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Three separate incidents last week involving the securities industry highlighted the disregard our country’s institutions have for the average American investor. Taken together, the events, a court ruling involving insider trading, a fine over investment bank misconduct and the roll back of laws made after the financial crisis to limit […]
For years, Puerto Rico’s economy has been hurtling headlong for the brink. Regular readers of this blog well know of Puerto Rico’s financial woes. Its exploding $70 billion municipal debt and difficulty raising funds through bond offerings have led to forecasts of economic doom, including bond defaults or restructuring. Such […]
While consumers and the media seem euphoric over falling oil and gasoline prices, the crash in the oil market is a true cause for concern for America’s already beleaguered investing public. The implications of falling oil – down 30% since June – is far reaching, both nationally and overseas. Wall […]
Wall Street banks, which never stopped raking in money despite their key role in causing the 2008 global financial collapse, are at it again. The latest round of big bank hijinks are hurting the American consumer where it hurts, right in their pocketbooks. Big Wall Street banks are manipulating the […]
A showdown is coming between the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority – FINRA – and the securities Industry lobbyists, namely the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association – SIFMA – over increasing investor protection. The industry’s self-regulator, FINRA is often maligned as being too soft on the securities industry. It’s funded […]
Wall Street poured millions into Republican campaigns in the mid-term elections. The goal and thrust of Wall Street’s investment was to have a Congress that was friendlier to its interests and less friendly to investor protection regulation. Will Wall Street’s investment pay off? A major test of the election result […]
In the 2008 financial crisis, major banks like Citigroup and Merrill Lynch were on the verge of collapse. We all remember that a taxpayer funded bailout saved those financial institutions. To avoid a wholesale financial collapse, Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, may need a similar plan of assistance or some […]
Just as market volatility has picked up steam, stock brokers, who love the hard sell and the quick commission, have once again started to increase their push of risky structured notes. Indeed, the markets have been capricious and startling. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the mainstay stock indicator, has had […]
In 2008 American International Group (AIG) almost destroyed the global economy by issuing credit default swaps on billions of toxic mortgages. In the end, the giant insurer didn’t go bankrupt, instead, it was saved by Uncle Sam, receiving a $185 billion taxpayer bailout in the process, and is once again […]
Soon to be former Attorney General Eric Holder infamously mused last year that Wall Street firms and their executives were so systemically important to our financial system that – even if they commit financial crimes – they may be “too big to jail”. “I am concerned that the size of […]