By William K. Black
(Cross-posted at Huffington Post)
Robert Kuttner has written much of the column I intended to write on this subject, so I will point you to his excellent column and add a few thoughts.
Kuttner wrote to warn that Obama intends to seek a “grand bargain” causing the U.S. to adopt the type of austerity program that threw the Eurozone back into a gratuitous recession.
Posted in William K. Black
Tagged grand bargain, great betrayal, safety net, Social Security
I’ll get the obvious out of the way first and then turn in future columns to the aspects of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) civil suit against Bank of America (B of A)/Countrywide that are vital to understand but are more subtle. The obvious issue arises from the facts that the DOJ alleges that its investigation has found. The complaint and the DOJ press release state that elite financial criminals committed tens of thousands of “brazen” frauds targeting U.S. government funds. Continue reading
By William K. Black
(Crossposted at Benzinga.com)
Becky Quick is a television co-host of a business entertainment program on CNBC. She has written a column stating that Paul Krugman’s “claim that there is no fiscal crisis isn’t just laughable, it’s downright dangerous.” She argues that the “only problem” with Krugman’s conclusion was: “It is hard to find anyone who actually agrees with him.” She is furious that Krugman concluded that the Bowles-Simpson austerity plan is “a really bad plan.”
On 10/24/12, William Black appeared on WBAI’s Pacifica Radio with Linda Perry discussing the Government’s billion dollar civil lawsuit against Bank of America / Countrywide. You can listen to the program here.
Posted in William K. Black
Tagged bank of america, countrywide, department of justice, Financial crisis, mortgage fraud
Here’s the central thesis of the far right about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It is taken from the web site: The Neville Awards (as in Neville Chamberlain), which gives “awards” to Democrats for their cowardice and other mortal and venal sins. This particular article claims that the damnably clever Democrats, while the Republicans controlled the Presidency, House, Senate, Supreme Court, and all the regulatory agencies, pulled off a deliberate plan to destroy the economy in order to elect Obama. “Obama, Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac – How the Democrats Brought Down the Economy in Time to Elect Obama.”
Posted in William K. Black
Tagged Control Fraud, Financial crisis, GSE, liar loans, sub-prime loans, sub-prime mortgage crisis
By William K. Black
(Cross posted at Benzinga.com)
Two years ago, I wrote an article entitled “The Bank of England Sows the Seeds of the Next UK Crisis.”
I was not vain enough to believe that the British establishment would listen to my critique. The books authored recently by Jeff Connaughton, Neil Barofsky, and Sheila Bair have made clear that the dominant strategy of the Bush and Obama administrations has been providing aid and comfort to the banksters who drove the crisis rather than holding them accountable for their crimes. The Brits are following the same dominant strategy.
Posted in William K. Black
Tagged accounting control fraud, bank regulation, banksters, Control Fraud, criminogenic
Jeff Connaughton has just authored a major insider account revealing and explaining the failure of the politicians and regulators to hold the banksters who drove the financial crisis accountable and to remove the most obvious risks of future crises. On Sunday, October 21, 2012, UMKC’s Bill Black hosted a book salon on Firedoglake with Jeff Connaughton. With Connaughton’s permission, we are cross-posting his introductory post (which explains how he came to write the book) and Bill Black’s review of his book.
Posted in William K. Black
Tagged banksters, Financial crisis, Jeff Connaughton, The Payoff
By William K. Black
(Cross posted at Benzinga.com)
My favorite scene from The West Wing is the episode in which the President’s press secretary is recovering from a root canal and Josh Lyman decides to handle a press briefing. Lyman is a young whiz kid who believes he is the smartest guy in the room, but the briefing goes disastrously. Lyman has to explain to the President that he has, sarcastically, told the press that the President has “a secret plan to fight inflation.” The press, fed up with Lyman’s arrogance, has decided to report Lyman’s statement about the secret plan without noting the sarcasm. Worse is still to come, for upon questioning Lyman about the incident, the President asks in exasperation: “Are you telling me that not only did you invent a secret plan to fight inflation but now you don’t support it?” Continue reading
The following passage from the transcript of Governor Romney’s secretly videotaped May 17, 2012 fundraiser has not received any attention in the media. It is a fascinating passage, however, from the perspective of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). Here is the full context of the passage:
Matt Taibbi famously dubbed Goldman “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.” Taibbi knew his metaphor worked a deep injustice on Vampyroteuthis infernalis, a small animal that feeds on carrion and excrement (I will let the reader explore the metaphorical possibilities). Goldman Sachs’ leaders were always secretly flattered by Taibbi’s metaphor. They like being thought of as hyper-aggressive and intimidating. Saying that an investment banker’s goal is to make money is to state the obvious and causes no embarrassment. Continue reading
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