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With Ryan's Speech, Republicans Have Finally Found Their "New Idea" by Richard (RJ) Eskow, OurFuture.org | August 30, 2012
Where can we find one of those "new ideas" we keep hearing about, the ones that the supposedly "serious" Paul Ryan brings to the Presidential ticket? Not in their plan to turn us into a nation without Medicare. That idea isn't any newer than the song stylings of Patti Page, who was popular in pre-Medicare America with records like "How Much Is That Doggie In the Window?" read more »When Accountants Go Bad: Scandal-Plagued Firms Turn Out For Romney by Richard (RJ) Eskow, OurFuture.org | August 29, 2012
The presence of scandal-ridden accounting firms on Mitt Romney's fundraising list got me to thinking: What do they expect to get for their money? And why does the accounting profession seem to be so riddled with corruption? And it reminded me of something that happened years ago. read more »Greed and Debt: The True Story of Mitt Romney and Bain Capital by Matt Taibbi, rollingstone.com | August 29, 2012
The great criticism of Mitt Romney, from both sides of the aisle, has always been that he doesn't stand for anything. He's a flip-flopper, they say, a lightweight, a cardboard opportunist who'll say anything to get elected. The critics couldn't be more wrong. Mitt Romney is no tissue-paper man. He's closer to being a revolutionary, a backward-world version of Che or Trotsky, with tweezed nostrils instead of a beard, a half-Windsor instead of a leather jerkin. His legendary flip-flops aren't the lies of a bumbling opportunist – they're the confident prevarications of a man untroubled by misleading the nonbeliever in pursuit of a single, all-consuming goal. Romney has a vision, and he's trying for something big: We've just been too slow to sort out what it is, just as we've been slow to grasp the roots of the radical economic changes that have swept the country in the last generation. read more »Flying Their Wealth Flag Proudly by Digby , OurFuture.org | August 29, 2012
Ok, this is just getting ridiculous now: Gov. Mitt Romney's campaign toasted its top donors Wednesday aboard a 150-foot yacht flying the flag of the Cayman Islands. read more »Corporate Tax Myths by Joel Hines, policyshop.net | August 29, 2012
In the The Wall Street Journal today, John McKinnon and Scott Thurm revive the zombie of too-high corporate taxes causing businesses to flee offshore. Needless to say, they give too large a megaphone to international outsourcers and too little to their critics. The uncertainty fairy strikes again. The authors go on to make the claim that we need to “rewrite the tax code to give companies an extra incentive to stay in the U.S.” We couldn’t possibly raise taxes or business will flee. But is our corporate tax rate truly pushing companies overseas? This argument rests upon several crucial fables that the McKinnon and Thurm leave unexplored. read more »How an Obscure Federal Rule Could Be Shaking Up Presidential Politics by Jake Bernstein, propublica.org | August 28, 2012
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's allies seemed to give a big old raspberry to presidential aspirant Mitt Romney on the front page of the New York Post yesterday. Anonymous sources told the paper that Romney demanded Christie agree to resign the governorship if he was offered vice president on the GOP ticket. Christie was said to have declined since he didn't think Romney would win.The possible need for Christie's resignation arises from federal rules that forbid the employees of Wall Street firms from giving money to state officials running for federal office if the firms do business with that state. If the public official — in this case, the governor of New Jersey — has any influence, directly or indirectly, in selecting the pension investment advisers or bond underwriters, the firms can't give campaign contributions. This would likely have cut off an important spigot of campaign cash for Romney. read more »Romney's Breach Of Trust by Andrew Leonard, salon.com | August 28, 2012
Just in time for a Republican convention poised to officially anoint a private-equity mogul as the GOP nominee for president of the United States, the left-wing economic think tank Center for Economic Policy and Research is pushing a new report that analyzes exactly how private equity investors rake in their profits. Mitt Romney’s name doesn’t appear in the new report, but his shadow looms large: It’s not too much of an exaggeration to suggest that if voters pick Romney, they will also be endorsing a specific form of capitalism. The report has a very long title: “Implications of Financial Capitalism for Employment Relations Research: Evidence From Breach of Trust and Implicit Contracts in Private Equity Buyouts,” but the conclusion can be summed up in a few pithy words: workers get screwed. read more »How Reform Dies in Washington by David Callahan, policyshop.net | August 28, 2012
Last week, though, SEC Chairman Mary Shapiro withdrew a major proposal for reform after being blocked by other SEC commissioners. Or, rather, one commissioner: Luis A. Aguilar. Today, the New York Times has a disturbing story about Aguilar's role in blocking Shapiro. Anguilar, who worked as a lawyer for the mutual fund industry for eight years, said that he believed the impact of reforms needed to be studied more. This stance seemed overly cautious, given the urgency of reform and the fact that regulators have been studying this issue intensively for over a year. Now comes the revelation that Anguilar didn't ask for more analysis when he had the chance. The moral of the story here is how easily reforms can die in Washington, even in regulatory agencies ostensibly controlled by officials who believe in regulation. Washington is hostile territory for real reformers. Replacing turncoat regulators should be a top priority if President Obama wins reelection. read more »Tax Avoidance -- Or Evasion? Bain's Tricky Accounting by David Callahan, policyshop.net | August 24, 2012
It's not often that we get a detailed look inside the tax strategies of a private equity firm, so Gawker's publication of a trove of documents related to Bain Capital is a welcome event. The documents show -- once again -- how sophisticated business people have myriad ways to avoid taxes -- and, in the case of Bain anyway, will readily skirt or break the law. The main revelation so far is that Bain seems to have pushed the envelope and misrepresented some of its income -- saying that management fees, which would be taxable as regular income, were actually capital gains, which are taxed at a much lower rate thanks to the infamous "carried-interest" loophole. Apparently, Bain's partners resented paying regular income taxes on their management fees, and so maneuvered to represent those fees as capital gains and pay a lower rate. read more »Why Does Wall Street Always Win? by Simon Johnson, baselinescenario.com | August 23, 2012
fter a long summer of high-profile scandals – JPMorgan Chase trading, Barclays rate-fixing, HSBC money-laundering and more – the debate about the financial sector is becoming livelier. Why has it has become so excessively dominated by relatively few very large companies? What damage can it do to the rest of us? What reasonable policy changes could bring global megabanks more nearly under control? And why is this unlikely to happen? If any of these questions interest you – or keep you awake at night – you should take another look at the last time we had this debate at the national level, and reflect on the work of Ted Kaufman, the former Democratic senator from Delaware, who was far ahead of almost everyone in recognizing the problem and thinking about what to do. read more »
The Latest
Sen. Blanche Lincoln's Derivatives-Spinoff Plan Gains Support in Congress, The Washington Post | June 15, 2010
An effort to force some of the nation's biggest banks to spin off their lucrative derivatives-dealing operations appears to be gaining traction, as members of a House-Senate conference begin finalizing details of far-reaching new financial regulations. read more »
Derivatives Language Picks Up Steam, Politico | June 15, 2010
Consumer Groups Rip Chris Dodd Over Financial Protection Agency Compromise, Huffington Post | March 1, 2010
Consumer advocates are reacting harshly to a compromise Consumer Financial Protection Agency being proposed by Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.). Dodd's proposal puts a variety of obstacles in front of the proposed agency, which would be called the Bureau of Financial Protection and housed in the Treasury Department. read more »
Wall Street Dusts Off 'Help Wanted' Sign, money.cnn.com | February 17, 2010
After shedding more than 30,000 workers over the past two-and-a-half years, is the job market on Wall Street finally turning a corner? It might be the case. Earlier this month, speculation surfaced that Bank of America was looking to boost its network of retail brokers that once made up Merrill Lynch's "thundering herd" following a number of employee defections to rivals. read more »
Wall St. Helped to Mask Debt Fueling Europe’s Crisis, The New York Times | February 17, 2010
Wall Street tactics akin to the ones that fostered subprime mortgages in America have worsened the financial crisis shaking Greece and undermining the euro by enabling European governments to hide their mounting debts. As worries over Greece rattle world markets, records and interviews show that with Wall Street’s help, the nation engaged in a decade-long effort to skirt European debt limits. read more »
