The Silver Anniversary of the “Keating Five” Meeting — Citizens United’s Precursor

April 9, 2012 is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the most infamous savings and loan fraud, Charles Keating’s, successful use of five U.S. Senators to escape sanction for a massive violation of the law. The Senators were Alan Cranston (D. CA), Dennis DeConcini (D. AZ), John Glenn (D OH), John McCain (R. AZ), and Donald Riegle (D. MI). They became infamous as the “Keating Five.” I was one of four regulators who attended the April 9, 1987 meeting. I took the notes of the meeting, in transcript format, that were so detailed and accurate that the Senators testified that they were sure I had tape recorded the meeting. Reviewing my (near) transcript of the April 9 offers a large number of important lessons that would have allowed us to avoid future crises

Is US democracy being bought and sold?

The answer is yes. video below

Debt and Democracy: Has the Link been Broken?

Debt and Democracy: Has the Link been Broken

Time to Demand Transparency and Accountability of Our Public Stewards

When will we begin to reign-in the Fed and hold it accountable? And will we let the Fed bail-out Wall Street without Congressional approval of funding the next time it crashes? We need to answer these questions soon, because it is beginning to look like the next crash is on its way

Managing the 99 Percent

The McCourtny Consulting Group: We are witnessing a simmering backlash in the face of the widening class distinction. It is wise to address the fundamental issues behind the backlash and consider approaches to deal with the problem, especially given that these conditions may be persistent and structural. Therefore, we have prepared a brief overview of approaches to the problem

60 Minutes: Congressional Insider Trading

In case you missed it last night here is one that is sure to get your feathers up. It’s about time they Occupy Congress

Hudson: Traditionally war spending has driven deficits

Michael Hudson and William Hartung make the argument that military spending was exempted from cuts in the debt ceiling deal because it had strong backers who protected it. They also reveal that the US debt ceiling was put into place to keep Woodrow Wilson from overspending during World War I as military conflicts have traditionally been the real budget busters for governments

Fiat Justitia Ruat Caelum

It is one of the paradoxes of life that the most practical means to ensure that the system does not collapse is to insist on justice for all and to ignore demands for special treatment premised on claims that justice places the system at grave risk of collapse. Nietzsche argued that the ubermensch (generally translated as “Superman”) transcended the normal rules. The elites claim impunity from normal rules on the basis of their purported superiority and because they claim that they are so important that applying the normal rules to them will harm society. Some pigs are more equal than others. What any competent financial regulator learns is that the best way to destroy a financial system is to refuse to hold the elites accountable. Regulators that insist on doing justice prevent the heavens from falling.

Will Iceland Vote ‘No’ on April 9 or commit financial suicide?

A year ago, in March 2010, Iceland’s economy was so small that it did not warrant much attention when 93% of its voters rejected the Social Democratic-Green government’s surrender to demands by Gordon Brown and the Dutch, the European Union (EU) bureaucracy and IMF that the island nation impose austerity. Britain and the Netherlands wanted to be reimbursed for having paid out more than $5 billion to some 340,000 of their own depositors – whom their own bank oversight agencies had failed to warn about the looting that was going on.

Iceland’s taxpayers were told to bear the cost, as virtual tribute. In effect, it was to be penance for believing the neoliberal fairy tales about how bank deregulation and “free markets” would make it the richest, happiest country in the world. Indeed it seemed to be, according to United Nations data. But the dream was dashed after the Icesave electronic Internet bank branches abroad were emptied out by their proprietors.

Greenspan Panders for More Money

By Frederick Sheehan Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has once again received space on the editorial pages of the Financial Times. He does not deserve, so shall not receive, a rebuttal. But, it is probably still worth a moment to remind readers of the interests he continues to serve. His intention, in "How Dodd-Frank

Steve Waldman on the futility of blogging and the monopoly of lobbyists in policy making

This is really motivated by being incredibly frustrated with what happened a couple of years ago. Obviously there was a financial crisis; that’s not what frustrated me. I am one of the naysayers who was not at all surprised there was a financial crisis. I was expecting such a thing. What I was not expecting

David Sokol’s abrupt resignation

David Sokol, widely considered the heir apparent to Warren Buffett,  has abruptly resigned from Berkshire Hathaway’s subsidiaries after it was revealed that he profited from the purchase of a publicly-traded company made by Berkshire. The SEC is likely to investigate. This looks pretty ugly if you ask me. Sokol will talk to CNBC tomorrow at