financial crisis

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EU Should Go After Goldman, Since US Won't
 EU Should Go After 
 Goldman, Since US Won't 


Greek Crisis
Feb 15, 2010 11:25 AM CST

EU Should Go After Goldman, Since US Won't

Firm helped Greece hide staggering debt, leading to near collapse

(Newser) - With the revelation that Goldman Sachs was peddling exotic instruments to help Greece hide its runaway debts as recently as November, something must be done, Simon Johnson writes. US authorities clearly aren't going to raise a finger—a few phone calls around Washington will ensure that the Fed looks the...

Economists Demand 'Robin Hood' Tax on Speculators

Fee would go to fight poverty, climate change

(Newser) - Hundreds of the world's leading economists want banks to pay for the mess they've made—with an international " Robin Hood tax " that would raise funds to fight climate change and global poverty. Some 350 economists from 35 countries, including two Nobel prizewinners, have written to G20 leaders urging...

Banks' Lobbying Blitz a Betrayal of Public Trust
Banks' Lobbying Blitz a Betrayal of Public Trust
ELIZABETH WARREN
Feb 9, 2010 8:50 AM CST

Banks' Lobbying Blitz a Betrayal of Public Trust

After toppling economy, Wall St. now opposes consumer protections?

(Newser) - “Banking is based on trust,” Elizabeth Warren argues in the Wall Street Journal , yet lately banks have “thrown away customer trust like so much worthless trash.” After ripping off the public for years with deceptive mortgages and credit card tricks, they’re now lobbying furiously against...

Paulson: In '08 Crisis, John McCain Had No Plan

Ex-Treasury sec says Mac risked putting US economy in freefall for 'political gambit'

(Newser) - With the US economy in utter freefall, John McCain suspended his presidential campaign, jetted to Washington, called a meeting to fix the crisis—then did nothing, according the Henry Paulson's new book, On the Brink . In an excerpt in the Wall Street Journal, the former Treasury secretary recounts McCain's odd...

AIG Slashes Bonuses, Will Still Pay Out $100M Tomorrow

News not sitting well with lawmakers

(Newser) - Good news, if you’re not keen on bailed-out firms handing out bonuses: AIG has trimmed by $20 million those due to current and former employees in March. The bad news: The insurance giant that was the largest recipient of US bailout funds is still going to pay out $100...

Maybe Dodd's Angling for 'Cushy Bank Job'

Senator's threats on Volcker rule insane, and bad politics

(Newser) - That Sen. Chris Dodd would sacrifice tighter regulations on big banks in the name of bipartisanship is so insane—and bad politics, to boot—that his threats on the so-called Volcker rule have Joe Klein wondering if the Connecticut Democrat “just wants a nice, cushy bank job after he...

Bank Risk Rules Could Die in Senate
 Bank Risk Rules 
 Could Die in Senate 
DODD: BIPARTISAN OR BUST
Feb 1, 2010 6:14 PM CST

Bank Risk Rules Could Die in Senate

Retiring Dodd wants GOP support, Obama be damned

(Newser) - President Obama’s plan to limit the amount of risk big US banks can take could well die in the Senate if the measure isn’t seen as bipartisan enough by Chris Dodd, the retiring Banking Committee chair, and Senate Republicans. “He wants to end his career with an...

Time to Pull Plug on 'Too Big to Fail'

 Time to Pull Plug 
 on 'Too Big to Fail' 

PAUL VOLCKER
Jan 31, 2010 12:53 PM CST

Time to Pull Plug on 'Too Big to Fail'

Former Fed chair wants mechanisms to let 'em fail

(Newser) - It's more than a year after Americans learned the definition of "too big to fail," and it's time to push through the reform that will save having to re-learn that painful lesson, writes Paul Volcker in the New York Times . "As things stand," writes the chair...

Fed Duo Sounded Alarm Over AIG 'Gifts' to Banks

Geithner, Paulson face grilling over 'backdoor bailouts' for AIG clients

(Newser) - Two Federal Reserve governors expressed their unease about the Fed's rejection of a plan to force big banks to return $30 billion in cash they received from AIG before its bailout in late 2008. The officials warned that the decision to let the banks, including Goldman Sachs, keep the collateral...

'Anarchic' Conan Perfect for Treasury Secretary

Obama could use O'Brien-like bile to hammer big banks

(Newser) - The idiot circus that is NBC’s late-night merry-go-round resembles nothing so much as the US financial crisis, so what better next stop for Conan O’Brien than the Treasury? That’s what Leslie Savan would like to see, given that Secretary Tim Geithner completely lacks the O’Brien-like “...

Obama to Propose Knocking Banks Down to Size

President plans new limits on bank size, risk-taking

(Newser) - President Obama, going on the offensive against Wall Street banks "too big to fail," plans to propose measures to limit the size of banks and their ability to take risks, according to administration sources. Adopting an approach championed by former Fed chief Paul Volcker, he wants to bar...

Dems May Cave on Consumer Agency
Dems May Cave on Consumer Agency 
Jan 19, 2010 9:43 AM CST

Dems May Cave on Consumer Agency

Proving they serve banks, not families, says Elizabeth Warren

(Newser) - Senate Democrats are signaling that they're willing to drop the independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency to get financial reform passed, but they'll have to go through bailout watchdog Elizabeth Warren to kill it. The fight over the independent agency is a showdown between the banks' interests and those of American...

Crisis Probe Bares Fools' Guilt-Free Fantasy
Crisis Probe Bares Fools' Guilt-Free Fantasy
PAUL KRUGMAN
Jan 15, 2010 2:37 AM CST

Crisis Probe Bares Fools' Guilt-Free Fantasy

Deregulation, greed made crash inevitable

(Newser) - The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission hasn't extracted admissions of wrongdoing from top bankers, but it has exposed stunning cluelessness among the captains of American finance, writes Paul Krugman. The honchos testified that a financial crisis is something that just happens from time to time, Krugman writes in the New York ...

US Banks Paid Employees Record $145B in 2009
US Banks Paid Employees Record $145B in 2009
ANALYSIS
Jan 14, 2010 9:41 PM CST

US Banks Paid Employees Record $145B in 2009

Haul breaks mark set in pre-bust 2007

(Newser) - Employees at the major US banks were paid about $145 billion in 2009—a total that, despite the financial crisis and public outcry over compensation in the industry—breaks a record set in pre-bust 2007. A Wall Street Journal analysis finds that 2009 revenue will be $450 billion, up 25%...

Geithner Will Testify on Secretive Bailout Deals

House committee wants answers on his role on AIG contracts

(Newser) - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will testify Jan. 27 before a House probe into his role in deals that sent billions of bailout dollars to Goldman Sachs and other big banks. The committee wants to know why the Federal Reserve Bank of New York—which Geithner headed at the time—paid...

Blankfein: Goldman Not Guilty, Didn't Need Feds' Help

Blankfein says firm wasn't 'reliant on government assistance'

(Newser) - Lloyd Blankfein was on the hot seat this morning as chairman Phil Angelides opened the financial crisis commission hearing with a relentless grilling of the Goldman CEO. After asking why Goldman created CDOs, sold them, and then immediately shorted them, he said, “It sounds to me a little bit...

Wall Street's Finest Head to DC Showdown

Commission styled after 9/11 inquiry probes meltdown

(Newser) - Four of Wall Street's fattest fatcats are headed to Washington this morning to do some explaining about how exactly it was that the United States of America came to teeter on the brink of financial Armageddon. A 9/11 Commission-style panel appointed by Congress has the job of writing the narrative...

Fed Earns Record $45B
 Fed Earns Record $45B 

Jan 12, 2010 1:22 AM CST

Fed Earns Record $45B

Efforts to save economy result in windfall

(Newser) - The Federal Reserve's efforts to keep the economy afloat last year earned it the highest profits in its 96-year history. The Fed—which funds itself and turns its earnings over to the Treasury—made a total of $45 billion last year, dwarfing the profits of many big banks. Interest on...

Wall Street Weighs Huge Bonuses Vs. Public Wrath

Small signs of restraint as bonus season begins with record profits

(Newser) - Wall Street this week enters that cash free-for-all known as bonus season with quite the dilemma hanging overhead: How to distribute the billions in record-breaking profits reaped this year without incurring public wrath? Goldman Sachs expects to give out an average of $595,000, the New York Times reports, and...

10 Lies Wall St. Told Us in '09
 10 Lies Wall St. Told Us in '09 
OPINION
Dec 29, 2009 9:13 AM CST

10 Lies Wall St. Told Us in '09

It's been a bumper year for BS from the big banks, writes Nomi Prins

(Newser) - As Wall Street happily trots off into 2009's sunset, same old bad habits in tow, things aren't looking so hot on Main Street—no matter the crocks the bankers sold us, writes Nomi Prins at AlterNet . Here's some of Wall Street's finest whoppers of the year.
  • The economy has improved.
...

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