By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: May 19, 2017  If the plan was to soften the grilling by Democratic Senators at yesterday’s Senate Banking Committee hearing by bringing along his Stoic-faced fiancée Louise Linton, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was disappointed. Neither Linton nor Mnuchin should have been surprised. Mnuchin had faced an equally hostile reception from Democrats at his January 19 confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee. During yesterday’s hearing Mnuchin dispelled the lie that the Trump administration has fostered for months — that it was considering restoring the Glass-Steagall Act and breaking up the big banks on Wall Street. After Mnuchin attempted to say this had never been their position, Senator Elizabeth Warren called his testimony “bizarre,” “crazy,” and “like something straight out of George Orwell.” Mnuchin’s reception from Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada was equally frosty. Masto, who previously served as the Attorney General of Nevada … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: May 18, 2017 At a time of growing loss of confidence in the credibility of President Donald Trump, his Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, declared today that the Trump administration never had any intention of restoring the Glass-Steagall Act and separating the taxpayer-backstopped insured commercial banks from the high risk Wall Street investment banks. Under intense questioning from Senator Elizabeth Warren at a Senate Banking hearing today, Mnuchin effectively said that his idea of supporting a 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act meant doing the opposite of what Glass-Steagall did: he would leave the commercial banks and investment banks under the same roof. The Glass-Steagall legislation enacted in 1933 did only two key things: it enacted Federal insurance on bank deposits to restore confidence in the country’s deposit-taking banks at a time of unprecedented defaults tied to Wall Street gambles and it barred those insured commercial banks … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: May 18, 2017  Yesterday, an earnest group of House Democrats held a widely covered press conference to variously cajole and shame Republicans into signing legislation that would result in the appointment of an Independent Commission to investigate Russia’s involvement in the 2016 Presidential election. At the end of the day, there was no Independent Commission but there was the stunning news that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has signed an order naming the widely respected former FBI Director, Robert Mueller, to become Special Counsel for the inquiry. At the press conference, Congressman Elijah Cummings, the Ranking Member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, chided the Committee’s Republican Chairman, Jason Chaffetz, for repeatedly threatening to use his “subpoena pen” but never actually getting around to doing so. Cummings said: “In March, just a month after the President allegedly pressured Director Comey to drop the … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: May 18, 2017 Four of the largest Wall Street banks that were counting on a powerful President Trump to roll back Dodd-Frank financial reform regulations lost a combined $37.60 billion in their market capitalization yesterday. The worst hit in terms of percentage decline was Bank of America, parent of the giant brokerage firm Merrill Lynch, which fell 5.92 percent for a market cap loss of $14.14 billion. Goldman Sachs, which has become closely associated with President Trump as a result of a raft of its former partners and its immediate past President serving in his administration, fell an eyebrow-raising 5.27 percent yesterday for a market cap loss of $4.676 billion. JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup added to the carnage.  JPMorgan Chase fell 3.81 percent with a hit to its market cap of $11.87 billion while Citigroup fell 4.02 percent, losing $6.91 billion in market cap. … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: May 17, 2017 When the Commerce Department released its data on April 28 for Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first quarter, it signaled the slowest growth in three years. The economy had grown at a tepid 0.7 percent annual rate as a result of weak consumer spending. The individual consumer matters greatly to growth in the U.S., accounting for more than two-thirds of economic activity. In the first quarter, consumer spending registered at a 0.3 percent rate, a pace not seen since the depths of the financial crisis in the fourth quarter of 2009.  It is perhaps ironic that the 1 percent in America control Washington through lobbyists and a perverse campaign finance system but the 99 percent, the consumers, control the economic fate of the country. If consumers lose confidence in the country’s leadership, they will retrench from spending in order to … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: May 16, 2017 Front covers of the Washington Post and New York Times, along with numerous other international newspapers, are carrying above the fold news today that President Donald Trump leaked classified information to the Russians about a planned Islamic State operation. Curiously, three major newspapers controlled by the Rupert Murdoch family – the Wall Street Journal Europe, New York Post, and The Times U.K. – did not consider the bombshell worthy of their front covers. According to multiple media reports, the leak of the classified intel came last week when Trump held a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak. Reuters is adding further detail this morning, writing: “After Trump’s disclosure of the information, which one of the officials described as spontaneous, officials immediately called the CIA and the National Security Agency, both of which have agreements with … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: May 15, 2017  Six days after Zembla, a Dutch public broadcasting program, aired an investigation of U.S. President Donald Trump’s business ties to Russian oligarchs and mobsters, Trump fired the man in possession of a great many more details on that matter: FBI Director James Comey. Next, Trump announced that his law firm, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, was providing a “certified” letter stating that he had no business interests in Russia. (That law firm, as ABC News was quick to point out, was itself named “Russia Law Firm of the Year” in 2016 by Chambers & Partners.) The Morgan, Lewis & Bockius letter was dismissed as meaningless by multiple tax experts since Trump could easily have investments with Russian partnerships and offshore entities. The letter pertained only to investments in which Trump is “sole or principal owner.” These omitted minority partnership entanglements are precisely what … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: May 12, 2017 Last evening, Donald Trump was interviewed by NBC’s Lester Holt on the growing controversy surrounding Trump’s motivations in firing the Director of the FBI, James Comey. Excerpts from the interview have been widely carried on numerous media channels. In one particularly noteworthy moment, Holt queried Trump on his money ties to Russia with Trump responding that he had just given Republican Senator Lindsey Graham a letter confirming that he has no investments in Russia. The exchange between Holt and Trump went as follows: Holt: Can you tell us whether you, your family, your businesses, your surrogates have accepted any investments, any loans from Russian individuals or institutions? Trump: In fact, I just sent a letter to Lindsey Graham from one of the most prestigious law firms in the country — a tremendous highly rated law firm — that I have nothing … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: May 11, 2017 For as long as we have been observing Wall Street sleaze (three decades and counting) we have been reading about illegal sales contests and mutual fund abuses at Morgan Stanley and its 1997 merger partner, the retail brokerage firm Dean Witter. Given that history, when we read last week that Morgan Stanley was going to gut one of the all-time best families of mutual funds from its client offerings (Vanguard Funds), we felt our readers deserved a fuller understanding of the facts than they were getting from corporate media. Incredibly, a number of corporate media outlets tried to pass this off as Morgan Stanley attempting to “close out under-performing and less popular funds.” Before we get to the nitty-gritty of why Morgan Stanley is freaking out about the respected Vanguard Funds, some necessary background is in order. Our earliest recollection of the mutual fund … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: May 10, 2017 Both CNN and CBS News have now confirmed that a grand jury had been convened as part of the investigation into Trump campaign associates’ ties to Russia prior to President Donald Trump firing FBI Director James Comey. CNN first reported the news last evening that the U.S. Attorney’s office in Alexandria, Virginia had issued grand jury subpoenas in recent weeks to associates of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn seeking business records. CBS News confirmed the report this morning, adding that “the probe has been going forward aggressively.” The convening of a grand jury is typically associated with a belief that criminal activity may have occurred. President Trump has come under withering criticism last night and today for firing the head of the FBI while the agency was conducting an active investigation of people close to the President. Why the President … Continue reading →