By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: September 12, 2023 ~ The outspoken nonprofit watchdog, Better Markets, and its co-founder, President and CEO, Dennis Kelleher, have planned a unique full-day webinar for tomorrow from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET. (Register here at no cost. You do not need Zoom to watch the program.) For millions of Americans who understand that the U.S. cannot remain a superpower, or even compete effectively on the world stage without a first-class banking system and a properly functioning Wall Street, this is an opportunity to hear from people who have been on the front lines of the battle for genuine reform for decades. Wall Street On Parade has covered the efforts of many of these individuals over the years. This virtual conference of some of the smartest minds in the country when it comes to banking and Wall Street could not come at a more critical time. … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: September 11, 2023 ~ Last Thursday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) released its Quarterly Banking Profile for the quarter ending June 30, 2023. The report includes the FDIC’s Problem Bank List. While the actual names of the problem banks aren’t provided, the total assets listed provide an indication of whether any large banks are on the list. The FDIC’s first quarter banking profile had published a “Problem Bank List” showing just 43 banks with total assets of $58 billion as of March 31, 2023. Unfortunately, on March 10 Silicon Valley Bank blew up with assets at year-end 2022 of $209 billion. Two days later, on March 12, Signature Bank blew up with assets of $110 billion as of year-end. Clearly, the FDIC did not see these as problem banks in advance of their blowing up in a matter of days. What the FDIC did know … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: September 7, 2023 ~ As climate-related disasters in the United States have taken on the look and feel of sci-fi films, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing this morning on the dramatic impact this is having on the ability of homeowners to find and keep affordable homeowners insurance policies. As a backdrop to the hearing, four days ago Jacob Bogage, a business reporter at the Washington Post, shared these revelations with readers: “At least five large U.S. property insurers — including Allstate, American Family, Nationwide, Erie Insurance Group and Berkshire Hathaway — have told regulators that extreme weather patterns caused by climate change have led them to stop writing coverages in some regions, exclude protections from various weather events and raise monthly premiums and deductibles. “Major insurers say they will cut out damage caused by hurricanes, wind and hail from policies underwriting property … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: September 6, 2023 ~ A group of academics have conducted a study that found that during the fastest pace of Fed interest rate hikes in 40 years, the majority of U.S. banks failed to hedge their interest rate risk. The report’s findings include the following: “Over three quarters of all reporting banks report no material use of interest rate swaps.” “Only 6% of aggregate assets in the U.S. banking system are hedged by interest rate swaps.” “Banks with the most fragile funding – i.e., those with highest uninsured leverage — sold or reduced their hedges during the monetary tightening. This allowed them to record accounting profits but exposed them to further rate increases. These actions are reminiscent of classic gambling for resurrection: if interest rates had decreased, equity would have reaped the profits, but if rates increased, then debtors and the FDIC would absorb the losses.” … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: September 5, 2023 ~ JPMorgan Chase is in a protracted legal battle in a federal district court in Manhattan over highly credible allegations that it “actively participated” in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking of minors. The lawsuit has been brought against JPMorgan Chase by the Attorney General of the U.S. Virgin Islands where Epstein owned a private island compound that was a frequent venue of the sex trafficking operation. Part of the bank’s damage control strategy has been to sue one of its former top executives, Jes Staley, making him a third-party defendant in the same case, and attempting to convince the Judge and the media that Staley is mainly responsible for the bank keeping sex trafficker Epstein as a client for more than 15 years (and perhaps as long as 28 years). The bank says in court documents that it wants to claw back Staley’s $140 million … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: September 1, 2023 ~ After the public interest news outlet, ProPublica, revealed more grifting by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in April, the Supreme Court finally released the much delayed financial disclosure form for calendar year 2022 for Thomas yesterday. Thomas grudgingly provided details of some of that grifting involving billionaire Harlan Crow. But this latest grifting saga is just the tip of the iceberg for Thomas and his wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas. In 2011 the watchdog group, Protect our Elections, filed a bar complaint with the Missouri Supreme Court. At the time, Thomas was admitted to practice law in the State. The complaint asked for the disbarment of Thomas on the following grounds: “Clarence Thomas breached his legal duty and violated the Rules of Professional Conduct by knowingly and willfully failing for 20 years to state truthfully on required AO 10 Financial Disclosure Forms that … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: August 31, 2023 ~ In much of the United States, if a person is convicted of a felony after conviction on two prior felonies, they receive a severe prison sentence. It’s known as the Three Strikes Law. But if you are the largest bank in the United States, charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with five felony counts since 2014, along with other major crimes for which you are given a non-prosecution agreement, not only do you not get harsher treatment for each new criminal act, but you actually get two federal law enforcement agencies doing damage control for you. We’re talking about JPMorgan Chase and its cozy relationship with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and certain officials within the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Take, for example, what happened on June 22 of this year. The SEC issued a Cease-and-Desist order against the … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: August 28, 2023 ~ At the Republican Primary Debate for President last Wednesday evening, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie referred to presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy as “ChatGPT,” the artificial intelligence chatbot. The moniker struck a bell when the bellicose Ramaswamy with a too-perfect broadcaster voice and a too-perfect permanent smile showing off perfect sparkling teeth, bellowed out on the stage that climate change is “a hoax.” We immediately headed to the Federal Election Commission (FEC.gov) website to see if Big Oil or its attached-at-the-hip Charles Koch network was behind this candidate. Ramaswamy wants to stroll into the highest office in the United States despite no prior public office experience. (Because that worked out so well for all of us the last time.) Thus far, the big money trail has not led directly to Big Oil or the Koch network, but just give it time. Ramaswamy … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: August 25, 2023 ~ On March 15, 2022, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a Memorandum to the heads of executive departments and to federal agencies mandating how they were to handle Freedom of Information Act requests. Garland wrote: “For more than fifty years, the Freedom of lnformation Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552, has been a vital tool for ensuring transparency, accessibility, and accountability in government. As the Supreme Court has explained, the Act’s ‘basic purpose … is to ensure an informed citizenry,’ which is ‘vital to the functioning of a democratic society [and] needed to check against corruption and to hold the governors accountable to the governed.’ NLRB v. Robbins Tire & Rubber Co., 437 U.S. 214,242 (1978).” Despite this laudable endorsement of FOIA by the Biden administration’s top law enforcement officer, the Securities and Exchange Commission under Chair Gary Gensler is drawing a … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: August 23, 2023 ~ The speed at which the largest U.S. banks are shedding deposits is unlike anything seen in the last half century – at least. But then again, the speed at which those same banks gained deposits from the various stimulus programs during the COVID-19 pandemic was also unprecedented. According to Federal Reserve data, for the week ending April 13, 2022, deposits at the 25 largest domestically-chartered commercial banks in the U.S. stood at $11.68 trillion (a new record) before doing a bungee dive in the following week to $11.4 trillion – likely triggered by the horrific scenes on network television of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine along with the severe economic sanctions against Russia announced on April 6, 2022 by the U.S. and other nations. This likely triggered a rush by Russian oligarchs to get their billions of dollars out of U.S. banks. As … Continue reading →