Free Republic

I've been away for weeks now on a non-financial assignment (we have something unusual coming out in Rolling Stone in a few weeks) so I've fallen behind on some crazy developments on Wall Street. There are multiple scandals blowing up right now, including a whole set of ominous legal cases that could result in punishments so extreme that they might significantly alter the long-term future of the financial services sector. As one friend of mine put it, "Whatever those morons put aside for settlements, they'd better double it." Firstly, there's a huge mess involving possible manipulation of the world currency...

Former Assistant Housing Secretary Catherine Austin Fitts says all U.S. citizens are partly responsible for banker fraud. Fitts, also a top Wall Street Banker, says, “What popular opinion has said again and again and again is it wants the dirty money. . . . It wants the U.S. to play this geopolitical top dog game to the extent it provides subsidy to them. We can’t have our cake and eat it too. . . . If we have a model that is dependent on crime and fraud . . . we have to change the model.” Fitts calls what we...

The folks in the Obama administration may be unable to run a health-care Web site, but they’re brutally determined and efficient when it comes to squashing those who oppose their policies — as Jamie Dimon is finding out. Today the JP Morgan chief executive could be putting the final touches on a deal with the Obama Justice Department that would make Don Corleone proud. For various alleged financial “crimes” involving the sale of fraudulent mortgages, the nation’s largest bank is slated to fork over $13 billion, admit some culpability and prepare for a barrage of lawsuits from Wall Street ambulance...

Fannie Mae Risk-sharing Notes are trading tighter, according to analysts at Credit Suisse. Mid-market spreads for Fannie Mae risk-sharing CAS securities tighter than pricing levels on Oct. 15, Credit Suisse analysts say in report today. • M1 at +167bps vs. +200 • M2 at +482bps vs. +525 • Both had priced “significantly tighter than initial guidance” • CS, BofAML were joint leads • Freddie Mac STACR indicative levels at +210, +535, CS says • Priced at +340, +715 in July • NOTE: ~75 investors participated in $675m Fannie deal, ~50 in $500m Freddie deal, meaning typically only small blocks trade,...

As I discussed yesterday, Obamacare subsidies are available in Virginia to households making 400% of poverty line and twice the Virginia median household income. So, households making above $120,000 per year bear the subsidies for those earning under $120,000. Now we find out from RealtyTrac that half of bank-foreclosed properties are STILL occupied by prior owners! That means FREE RENT FOR DEFAULTERS!!!!!!! We already know that 43% of Americans pay no Federal income taxes. And the number of people on food stamps continues to explode. So, its FREE MONEY FOR EVERYONE!!!! At least for people making less than $120,000 a...

Wall Street is clear about who’s to blame for the government shutdown and a looming debt default: tea party Republicans. What’s less clear is what Wall Street can do about it. The reality is that deep-pocketed financial services executives and their lobbyists have little leverage against tea party lawmakers who don’t much care for financiers or big banks and don’t rely heavily on the industry for campaign cash. “Those are the ones who are most problematic for Boehner,” one D.C.-based lobbyist who represents financial services clients said of tea party lawmakers. “I don’t think there’s any way for Wall Street...

I've always said that to get the market's real reaction to actions or inaction of the Federal Reserve you have to wait for the next day, not the two hours after the news. That being the case, yesterday's session suggests Wall Street still doesn't know what to make of the decision to keep buying assets as a form of accommodation ... the question is to whom is the Fed accommodating? Main Street isn't benefiting from the Fed: > Jobs are scares, and the ones that exist are low-paying or part time or (mostly) both > Wages are decreasing rapidly >...

Say hello to Big Brother. . . Again. As if the information collected through the NSA, IRS, and FBI weren’t enough, the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (does that Orwellian named entity not give you the full body shivers?) has decided that government does not have a stranglehold on the spending habits of enough Americans. As a result, the Bureau, which was created as part of Dodd-Frank, is planning on monitoring up to 80 percent of all debit and credit card purchases – roughly 42 billion transactions. (Ironically, the agency has not released how much this data mining program...

NEW YORK (MainStreet) — The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced August 29 that it will "encourage" Swiss banks to cooperate with its tax evasion investigations. Part of the encouragement comes in the form of a joint statement with the Swiss Federal Department of Finance, stating the mountain nation - known for its clocks, neutrality and the tendency of its banks not to ask too many questions about depositor's money - will cooperate with DOJ. Banks that aided tax evaders - and are currently...

Tomorrow I meet with investors making an effort to protect themselves from the inevitable that this video, the first of its kind, outlines very well. Seeing this video is a must for those that recognize that I know beforehand the major events that will shape our lives going into 2020. This is the first imperative that I have sent you that is a must see. The solution offered here is different from the GOTS strategy I discuss at our meeting, and is not the solution for the individual at any level of wealth. What is perfectly outlined is the problem...

The U.S. Justice Department has subpoenaed documents from what was Wall Street’s largest mortgage due-diligence firm as it ratchets up an investigation into bank actions in the years before the financial crisis. The Justice Department delivered a subpoena to Clayton Holdings LLC last month for an extensive number of documents related to the firm’s work on residential mortgage-backed securities deals. Information sought includes due diligence reports, internal communications related to reviews of pools of loans and correspondence with clients, according to a copy of the subpoena filed as an exhibit in federal court. Let’s take the case of the FHA....

Despite some stabilisation in the financial markets by the time the first wave of the crisis had come to an end (2007-2009), global banks are still not leading a quiet life. Since the beginning of the current decade, we have seen a continuous series of scandals surrounding the banks that make up the core of the global financial system. Violations and even crimes committed by banks at different times are being uncovered, financial regulators are carrying out official investigations into the activities of banks and there have also been legal proceedings. Banks are being forced to pay out enormous amounts...

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- A scam being operated through an imaginary bank is being used to steal money from consumers seeking to rebuild their credit ratings by signing up for secured credit cards....

When Dmitry Argarkov was sent a letter offering him a credit card, he found the rates not to his liking. But he didn't throw the contract away or shred it. Instead, the 42-year-old from Voronezh, Russia, scanned it into his computer, altered the terms and sent it back to Tinkoff Credit Systems. Mr Argarkov's version of the contract contained a 0pc interest rate, no fees and no credit limit. Every time the bank failed to comply with the rules, he would fine them 3m rubles (£58,716). If Tinkoff tried to cancel the contract, it would have to pay him 6m...

HSBC bank has reportedly asked more than 40 diplomatic missions to close their accounts as part of a programme to reduce business risks. The Vatican's ambassadorial office in Britain, the Apostolic Nunciature, is among those said to be affected. The head of the UK's Consular Corps told the Mail on Sunday the decision has created "havoc". The Foreign Office has been in touch with HSBC, stepping in to help diplomats open other bank accounts. HSBC said embassies were subject to the same assessments as its other business customers. They need to satisfy five criteria - international connectivity, economic development, profitability,...

The Fed’s Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP) have favored commercial real estate more than housing. Here is a chart of Moody’s/RCA composite commercial real indices (office in white, apartments in yellow and the composite commercial index in green). Commercial property values bottomed out at the end of 2009 and beginning of 2010, depending on the property type. rca073013 Now, if I overlay the S&P Case-Shiller 20 metro index (purple) on the commercial indices, you can see the lackluster recovery of housing (until March 2012) compared to the commercial recovery. crecs Here is a chart of the Moody’s/RCA composite commercial real...

In an ironic twist, the Occupy Wall Street movement, which, two years ago, galvanized resentment against Wall Street and gave birth to the phrase “the 99%,” has given birth to something new: a financial institution. Or, as they call it — the Occupy Money Cooperative. “We launched [the Occupy Money Cooperative] because we felt that the way the for-profit banking industry operates in the U.S., it intrinsically exposes the U.S. economy to risk and makes us vulnerable to the consequences but, above all, fails many millions of Americans who don’t have bank accounts and are denied banking services,” founder and...

Within hours of Detroit filing the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history on July 18, French TV and other media followed up with the reassuring message that, in France at least, such a turn of events would be impossible. Under French law, municipalities are required to balance their budgets, and the national government can — and occasionally does — intervene to force them to comply. But take a closer a look at what’s been happening since the 2007 financial crisis, and a rather more nuanced, and surprising, picture emerges. For more than a dozen sizable towns and districts across France...

Over the last several weeks we have heard Congress caterwauling, stonewalling, stalling and wailing about so called "bank reform". So, cover your eyes and get the kids of out the room because this is about to become bi-partisan.* Here it is: According to both parties- I know you'll find this hard to believe- banks apparently aren't reformed enough. Yes, the problem that Barney-Frank and Chris-Dodd supposedly fixed with huge Democrat majorities from 2000-Obama to 2000-O'Tea Party, apparently isn't fixed, both Democrats and Republicans agree. For example, the other day we heard Barney-Frank both defend and condemn the Dodd-Frank banking reform...

The House Financial Services Committee (HFSC), headed by chair Jeb Hensarling, has approved proposed bill entitled, “Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners Act” (PATH) that is being sold to the American public as a way “to create a sustainable housing finance system.” Hensarling explained : “Our plan helps taxpayers and homeowners. It gives power and control back to consumers. Under the current broken system, unaccountable Washington elites have more of a say over who gets a mortgage than your local bank. The current system is a government monopoly run by the same types of Washington bureaucrats who run the IRS. America...