Dylan Ratigan: Mortgage & Banking Fraud - Where Are The Handcuffs! (VIDEO)
Great discussion. Ratigan, well, he's on fire.
Video - Ratigan with Nevada attorney General - Feb. 4, 2011
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Dylan takes up the issue of mortgage fraud, predatory lending and liars loans. We know there were crimes committed. In many cases, we know who the criminals are. But the "regulators and the Dept. of Justice have done NOTHING."
Angelo Mozilo, for example, just settled with the California AG for $6.5M, admitting no wrong doing, and Mozilo will not pay a dime out of his own pocket.
Yesterday, thousands called their state AG's as part of a national day of action to demand that AG's do something about rampant fraud in the mortgage system, including fraud involved with the Obama administration's HAMP program. (Some critics contend that HAMP was a failure, by design, meant only to prop up real estate prices and provide another subsidy to the banks.)
Dylan cuts to the core issue of the fraud: the securitization of mortgages, known to be fraudulent, which were then sold on to pension funds and retail investors. This practice was highlighted in the FCIC report. Why has nothing been done, when everyone, including (usually the last to know) congressional commissions like the FCIC, knows about it?
Dylan asks the Nevada AG, who was a guest on the show, whether this practice occurred in her state and what she can do about it. She says that she is limited in what she can do, in terms of jurisdiction (fair enough), but then she spits out a barrage of verbiage (5:14 - 6:30) about "process" and "looking at every aspect" of the problem, and... Something tells me she doesn't plan to do much of anything about the big players in the mortgage securitization scandal. Otherwise, she simply would have said she would find out and go after anyone involved, but she spent 1 minute and 15 seconds basically making excuses for why she hadn't done so already. Credit Dylan, though, for asking the right questions.
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Listen to more here...
Where Are the AIG Dividends? The Federal Reserve Is Getting Paid Back, Why Not Taxpayers?
Editor's Note: A republish from last Fall for readers who missed it the first time around. It's now been two years and taxpayers are still waiting for dividends on our remaining $49 billion invested in AIG. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is having NO TROUBLE collecting on its loan. In fact, as you will read, the bailout was STRUCTURED that way from the beginning - All to assure the Fed was paid back FIRST.
Listen To John Thain's Interview With The Financial Crisis Commission: 'We Should Have Grabbed And Shaken Paulson & Geithner To Save Lehman'
Updated on Feb 14, 2011 at 9:03 AM by
Dr. Pitchfork
What's inside this story...
Audio - John Thain's testimony with investigators from the FCIC
Video - Paulson: "I never once considered" saving Lehman - Sept. 15, 2008
Video - Bernanke: "We did not have the option of saving Lehman" - Mar. 15, 2009
Article - Bloomberg on Thain's just released testimony.
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Inside The Collapse Of Lehman Brothers - The REAL Story Behind Paulson's Decision To Let Lehman Fail
An insider's account of what happened behind the scenes at Lehman Brothers, with Lawrence McDonald, author of "A Colossal Failure of Common Sense" and CNBC's Maria Bartiromo. McDonald was a distressed debt trader for Lehman from 2004 until the bankruptcy filing. Incidentally, he said his group made $2 billion in profit for Lehman Brothers in 2007.
I recommend skipping to the 3:25 mark. McDonald says Lehman's fate was sealed earlier in the Spring of '08 at a dinner between Paulson and Dick Fuld. He implies there was bad blood going back a few years, and that the dinner did not go well, with Fuld lecturing Paulson repeatedly, telling the Hammer that he knew what he was doing, had been CEO for a lot longer than Paulson ran Goldman, and that he would de-leverage at his own pace. Fate sealed. I have always assumed it was part personal and part professional. Nobody was very fond of the Gorilla and his abrasive nature, and Lehman's disappearance has obviously benefited Goldman Sachs in an outsized way. I think we can finally shut this case. It was the right decision to let Lehman fail even if Paulson did it for the wrong reasons. The only problem is that the lesson was never learned as the subsequent AIG collapse and creation of TARP meant no one else would be allowed to fail and moral hazard would remain intact.
Bill Isaac Vs. Hank Paulson's Bailout Machine -- How The Former FDIC Chairman ALMOST Stopped TARP
The little-known story behind the House's initial rejection of TARP from Bill Isaac's new book Senseless Panic.
Dimon Calls Fannie, Freddie ‘Biggest Disasters of All Time'
Dimon now admits to fraud. Greenspan admitted the same at Jekyll Island in December at the Fed's 100 year victory celebration...
That video is inside.
'Draft Dodger! War Criminal!' - Cheney Heckled At CPAC; Ron Paul Supporters Walk Out On Rumsfeld (Video)
Video - Earlier today Dick 'Five Deferments' Cheney gets a spirited welcome at CPAC from some Ron Paul conservatives - Feb. 10, 2011
Cheney was at CPAC this afternoon to present the Defender of the Constitution Award to Don Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld was booed loudly when he made his own entrance just a few minutes earlier. A large contingent of the audience also got up and left in protest. Beautiful.
IT NEVER ENDS: Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan & Prudential Steal From The Poor To Earn Subsidies On Luxury Hotels
The recently renovated Blackstone Hotel in Chicago is a shining example of the great taxpayer ripoff in action - all courtesy of your favorite too big to be failures.
Jim Rogers: "I expect more currency turmoil, more social unrest, more governments collapsing" (CNBC)
Video - Jimmy Rogers - Feb. 3, 2011
- "I don't own many equities, because I don't know what's going to happen in the world economy. I expect more currency turmoil, more social unrest, more governments collapsing. So I am investing in currencies and commodities rather than stocks."
- "I have been explaining to everybody on CNBC for two years now that food prices are going to go through the roof, they're going to explode. We have serious shortage of everything developing, including shortages of farmers."
How The Global Food Crisis Benefits Goldman Sachs
Video - Harper's Magazine Frederick Kaufman - Feb. 12, 2011
We're in the midst of a global food crisis - the second in three years. It's one factor fueling uprisings and protests in Tunisia, Egypt, and elsewhere. World food prices hit a record in January, driven by huge increases in the prices of wheat, corn, sugar and oils. Contributing Editor for Harper's Magazine Frederick Kaufman warns there's a direct link between the sky rocketing cost of food and Wall Street, particularly Goldman Sachs.