Working Life

Well, gee, no surprise here. A big CIVIL penalty for a major financial scam but no banker is heading to jail. Yet. Or probably never.

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This is unfortunate. A federal appeals court overturned Hudge Jed Rakoff’s attempt to derail a deal with Citibank, a deal Rakoff had ruled essentially wasn’t in the public’s interest. It’s a bit complicated.

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Yet another installment in the decades-long white flag of surrender to the corporate elite took place in a relatively unnoticed vote — what, with the more important, front-page, relentless coverage of the passing of what’s-his-name Gandolfini. The country has a new trade representative…well, that’s not really accurate — Citibank has a new trade representative.

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Citibank’s decision to settle a huge lawsuit over misrepresentations it made to investors is yet another moment to consider how people who contributed to the financial crisis just skate free and clear. Such is the good fortune of Robert Rubin — unscathed, rich and, hard to believe, still listened to.

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May I introduce to you my hero for the day: Jed S. Rakoff of the Federal District Court in Manhattan. Yesterday, Rakoff said what we all know: the government, our government, is not serious about holding people accountable for the robbery and greed and incompetence that led to the financial collapse, costing millions of people […]

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   Yesterday, Robert Rubin testified before the commission investigating the financial crisis: But Robert E. Rubin, the former Treasury secretary, faced withering questions from the panel, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, for his spare expressions of remorse. Repeatedly playing down his role as chairman of the executive committee of Citigroup’s board, he was met with […]

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  I understand why the Administration had been working overtime to try to prop up major banks–but understanding does not mean agreement with the long-term strategy. In fact, the question worth asking today is not whether the stress tests are accurate or whether more taxpayer money will be needed to shore up the major banks. […]

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Oh, don’t get me wrong–Madoff will, and should, die in prison. But, there is a downside to all this obsession with Bernie Madoff–his crimes are miniscule compared to the legalized robbery that went on in Wall Street and devastated the lives of millions of people. And we can’t let the media circus around Madoff let […]

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Oh, don’t get me wrong–Madoff will, and should, die in prison. But, there is a downside to all this obsession with Bernie Madoff–his crimes are miniscule compared to the legalized robbery that went on in Wall Street and devastated the lives of millions of people. And we can’t let the media circus around Madoff let […]

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The traditional press has ample capacity to obsess about stupid things but very little capacity to dig deep (yes, I know, I’m stating the obvious). Today’s example: Timothy Geithner. Yes, the guy messed up and, I’m going to take his word for it, forgot to pay some social security taxes. But, the real question is: […]

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