The Trade
Hold Companies, Executives and Government Officials Accountable
In this column, co-published with New York Times’ DealBook, Jesse Eisinger monitors the financial markets to hold companies, executives and government officials accountable for their actions.
Congress's Genius Jobs Plan — for Fraudsters, Shills, and Wall St. Analysts
The so-called JOBS Act, which has support from the White House and Republicans, could help stock market scammers get their mojo back.
How to Kill the Volcker Rule: Just Add Fat
Bank lobbyists couldn't kill the Volcker Rule, intended to stop banks from risking taxpayer money on risky speculation. So they're getting Congress and regulators to render it morbidly obese and bedridden.
The SOX Win: How Financial Regulation Can Work
The Sarbanes Oxley law, also known as SOX, cleaned up corporate accounting. It provides hope for how the new financial regulatory law, Dodd-Frank, could work.
From CEO to Candidate, Romney Flip-Flops on Debt
Under Romney, Bain Capital used debt liberally to generate high returns. Now, when the U.S. can borrow at low rates, his own leveraged buyout logic should dictate that the government borrow more -- not less.
Needed: A Cure for a Severe Case of Trialphobia
The Securities and Exchange Commission has been scared to bring big banks to trial for wrongdoing that helped cause the financial crisis. But that strategy fails to hold the big banks accountable and weakens the SEC's negotiating position.
Wall Street Is Already Occupied
A secret confederacy of Occupy Wall Street sympathizers is criticizing the financial industry for becoming a machine to enrich itself, fleecing customers and exacerbating inequality.
Dodd-Frank’s Derivatives Reforms: Clear as Mud
The financial reform law’s fixes for the derivatives market may work. But they may not. Nobody really knows.
Why the SEC Won’t Hunt Big Dogs
After the CDO conflagration, the SEC has wrung measly settlements from banks and charged only two bankers, both low-level, while letting their bosses scamper away. That needs to change.
Trust Bust: Why No One Believes the Banks
Morgan Stanley seems solid, but so did Dexia.
A Rogue to the Rescue: UBS Scandal Reinforces Need for Strict Volcker Rule
As a draft of the Volcker rule has made the rounds in the last several weeks, it has alternatively caused fits of despair and cries of exultation. And that’s just among the proponents of the regulation.
Tackling Reams of Bank Data Can Take Diligence, and Trust
Since emerging as one of the country’s largest banks, Wells Fargo has continued to let its numbers speak for themselves. That may not be such a good thing.
Bank of America Gets Buffetted
Warren Buffett’s $5 billion investment in B of A is hardly a confidence booster.
Once Unthinkable, Breakup of Big Banks Now Seems Feasible
What was made can be unmade.
In U.S. Monetary Policy, a Boon to Banks
The federal government, in ways explicit and implicit, profoundly subsidizes and shelters the banking industry, and the protection is so well established that we barely notice it anymore.
For One Whistle-Blower, No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
It has been noted repeatedly that almost no top bankers have faced serious consequences for their actions in the financial crisis. But there is a Wall Street corollary that might be even more pernicious: good guys are punished.
For One Whistle-Blower, No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
It has been noted repeatedly that almost no top bankers have faced serious consequences for their actions in the financial crisis. But there is a Wall Street corollary that might be even more pernicious: good guys are punished.
