Economics @ ITT

“Too Crooked to Fail”: Matt Taibbi Says Bailouts, Fraud are the Secrets to Bank of America’s Success

Posted in economics by ittecon on March 22, 2012

In his new article, “Bank of America: Too Crooked to Fail,” Rolling Stone reporter Matt Taibbi chronicles the remarkable history of the rise of Bank of America — an institution he says has defrauded “everyone from investors and insurers to homeowners and the unemployed.” Taibbi describes how the Bush and Obama administrations have repeatedly propped up the financial institution, which received a $45 billion taxpayer bailout in 2008. Bank of America has also received billions in what could be described as shadow bailouts. The bank now owns more than 12 percent of the nation’s bank deposits and 17 percent of all home mortgages. Taibbi also recounts how fraudulent practices by Bank of America and other companies ravaged pension funds. “Most people think of [the mortgage crisis] as some airy abstraction — you know, bankers ripping off bankers,” Taibbi says. “That’s not what it is. It’s bankers stealing from old ladies and retirees.”

via “Too Crooked to Fail”: Matt Taibbi Says Bailouts, Fraud are the Secrets to Bank of America’s Success.

A New Gold Standard [Video]

Posted in economics, Humour, Policy Issues by ittecon on January 5, 2011

Goodbye Paper Money: Does It Mean More Ways for the Banks to Screw Us?

Posted in microeconomics by ittecon on April 10, 2010

Currency has come a long way in the past few thousand years of human existence. Ancient Turkey started using hybrid silver and gold coins around 640 B.C. and the Chinese started passing paper around 800 A.D. But it wasn’t until the middle of the 20th century that Diners Club finally invented credit cards…

Article here How would this affect seigniorage?

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