Bill Black on Lehman Failure: We Need to Be Blunt
Submitted by Freewheelin Franklin on Wed, 04/21/2010 - 12:26in
With all new financial reforms and regulations on the horizon, one needs to wonder, what the hell were the regulators doing through all of this? Here is the testimony of a real regulator, with a proven track record of cleaning up messes created by fraud in the banking system. Perhaps, all we really need, is more regulators like Mr Black.
April 20, 2010 — Bill Black's eye-popping opening statement at House Financial Services hearing on Lehman Bros. failure.
For more see his written statement to the Committee [pdf].
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That Bank of England scenerio
RE: changing boss's and "not saying no"...sound a bit mafiaso eh?
Yes it does.
But in reality, the BoE is just as screwed up as the Fed Res and the ECB.
The guy in the video is playing the "naughty bankers" card.
Who regulates the bankers?
Why...government of course!
I thought this was interesting....they hired Jeb Bush in 2007
http://current.com/news/89309852_flashback-lehman-hires-jeb-...
Mr. Black looks like he is just bursting with 'new ideas'
Ideas for regulation. Do I see an aging Gary Hart under that beard?
Ideas for regulations?
Of course. He's a regulator. That's what regulators want. It makes their job easier. That doesn't mean we have to give them to him. Bill Black is a pit bull, and he's one of the few people around that:
1. Knows what he is doing and
2. Is willing to do what is necessary, regardless of who it affects.
When you need a cop, call a cop. When his job is done, send him back to the Dunkin Donuts.
The most important civil liberty I expect from my government, is my right to be kept alive - Mitt Romney
The central bank is complicit
The central bank is complicit in this fraud...
Excellent testimony.
Excellent testimony. Unfortunately it fell on deaf ears. Paul Kanjorski from Pennsylvania, a member of the Financial Services Committee, is bought and paid for. Kanjorski did not co-sponsor HR 1207. He is on the list of shame. Hopefully the good folks of PA will kick his butt out of office in the next election.
Kanjorski is bought and paid for?
Aren't they all. HR 1207 falls on deaf ears, if you can't
make money out of thin air how can the the government buy and pay for anything at this point.
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
The economic plan is to inflate prices relative to price of housing. In that way the real estate market will have a soft landing and the bubble will disappear magically and homeowners values will stabilize to afforable levels. Of course this is at the expense of the unwitting taxpayer that is already overburdened an inept big government.
However good the intentions of the plan may be, this plan is flawed! If the wage price spiral is impeded by high unemployment and declining private sector good paying union jobs with things like health benefits included in ones compensation then what does the plan do besides make the situation worse?
Government again thinks it has the answer with health care reform. If nobody had insurance doctors would have to lower their prices or flip burgers for a living. If everybody had health insurance then who cares what it costs except the middleman insurance companies who are always looking for way to charge more, payout less and thereby profit most.
and then you die
Thanks for posting the US
Thanks for posting the US debt clock -- that is an eye opener for sure. One thing our government is not taking into account is the fact that the result of abortion on demand has wiped out millions of potential wage earners in this country. We do not have enough new workers entering the work force to support our economy. Retirement for many will be very painful -- some say that is poetic justice for the pro-abortion crowd. No doubt we will have full employment sooner rather than later but the work force will not be large enough to pay the bills. That will result in a flood of cheap foreign labor to fill the need. That act will cause even more damage to our country. Our corrupt government leaders have put all of us in a catch-22 situation. Hopefully we can replace the tyrants that are causing the problem and hire good people to pick up the pieces when we rebuild.
Of course, a lack of "regulation" isn't the issue here.
The issue is that central banks create new money out of thin air for the benefit of government and the commercial banking industry.
Repeal the legal tender laws, end the income tax and all the financial craziness grinds to a halt.
Well, that goes without
Well, that goes without saying. But until then, we need stern enforcement. To simply shut down the central banks and end the income tax would also grind the entire economy to a halt. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for it, but it should be done in a way that does not create an economic Armageddon. Unless, of course, that's what you want, in which case you instantly lose any credibility with the general population.
The fact of the matter is, the financial services industry is out of control, literally. They must be brought under control, first. Then the government needs to get their fiscal house in order. Then, maybe, we can start thinking about allowing interest rates to return to their normal level. Then, we can limit fractional reserve lending, and if we make it that far, we can talk about returning to a commodity based currency, and shutting down the central banks.
Even in a Libertarian society, there is a need to prevent fraud and allow for recourse. This would ultimately be determined by the courts, but even after a court's ruling, there needs to be enforcement. We're not talking about how much money should or should not be in the system and if the government should decide this. What we are talking about is fraud. It doesn't matter what kind of monetary system there is, or whether or not there is an income tax. Fraud happens, and it needs to dealt with. And mamby pamby regulators like Toxic Timmy Geithner and Helicopter Ben Bernanke only add to the problems instead of stopping them in their tracks. When the S&Ls were ripping people off, Bill Black did just that.
The most important civil liberty I expect from my government, is my right to be kept alive - Mitt Romney
The repeal of legal tender laws is the only way out of the mess.
The idea that bad central bank policy can be replaced by good policy is a fantasy.
Its like leaving the fox in charge of the hen house. The temptation is just too strong.
The post-Bretton Woods era that began in 1971 is drawing to a close.
Where
Where did I say bad monetary policy can be replaced by good? All I said was that the government should first and foremost uphold the law. I don't care if it's good monetary policy, bad monetary policy or no monetary policy, the government needs to protect our rights. If the government refuses to protect our rights, nothing else really matters, does it?
The most important civil liberty I expect from my government, is my right to be kept alive - Mitt Romney
Then you're just saying "Audit The Fed"?
If so, I think we can all agree with that.
Audit the Fed
Is a good place to start. It is a first step towards eventually eliminating it, IMO. Eliminating the Fed, ending fractional reserve banking and limited liability and returning to a gold standard are excellent long term goals. But what are you going to do today? Individuals, institutions, and businesses are being ripped off today by widespread fraud in the system. I know the long term goals, and agree with them, but what are we going to do today? Today, we actively investigate and prosecute the largest perpetrators of fraud in the largest institutions. The politicians who support them and their schemes will expose themselves, and we can vote those individuals out of office. Or, we can just sit around and wait for the entire system to implode, which will eventually happen. But will it happen today, or 10 years from now? All I'm saying, is that we need to do something to protect the little guy from fraud, by prosecuting offenders, today.
The most important civil liberty I expect from my government, is my right to be kept alive - Mitt Romney