By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: July 18, 2016 In what feels like scenes from an edgy political satire film, New York media are now alternately casting either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton as the most dishonest presidential candidate in the annals of political history. Tragically for the country, there are legitimate grounds for making either case. On the very eve of the Republican National Convention, where the party of Lincoln is expected to choose real estate billionaire Donald Trump as their candidate for the highest office in the United States, the New York Times ran a front page article yesterday in its highest circulation Sunday edition, characterizing Trump’s career as an “operatic record of dissembling and deception.” Staring up at Republican convention goers in the lobbies of their Cleveland hotels, under the byline of New York Times reporter David Barstow, was the following: “As Mr. Trump prepares to claim … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: July 15, 2016 The problem with stereotyping Republicans is that when they are screaming from the rooftops about a legitimate fraud, Democrats don’t believe them — even when the evidence is overpowering that they are right. For years now, Republicans have been screaming that the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that was signed into law in 2010 by President Obama is a fraud on the public. Few have examined Dodd-Frank’s failed promises as carefully as Wall Street On Parade. The legislation promised to rein in derivatives – it didn’t. It promised to end the future need for taxpayer bailouts of too-big-to-fail banks. It didn’t. It promised to institute the Volcker Rule to prevent banks from gambling with insured deposits. It didn’t. It promised to reform the practices of the ratings agencies that played a pivotal role in the 2008 collapse. It … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: July 14, 2016 According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), as of March 31, 2016, there were 6,122 FDIC insured financial institutions in the United States. Of those 6,122 commercial banks and savings associations, 4,701 did not hold any derivatives. To put that another way, 77 percent of all U.S. banks found zero reason to engage in high-risk derivative trading. Citigroup, however, the bank that spectacularly blew itself up with toxic derivatives and subprime debt in 2008, became a 99-cent stock during the crisis, and received the largest taxpayer bailout in U.S. financial history despite being insolvent at the time, today holds more derivatives than 4,701 other banks combined which are backstopped by the taxpayer. The total notional amount of derivatives sitting at Citigroup’s bank holding company is $55.6 trillion according to the March 31, 2016 report from the Office of the Comptroller … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: July 13, 2016  The two greatest periods of wealth inequality in the United States (the 1920s and today) have one critical element in common – there was no Glass-Steagall Act. The absence of the Glass-Steagall Act allows Wall Street banks to use the savings of small depositors across the United States to fuel risky speculation on Wall Street and create the super rich. After the Wall Street crash of 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression, the Glass-Steagall Act became law and put an end to this institutionalized wealth transfer system from the legislation’s enactment in 1933 until its repeal in 1999 under the Presidency of Bill Clinton. Today’s banking system is a perfect reflection of U.S. society. Just six banks (one-tenth of one percent of the 6,000 insured-depository banks in the U.S.) control the bulk of total assets while, as Senator Bernie … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: July 12, 2016  Since FBI Director James Comey’s press conference on July 5 and his House Oversight Committee testimony two days later, Hillary Clinton has come under withering attack for gross misrepresentations to the American people about her handling of classified material while she served as Secretary of State. Now, new questions are arising over what role her attorney, David Kendall of law firm Williams & Connolly, played in misleading Congressional investigators. There are also questions as to whether Comey himself has come clean about the full extent of Clinton’s negligence. The FBI has declined to provide Wall Street On Parade with the official FBI report on the matter, even though the investigation is now closed. Comey has indicated that Clinton was not put under oath nor did she have her testimony recorded when she was interviewed by FBI agents who were conducting a … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: July 11, 2016 The U.S. Justice Department’s Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, has already released her written statement that she will deliver in person to the House Judiciary Committee at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow. It says nary a peep about the private, half-hour meeting with Bill Clinton that she held on her plane on the tarmac in Phoenix just eight days before her FBI Director, James Comey, would hold a surprise press conference and opine that no responsible prosecutor would bring criminal charges against Hillary Clinton, while Comey simultaneously fleshed out a boatload of falsehoods that Hillary Clinton had told to the American people about her handling of Top Secret and other classified material. In announcing tomorrow’s hearing, House Judiciary Committee Chair Bob Goodlatte said, in part: “…the recent announcement by FBI Director Comey that he does not recommend criminal charges be brought against Hillary Clinton … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: July 11, 2016 If it’s any comfort, and it likely won’t be, markets are now even more bizarre than the situation of the two presumptive candidates for the President of the United States: one is escaping indictment for treating above Top Secret material with the seriousness of a drunken frat boy at an all-night party while the other is hurling adolescent insults on his Twitter page. This in a country where the Commander in Chief will oversee more than 7,000 nuclear warheads. On Friday, the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index traded intraday at a new high of 2131.71, beating its prior closing high of 2130.82. It closed a tad lower at 2129.9 but still up 1.53 percent on the day. A rally in the stock market would normally drain money from U.S. Treasury notes, since a stock rally means confidence in a growing economy … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: July 8, 2016  Just 18 days before the Democratic National Convention is set to convene in Philadelphia, where delegates and superdelegates will select the presidential candidate in one of the most critical elections in U.S. history — coming amidst signs of slowing economic growth and financial stresses where a strong, trusted leader will be needed to steer the country through major headwinds — the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee delivered Hillary Clinton’s campaign a day from hell yesterday. On hand to raise alarming questions about Clinton’s fitness to handle classified national security material was FBI Director James Comey, State Department Inspector General Steve Linick and Charles McCullough, the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community. Here’s a cursory rundown of statements from the hearing that you are likely to see very shortly popping up in PAC ads for Donald Trump: FBI Director Comey added … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: July 7, 2016  When the State Department Inspector General Steve Linick concluded his investigation of Hillary Clinton’s unauthorized use of a non-secure private server in her home to transmit classified material while she served as Secretary of State, he released a heavily footnoted 83-page report on the matter. When FBI Director James Comey concluded his year-long investigation, he simply held a press conference and made a statement – devoid of any such “official” report from his agency. Yesterday, Wall Street On Parade contacted the FBI and asked when the official report might be forthcoming. We received the following emailed response: “We don’t have any additional information to provide at this time. Thank you.” The U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is apparently not content with the abbreviated statement from FBI Director James Comey either. The Committee has called Comey to testify … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: July 6, 2016  Yesterday, Wall Street mega bank, JPMorgan Chase, was the biggest percentage decliner in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, losing 2.79 percent. Goldman Sachs, another Dow stock, was third in line after Caterpillar, losing 2.56 percent. But that performance was absolutely mild compared to how other global bank stocks that aren’t in the Dow performed. Morgan Stanley lost 3.55 percent; Citigroup shed 3.30 percent; while Deutsche Bank, a German bank heavily interconnected with Wall Street banks, that trades on the New York Stock Exchange, touched $13.34 intraday – its lowest share price in more than 30 years. Deutsche Bank closed the day at $13.40, down 3.67 percent. A U.S. unit of Deutsche Bank, which is designated a global systemically important bank (G-SIB), recently failed its stress test according to the Federal Reserve. Wall Street’s global banks have now resumed a selloff that … Continue reading →