“[T]he question we face today is not whether insider trading is rampant but whether corrupt corporate culture is.” That is the assessment of the top prosecutor of Wall Street crime, U.S. Attorney Preet Bhara. There is no question that insider trading is rampant; that fact has been amply demonstrated, says Bhara. The larger and “most […]
Many developed nations have borrowed and spent beyond their ability to repay their debt. Central banks around the world are faced with complex decisions on the best policies to improve liquidity. When economists weigh in with solutions, they fall into one of two groups ? those who want to borrow more and put more money […]
In the wake of the financial crisis, investors have flocked to so-called safe haven investments like U.S. treasuries and debt of Germany and the United Kingdom. The price for that safety is too high, however, according to some experts. Those experts claim that the debt of those safe havens has been bid up into bubbles […]
In the national news and on the minds of municipal bondholders across the country is the bankruptcy of Stockton, CA. On June 28 the town of Stockton, CA, filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection. This is not the first town to file for bankruptcy with outstanding bonds however its aggressive attitude toward bondholders has those […]
Warren Buffett, billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., has continued to express concerns about the number of municipal bankruptcies happening around the nation. In testimony before the U.S. Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in June 2010, Buffett predicted a “terrible problem” for municipal bonds in coming years. A portion of that prediction came true on June […]
Robert E. Diamond Jr., the chief executive of Barclays, one of the largest banks in the world, resigned on July 10, in the wake of a controversy that involved deliberate lying by Barclays staff with regard to the data they reported for Libor, the London Interbank Offered Rate. The lies affected credit transactions with a […]
While the powers that be are often slow to admit self-evident truths, the CEO of the New York Stock Exchange actually admitted that investors have lost faith in the financial marketplace in testimony before Congress (See “NYSE CEO: Public Has Lost Trust in Market”). The financial markets which have become platforms for high-speed, short-term trading […]
While the results of the election in Greece have given a sense of relief, it may only be temporary. The revolutionary party, which is seen as favoring a Greek exit from the Euro rather than accepting the austere terms of a bailout, almost won and may well win in the next election. By the time […]
“I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!” That seems to describe the general feeling among people as diverse as Tea Party members and Occupy Wall Street types. It also captures the mood of a vast middle class of America that is fed up with our institutions of finance and government […]
More Wall Street jobs cuts are expected as deal-making, capital-raising and lending have been severely crimped by the global economic downturn. The resulting lower revenues are making a new round of layoffs increasingly likely (“On Wall St., few places to hide as jobs ax hovers,” Reuters). As the article implies, the cuts have reportedly even […]
