“Just a month after Donald Trump announced his run for president, people were already blaming “the media” for creating his candidacy. That theme has been sounded again and again, by NBC News, which claimed last summer that TV news’ blanket … Continue reading
On 5 December 2014 the US congress approved an “omnibudget” that included provisions drafted by the banking behemoth Citigroup that repealed a key part of the Dodd-Frank Act banking reforms requiring banks to place their high risk derivatives businesses into … Continue reading
The telling sentence in NPR’s report that US attorney general Eric Holder plans to step down once a successor is confirmed came near the end of the story. “Friends and former colleagues say Holder has made no decisions about his … Continue reading
Although we were told that things would be different here, the payday loan industry in the UK has largely followed the unethical business practices of their cousins in the United States. This means extortionate interest rates, swamping late payers with … Continue reading
There are hedge funds operating in every market where underhand amoral spivs can turn a profit. One of the most profitable and (you guessed it) ethically questionable is the market for so-called “distressed assets”. A distressed asset is a security or other … Continue reading
In the securities industry, much of the multi-trillion dollar trading that occurs in the markets remains un- or under regulated. One such under regulated market is the trading of Credit Default Swap‘s, the banking industry’s own weapons of mass destruction. … Continue reading
Whilst up to 10 million home owning Americans continue to face foreclosure as a result of the irresponsible and predatory bank lending that characterised the period up to the Lehman’s bankruptcy, the banks that caused the crash are once again in … Continue reading
It is said that what happens in the US happens in the UK shortly afterwards. This clip of the Daily Show shows US conservatives making the argument that it is ok to attack the incomes and the dignity of the weakest and the poorest … Continue reading
Goldman Sachs has been accused, yet again, of running a criminal financial markets scam. This time by controlling the distribution of aluminium (from warehouses that it owns) to affect the market price in a way to favour its own market positions … Continue reading
I have just heard one of the poorest interviews on the subject of high frequency trading that I have had the misfortune to come across on the usually excellent Today programme on BBC Radio 4. The interviewer, Evan Davis, had the … Continue reading
I promised in a recent post (If Robert Peston thinks that it’s time to stop bashing the bankers he’s wrong) to show you that an innovative, stable and fully functional financial system that avoids regular (or any) crashes is possible. The United States (and consequently most of … Continue reading
Jon Stewart on the travesty of justice that allows businesses like Johnson & Johnson, Goldman Sachs , HSBC, GSK, Pfizer, and a host of other large corporations to negotiate with regulators to pay fines as their pennance for crimes that they have committed whilst none … Continue reading
John Oliver on the travesty of justice that is banks and bankers negotiating with regulators to pay ‘huge’ fines (in reality no more than a few days worth of sales) for committing financial crimes rather than serving jail time. To add insult … Continue reading
On 30 November, Robert Peston published an article on BBC Online that made my stomach churn. In the article, entitled “New City same as old City?” Peston reported on two significant news stories of the day. The first was about the … Continue reading
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org) Salon [1] / By David Dayen [2] August 28, 2013 You may know Michael Winston’s story from a series of articles by Gretchen Morgenson in the New York Times [3], or from a celebrated Frontline episode, “The … Continue reading
I Am Incorrigible 