Yale’s reputation used to defend failed response to financial crisis
Several years ago, I coined the expression Opacity Protection Team as shorthand for all individuals and institutions that enabled Wall Street to... Read More
Merrill Lynch Rogue Trader says system is broken
Another book on the financial crisis has been published. This time the author is a former trader who Merrill Lynch claims went... Read More
Obama offers honest explanation for saving bankers
In one of his first speeches since leaving the White House, Barack Obama offered up an honest explanation for why bankers were... Read More
The Financial Choice Act isn’t all bad
The GOP has begun the process of gutting the Dodd-Frank Act and its over-reliance on financial regulators. The Financial Choice Act is... Read More
Bank capital: great for everything; does nothing
Since the financial crisis intensified in 2008, the fans of bank book capital have made numerous positive claims about its magical capabilities.... Read More
Regulation dependent financial systems are crisis prone
In a recent interview, Paul Volcker was asked Has Wall Street always been trying to wiggle out of regulations? His response highlights... Read More
Is an Asset Fire Sale a Feature or a Bug?
As the financial crisis accelerated in late 2008, financial regulators expressed their age-old fear banks might be forced to sell assets at... Read More
It is time to break-up the Fed
Donald Trump and the GOP need an easy, highly visible legislative victory. Breaking up the Fed meets this criteria. In the aftermath... Read More
What a difference a decade makes …. or not
In his speech to the Institute for International Finance, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney favorably reviews the new post-financial crisis regulations.... Read More
Redesigning the regulatory framework
In his speech on the future of the global financial system before the Bretton Woods Committee, Paul Volcker discussed the need to redesign... Read More
The Dodd-Frank Act is a con
In response to the financial crisis that began on August 9, 2007, the US Congress passed the 2,000+ page Dodd-Frank Act. The... Read More
The Information Matrix and Opacity
The Information Matrix makes it easy to understand why opacity is the necessary condition for a financial crisis. By definition, an opaque... Read More
Nobody ever went to jail for saving the Too Big to Fail banks
Typically, where there is smoke, there is fire. The BBC reported the Bank of England pressured the Too Big to Fail UK banks... Read More
Ending Corporate Tax Avoidance
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has come out in favor of companies paying taxes where the economic value of their revenue is generated... Read More
Policymakers’ addiction to bailing out banks
Why do politicians and bank regulators have such a hard time giving up bailing out banks? Fear. Fear of contagion. Fear that allowing... Read More