Daily Archives: January 21, 2014

The S&L Regulatory Conspiracy Against Italian-Americans

By William K. Black

In my recent column I tried to convey a bit of courage, competence, and craziness that Jim Cirona displayed and had to deal with as a top regional regulator during the savings and loan crisis.

I failed, however, to discuss an episode that epitomizes all these elements.  The incident also eventually led to Cirona hiring me as the SVP and General Counsel of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco (FHLBSF).  I will draw heavily on Bartlett Naylor’s “The Legend of Wild Bill and Black Bart” in recalling the tale.  

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The TPP: A Dangerous Proposal Whose Time Has Gone

By Joe Firestone

A recent, very good post at Naked Capitalism by Clive, suggests:

. . . Dear readers, you may think that writing to your elected representative, commenting negatively on articles you read in the mainstream media about the TPP and generally kicking up a bit of a fuss, making some noise, is a waste of effort. That is not so. The world does watch what goes on in the US. If popular sentiment is against something, the US government has a much harder job of convincing foreigners that it’s just them being awkward and reactionary and not getting the big, progressive, reform-minded, modernising picture.

I agree that this is a good proposal for one way the American public could register its objections to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with foreign leaders. But, I think that such letters ought also to point out that even if the TPP were railroaded successfully in the next few months, then it is unlikely to stick. After all, it is only a Treaty. Wouldn’t an electoral victory here by a movement dedicated to overturning corporate control of the political system, result in withdrawal from the TPP before any concrete legislation likely to conflict with it was passed by Congress?

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