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Portal:Real Economy Project
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Toxic Assets Getting You Down?
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This article is part of the Real Economy Project. Take action at BanksterUSA.org. |
The big banks on Wall Street have blown a hole in the economy that will take many years to repair. Since the recession began in December 2007, the number of unemployed Americans has risen to 16 million, Americans are losing health care and foreclosures are still rising. We are in a big hole and it is going to take big ideas to climb out of it.
As policymakers tackle financial-sector reforms and job creation programs, your voice is essential if the needs of Main Street America are to be prioritized over the narrow interests of Wall Street. The goal of our www.BanksterUSA.org website and our larger “Real Economy Project” is to give you a voice in these debates.
This is the portal page to a collection of editable wiki profiles of the bankers, financial companies, lobbyists, reformers, front groups, issues and legislation related to the financial crisis and the bank bailout. You can help us build this library and document the people and policies behind the financial crisis by visiting the "Help Out" section below. Don't let the Banskters write the history of this tumultuous time in America!(About/contact)
Reality TV Star Pushes Financial Reform
March 9, 2010
Today the Funny or Die crew took the fight for financial reform to a knew level, tapping the talents of reality TV star Heidi Montag who delivers the message that "with hidden fees and standard interest rate increases, that $11,000 jaw line can end up costing $50,000 dollars!" Montag is famous for her multiple plastic surgeries featured recently on the cover of People magazine.
"That's why I support the creation of a new consumer agency to help protect average citizens and reality stars alike... which will stop banks and credit card companies from being such sleazy jerks," says Montag. "Call your Senator now and tell them to fight for strong consumer protection." The clip features the toll free number supported by SEIU 866-544-7573. This number will be open and available to consumers until March 31.
The clip follows another by the Funny or Die crew featuring all the past Saturday Night Live presidents who haunt President Barak Obama and push him to stand up to the big banks and pass the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Check it out below.
Senator Dodd Doubles Down on a Losing Bet
March 8, 2010
Watching the devolution of the bank reform bill in the U.S. Senate has been painful. Banking Chairman Chris Dodd’s original proposal unveiled last year had numerous strengths, most significantly the removal of bank supervisory authority from the Federal Reserve. Dodd had decided that the Fed had done such a lousy job ignoring the housing bubble and failing to crack down on predatory lending in the mortgage market that it shouldn’t be given a second chance.
But a second chance for this unpopular and failed institution is currently in the works. In an effort to please Republicans and achieve a bipartisan bill, Dodd is not only going to let the Fed keep its bank supervision and rule making authority, he wants to give it authority over the proposed Consumer Financial Projection Agency (CFPA).
How would this work exactly? The CFPA issues strong rules cracking down on credit card abuses one week and the Fed issues contrary rules the next? Moreover, if I were the Fed chairman, I would insist on veto power over any agency under my jurisdiction.
How Goldman Wins No Matter What
March 2, 2010
The steady stream of revelations regarding the role Goldman Sachs has played in the fleecing of Europe should reinvigorate efforts in Congress to rein in the reckless trading that could send the global economy into another tailspin.
To recap, Greece and a number of other European Union countries are dangerously in debt. EU rules say member countries cannot have budget deficits that exceed 3 percent of their gross domestic product. The Greek government recently revealed that its debt is closer to 12 percent of GDP. Other countries including Spain, Ireland, Italy and Portugal are also in trouble. Like our behemoth banks, these countries are “too big to fail.” A default by any one of them would put an end to talks of “green shoots” and could lead to a double dip recession.
In early February, the German magazine Der Spiegel broke the story that Greece has been hiding the extent of its debt for years with the aid of U.S. investment banks. In 2001, Goldman was paid $300 million to structure a complex derivative deal that allowed Greece to borrow billions while hiding the true extent of its debt. Without this creative assist, Greece may not have been accepted into the common currency “Eurozone.”
The Real Economy Project needs volunteers to help document the people and policies behind the financial crisis and bank bailout. Help can be found at "welcome, newcomers!"; the main help page; and the FAQ.
Featured individual profile: Brooksley Born
Brooksley Born, a member of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, previously served from August 26, 1996, to June 1, 1999, as Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). This agency oversees the futures and commodity options markets.
As Chair of the CFTC, Born attempted to regulate financial derivatives, including credit-default swaps. Her efforts to regulate financial derivatives and how she was blocked by Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin and Larry Summers was the subject of the October 20, 2009 Frontline episode, "The Warning."
Bank profile: JPMorgan Chase
JPMorgan Chase is one of the two largest financial services company in the US. It was formed in 2001 by the merger of retail banking giant Chase Manhattan and investment bank J.P. Morgan. Then in 2004 JPMorgan Chase and Bank One merged. The company now has operations in some 60 countries. Brand names currently used are JPMorgan Chase, JPMorgan, and Chase. Legacy names are J.P. Morgan, Chase Manhattan, Chemical, Manufacturers Hanover, Bank One, First Chicago, and National Bank of Detroit. In 2008 JPMorgan Chase bought Bear Stearns and the operations of failed thrift Washington Mutual (WaMu).
More help on uncovering the real economy:
- Congressional Oversight Panel Takes Stock of the Financial Rescue: While TARP Helped Stop Economic Panic, Underlying Weaknesses in U.S. Financial System Remain
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Congressional Oversight Panel today released its December oversight report, "Taking Stock: What Has the Troubled Asset Relief Program Achieved?" The Panel concluded that TARP was an important part of a broader government strategy that stabilized the U.S. financial system. It is apparent after 14 months, however, that significant underlying weaknesses in the financial system remain.
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SubsidyScope, a project of the PEW Charitable Trusts, has a wealth of information, charts, graphs and datasets on the bank bailout, as well as a map of recipients of TARP bailout funds, by county. The map is here and their general financial bailout project page is here.
- ProPublica's "Eye on the Bailout"
Tracking the bailout funds: "Our lists of recipients and programs deal only with expenditures by the Treasury Department – in other words, taxpayer money. We've included all such money allocated by Congress, both the broader $700 billion TARP bill and the separate $400 billion bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: a total of $1.1 trillion. But the Treasury hasn't been working alone – it's been putting up big money alongside the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Our entries for individual financial institutions and programs indicate when the Treasury has committed funds in conjunction with the Fed and/or FDIC, but for a complete accounting of the Fed's and FDIC's spending so far, see Subsidyscope. Most of the data shown in our project comes from the Treasury Department. But in a few cases, we've gathered information from other government agencies or press releases and regulatory filings from bailout recipients."
ProPublica also has a graphical "History of U.S. Government Bailouts" here and a useful "Bailout Timeline."
Pages of interest:
- Elizabeth Warren
- Consumer Financial Protection Agency
- Goldman Sachs
- Lehman Brothers
- JPMorgan Chase
- Bank of America
- The "plutonomy memos" from Michael Moore's movie, Capitalism, A Love Story
- Financial crisis and bank bailout resources
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