Category Archives: Banking industry

Michael M. Thomas, R.I.P

I am very much saddened by the death of Michael M. Thomas, from old money and high finance, and vocally unimpressed by them.

A Half Century Since The Beginning Of The End Of The Post WW II Economic Order

Marking the 50th anniversary of the end of the Bretton Woods economic system.

Climate Activists Target Banks’ Greenwashing in Nationwide #DefundLine3 Protests

Banks fund new oil pipelines that will generate climate pollution for decades. They are greenswahing their loans as ‘sustainability’ measures

The Moral Hazard of Limited Liability

Some concrete ideas for how to pin the tail of the limited liability donkey back on key insiders, and make regulators accountable.

Gurbir Grewal Takes Helm as SEC Director of Enforcement, Breaking BigLaw Stranglehold

The new SEC director of enforcement takes up his post today, the first in this position since 2005 to enter without strong recent corporate ties.

California Senate Shoots Down CalPERS’ Private Debt Secrecy Bill; Board Hissy Fit Reveals It Never Questioned Staff Misrepresentations

CalPERS is no longer being given the benefit of the doubt by the legislature, and can’t handle a request to ‘splain itself.

When Counterculture Goes Mainstream: A Dispatch from the 2021 Bitcoin Conference

How Bitcoin hard-core loyalists see the future of their project.

Michael Hudson Discusses Financialization, Rentierism, and Other Favorite Topics with Jessi Ora of Swedish Positiva Pengar Group

Michael Hudson gives another wide-ranging, tour de force interview. Enjoy!

Will Tether Bring All The Cryptocurrencies Way Down?

The more you look at the cryptocurrency Tether, the less there is to like.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb Shellacks Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies

Nassim Nicholas Taleb explains why Bitcoin is not good for much except enriching early adopters and intermediaries.

Wolf Richter: Oh Lordy, Yellen Comes Out for Higher Interest Rates: “A Plus for Society’s Point of View and the Fed’s Point of View”

“We want them to go back to” a normal interest rate environment.

The West’s Not Very Hidden Hand in Debt Oppression in Central Asia

How World-Bank-sponsored microlending produced widespread misery in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan: debt collectors use violence.

Crypto Crackdown: Only the Beginning?

If you think the officialdom is getting tough with crypto, there’s even more they can do to tighten the screws.

Bill Black: The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One (Part 1/9)

Bill Black traces the history of modern American financial fraud starting in this episode with the S&L Banking scandal.

Sputtering About Crypto and the US Pipeline Ransomware Attack

You can hear the silence about the role of crypto in the Colonial Pipeline and a growing spate of ransom demands.