Search Results for: is the new york fed too conflicted

By Pam Martens: August 19, 2013  On January 16 of this year, Richard Fisher, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, delivered a speech on the continuing threat to the U.S. economy posed by the too-big-to-fail banks. Fisher said: “I submit that these institutions, as a result of their privileged status, exact an unfair tax upon the American people. Moreover, they interfere with the transmission of monetary policy and inhibit the advancement of our nation’s economic prosperity.”  As part of his talk, Fisher presented a chart showing the Frankenbank nature of the five largest banks in the U.S. – JPMorgan, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley. Cumulatively, these five banks are the parent to 19,654 subsidiaries or affiliates while their nondeposit liabilities total over $4.1 trillion – a figure equal to 26.3 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.  On July 23, 2013, the … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: May 10, 2013  President Obama adds to the rising stench of his nominations to the U.S. Treasury and Securities and Exchange Commission with the nomination of the billionaire Hilton Hotel heiress, Penny Pritzker, to be the next U.S. Commerce Secretary.  With the confirmed nominations of Mary Jo White as Chair of the SEC, Jack Lew as Treasury Secretary and now the nomination of Pritzker to lead Commerce, the President is sending the chilling message to the Nation’s young people that it’s legal if you can get away with it; and if you get away with enough and get rich enough, the President of the United States admires that and you can join the power elite. Building a career through honesty and hard work is for suckers.  Jack Lew, the President’s pick for Treasury, was paid millions as Chief Operating Officer for the very division of Citigroup that collapsed … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: April 5, 2013  Last evening, the U.S. Senate’s Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection, part of the Senate Banking Committee, announced the details of its much anticipated hearing slated for next Thursday, April 11, to peel away the multi layers of darkness surrounding the government’s hastily scrapped plan for in-depth, “independent” reviews of bank foreclosure files that were to make victims of foreclosure abuse whole.  The Senate Subcommittee, which includes Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown, and Jeff Merkley – who have sufficiently removed their rose-colored glasses regarding continuing Wall Street corruption to function as useful investigators – will focus on the role of the outside consultants that were hired and paid directly by banks to conduct what were promised to be unbiased reviews. The hearing is titled Outsourcing Accountability? Examining the Role of Independent Consultants and is slated for 10 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: March 14, 2013 When Wall Street wants to sell junk bonds to the public – those corporate bonds trading below an investment grade rating – a BBB rating by Standard and Poor’s or Baa by Moody’s – it simply puts lipstick on a pig by renaming the bond fund a “High Yield” fund. Since February, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has been providing the same service to the U.S. Senate with his slobbering introductions of the nominees to head the U.S. Treasury and Securities and Exchange Commission without noting any of the high risks to installing these deeply conflicted individuals. Schumer’s most recent spectacle came this past Tuesday when he grinned and fawned through his introduction of Mary Jo White at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee. Schumer felt it was relevant for the U.S. public to know that the future watchdog to oversee one of … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: March 13, 2013 Americans learned for the first time on March 6 of this year that the highest law enforcement agent in our country, Attorney General Eric Holder, weighs economic interests when deciding whether to enforce our Nation’s laws against criminal wrongdoers like the too-big-to-fail banks. The spectacle of warped law enforcement grew worse today during the Senate Banking confirmation hearing of Mary Jo White to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. Under questioning by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), White admitted that even the economy of a foreign country – like Japan – is taken into consideration before bringing a criminal indictment in the U.S.  Even worse, White was forced to admit that while working for the U.S. Department of Justice as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (from 1993 to 2002), she considered it appropriate to speak with Larry Summers (a Treasury Secretary … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: March 19, 2012 The muppets are in revolt against their masters.  No, I don’t mean customers of Wall Street’s big firms.  I’m speaking of corporate media muppets.  Greg Smith lit a match and now there are smoldering embers dangerously burning at Bloomberg Views and Forbes. Smith is the 33-year old derivatives executive at Goldman, Sachs & Co. who published his blistering resignation letter on the OpEd page of the New York Times.  According to Smith, managing directors at Goldman call their clients muppets and openly speak about “ripping their clients off.”  Smith said the environment at the firm is “as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.” The OpEd was published on Wednesday, March 14, and went viral on the internet.  Next came a mesmerizing look at the underbelly of crony capitalism.  The Mayor of the city that sent its police in the dead of … Continue reading →