Pam and Russ Martens — Has Former Goldman Sachs President, Gary Cohn, Gone Rogue on Glass-Steagall?

Backgrounder on former Goldman President Gary Cohn, who is becoming increasingly influential in the Trump administration domestically, just as Generals James Mattis and H. R. McMaster with respect to international affairs.

Wall Street On Parade
Has Former Goldman Sachs President, Gary Cohn, Gone Rogue on Glass-Steagall?
Pam Martens and Russ Martens

Wolf Richter — Nightmare on Wall Street: Republicans & Democrats Agree on Reinstating Glass-Steagall Act

An amazing thing happened at the Republican Convention when some unexpected language showed up in the official 66-page Republican Platform 2016, a document that a delegate from Texas enthusiastically called, “the most conservative platform in modern history.”
And therein is this sentence:

We support reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 which prohibits commercial banks from engaging in high-risk investment.

It’s followed by this bit of wisdom: “Sensible regulations can be compatible with a vibrant economy….” By extension, reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act would be that “sensible regulation.”…

Turns out, on June 25, similar language showed up in the draft of the Democratic Platform, under the evil heading “Wall Street Reform,” and it reappeared in the July 1 version of the draft in slightly watered-down form (emphasis added):

Democrats will not hesitate to use and expand existing authorities as well as empower regulators to downsize or break apart financial institutions when necessary to protect the public and safeguard financial stability, including new authorities to go after risky shadow-banking activities. Banks should not be able to gamble with taxpayers’ deposits or pose an undue risk to Main Street. Democrats support a variety of ways to stop this from happening, including an updated and modernized version of Glass-Steagall and breaking up too-big-to-fail financial institutions that pose a systemic risk to the stability of our economy.

This was Bernie’s doing. He pushed Hillary Clinton into what must be for her – who’s made a fortune off Wall Street – a very unsavory direction. Now it’s in the Democratic platform, to be adopted at the convention in Philadelphia next week.…

Unfortunately, platforms are political hot-air and it all depends on who wins the election and what parts of the platform they choose to support and which to ignore. Getting things done in Washington takes "political capital," and presidents use their political capital to accomplish their priorities.

So don't get your hopes up to high over this.

Wolf Street
Nightmare on Wall Street: Republicans & Democrats Agree on Reinstating Glass-Steagall Act
Wolf Richter

Warren Investigation Finds Taxpayers Could Be on the Hook for $10 Trillion in Risky Derivatives — Jessica Desvarieux interviews Bill Black

Video and transcript.

Real News Network
Warren Investigation Finds Taxpayers Could Be on the Hook for $10 Trillion in Risky Derivatives
Jessica Desvarieux interviews Bill Black

Rubin-Horton Who’s A Conscience

(Commentary posted by Roger Erickson)

How ignoring climate change could sink the US economy

That's all true. But coming from Robert Rubin, of all people? Yes. He recently posted a claim that he really does have a conscience. Oddly, rather than apologizing for having Brooksley Borne muzzled, repealing the Glass-Steagall act and robbing the US Middle Class on a massive scale, Rubin chose to distract his growing critics with a morality claim about global warming.

Huh?

Maybe this fulfills a childhood duty, to someday, somewhere disorient all the victims with a nominal act of ritual penance. Has Rubin-Horton picked a ritual WHO to pretend to hear? Something to indicate that he does have at least of some sort conscience? Or is this just a standard "look over there!" ploy to divert our attention?

One can almost picture Robby as a child, discussing dynasty plans with a relative.

Rubin-relative: “Listen, Robby. Your #1 responsibility is to grow up and sequester more demand-leakages for the family.”
Robert Rubin: “From where?” 

Rubin-relative: “From your neighbors, others, the country … who cares? The important thing is to hoard huge amounts of demand-leakages.”
Robert Rubin: “What’s a demand-leakage?” 

Rubin-relative: “Anything they got, son. Anything they got. If you take what’s theirs, then you have power over them. That’s what we want.”
Robert Rubin: “What for?” 

Rubin-relative: “What for? Don’t be some Mack stuck at the bottom, Robbie. You wanna be a Yertle, someone who’s better than others, and gets lots of nice toys. We either stick together as a family and screw this country first, or they might remain strong enough to survive us. Capiche? There’s no room for a conscience.”
Robert Rubin: “I guess. But at school we’re told that having a conscience is good, and necessary if we want this country to maintain a social conscience! Why can’t both the neighbors and us all become better off?” 

Rubin-relative: “Conscience, smoncience! You listen to me. We came here to get ahead of others, not to build no damn democracy. You start talking conscience & you’ll end up like those fools who wrote the US Constitution. Most of them died poor!!!”
Robert Rubin: “But I LIKE having a conscience!” 

Rubin-relative: “Fine. Once you get rich, you can BUY some token conscience. Just don’t overspend. You wouldn’t wanna let YOUR family down, now would you?”
Robert Rubin: “I get it! Okay, I promise. When I grow up, I’ll get so rich that I’ll buy the whole Congress! Then I can show people I have a conscience, and can buy as much of it as I want, no matter how much stuff we sequester from others.” 

Rubin-relative: “That’s my boy! Now you’re talking big stuff.”

Robert Rubin? Conscience? SOCIAL CONSCIENCE? Is any combo of Rubin & conscience an oxymoron?

Perhaps it’s just Robert Rubin’s way of saying that he’s gonna go into the global warming insurance business.

After that pond’s all fished out, what’s next?

Will Rubin, et al try to sell derivatives on Solar System insurance? Who’ll be left to buy that policy ... and get screwed on an even bigger scale? God? And does little Robbie really think he’ll be able to collect? Maybe he should go back to that childish inner voice, and see if it’s still asking “why” - before it’s too late.

No fun in being Yertle once there's no Mack left.

Pam Martens — A Disappeared Book on Wall Street History Provides a Dead Serious Warning

Wall Street On Parade has been reporting for some time now that much of Wall Street’s past and current history has up and disappeared – either at the hands of high speed shredders on orders from the SEC, or through Courts sealing documents, or Wall Street’s private justice system preventing access to hearings, non-disparagement contracts when you change your job on Wall Street, or critical pieces of Wall Street history just go missing and no one can find out exactly why. Now we learn that a vital book on Wall Street’s history had vanished until an NYU Professor made it his mission to return it to the public’s hands.

As they say, the coverup is worse than the crime. There needs to be a housecleaning at the top that ends in perp walks.

Wall Street On Parade
A Disappeared Book on Wall Street History Provides a Dead Serious Warning
Pam Martens
(h/t Lambert Stether at Naked Capitalism)

Yves Smith — How Goldman Made $5 Billion By Manipulating Aluminum Inventories (and Copper is Up Next)

Neoliberal capitalism at its finest. Free to frontrun and manipulate markets.

Naked Capitalism

How Goldman Made $5 Billion By Manipulating Aluminum Inventories (and Copper is Up Next)
Yves Smith

John Carney — Sandy Weill: The Guy Who Made the Bank Monster

So the inventor of the financial superstore has finally turned against his creation.

Read it at CNBC NetNet
Sandy Weill: The Guy Who Made the Bank Monster
by John Carney | Senior Editor