From the Week of April 21 – April 27
1. Banks Cling to Bundles Holding Risk
Banks are fighting imposition of a part of the Volcker Rule that restricts trading in collateralized loan obligations, or C.L.O.s.
2. Bankrupt City Fighting to Open a Crack in California’s Pension Agency
After having declared bankruptcy, San Bernardino wants to make a deal with Calpers to reduce the amount of money it owes the pension system.
3. In Hong Kong, Some Bankers Back an ‘Occupy’ Movement or something
Several dozen members of Hong Kong’s financial class hope more of their number will join Occupy Central, which plans protests demanding unfettered elections. I suppose it is a good sign that they want to use the Occupy “brand”, but they seem to have forgotten the economic inequality aspect.
4. How Payday Lenders Prey Upon the Poor — and the Courts Don’t Help
A $600 loan and the struggle to even the playing field between businesses and their customers.
5. Student Loans Can Suddenly Come Due When Co-Signers Die, a Report Finds
Even borrowers with spotless records are facing demands for early repayment of their loans, and some are being forced into default, a federal consumer protection agency said.
6. Cuomo’s Plan to undercut the WFP
Cuomo’s plan to mitigate being challenged by the Working Families Party is either to get the Union side of the party to vote against the activists and give him its ballot line by fulfilling some of their wishes or for him to render the party impotent. Where does the labor side of the WFP stand? Cut deals or protect the party?
7. The American Middle Class No longer the World’s Richest
Evidencing growing income distribution problem.
8. What Business Spends to Open Washington’s Doors
The Chamber of Commerce spent $19 million on lobbying in just the first three months of 2014.
9. Loosening the Rules on Insider Trading
An appellate court seems inclined to change the rules on insider trading in a way that will make it easier for professional traders to escape liability.
10. Strip private banks of their power to create money
Printing counterfeit banknotes is illegal, but creating private money is not. The interdependence between the state and the businesses that can do this is the source of much of the instability of our economies.
See related campaign by ‘Positive Money’.
11. Buffett Punts on Pay
The Oracle of Omaha gives excessive executive compensation a pass when he had the chance to take a stand.
12. Judge Dismisses Examiner’s Suit Against New York Fed
A former bank examiner lost a lawsuit against her former employer, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, after a federal judge ruled she had not shown that she was fired over refusing to change her findings that Goldman had inadequate conflict-of-interest policies.
13. Maintaining Net-Neutrality
– pay-per-view Internet where Web sites have fees
– pay a network tax to run voice-over-the-Internet phones, use an advanced search engine, or chat via Instant Messenger
-next generation of inventions might be shut out of the top-tier service level
14. More related to Inequality discussion and Piketty’s ‘Capital in the 21st Century’
– The Piketty Watch- Capital In the 21st Century Meets America
“Piketty’s thesis is not capitals’ most critical flaw and therefore proves to be problematic”
– The Piketty Phenomenon
David Brooks argues that only people at the 90th percentile are mad at the 99th.(…aaargghh…)
– Fredrik Deboer blog post a ‘review’ on Piketty by Megan McArdle
– FT: A more equal society will not hinder growth
– Harvard Business School’ Michael Porter on “Social Progress”
15. From Outside or Inside, the Deck Looks Stacked
Elizabeth Warren’s new book sees a lamentable but enduring theme in Washington: special treatment for Wall Street.
From the Week of April 14 – April 20
1. The US is an oligarchy. You may not be surprised by this. But now we have a rigorous study from scholars from Princeton and Northwestern.
1a. A new experiment shows how money buys access to Congress This may seem obvious but the Supreme Court and Congress want to deny this. If a constituent asks for a meeting, they have a 2% chance of meeting the member of Congress or Chief of Staff. The odds are more than five times higher for a “local campaign donor”. Good to have objective evidence. Also, a nice example of clear, meticulous research.
2. Retiring SEC Lawyer: Revolving Door Causes Weak Enforcement Weak enforcement creates incentives for wrong-doing. If there are only fines for bad behavior, then it just becomes a cost of doing business. We can see how that plays out in the General Motors ignition switch case. It is cheaper to pay the fines (and any liability) than to fix the problem. The same dynamic takes place on Wall Street, only more so.
4. Thomas Piketty has mined 200 years of data to support his theory that capitalism does not work If you are in NYC, you can hear Piketty and others here.
– Doug Henwood’s review of Piketty’s ‘Capital’ for Bookforum.
– Review for the New Yorker by John Cassidy.
–The Nation’s take by Timothy Shenk (long, perhaps unnecessary considering his take on OWS as an indication for the rest of the piece)
5. NASA study: Inequality will lead to famine, collapse of civilization NASA study goes back 5000 years and thinks Piketty (see previous story) is understating the problem.
6.Three Expensive Milliseconds
We’re giving huge sums to the financial industry while receiving little or nothing in return.
7. Looking at Some Corporate Tax Loopholes Ordinary Citizens May Envy
On April 15, as individual taxpayers file, taking a look at a few opportunities for corporations that they may find slightly irksome.
8. How Banks Fail
Two scholars explore the role of politics in the evolution of banking.
9. For All It’s Worth
An examination of money, its nature and history, as well as its politicization.
10.Walmart Will Enter Cash Wiring Business
Fees for the service will be $4.50 for up to $50 transferred and $9.50 for amounts above that, up to $900.
11.HIGH & LOW FINANCE: Merely Rich and Superrich: The Tax Gap Is Narrowing
The wealthy face tax increases that are greater for investment
income, much of which goes to the superrich.
13. WEALTH MATTERS: Live Longer and Heirs Will Prosper in New York
A new estate and gift tax law that went into effect on April 1 will create enormously complex financial planning problems for a few years.
14. The Guardian: Wall Street deregulation pushed by Clinton advisers, documents reveal Newly public documents give the inside story of getting rid of Glass Steagall and keeping derivatives unregulated.
From the Week of April 7 – April 13
1. Arundhati Roy on Corporatism, Nationalism and World’s Largest Vote on Democracy Now! Billed as “Is India on a Totalitarian Path?” is interesting for that alone but she also covers global corporatism and, an issue we think needs more attention, how foundations skew the public discourse towards ideas that favor the wealthy and corporate interests. This part begins at about 42:00 into the show.
2. Good news (for a change) Heeding Pressure From Students, Harvard Pledges To Take Climate Change More Seriously Good to see students getting more active and having an impact. Also, may be a small step forward on a crucial problem.
3. ‘Reverse Auctions’ Draw Scrutiny
Supporters say FedBid and similar companies encourage competition, but critics say they prompt businesses to submit unrealistically low bids to shut out rivals.
4.OFF THE CHARTS: Corporate Profits Grow and Wages Slide
As a proportion of the overall economy, corporate profits were at their highest since 1929, while wages and benefits were at their lowest for any year ever measured.
5. DEALBOOK: Credit Suisse Is Said to Be Facing Double-Barreled Inquiries
As Credit Suisse negotiates with the Justice Department over its liability for involvement in tax shelters, New York State has opened its own inquiry.
6. DEALBOOK: Banks Ordered to Add Capital to Limit Risks
The requirement could force the eight biggest banks in the United States to find as much as an additional $68 billion to put their operations on firmer financial footing, according to regulators’ estimates. (Not nearly enough for the stability of the financial system but a step in the right direction and more than Europe is doing).
7. TODAY’S ECONOMIST: Heroes of Banking Reform
Progress is being made by advocates of stricter bank regulation, an economist writes.
8. HIGH & LOW FINANCE: Sacrificing Sense for Speed in Markets
Today’s stock markets operate at blinding speed, using bewilderingly complicated processes untempered by common sense or accountability.
9. Dealbook: Thought Secure, Pooled Pensions Teeter and Fall
The pensions of millions of Americans are being threatened because of trouble in a part of the retirement world long considered so safe that no one gave it a second thought.
10. Your Money: Customers Can Lose When Banks Shuffle Payments
While some banks have made changes, half of the country’s big banks still may reorder your daily transactions in a way that maximizes the potential fees you will pay if you overdraw your account, according to a report released this week by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
11. OFF THE CHARTS: Total Taxes on Wages Are Rising
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reports that the average tax on wage income is climbing in many countries.
12. DEALBOOK: Detroit Wins Judge’s Nod for Contract Settlement
A federal judge on Friday approved the city’s latest attempt to extricate itself from some long-term financial contracts that have been costing it tens of millions of dollars a year.
13. Wall Street Making Money Off the Poor Trailer Parks Lure Wall Street Investors The investors note “It’s expensive to be poor” and, because the residents can’t afford to move, “We’re like a Waffle House where everyone is chained to their booths.” (Note: if you are on Wall Street, having “captive customers” is a good thing.)
14. What is Money? NY Times Sunday Book Review of “Money” by Felix Martin.
From the Week of March 31 – April 6
1. CHECKING THE BANKS: Tom Sgouros’s “marvelous book” came out “Checking the Banks” Gar Alperovitz says “This is a marvelous book! Well-written; even enjoyable to read—about local banking! Packed with information of importance, not only for the expert, but for anyone, activist or public official, who wants to get serious about building a new financial infrastructure from our increasingly challenged economy. Put it on top of your reading pile!”
2. Disorderly Conduct: Alexis Goldstein and Jesse Myerson just came out with their latest podcast “If I ruled the world”.
3. ExtraEnvironmentalist: Just came out with their latest podcast “Energy Slaves”. While you are there, you may also want to download the previous one “Positive Money”, too.
4. APPLIED SCIENCE: All Public Comments Are Welcome. Then What?
A new tool tries to determine whether federal agencies are taking citizens’ comments into account when formulating rules. PLease note: the paper say “We find that only comments written by finance professionals such as traders, asset managers,and bankers have” a demonstrable effect on the final rules. But that nuance was lost in the NY Times report of it. That article suggests that “the public” was found to have influence but, from a regulatory standpoint, anyone outside of government is “the public”.
5. FAIR GAME: A Lone Ranger of the 401(k)’s
6. WORST IS YET TO COME: In case you missed it (as we did) Matt Taibbi has a newish article on Megabanks spreading out into new businesses.
7.The Wolf Hunters of Wall Street
How a band of outsiders discovered that the stock market was rigged — and set out to change it.
8. DISRUPTIONS: A Tax Break to Anchor Tech Growth in San Francisco
Some companies housed in specific low-income areas of San Francisco receive breaks on taxes if they perform tasks that help improve their neighborhoods.
9. DEALBOOK: Swiss Regulator Opens Currency Inquiry
The Competition Commission said it was investigating possible collusion by eight financial institutions, including major Swiss, American and British banks.
10. Corporate Lobbyists Assail Tax Overhaul They Once Cheered
The undisputed winners of a legislative battle over the nation’s tax code are the lobbying shops, which often work to simply preserve the status quo.
11. HIGH & LOW FINANCE: Switching Names to Save on Taxes
Caterpillar ducked billions of dollars in United States income taxes with a simple strategy. Whether it was legal is open to debate.
12. DEALBOOK COLUMN: A Pivotal Financial Crisis Case, Ending With a Whimper
In a settlement with Kenneth Lewis, the former Bank of America chief, regulators took a strong case and rendered it weak.
13. Zero Poverty 2030: Let’s end extreme poverty
A petition will be presented to world leaders in April 2015, and the more signatures we can get, the more likely they will be to respond, and commit. We need hundreds of thousands of voices coming together around the world for this message to be heard.
Join by signing the petition, then share it with friends.
14. OFF THE CHARTS: Corporate Profits Grow and Wages Slide