Nearly a decade ago, some investors scored big payouts by predicting that the housing boom’s glut of mortgage-backed securities would turn out to be toxic. Now there are investors betting on the hope that more mall owners will soon be letting their properties go into foreclosure. [More]
wall street
‘Trading Places’ Co-Writer: Wall Street Movies Take Themselves Way Too Seriously
By 6.28.13
It’s been 30 years since Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd starred in Trading Places, a hit comedy whose big climax involves trading a bunch of frozen concentrated orange juice futures, and you’d be hard-pressed to think of any films about high finance that treated the topic with a sense of humor (though there are certainly some laughable moments in the Wall Street sequel). This baffles the writer of the 1983 film. [More]
Report: Asst. Atty. General Who Shied Away From Wall Street Prosecutions To Step Down
By 1.23.13
Less than 24 hours after his appearance on PBS’ Frontline, where he struggled to explain why his office had brought not one single indictment against a high-level Wall Street executive related to the 2008 financial crisis, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer has reportedly decided to step down. [More]
Wall Street Bonuses Take A Nosedive
By 11.8.11
Belt-tightening is happening everywhere, even on Wall Street, where excess has always seemed to have reigned supreme. A compensation survey says bonuses for financial workers in the district are expected to fall between 20 and 30 percent this year. While those who don’t receive any work bonuses won’t shed tears for Wall Street types, at least this is a sign that the financial world is connected to reality. [More]
Video: Occupy Portlanders Open Credit Union Accounts On Bank Transfer Day
By 11.7.11
Saturday was the fifth of November, and many remembered to take a stand and shut down their big retail bank accounts, transferring their cash to a new credit union account. Here’s a video out of Occupy Portland covering what happened on Bank Transfer Day. Interviewees talk about why they’re switching to a credit union, and how this is just the beginning. [More]
Video Of People Closing Down Their Accounts At Big Banks
By 11.4.11
Tomorrow is Bank Transfer Day. By this date, people all across America are shutting down their accounts at large, costly, name-brand banks and transferring their funds to new bank accounts at their local credit union or community bank. Here is an excellent video made in Portland that follows along with several different people as they close their bank accounts and give their reasons for doing so. One person wants to save money, another disagrees with the bank’s foreclosure practices, a third is mad about the bailouts, and the last is a union withdrawing its funds to show solidarity with holding Wall Street accountable. [More]
What Wall Street Did To Earn The Ire Of Those Occupying It
By 10.27.11
If you need a catchup-slash-refresher on why those folks down at Occupy Wall Street are so mad at the street they’re occupying, ProPublica has put together a nice juicy primer. [More]
Goldman Sachs Loses Money For First Time Since Financial Crisis Began
By 10.20.11
For the first time since the advent of the financial meltdown, and for only the second time since 1999 when it became a publicly traded company, Goldman Sachs has — Gasp! Horror! Shock! — lost some money. [More]
Madoff Victims Will Start Getting Refunds This Week
By 10.5.11
Those who lost money investing with jailed shyster Bernie Madoff will be getting some of their ill-advised expenditures back this week, thanks to the bankruptcy court-mandated liquidation of his estate. [More]
Occupy Wall Street Protests Galvanized By 700+ Arrests On Brooklyn Bridge
By 10.3.11
Over 700 Occupy Wall Street protesters were arrested when they marched across the Brooklyn Bridge this weekend, blocking traffic and shooting the movement into the national consciousness. [More]
Established Agitators To Join Occupy Wall Street Protest Next Week
By 9.30.11
Going into its 14th day, the Occupy Wall Street protest is not only not fading out, it’s about to get a big injection of support, and bodies. The established New York City labor and community groups who normally organize local marches, rallies and sit-ins, have announced they plan to join up next week. [More]
Fed Doled Out $1.2 Trillion In Secret Loans To Giant Banks, Brokerages
By 8.22.11
The Federal Reserve got loan-happy from 2007 to 2010, handing out mega funding to several top banks and brokerage firms, such as Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Bank of America. The secretive financial agreements were meant to stop the economy from plunging into depression. [More]
Judge Tells Madoff Investors They Won't Get All Their Fake Money Back
By 8.16.11
A federal judge shot down an appeal from Madoff investors who didn’t just want the money they’d invested back, they wanted the amount of money Madoff said they were worth on paper. The judge said that Madoff’s financial statements were “fictitious” and thus can’t be used as a basis for claims by investors. [More]
Daily Show: Downgrade Was Because US Government Doesn't Pay S&P Any Fees
By 8.12.11
The US government got downgraded by S&P because, unlike corporations, they don’t pay the ratings agency any fees, Columbia law professor John Coffee told The Daily Show. [More]
Bank Of America CEO's Pep-Talk Email To Workers
By 8.9.11
Bank of America’s CEO Brian Moynihan posted an email to the company’s intranet telling the rank and file to keep their chins up amidst their sinking stock price and news that they would be sued by AIG for selling crap mortgages. [More]
Stocks Up After Days Of Bleeding
By 8.9.11
After swooning on Monday following S&P’s downgrade of US bonds, stocks posted gains on Tuesday as investors saw the over-reaction as a buying opportunity. Now investors look to see what the Federal Reserve policy board might say after their meeting later today. [More]
Stocks Fall On Global Economy Fears
By 8.4.11
Global stocks fell broadly Thursday afternoon amid worsening concerns about a global economic cooling and a European debt crisis. Each of the three major US indexes were down, deleting all the gains they had made so far this year. [More]
Hedge Fund Billionaire Convicted On Insider Trading Charges
By 5.12.11
The Justice Department has managed to nail a hedge fund billionaire believed to be one of the many driving forces behind the financial crisis. The billionaire, the founder of the defunct hedge fund management firm Galleon Group, was convicted on 14 counts of fraud and conspiracy. [More]
