treasury Secretary nominee, Jacob (Jack) Lew, earned millions in salary and bonus from Citigroup in the brief two and one half years he worked there. That should not come as a surprise to anyone. Former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin left his post as Treasury Secretary in 1999 to join Citigroup and was paid $120 million over the next eight years for non-management work. Citigroup is the mega bank the Securities and Exchange Commission charged with lying about its financial condition while Lew worked there in an executive position. Citigroup went from lying about its finances in 2007 to cumulatively requiring over $2.51 trillion in Federal Reserve loans, TARP capital and Federal asset guarantees to remain afloat during the financial crisis. During Lew’s stint at Citigroup, July 2006 through early 2009, Citigroup lost 85 percent of its … Continue reading
Downton Abbey’s Earl of Grantham Made Five Age-Old Investment Mistakes
By Pam Martens: January 11, 2013 If you were among the breathless throng of PBS viewers awaiting the first episode of the third season of Downton Abbey last Sunday evening, and you are a cautious investor, you were no doubt horrified at how the Earl of Grantham had tossed his wife’s fortune and the financial security of his family into a solitary stock now set to file bankruptcy. Downton Abbey is the British television series written by Julian Fellowes that has become an international sensation. The first season began in the years leading up to World War I. We have now moved along to 1920 in the fictional country estate, Downton Abbey, of the Crawley family, headed by the Earl and Countess of Grantham. This should be the most joyful time in the Earl of Grantham’s life. His palatial home, which had been turned into a military hospital during the … Continue reading
Obama Uses Occasion of Treasury Nomination to Praise Geithner and Ignore Reality
By Pam Martens: January 10, 2013 As expected, shortly after 1:30 today the President appeared at a press conference to nominate his Chief of Staff and former budget director, Jacob (Jack) Lew as U.S. Treasury Secretary. Lew will face a Senate Confirmation process before he can assume the post. Outgoing Treasury Secretary, Timothy (Tim) Geithner, was present for the nomination and was lavishly praised by the President. The President’s remarks revealed no hint that the U.S. Treasury, which auctions the government’s U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds through Wall Street firms, is dealing with one of the most intractable periods of corruption on Wall Street this nation has ever witnessed. As one of numerous examples coming to light of continuing frauds, a global cartel of banks, including at least two of Wall Street’s largest banks according to affidavits, have fleeced cities and municipalities across the country by rigging the benchmark … Continue reading
Why Wall Street Loves the Nomination of Jack Lew for Treasury Secretary
By Pam Martens: January 10, 2013 Jacob (Jack) Lew, currently serving as President Obama’s Chief of Staff, is slated to be nominated by the President this afternoon for one of the most critical posts in the country – Secretary of the U.S. Treasury. The Treasury department played a central role in the 2008 to 2010 bailout of Wall Street and it would play an equally central role should there be another financial collapse. Having a deep background in understanding the trail of deregulation that led to tens of trillions of dollars in highly leveraged, off balance sheet derivatives trading over the counter beyond the view of regulators should be the number one priority for a Treasury Secretary. Understanding how those derivatives ended up threatening insured deposit banks because of the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act should be requisite knowledge. Without that understanding, the post will be held by a man … Continue reading
Aronow’s Name Should Be Withdrawn Immediately As the New General Counsel at the SEC
By Pam Martens: January 9, 2013 On Monday, the Obama administration gave the press the following stories to convey to their readers: the nomination of former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense; the nomination of John Brennan as Director of the CIA; $20 billion in foreclosure settlements with 11 banks with scant details provided; and the appointment of Geoffrey Aronow as the General Counsel of the SEC. On a heavy news day, corporate business media frequently travel as a herd of elephants with their trunks wrapped securely around the tail of the fellow in front. Thus, when it came to reporting the new top lawyer at the SEC, corporate business media led with the fact that Aronow had been the former head of enforcement at another regulator – the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). As it turns out, Aronow’s days at the CFTC consisted of a four-year post from 1995 … Continue reading
Wall Street Throws Another $20 Billion At Its Regulators
By Pam Martens: January 8, 2013 Monday was settlement day on Wall Street. The four largest Wall Street banks and a handful of smaller ones tossed $20 billion at their various regulators and slid home free without going to jail over egregious foreclosure abuses that have ravaged the nation and left millions of families in desperate straits. News of big settlements with Wall Street are typically dumped on Friday to ensure the news is old hat by Monday morning. But these two big settlements, totaling over $20 billion, came at the beginning of the news week, adding the curiosity element as to why Wall Street actually wanted to create buzz around the settlements. It didn’t take long to figure that out: the buzz was to help prop up bank shares on the premise that the worst of the past misdeeds are now behind the banks. The regulators eagerly boarded this … Continue reading
Captured Regulators Are Caving In To Wall Street Demands As If 2008 Never Happened
By Pam Martens: January 7, 2013 The insipid regulators of Wall Street’s biggest and most dangerous banks are recklessly caving in to outrageous demands to roll back or water down protections designed to prevent another 2008-style financial collapse. And the cave-ins are happening in some of the most critical areas of promised financial reform. The latest Wall Street giveaway was announced this past Sunday evening when Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, announced that the new global banking rules on capital adequacy and liquidity, known as Basel III, will not go into effect in January 2015 as promised, but will be phased in over four years and not become fully effective until January 1, 2019. In addition, the rules themselves have been watered down to allow more risky assets, like mortgage backed securities — which caused many of the problems in 2008 — to count toward emergency liquidity requirements rather … Continue reading