Wall Street protesters just want to be heard
Early morning at Occupy Wall Street
Updated Oct. 5
By Matthew Goldstein and Jennifer Ablan
There’s been a lot of talk that other than rallying against bankers and corporate greed, the message coming from Occupy Wall Street isn’t a clear one. And many of the college students, artists, unemployed, transients who’ve set-up camp in a concrete plaza in lower Manhattan wouldn’t disagree with that assessment.
In fact, many of the young protesters–mostly in their 20s–seem to embrace the notion that it’s hard to define just what Occupy Wall Street is all about and what it hopes to achieve. For many, sleeping on the streets and staging a “Zombie March,” or getting arrested for blocking traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge is enough to bring attention to the fact that too many Americans are still suffering from the financial crisis.
Debts no honest man could pay
By Matthew Goldstein
For months now we’ve been hearing a lot about the $14 trillion in debt owed by the U.S. government. But there’s been far too little talk about the almost equally high debt tab owed by U.S. consumers.
The Federal Reserve recently reported that total outstanding debt owed by U.S. consumers was $11.4 trillion, down from its third-quarter 2008 peak of $12.5 trillion. At that pace, it could take years for U.S. consumers to delever, or in plain English–reduce the debts they owe on their homes, credit cards, autos and student loans. But when it comes to the staggering sum of consumer debt in this country, it’s pretty clear that time is not on our side.
A “great haircut” to kick-start U.S. growth
NEW YORK (Reuters) – More than three years after the financial crisis struck, the U.S. economy remains stuck in a consumer debt trap.
It’s a situation that could take years to correct itself. That’s why some economists are calling for a radical step: massive debt relief. Federal policy makers, they suggest, should broker what amounts to an out-of-court settlement between institutional bond investors, banks and consumer advocates – essentially, a “great haircut” to jumpstart the economy.
Special Report – A “great haircut” to kick-start U.S. growth
NEW YORK (Reuters) – More than three years after the financial crisis struck, the U.S. economy remains stuck in a consumer debt trap.
It’s a situation that could take years to correct itself. That’s why some economists are calling for a radical step: massive debt relief. Federal policy makers, they suggest, should broker what amounts to an out-of-court settlement between institutional bond investors, banks and consumer advocates – essentially, a “great haircut” to jumpstart the economy.
Special Report: A “great haircut” to kick-start growth
NEW YORK (Reuters) – More than three years after the financial crisis struck, the economy remains stuck in a consumer debt trap.
It’s a situation that could take years to correct itself. That’s why some economists are calling for a radical step: massive debt relief. Federal policy makers, they suggest, should broker what amounts to an out-of-court settlement between institutional bond investors, banks and consumer advocates – essentially, a “great haircut” to jumpstart the economy.
Bond giant PIMCO closing in on first bank deal
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A $2.3 billion investment fund managed by bond giant Pacific Investment Management Co that is largely targeting distressed U.S. banks is trying to get regulatory approval for one of its first major transactions — a deal involving a North Carolina community bank.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond is reviewing an application for a company set-up by the year-old PIMCO Bravo Fund to acquire an ownership stake of roughly 20 percent in ECB Bancorp Inc (ECBE.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).
Goldman asset management CIO Domotorffy retires
Sept 14 (Reuters) – Katinka Domotorffy, the head of Goldman
Sachs Group Inc’s (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) quantitative investment strategies
group, will leave the bank at the end of the year, according to
an internal memo, as one of its biggest hedge funds continues
to suffer from weak performance.
Domotorffy is a Goldman veteran who joined the bank in 1998
as a portfolio manager and researcher.
Bank of Asbestos
By Matthew Goldstein
All too much of what we do in financial journalism is rush around to get the “scoop” on some big announcement by some corporate chieftain. Things like, the announcement of a new product, a management reshuffling or a bunch of firings. All important stuff and all stuff that could impact earnings and stock movements. But sometimes the big picture of what really is working for a company or is ailing it, gets lost in the scoop chase.
So that’s why we took a step back to look at some potentially radical solutions for fixing Bank of America, which right now has come to represent much of what remains broken with the U.S. housing market.
Insight: Extreme makeover BofA: An asbestos solution
NEW YORK (Reuters) – It worked for asbestos so why not for toxic mortgages?
When some look at all of the litigation arising from Bank of America’s big role in the U.S. mortgage mess, they start thinking of asbestos and how thousands of lawsuits arising from that cancer-causing product brought down many manufacturers more than a decade ago.
Insight – Extreme makeover Bank of America: An asbestos solution
NEW YORK (Reuters) – It worked for asbestos so why not for toxic mortgages? When some look at all of the litigation arising from Bank of America’s big role in the U.S. mortgage mess, they start thinking of asbestos and how thousands of lawsuits arising from that cancer-causing product brought down many manufacturers more than a decade ago.
The solution back then to dealing with claims filed by more than 750,000 workers exposed to asbestos was the creation of dozens of “asbestos settlement trusts,” which have paid out tens of billions dollars in damages. Some of them are still going strong today.
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