"According to several reports, the administration is considering Michael Barr for the vice chair of supervision slot. Barr is a veteran of the Clinton and Obama years who is now the Sanford Weill Dean of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. (Weill was the former CEO of Citigroup, whose merger with Travelers Insurance triggered the end of Glass-Steagall and the beginning of the mega-bank era.)
As assistant Treasury Secretary for financial institutions in the Obama years, Barr was the key right-hand man to Tim Geithner and liaison with Congress on the Dodd-Frank reforms. Sheila Bair wrote considerably in her memoir of that time about how Barr defended the financial industry from aggressive regulation at every turn, seeking to eliminate strong derivatives regulations, weaken the Volcker Rule that attempted to prevent banks from engaging in risky trading with customer money, and preserve the ability for future bailouts. He infamously gave the quote to New York magazine that the bill could have broken up big banks if Treasury had agreed to it, but they decided against it.
Barr was also the lead designer of HAMP, the failed foreclosure mitigation program that allowed banks to trap borrowers in predatory schemes. Barr kind-of sort-of apologized for the failure to stop the foreclosure wave in a 2020 book, saying that the White House should have “acted more forcefully from the start.” He also led the investigation into fraudulent evictions with phony documents, promising things would change within a year. (They didn’t.)"
David Dayen, The Return of Michael Barr
"Impunity is epidemic in America. The rich and powerful get away with their heists in broad daylight. When a politician like Bernie Sanders calls out the corruption, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal double down with their mockery over such a foolish 'dreamer.'
The Journal recently opposed the corruption sentence of former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell for taking large gifts and bestowing official favors — because everybody does it. And one of its columnists praised Panama for facilitating the ability of wealthy individuals to hide their income from 'predatory governments' trying to collect taxes. No kidding.
Our major institutions, the ones that should know better, are often gross enablers of impunity.
Jeffrey Sachs, The Age of Impunity, 2016
The wiseguys wanted to take stocks up today in a risk on wash cycle, but the bombshell miss by Netflix broke the script, and weighed heavily on the big cap tech stocks.
These are, as you may recall, once again the bloated heart of a 'new era' stock bubble.
Gold and silver bounced.
The Dollar fell back hard from 101 but managed to hang on to the 100 handle fairly well.
A strong Dollar hurts the real economy, but does well for the financiers who can buy up foreign assets on the cheap.
The VIX fell in the spirit of a wash cycle attempt.
This will end. But it is going to end badly for many.
You know what to do. It is the same in every age.
But we are such faithless cheats and swindlers that we convince ourselves that we do not, because we do not wish to do what we have been told to do, what has been written on our hearts.
Greed and pride kill. But love covers a multitude of sins.
And the band played on.
Have a pleasant evening.
