Whodunnit? “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac!” Never have so many owed so much to so few. –Winston Churchill If Winston Churchill had been alive to witness The Crash of ’08 and the events leading up to it, I think he would have offered an updated version of his famous observation about the Royal Air Force pilots who defended...Read More
Goldman Sachs Deserves “Capital” Punishment So, Goldman Sachs stands accused of having pocketed billions from its massive short against the housing market — and lying about it to Congress. How is it defending itself? Watch carefully. Legal Semantics — Not a Denial The company is not saying, “we didn’t do it” — even though that’s sure what it sounds...Read More
Stretching the Social Contract “You can judge a society by how they treat their weakest members.” –Gandhi, Hubert Humphrey and many others I propose a corollary to the above — namely, you can judge a society by the pursuits of its smartest and most talented. When society’s elite apply themselves towards making society better, fairer,...Read More
Why Goldman Sachs Should Hire Matt Taibbi The most the Securities and Exchange Commission could exact from serial transgressor Goldman Sachs — for what appeared to be blatant fraud that netted the firm billions — was a measly $550 million fine last Summer. By contrast, in just one day of trading (yesterday), Matt Taibbi’s latest Rolling Stone...Read More
Michael Lewis Was Right Today’s lead financial news story appears to be the just-released U.S. Senate report on the financial crisis (formal title of the 650-page report, “Wall Street and the Financial Crisis: Anatomy of a Financial Collapse”). Not much new news, at least as far as I can tell: the mind-boggling greed and skulduggery of...Read More
Why is This Man Still Collecting Speaking Fees? Why can’t Alan Greenspan retire? About to turn 85 next month, it’s not that he isn’t old enough. And, after all these years of lucrative consulting and speaking fees, it’s not exactly like he needs the money. So, why is Greenspan spending his time going around the...Read More
