If the Politico report is to be believed, some of the bank CEOs who met with President Obama last week actually used some of their scarce time to defend — yes, defend rather than apologize for — the compensation practices of the banks since they all received TARP funds. After all this time, are these people   more

The Jake DeSantis piece in the New York Times was remarkable and an act of civic decency.  NY AG Cuomo and CT AG Blumenthal whisper to AIG workers: give back your bonus or we will publicize your names.  Hmmmm, an offer you can’t refuse.  The threat is implicit:  keep what you’ve earned and we will   more

Take a look at where we are today:
A) Taxes are going to confiscatory rates. Examine the bill written by tax cheat Charlie Rangel, the Democrat Chairman of Ways and Means. Under his bill, the tax on any bonus paid to a New York City resident by a TARP recipient bank would be 102 percent   more

This plan may be a necessary evil for a number of reasons.  Leave aside the reservations a private investor doing business with Washington might have after observing the spectacle of the past few days. The plan finally addresses directly the central impediment to recovery, namely, the inability of the banks to reduce their leverage —   more

You can’t really blame the AIG stuff on the Democrats.  Paulson and Co. decided to be deliberately nontransparent, which led inexorably to where we are.  No one in DC seemed to understand who exactly they were bailing out and why.  It’s overwhelmingly the counterparties and it’s the debt-holders of these institutions–those who would take haircuts   more

In November 2007, John Thain, the former CEO of Merrill Lynch, took over a business that had been battered due to poor investment decisions (primarily, CDOs) that were not made on his watch.  He executed two very aggressive, but correct decisions that almost certainly saved Merrill Lynch. First, he sold the CDO portfolio to Lone   more