The Latest Reports About Wall Street’s Corruption
Eric Zuesse
Here are the latest 10 news-reports from the
indispensable best reporters on Wall Street’s corruptness, Pam and Russ
Martens, at their indispensable news-site, “Wall Street on Parade”:
Wall Street on Parade reports during 10-22 June 2020:
By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: June 22, 2020 ~
President Donald Trump has been sacking federal watchdogs at the speed of a
bullet train. In just a six-week period in April and May, the President fired
five Inspectors General of federal agencies. In last Friday night’s coup
d’état, Attorney General William Barr, acting as consigliere for the President,
ousted the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the federal
prosecutor that oversees prosecutions of Wall Street banks in that district.
The privately owned Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which is in charge of the
bulk of the Fed’s bailout programs, also resides in that district. Barr and the
President want to put a man with zero experience as a prosecutor in charge of
that office, Jay Clayton, who currently heads the Securities and Exchange
Commission which has only civil enforcement powers. Clayton represented 8 of
the … Continue
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By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: June 20, 2020 ~
Shortly after 9 p.m. last evening, the U.S. Attorney General, William Barr,
stunned prosecutors in the Southern District of New York with the announcement
that their boss, Geoffrey Berman, was stepping down as U.S. Attorney in that
District and would be replaced with the sitting Chairman of the Securities and
Exchange Commission, Jay Clayton, who lacks even a shred of criminal
prosecution experience. What Clayton does have is a lot of experience
representing Wall Street’s largest banks, like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan
Chase, both of whom are currently under intense criminal investigations by the
Justice Department. Clayton was a former partner at Wall Street’s go-to law
firm, Sullivan & Cromwell, which is currently representing Goldman in the
criminal case and representing JPMorgan in various matters. The breaking news
last night went downhill from there. Several hours after Barr’s announcement,
Berman … Continue
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By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: June 18, 2020 ~ As
corporate-friendly Republican members of the Senate Banking Committee and House
Financial Services Committee engaged in effusive praise at hearings this week
over the efforts of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to quickly establish a plethora
of corporate bailout facilities, the voices of Wall Street veterans have struck
a different chord. These long-term market watchers are warning that the Fed has
created an unprecedented stock market bubble that is destined to end badly.
Earlier this week, CNBC anchor Melissa Lee interviewed Sven Henrich, the Lead
Market Strategist at Northman Trader. Henrich savaged the Fed’s recent
interventions in the market, stating the following: “The Fed really has created
a massive asset bubble here in the last few months. The lender of last resort
has become the lender of the entire resort. And no red line shall remain
uncrossed. “The Fed has basically … Continue
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By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: June 18, 2020 ~ There
is fresh evidence that Citigroup, the mega Wall Street bank that was insolvent
but still illegally propped up by the Fed during the last financial crisis (to
the tune of $2.5 trillion cumulatively in secret loans for two and one-half
years) is back to drinking at the Fed’s trough. The Fed has set up a program
called the Paycheck Protection Program Liquidity Facility (PPPLF). That Fed
program is reimbursing small banks for the small business loans that they made
under the Paycheck Protection Program which was established by Congress in the
CARES Act and being overseen by the Small Business Administration (SBA).
According to the Fed, the idea is to reimburse these banks around the country
for the PPP loans so that they can make fresh loans to other struggling
consumers and businesses. The banks simply post the PPP … Continue
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By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: June 17, 2020 ~ The
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was authorized by Congress under the CARES
Act and is being overseen by the Small Business Administration (SBA). The goal
of the PPP program is to make 1 percent interest loans to small businesses
experiencing hardship from the coronavirus crisis and then forgive the loans if
the businesses keep their employees on the payroll. Even though the loans are
guaranteed against losses by the SBA, the Federal Reserve launched its own
program, called the Paycheck Protection Program Liquidity Facility, to
reimburse lenders who make these loans. So far, the Fed has reimbursed $57
billion of these loans as of June 10, out of total loans approved by the SBA of
more than $500 billion. The odd thing about those Fed reimbursements is that a
stunning $5.3 billion in reimbursements, or 9 percent of the $57 … Continue
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By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: June 16, 2020 ~
Taxpayers’ money is being used to make the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)
loans. Thus, the public has every right to know the names of the recipients of
those loans. Despite originally promising transparency, U.S. Treasury Secretary
Steve Mnuchin is now stonewalling Congress on releasing a list of the
recipients. Congress sold the plan to the public on the basis that the loans
would go to small businesses with less than 500 employees. The funds were to be
predominantly used to keep workers employed and allow the businesses to survive
the coronavirus shutdowns. Instead, our search of filings at the Securities and
Exchange Commission reveals that dozens of debt zombie companies that trade on
Nasdaq got the loans. Dozens of publicly-traded companies with large credit
lines from banks got the loans. Dozens of companies with a lot more than 500
employees … Continue
reading →
The Federal
Reserve Has Its Own Police and Is Part of a Vast Surveillance Center – Should
You Worry?
By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: June 15, 2020 ~
Without any Congressional hearings on the matter, the USA Patriot Act in 2001
bestowed on the 12 regional Federal Reserve banks domestic policing powers.
While the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington, D.C. is deemed an
“independent federal agency,” with its Chair and Governors appointed by the
President and confirmed by the Senate, the 12 regional Fed banks are private
corporations owned by the member banks in their region. As settled law under
John L. Lewis v. United States confirms: “Each Federal Reserve Bank is a
separate corporation owned by commercial banks in its region.” In the case of
the New York Fed, which is located in the Wall Street area of Manhattan, its
largest shareowners are behemoth multinational banks, including JPMorgan Chase,
Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. So what the USA Patriot Act
effectively did was to … Continue
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By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: June 12, 2020 ~ Every
major Wall Street bank tanked yesterday. Citigroup fared the worst, losing
13.37 percent of its market value versus a broader market decline of 5.89
percent on the S&P 500 Index. Bank of America didn’t look like much of a
source of strength either, losing 10.04 percent on the day. The largest bank in
the country, JPMorgan Chase, whose CEO, Jamie Dimon, perpetually brags about
its “fortress balance sheet,” lost 8.34 percent. For a close look at what’s
hiding in the tall weeds behind that fortress, see here. Just the afternoon
before this bank carnage, this is what the Chairman of the Federal Reserve,
Jerome Powell, had to say in his press conference about the U.S. banking system
(which, of course, the Fed has been in charge of supervising in order to
prevent another catastrophic blowup as occurred in 2008): … Continue reading →
By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: June 11, 2020 ~
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s press conferences are typically snooze
sessions. Yesterday’s virtual press conference got off to a similar start with
mainstream media reporters asking about inflation and monetary policy instead
of the more critical questions they should have been asking in the midst of the
worst labor market and business closures since the Great Depression and food
pantry lines that stretch for blocks. Fortunately, two reporters shook things up
at the very end of the press conference. Nancy Marshall-Genzer of Marketplace,
which airs on public media stations, bluntly asked Powell this: “Is there more
the Fed could do to deal with inequality, for example, use the Black
unemployment rate as a benchmark.” Powell’s answer was an abomination. First
Powell stated that inequality is not related to monetary policy. Next, he
decided to target a more specific villain – … Continue
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By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: June 10, 2020 ~ The
Federal Reserve has authorized 11 financial bailout programs thus far. Despite
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s reassurances at his press conferences that these
programs are to help American families, a full 10 of these programs are
actually bailouts of Wall Street banks or their trading units. The latest Wall
Street bank bailout to come out of hiding is the Fed’s Secondary Market
Corporate Credit Facility (SMCCF). This program was supposed to buy up
corporate bonds in the secondary market in order to help corporate bond markets
regain liquidity. Thus far, the only thing the SMCCF has bought up are Exchange
Traded Funds (ETFs) holding investment grade and junk-rated bonds. The SMCCF
program began operations on May 12. By May 18 the Fed had spent $1.58 billion
buying up ETFs. The ultimate goal of the facility, at this point, is to … Continue reading →
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