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Why Obama Should Be Attacking Casino Capitalism — Both Romney’s Bain and JPMorgan by Robert B. Reich, robertreich.org | May 22, 2012
I wish President Obama would draw the obvious connection between Bain Capital and JPMorgan Chase. That way his so-called “attack” on private equity is neither a personal attack on Mitt Romney nor a generalized attack on American business. It’s an attack on a particular kind of capitalism that Romney and JPMorgan both practice: Using other peoples’ money to make big bets which, if they go wrong, can wreak havoc on the economy. It’s the substitution of casino capitalism for real capitalism, the dominance of the betting parlor over the real business of America, financial innovation rather than product innovation. It’s been terrible for the American economy and for our democracy. It’s also why Obama has to come out swinging about JPMorgan. read more »Gingrich and Booker: Dragged Into a Conversation They Can't Hold by Terrance Heath, OurFuture.org | May 22, 2012
This strange political season gets stranger by the day. The things I'm hearing and seeing from Newt Gingrich and Cory Booker today reminded me of a song from one of the last (and, in my opinion, underrated) albums by Culture Club; my favorite band from my 80's youth. The lyric that comes to mind is from the band's 1984 single, "Mistake No. 3," when Boy George sings of people getting "dragged into a conversation they can't hold." It's been 28 years, and I still can't figure out what that song's about. But, it's not hard to figure out that, despite coming at Mitt Romney's Bain Capital history from opposite sides, Newt Gingrich and Booker let themselves get dragged into conversations they can't hold. read more »What the Bain Debate is Really About by Terrance Heath, OurFuture.org | May 22, 2012
The 2012 presidential election may go down as one of the strangest political seasons in recent memory, for the simple reason that the influence of the financial sector in politics, policy and the economy has caused Republicans to sound like Democrats and Democrat to Sound like Republicans — usually with confounding results. When Republicans sound like Democrats, like Newt Gingrich attacking Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital, they tend to start arguments they can't win. When Democrats start sounding like Republicans, like Cory Booker defending Bain Capital, they tend forfeit arguments they could win. That's because, in both cases, the politicians are arguing about the wrong things, in order to avoid the real argument — the one America needs to have, and Americans need to win; the argument over what kind of economy we will have going forward. read more »Et Tu, Cory Booker? by Digby , OurFuture.org | May 21, 2012
False equivalence of the day: Appearing on NBC’s “Meet The Press” on Sunday, Newark Mayor and Obama bundler Cory Booker said he was “uncomfortable” with the Obama campaign’s attacks on Mitt Romney’s career with Bain Capital. read more »JPMorgan Chase: Break Up the Big Banks Now. Here's How. by Richard (RJ) Eskow, OurFuture.org | May 21, 2012
Must Read: An Economy for AllWhen Jamie Dimon revealed that JPMorgan Chase had lost billions through risky and legally questionable trading, he said the losses would be about $2 billion and maybe more. Apparently it is more - a lot more. read more »Crusade of a Lifetime by Digby , OurFuture.org | May 16, 2012
I mentioned the annual Pete Peterson Poor People Ritual Sacrifice confab earlier, but this piece about the man's material devotion to his cause by Ryan Grim is a must-read: According to a review of tax documents from 2007 through 2011, Peterson has personally contributed at least $458 million to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation to cast Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and government spending as in a state of crisis, in desperate need of dramatic cuts. Peterson's millions have done next to nothing to change public opinion: In survey after survey, Americans reject the idea of cutting Social Security and Medicare. A recent national tour organized by AmericaSpeaks and largely funded by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation was met by audiences who rebuffed his proposals. But Peterson has been able to drive a major shift in elite consensus about government spending, with talk of "grand bargains" that would slash entitlements, cut corporate tax rates and end personal tax breaks, such as the mortgage deduction, that benefit the middle class. To put Peterson's spending in context, all corporations and unions combined spent less than $4 billion on lobbying in 2011. This shows, once again, just how dangerous it is to have this .001% that is richer than God deciding they'd like to buy themselves a government. They can, literally, afford it. Just as we are seeing obscenely wealthy people write checks for millions to Super PACs without blinking an eye, ideologues like Peterson are willing to put up even more over time to completely change the basic structure of government for their own gain. read more »Tell Congress: End Too-Big-To-Fail. Make Banking SAFE by Isaiah J. Poole, OurFuture.org | May 16, 2012
JPMorgan Chase’s $2 billion bad bet has made it crystal clear: The Wall Street banksters are still recklessly gambling with government-guaranteed money. And the too-big-to-fail banks are still too big. read more »Bill Clinton, Boehner, and Some Other Rich White Guys Had a "Summit" and Agreed: It's Your Fault by Richard (RJ) Eskow, OurFuture.org | May 15, 2012
Today a bunch of rich white guys held a "Fiscal Summit" and agreed that: read more »Talking With Krugman: He's Anti-Austerity, Pro-Peter Gabriel, and "Not That Cosmic" by Richard (RJ) Eskow, OurFuture.org | May 15, 2012
Everybody knows that Paul Krugman is a Nobel Prize-winning economist, a sometimes combative columnist and a liberal lion. But in a conversation which aired this weekend we learned more about his personal response to an ongoing crisis he describes as "really nasty," "very, very severe," and "gratuitious," and which he says "will not go away quickly or necessary at all" unless we do something. read more »Flawed Dimon by Eliot Spitzer, slate.com | May 14, 2012
What to do with Jamie Dimon? The CEO and Chair of JPMorgan Chase has tried so hard in the past several years to seem the “good banker.” He is so charming and gracious, yet all the while lobbying, cajoling, pushing, and wheedling to eviscerate any semblance of real reform on Wall Street. He shrugged off the cataclysm of 2008 as just something that happened, like the weather — no need for any structural reform. Now the chickens have come home to roost—at least 2 billion of them — and it is clear that Chase is like every other big financial institution with distorted incentives. But it isn’t so much money, they cry! True, in the context of Chase’s balance sheet.. But it shows once again the impossibility of trusting the banks in the absence of structural reform and regulation to control their willingness to take almost unmitigated risk. read more »
The Latest
Robert Borosage is quoted in The Washington Post on Wall Street's Influence in the White House, The Washington Post | January 6, 2011
Must Read:An Economy for AllArticle Publication Date:01/02/2011Wall Street ties complicate the politically touchy search for economic adviser
By Peter Wallsten and Perry Bacon Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, January 2, 2011; 7:32 PMPresident Obama is expected to name a new chief economic adviser as early as this week, but the months-long search process has proven difficult and politically touchy...... read more »
Roger Hickey quoted in USA Today, USA Today | January 6, 2011
Bank Of America Tries To Frame Foreclosure-Gate As Simply A Case Of Misspelled Names, wonkroom.thinkprogress.org | October 26, 2010
Article Publication Date:10/25/2010Since the foreclosure fraud scandal — in which banks were caught allowing “robo-signers” to approve potentially fraudulent foreclosure forms — first hit the national airwaves, Wall Street banks have been trying to downplay the extent of the problem, claiming that it only has to do with paperwork mistakes and not a compete disregard for due process and property rights. read more »
Corporations Hide Election Spending From the Public Eye, The Nation | October 19, 2010
Article Publication Date:10/18/2010To avoid angering the public and their investors, some corporate interests are going to great lengths to hide their political spending. These companies have dumped money into nonprofits and trade associations that often have innocuous names like Americans for Job Security or Revere America, but in reality serve to shield donors from accountability for their spending in our elections. read more »
Sorkin: Felix Rohatyn Looks Back, and Sighs, dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com | October 19, 2010
Article Publication Date:10/18/2010Felix G. Rohatyn, one of Wall Street’s last old wise-men, was sitting in his office at Lazard overlooking the Empire State Building on Monday morning. read more »
The New Tax Man: Big Banks and Hedge Funds, huffpostfund.org | October 19, 2010
Article Publication Date:10/18/2010Nearly a dozen major banks and hedge funds, anticipating quick profits from homeowners who fall behind on property taxes, are quietly plowing hundreds of millions of dollars into businesses that collect the debts, tack on escalating fees and threaten to foreclose on the homes of those who fail to pay.
How Do We Judge the Homeowner?, Huffington Post | October 19, 2010
Article Publication Date:10/18/2010In the rush to foreclosure, the banks and even government officials have been taking the position that the borrower/homeowners are fully to blame for the situations they find themselves in and that the paperwork technicalities just need to be worked out in order for there to be a just outcome, which is to say, a foreclosure.
The Washington Post's Entry in the "How Many Big Things Can You Get Wrong in a Short Article?" Contest, cepr.net | October 19, 2010
Article Publication Date:10/19/2010The Washington Post appears to have outdone itself in a discussion of the politics surrounding the foreclosure crisis. For beginners, it told readers that:
"Reviving the economy requires repairing the housing market." read more »
Bondholders Pick a Fight With Banks, The Wall Street Journal | October 19, 2010
Article Publication Date:10/19/2010As banks restart foreclosures they had suspended, bondholders are stepping up efforts to recoup losses on soured mortgage portfolios amid concern about sloppy mortgage servicing and underwriting practices. read more »
Foreclosure Fortune Buys Bugatti, Yacht, Mansions for Attorney, bloomberg.com | October 19, 2010
Article Publication Date:10/19/2010For Americans, the foreclosure crisis has wiped out fortunes, bringing destitution and homelessness. For Florida attorney David J. Stern, it has brought mansions, a Bugatti sports car and a luxury yacht. Florida has the third-highest residential foreclosure rate in the U.S., and Stern, 50, has made a fortune off the bust. read more »
