Blog Archives

Journalist Joris Luyendijk After Interviewing 70+ Investment Bankers: “The problem really is exactly as bad as the ‘banker bashers’ believe”

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Jon Ogden — 2 Comments ↓

Joris Luyendijk, a journalist for the Guardian, has been running a banking blog since summer 2011. As part of the project, he’s interviewed over 70 people in the financial sector. Before he started interviewing financiers, he knew almost nothing about the…

Tagged with: Scandals, Too big to fail
Posted in Break Up the Banks, Wall Street Reform

These 3 Laws Would Actually Reform Wall Street, and They Deserve Your Support. See Why.

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Jon Ogden — No Comments ↓

Sometimes Wall Street reform seems completely hopeless. After all, it’s been over four years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and we still haven’t seen much change. However, there’s good reason to keep up the fight. Right now there are…

Tagged with: break up the banks, glass-steagall, Too big to fail, Wall Street Reform
Posted in Wall Street Reform

When People Most Familiar With Wall Street Say This About It, You Know It’s Time For Reform

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Jon Ogden — No Comments ↓

After watching Charlie Munger compare investment bankers to heroin addicts this morning (above), we had the idea to put together a list of people who’ve been directly involved at some level with Wall Street and are now outspoken critics. Here’s what…

Tagged with: Alexis Goldstein, Charlie Munger, Jeffrey Sachs, Nassim Taleb, Neil Barofsky
Posted in Quotes, Wall Street Reform

Why Support the Brown-Vitter Act?

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Jon Ogden — No Comments ↓

As we’ve covered before, Senators Sherrod Brown and David Vitter have cosponsored a bill to end “too big to fail.” Here’s why it’s worth supporting: You know how most banks require customers to put money down before they’ll lend them money? It’s…

Tagged with: break up the banks, brown-vitter, Wall Street Reform
Posted in Break Up the Banks, Wall Street Reform

FRONTLINE: The Retirement Gamble

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Jon Ogden — No Comments ↓

Last night on their program The Retirement Gamble, FRONTLINE exposed how median-income, two-earner households lose $155,000 over the course of their lifetimes to 401(k) fees, and how Wall Street is behind those fees. Watch it here. The first half explains the…

Tagged with: Frontline, gambling, pbs
Posted in Wall Street Reform

Jeffrey Sachs Says What All Of Us Have Been Thinking About Wall Street, Only Bolder

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Jon Ogden — No Comments ↓

In a recent speech at a Philadelphia Fed conference, Columbia economist Jeffrey Sachs waxed bold about Wall Street. The quality of the speech makes up for the poor video quality: Here are some more excerpts: The amount of what I would regard as…

Tagged with: Jeffrey Sachs, Scandals, Wall Street Reform
Posted in Scandals, Wall Street Reform

Neil Barofsky Quote: “The same incentives that led to the 2008 crisis are still in place today”

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Jon Ogden — No Comments ↓

Neil Barofsky Quote Neil Barofsky, author of the book Bailout: “The same incentives that led to the 2008 crisis are still in place today and in many ways, the situation is worse. We have a financial system that concentrates risk in just a…

Tagged with: Neil Barofsky, Too big to fail, Wall Street Reform
Posted in Wall Street Reform

Wall Street Gambling

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Jon Ogden — No Comments ↓

The Financial Times has an article on risk addicts, people who’ve become addicted to Wall Street gambling. The quote above comes from an ex-trader in London who details his addiction to spread betting, a form of gambling that is off-limits at most banks, but…

Tagged with: gambling, wall street, Wall Street Reform
Posted in Wall Street Reform

5 Worst Wall Street Moments of 2012

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Jon Ogden — No Comments ↓

The megabanks were constantly in the news in 2012, often for unpleasant activities. Here are a list of 5 moments that seemed particularly egregious to us. 1. JPMorgan’s London Whale loss: Early in 2012, a derivatives trader named Bruno Iskil lost an…

Tagged with: Scandals, wall street
Posted in Wall Street Reform

Why We Need Simple, Well-Enforced Regulation (Instead of Thousands of Regulators)

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Jon Ogden — No Comments ↓

The word regulation frequently carries negative connotations—and for good reason. Often, regulatory rules are influenced by megacorporations who know that they can clobber competitors by helping to pass laws that hurt the little guy. The Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, for instance, was…

Tagged with: Dodd-Frank, regulation, Too big to fail
Posted in Wall Street Reform, Wall Street Washington