Quotation for Today: Where Is "Blondie" When You Need Him?

Many of you have already heard of Greg Smith's stinging critique of his former employer, Goldman Sachs. The quotation for today amplifies Mr. Smith's critique of Goldman Sachs and expounds on the perverseness of Wall Street, historically and contemporarily.


Reminder: Goldman Sachs is a Wall Street mega-bank that received government assistance during the early days of this Little Depression; when the Wall Street banks were collapsing under the cumulative weight of their financial "engineering." 

Quotation for Today: Public Moral Hazard

Republican presidential wannabes and their supporters inveigh against their idea of private immorality while ignoring the endangerment of public morality by Wall Street bankers and corporate executive officers.  The quotation for today reminds us of the violations of public morality by Wall Street bankers and corporate executives.

Quotation for Today: Moral Hazard - A Dog Whistle

The quotation for today opens a discussion about the somewhat arcane economic concept known as "moral hazard" and how it -- by excusing greed and selfishness -- is used to pervert our sense of community.

Protecting the United States' Economy from Artful Banking

The 111th Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act  --  a new law to govern banks and the financial industry  -- and President Barack Obama signed it into law in  2010.  The Dodd-Frank Act establishes a banking rule called the Volcker Rule; named after former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.  The Volcker Rule is the focus of this post and the article highlighted in it.

Regulating Capitol Hill Insiders

This post highlights a news story about Wall Street professionals lurking around Capitol hill in order to obtain inside information that will help them profit in the Wall Street casino.

Gangsters and Banksters: A Serial Tale, Part VI

Today, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged four former bankers and traders of the Credit Suisse Group with engaging in a fraudulent scheme to overstate the prices of $3 billion in subprime bonds.

Quotation for Today: Who Are You For?

Today's quotation shines a bright light on what could be the defining issue of the 2012 elections.

Gangsters and Banksters - A Serial Tale Part IV

Once more, we have a tale of banksters acting like gangsters.  In this story, the banksters' gangster activity occurs in the home mortgage industry.

Quotation for Today: Serf Is Up

The destructive fires of the Little Depression that began in December 2007 continue to rage. Meanwhile, the leaders of the developed nations -- contemporary Herbert Hoovers all -- wring their hands in weakness and indecisiveness. Today's quotation captures the main elements that contribute to our leaders' helplessness.

Quotation for Today

Today, America is an outlier among industrial nations. Its distribution of income looks closer to that of Argentina than, say, Germany.

So it is perhaps unsurprising that our recent economic crisis had some characteristics of boom-and-busts in less developed nations. It was triggered, in part, by 1 percenters on Wall Street persuading regulators to remove restrictions on their casino. 

Eduardo Porter

Porter, Eduardo. "The 1 Percent Club’s Misguided Protectors."  The New York Times 10 December, 2011: online edition. 

Protecting the Gordon Gekkos

As a reminder, Gordon Gekko was Oliver Stone's "greed-is-good" character in the movie "Wall Street", and today we get a look at a "real-life Gordon Gekko" courtesy of Paul Krugman.

Quotation for Today

"The fact is, this crisis has left a deficit of trust between Main Street and Wall Street. And major banks that were rescued by the taxpayers have an obligation to go the extra mile in helping to close that deficit."

Barack H. Obama, 44th President of the United States of America

Remarks by the President on the Economy in Osawatomie, Kansas: given on 6 December, 2011.