Category Archives: Banana republic

The Pervasiveness of Health Care Corruption as Shown by Another Roundup of Legal Settlements

Yves here. This post is important, not simply for chronicling health care corruption, but also in demonstrating how, just as in financial services, the individuals responsible are not targeted for fines or prosecution.

Bill Black: Since When Does Refusing to Put Fraudulent Banks into Receivership Help the Economy?

Conservative economists love “creative destruction.” They can’t wait to “get their Schumpeter on” when a business fails and thousands of workers lose their jobs.

There is no more “creative destruction” conceivable than when we put a bank that has become a fraudulent enterprise into receivership, remove the controlling officers leading the fraud, and sell the bank through an FDIC-assisted acquisition

GSE Reform Dead for Now

I’m a little surprised at the overly coded reporting at the New York Times and particularly the Wall Street Journal, where Nick Timiraos provides top-notch coverage on the mortgage beat, on the implications of the failure of a widely-touted, Administration-backed GSE reform bill to get out of the Senate Banking Committee. Basically, it confirms what I’ve long believed but refrained from writing about, namely, that government sponsored enterprise, aka, GSE reform, was not going to get done in this session of Congress.

Bill Black: GAO and Wall Street Journal Whitewash Huge Criminal Bank Frauds

Every day brings multiple new scandals. At least they used to be scandals. Now they’re simply news items strained of ethical content by business journalists who see no evil, hear no evil, and speak not about evil.

“Independent” Foreclosure Review Error Rate Vastly Higher Than Previously Admitted

At this point, it seems hard to add insult to injury, given the terrible track record of the OCC Independent Foreclosure Reviews. But it’s nevertheless been done.

Matt Stoller: No, America Is Not an Oligarchy

A lot of people are misreading this Princeton study on the political influence of the wealthy and business groups versus ordinary citizens. The study does not say that the US is an oligarchy, wherein the wealthy control politics with an iron fist.

Paul Ryan’s “New” Austerity Budget

Paul Ryan’s austerity budget is demonstrably failed economic policy in a new bottle.

All in the Family: Tunisia as a Case Study in State Capture, aka Kleptocracy

If kleptocracy is a disease, Tunisia is in Stage 4. Its ruling family that controlled an impressive swathe of the economy. But what is sobering about the Tunisian case study is that an overthrow of the government has done little to reverse the concentration of wealth and power. Is that because Tunisia was so far gone, or is this native to kleptocracy, that once it becomes established, it is difficult to extirpate?

Joe Firestone: Is the MSM Blackout on Inequality, Plutocracy, and Oligarchy Ending?

Yves here. Although I like this piece, I believe Joe is not cynical enough about MSNBC, which has become a messaging apparatus of the Democratic party. The reason that MSNBC is now talking about inequality is Obama is pushing for a minimum wage increase, so wealth and income disparity are no longer verboten topics

Delaware Chief Justice to Shareholders: Drop Dead

We’ve argued that the notion that companies are obligated to maximize shareholder value is a theory made up by economists and eagerly adopted by corporate executives, with little to no foundation in law. We received confirmation of our thesis in the form of a Columbia Law Review article by the chief justice in Delaware, Leo Strine, arguing that shareholder activism needs to be curbed. As if CEOs are really breaking a sweat over those pesky shareholders.

Who In Ukraine Will Benefit From An IMF Bailout?

Economists Jeffrey Sommers and Michael Hudson discuss how oligarchs and the Russians will be the true beneficiaries of an IMF bailout of Ukraine.

Democracy Now Discusses Wells Fargo Foreclosure Document Fabrication Manual

It’s good to see that a lawsuit providing critical new evidence of systematic foreclosure abuses is getting the attention it warrants.

A New Wall Street Looting Scheme: Disaster Savings Accounts

As famed short seller David Einhorn says, no matter how bad you think it is, it’s worse. We’ve got proof of his dictum in the form of a new looting scheme, the Disaster Savings Account Act. Since the financiers haven’t yet gotten their hands on Social Security, they are looking for new worlds to plunder.