On Sunday's "60 Minutes" it was asserted that the September 2008 failure of Lehman Bros. triggered the chain reaction that caused the global financial and economic crisis of the past four years.
A Senate committee has laid out the evidence. Now the Justice Department should bring criminal charges
[[wysiwyg_imageupload:2206:]]By Julian D. W. Phillips
Some months back we pointed out that in their present form, banks had become the arteries and veins of the financial worlds with central banks the heart. Unfortunately, banks are driven solely by the profit motive. As they grew into every aspect of people's financial lives, they failed to take on the corresponding social responsibilities that they came with it. The result is that when their greed went too far and the banking system was threatened with collapse, they had to be bailed out by their customers at the retail level, the taxpayers. Since then, they have recovered but are not vibrantly underpinning the economies in which their customers are based to promote a recovery. Still, their total thrust is for profits, meaning that there is just not enough banking support to invigorate developed world economies. Worse still, the public perception of bankers has been eroded so far, it's common to hear them described as 'banksters.'
Here’s a perfectly nuanced view of how quantitative easing — the programme started by the Federal Reserve to avert depression following an almighty banking bubble — impacts asset prices.
After the passage of financial reform last year, President Obama and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke declared the "resolution authority" in Dodd-Frank would eliminate the need for future bailouts.
A member of Citigroup Inc.’s board who was once a Federal Reserve official accused U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday of using the financial crisis to mount an attack on the banking system’s largest players.
[[wysiwyg_imageupload:1728:]]By The Mogambo Guru
I have to admit that I was stunned that Fed Credit (the magical fairy dust from which money appears out of thin air) two weeks ago went up by a huge $19 billion, which the Fed itself used to buy $18.4 billion in government debt. In one week! In One Freaking Week (OFW)!!
As Eric Fry, Editorial Director of The Daily Reckoning, puts it, "The effect of this bizarre transaction is that one branch of the government issues debt securities, while another branch of the government purchases those securities"!!!
First Iceland. Then Greece. Now Ireland, which headed for bankruptcy with its own mysterious logic. In 2000, suddenly among the richest people in Europe, the Irish decided to buy their country—from one another. After which their banks and government really screwed them. So where’s the rage?
In the middle of last month, the Bank of China quietly announced a startling new bank account available to America citizens.
