Category Archives: financial regulation

Morning Awful: Freddie Mac

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Matt Osborne

Privatized in 1968, Freddie Mac was late to the subprime game. Its status as a “government sponsored entity” gave it a certain chip on the shoulder about profitability — so it bought in big, and got stuck with lots of … Continue reading →

Posted in Morning Awful, Obama's Wars, financial crisis, financial regulation, mortgage crisis | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Bank of America Forgot to Bribe Obama

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Matt Osborne

Bank of America has agreed to a $335 million settlement over charges of racial bias. Two memes can be put to rest: one, minorities did not cause the meltdown — they were its foremost victims. Two, the president isn’t holding … Continue reading →

Posted in financial crisis, financial meltdown, financial regulation | Leave a comment

Restoring Economic Facts

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Matt Osborne

Galleon Group LLC co-founder Raj Rajaratnam is guilty on all counts: Although Rajaratnam never testified at his trial, the jurors heard his voice on dozens of tapes, and they did not paint a flattering portrait. The tapes proved that the … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Derivatives, Financial Reform, financial regulation | Leave a comment

Morning Awful: Foreclosure Fever

Posted on May 6, 2011 by Matt Osborne

At HuffPo, Shahien Nasiripour reports that active duty military members have been victims of illegal foreclosure: The GAO report, which focused on problems in the mortgage industry and the lack of federal oversight, is the first official study to feature … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Reform, Morning Awful, financial regulation | 2 Comments

The Culture Of Criminal Capital

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Matt Osborne

Much to everyone’s surprise, HuffPo’s Shahien Nasiripour reports, the Financial Crisis Commission has ended its work by referring Wall Street malfeasance to prosecutors: Richard Bowen, former chief underwriter for Citigroup’s consumer-lending unit, testified that, in the middle of 2006, he … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Reform, financial crisis, financial regulation | 1 Comment

Fed: End Foreclosure Abuse

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Matt Osborne

Put it in the just-like-Bush file: WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve has reversed its opposition to new rules reining in foreclosure abuses, and will support stronger regulations on the nation’s largest banks, according to a source familiar with the matter. … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Reform, financial regulation | Leave a comment

Foreclosure Fever

Posted on October 11, 2010 by Matt Osborne

The president used his “pocket veto” last Friday to strike down an ugly bill that would have let banks foreclose on homes with out-of-state notaries. This was the banks’ way of trying to deal with all the bad paperwork from … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Derivatives, Financial Reform, financial crisis, financial meltdown, financial regulation | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Brownback Mountain

Posted on May 13, 2010 by Matt Osborne

The Senate voted yesterday to stop incentivizing mortgage fraud. Mortgage brokers and loan officers will no longer earn more for sticking a higher interest rate in the fine print, and they have to prove you can repay the loan. They … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Reform, Sam Brownback, financial regulation, mortgage crisis, veterans issues | Leave a comment

The Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Firebreak

Posted on May 10, 2010 by Matt Osborne

Can we just review one important fact about these two institutions before we have a Senate debate on them? They were both privatized in 1968 — a fact central to the story of the meltdown: In the schizoid reality of … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Derivatives, Financial Reform, financial crisis, financial meltdown, financial regulation | Leave a comment

Ron Paul Triangulates Shelby

Posted on May 2, 2010 by Matt Osborne

This ad has started showing up all over Huffington Post lately. Click it and you’ll visit Ron Paul’s Campaign For Liberty, otherwise known as C4L, where a set of Frank Luntz and Paulite talking points contains the following call to … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Reform, Gold Standard, Republicans Meet The Teabag Terror, Senator Shelby, financial crisis, financial regulation, firebaggers, ron paul | Leave a comment

Wheat From Chaff

Posted on April 20, 2010 by Matt Osborne

Suddenly, Senate Republicans aren’t insisting on scrapping the financial reform bill to start over: Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said on Tuesday that negotiations between Republicans and Democrats over financial reform legislation have progressed to the point that the debate now … Continue reading →

Posted in financial regulation | Leave a comment