Category Archives: William K. Black

The Second Great Betrayal: Obama and Cameron Decide that Banks are above the Law

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Devin Smith | 23 comments

One of the “tells” that reveals how embarrassed Lanny Breuer (head of the Criminal Division) and Eric Holder (AG) are by the disgraceful refusal to prosecute HSBC and its officers for their tens of thousands of felonies are the false and misleading statements made by the Department of Justice (DOJ) about the settlement. The same pattern has been demonstrated by other writers in the case of the false and disingenuous statistics DOJ has trumpeted to attempt to disguise the abject failure of their efforts to prosecute the elite officers who directed the “epidemic” (FBI 2004) of mortgage fraud.

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Tagged banksters, Breuer, DOJ, HSBC, SDI, to big to prosecute, Treasury

Why did Obama and Cameron save a Criminal Enterprise like HSBC?

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Devin Smith | 4 comments

By William K. Black

Why is HSBC still in operation? On the same day (December 10, 2012) that the Obama administration leaked the story of the HSBC settlement a story ran in the New York Times that was full of self-praise by the Obama and Cameron (U.K.) governments for their “cooperative approach” to cracking down on systemically dangerous institutions (SDIs). SDIs are treated as “too big to fail” because they pose a global systemic risk when they fail. The HSBC settlement puts the lie to the Obama/Cameron crack-down on the SDIs for it revealed a disgrace – Obama and Cameron treat the SDIs as too big to prosecute. Indeed, HSBC demonstrates that the SDIs’ senior officers are treated by Obama and Cameron as too elite to prosecute. The propaganda meme of the NYT story – that the SDIs would never again be given special favors due to reforms being adopted by Obama and Cameron – lasted four hours before it was destroyed by the disgraceful reality of the Obama and Cameron governments’ refusal to prosecute HSBC and its officers for their tens of thousands of felonies.

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Posted in William K. Black

Tagged accounting control fraud, banksters, HSBC, too big to fail, too big to prosecute

Why is the failed Monti a “technocrat” and the successful Correa a “left-leaning economist”?

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Devin Smith | 9 comments

By William K. Black
(Cross posted at Benzinga.com)

The New York Times produces profiles of national leaders like Italy’s Mario Monti and Ecuador’s Rafael Correa. I invite readers to contrast the worshipful treatment accorded Monti with the Correa profile. The next time someone tells you the NYT is a “leftist” paper you can show them how far right it is on financial issues.

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Posted in William K. Black

Tagged banksters, correa, monti, nyt, technocrat

Virtually Speaking and Bill Black

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Devin Smith | 1 comment

NEP’s William Black appears on Virtually Speaking with host Jay Ackroyd (12/6). (Bill’s interview begins around the 12 minute mark)

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Note to Italy: Please send us more Saracenos

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Devin Smith | 4 comments

By William K. Black
(Cross posted at Benzinga.com)

I began writing this article while returning from presenting at a conference on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) in Reggio di Calabria, Italy arranged by Francesco Toscano and supported by the Regione Calabria and the Provincia di Reggio Calabria. MMT has sparked considerable interest in Italy because it puts the lie to the constant claim that there is no alternative (TINA) to austerity and deepening recessions in the Eurozone. Continue reading →

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Posted in William K. Black

Tagged austerity, euro, Eurozone, Financial crisis

William Black on HuffPost Live

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Devin Smith | Comments Off

NEP’s William Black appeared on Huff Post Live’s Sound Off hosted by Mike Sacks. The topic was tax hikes on the middle class. You can view the clip below or if you want to go to HuffPost Live – click here.

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Tagged Taxes

Ecuador: Bank Spreads, Taxes, Executive Compensation and Growth

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Devin Smith | 5 comments

By William K. Black
(Cross Posted at Benzinga.com)

One of the distinctive features of banking in scores of developing nations is the very large spreads between the rate of interest they pay their depositors and the rate they charge borrowers. Academics have frequently focused on the exceptionally high spreads in Latin America in articles published over the last three decades. Economic theory predicts that these spreads should impose a major drag on development. The high interest rates charged to lenders should lead to very large “hurdle rates” for prospective borrowers’ projects. The two obvious implications of high hurdle rates, sometimes discussed in the literature, are that fewer worthwhile investments will be made by prospective entrepreneurs and more of the loans in Latin America are likely to go to high risk borrowers. High risk investments should be, if financial markets are efficient, more likely to produce higher returns exceeding the hurdle rate. The standard neo-classical economic assumption is that financial markets are efficient.

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