Taibbi Vs A Pernicious Meme

Dec 20th, 2011

Matt Taibbi's takes aim at one of worst lies regarding the financial crisis:

"The notion that what Wall Street firms did was merely unethical and not illegal is not just mistaken but preposterous: most everyone who works in the financial services industry understands that fraud right now is not just pervasive but epidemic, with many of the biggest banks committing entire departments to the routine commission of fraud and perjury – every single one of the major banks, for instance, devotes significant manpower to robosigning affidavits for foreclosures and credit card judgments, acts which are openly and inarguably criminal.

Banks and hedge funds routinely withhold derogatory information about the instruments they sell, they routinely trade on insider information or ahead of their own clients’ orders, and corrupt accounting is so rampant now that industry analysts have begun to figure in estimated levels of fraud in their examinations of the public disclosures of major financial companies." EMPHASES OURS

And yet, many of our elected leaders on both sides of the aisle continue to hamper stronger regulation of almost any kind.

"Robo-Signing" More Widespread Than Previously Thought

Sept 2nd, 2011

We still haven't really gotten to the bottom of the housing collapse. Pallavi Gogoi reports for AP:

"Counties across the United States are discovering that illegal or questionable mortgage paperwork is far more widespread than thought, tainting the deeds of tens of thousands of homes dating to the late 1990s.

The suspect documents could create legal trouble for homeowners for years.

Already, mortgage papers are being invalidated by courts, insurers are hesitant to write policies, and judges are blocking banks from foreclosing on homes. The findings by various county registers of deeds have also hindered a settlement between the 50 state attorneys general who are investigating big banks and other mortgage lenders over controversial mortgage practices.

The problem of shoddy mortgage paperwork, which comprises several shortcuts known collectively as "robo-signing," led the nation's largest banks, including Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co., and other lenders to temporarily halt foreclosures nationwide last fall."

Read more HERE

A Guy Who Knows

May 7th, 2011

The truly brilliant John le Carré (David Cornwell) talks 21st Century politics, propaganda and the realities of secret intrigues in the age of globalization. If you aren't aware of his background prior to writing the best and most honest spy novels of the last 50 years outside of Graham Greene's work, he was an intelligence operative. He actually is a guy who knows. Enjoy the full hour from Democracy Now.