Banker Poutrage as Senator Elizabeth Warren Kicks Ass

I want to note that there are district attorneys and U.S. attorneys who are out there everyday squeezing ordinary citizens on sometimes very thin grounds and taking them to trial to ‘make an example,’ as they put it. I am really concerned that too-big-to-fail has become too-big-for-trial.
. . . nobody believes that the banks' books are honest. Second, would be that nobody believes that the banks are really manageable. That is, if they are too complex either for their own institutions to manage them or for the regulators to manage them.
~ Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, to Bank Regulators


From Upworthy

• At 1:20, she asks the question we've all been wanting someone to ask FOREVER. Then a government lawyer stumbles over his words.
• At 2:20, she rattles off another one. Then a government lawyer stumbles over his words.
• At 2:55, she asks another lawyer the same question. Said lawyer then tries to not stumble over her words.
• At 3:25, she asks the same question again. That lawyer asks for some time.
• At 3:45, she gets our back and goes for the knockout punch.
• And then right after that you reward her good behavior by sharing this with everyone on the Internet. You know you want to.

By raising of the issue of prosecuting banksters, Elizabeth Warren renews checks & balances - w/Senate as watchdog on watchdogs. @thenation
— John Nichols (@NicholsUprising) February 15, 2013

OMG - if loving a middle aged bankruptcy law professor is wrong, I don't want to be right. Elizabeth Warren - my new hero. #politicsnation
— scary lawyerguy (@scarylawyerguy) February 15, 2013

WARREN TERRIFIES BANKERS IN FIRST HEARING
~ Headline on Politico's Morning Money

While Senator Warren had every right to ask pointed questions at today's Senate Banking Committee hearing, her claim that 'nobody believes' that bank books are honest is just plain wrong. Perhaps someone ought to remind the Senator that the campaign is over and she should act accordingly if she wants to be taken seriously.
~ An Anonymous "Top Executive" Angry at Elizabeth Warren

People love when Warren squares off on Wall Street. It delights them, the sight of a bespectacled middle-aged professor absolutely hammering suit-clad financiers.
. . . She is ...talking to Wall Street in a way it's not used to hearing from elected officials, and it's making her a rising star in the Democratic Party. Bankers should probably stop griping, and start getting used to it.
~ Kevin Roose on NY Mag

The more scared the banksters get, the more satisfied I am.
Go get 'em, Sen Warren!
We couldn't be more proud!
~ RillyKewl on Huffington Post

Today's Headline on Huffington Post:

They say when you hear a bell ringing an angel is getting their wings ...
I am sure there are belling ringing all over because a really honest , good person has been elected.
~ Enough240 on Huffington Post

I failed to mention the beauty of irony and Karma.
The banking industry fought hard to prevent Elizabeth Warren from running the new U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that she developed with her team at Obama's direction.
Oh are they sorry now. It makes me punch drunk that the great residents of Massacheusetts voted her into office. They know a winner when they see one.
Wall Street, Paybacks are a Beach! She's got your number...
~ California TowHead on Huffington Post

Swiss Miss Romney Girl Song

Romney Girl Official Website

In 2010, Miss Swiss left Geneva (after safely depositing all of her own money into a Swiss bank account) and moved to Searchlight, Nevada, where she joined a small Swiss expat community of retired yodelers and milkmaids. It was there she bumped into Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid while burning his book “The Good Fight” during a local sheep-shearing festival. Miss Swiss told Senator Reid about Mr. Romney’s tax avoidance “because I thought it was so funny that a Senator would actually think that rich people pay taxes! So silly!” Miss Swiss has not heard from Mr. Romney since he began his Presidential run, but believes he is following her on Twitter @realromneygirl.

In her free time, Miss Swiss, AKA Romney Girl, enjoys watching sitcoms like Fox & Friends, climbing the Swiss Alps, making cheese fondue, and listening to her favorite pop band Aqua.

Romney Girl recently gained public attention for inadvertently informing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that that Mitt Romney had paid zero taxes in the last ten years.

Lyrics Via Alternet

A hilarious new video introduces us to fictional character "Romney Girl" and allows us to put the "who's Harry Reid's source?" rumors to rest:

Miss Swiss "Bank Account" hails from Ostermundigen, Switzerland and is the proud daughter of a Nestle Chocolate factory worker and a regionally respected Cuckoo clock maker. She worked as a tax consultant for offshore bank accounts at UBS in Geneva, Switzerland from 2008-2010 where she first met Mitt Romney, who would frequently show up to the bank unannounced and throw $100 bills up in the air while shouting, "Thank God for Amnesty!"

I’m a Romney girl, in a Romney world.
Life is taxless. It’s fantastic.
Silver tip your hair, tax shelters everywhere.
Outsource nation, Bain is his creation

(Mitt)
I'm Mitt Romney, let's go party

(Miss Swiss)
I'm a Romney girl, in a Romney world.
He's so plastic, it's fantastic.
Silver tip your hair, tax shelters everywhere.
Outsource nation, Bain is his creation

(Miss Swiss)
He's a boss, millionaire, with accounts everywhere
Won't disclose, all the dough, that he's banking

(Mitt)
You can't see, Ann agrees, we hate transparency
If you knew, we'd be screwed, spanky-spanky


(Miss Swiss)
He is rich, you are poor,
If he wins, you're uninsured

(Miss Swiss)
I'm a Romney girl, in a Romney world.
Life is taxless. It's fantastic,
Silver tip your hair, tax shelters everywhere,
Outsource nation, Bain is his creation

(Mitt)
I'm Mitt Romney, let's go party,
I'm Mitt Romney, let's go party,
I'm Mitt Romney, let's go party,
I'm Mitt Romney, let's go party

(Miss Swiss)
Sell your stock, I won't talk, dodging taxes with ease,
Represent, one percent, he will do as we please.

(Mitt)
Come jump in, Wall Street friends, let us do it again,
Write the laws, they'll applaud, let's go party.

(Miss Swiss)
He is rich, you are poor,
If he wins, you're uninsured

(Mitt)
I am rich, oh the joy!
If I win, you're unemployed

I'm Mitt Romney, let's go party,
Come on Romney, let's go party,
Come on Romney, let's go party,
Come on Romney, let's go party!

(Miss Swiss)
I'm a Romney girl, in a Romney world.
Life is taxless, It's fantastic.
Silver tip your hair, tax shelters everywhere,
Outsource nation, Bain is his creation

(Miss Swiss)
Oh, Mitt I'm having so much fun!

(Mitt)
Well Miss Swiss, we're just getting started!

Yes #Romney girl is now officially an earworm @breakfastnews @mjrowland68 @paulwkennedy

— Elizabeth P (@lizziepops) August 8, 2012

OK, how does the campaign get weirder than THIS? thedailybeast.com/videos/2012/08…

— Barry Catlett (@barryc3609) August 8, 2012

Harry Reid's Secret Source Revealed! Romney Girl @realromneygirl #SwissMitt: supervoters.org/candidate/2194…

— unemployedarmy (@unemployedarmy) August 8, 2012

Romney Exposed by Vanity Fair

 

Vanity Fair: Where the Money Lives

“What Romney does not get,” says Jack Blum, a veteran Washington lawyer and offshore expert, “is that this stuff is weird.”

. . . Despite numerous entreaties from Vanity Fair to Bain Capital to address on the record points in this article with which it might disagree, the firm refused to do so and instead provided this statement: “When politics overwhelm fact, some will distort or cherry-pick our record and launch unfounded allegations and insinuations. The truth and the full record show that Bain Capital operates with high standards of integrity and excellence in compliance with all laws. Any suggestion to the contrary is baseless."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today we’re learning more about Mitt Romney’s bets against America. Vanity Fair’s raising important questions about Romney’s offshore accounts in foreign tax havens, including his mysterious corporation in Bermuda, his funds in the Cayman Islands, and the Swiss bank account he opened. The question is, why? Was he avoiding paying his fair share of U.S. taxes? Was he hedging against the dollar? Until he releases his tax returns from that period, Americans will never know. This raises serious questions. If he has nothing to hide, why doesn’t he just release his tax returns?
~ Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt via Politico

President Obama’s attacks on Mitt Romney have been proven false time and again. As job growth slows, manufacturing activity stalls, and our economy continues to sputter, President Obama knows he can’t make a legitimate argument for another term in office, so instead he is trying to tear down his opponent. This is just the latest example of President Obama and his political machine saying or doing anything to distract from his abysmal record over the last four years.
~ Mitt Romney Spokeswoman Andrea Saul via Politico

This pattern of elusiveness is hardly confined to Romney’s finances, but rather defines his public life. When he left the governor’s mansion, Romney staffers made a concerted effort to eradicate digital data by removing hard drives and deleting emails, despite the state’s public record laws. Romney is also the first major presidential candidate in almost 15 years who has refused to reveal his bundlers, the mega-donors who help fundraise for campaigns. Altogether, it’s made him one of the most secretive presidential candidates in modern history, leading Democrats to argue that he must be hiding something.
~ Alex Seitz-Wald on Salon

@Messina2012 If this guy was a Dem, the media would have him quit the race by now.

— BWD (@theonlyadult) July 3, 2012

Mitt Romney: "Don't move to Canada to escape socialism, my friends. Go to the Cayman Islands-- my money is very happy there."

— Top Conservative Cat (@TeaPartyCat) July 1, 2012

@felixsalmon " Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me." -- F. Scott Fitzgerald

— MrJM (@misterjayem) July 3, 2012

Mitt's money has more foreign policy experience than Mitt does. fb.me/1yO8RT7f2

— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) July 3, 2012

Music Fact: The song Kokomo was written about all the places Mitt Romney has bank accounts.

— Travon Free (@Travon) July 3, 2012

@felixsalmon " Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me." -- F. Scott Fitzgerald

— MrJM (@misterjayem) July 3, 2012

#Romney's excuse for not filing his taxes on time: "it's complicated when the cash is stashed in so many secret offshore accounts"

— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) July 3, 2012

If Romney didn't cut ties with Bain in 1999, can he be held responsible for the Stericycle deal? @donnabrazile: mojo.ly/NuHPs9

— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) July 3, 2012

Mitt Romney retired from Bain Capital in February 1999. He has had no involvement in the management or investment activities of Bain Capital, or with any of its portfolio companies since that time.
~ Bain Capital spokesperson in email to Mother Jones

@KKoz22 Yeah, I think the honeymoon is finally over for Romney. #VetThePrez

— Keith White (@Keethers) July 3, 2012

Romney doesn'thave a resolute solution to the US's immigrationproblem, but is happy for his money to seek asylum. vnty.fr/MPKhxI

— Herbert Vere Evatt (@DocEvatt) July 4, 2012

#flip Romney's Quiet Rooms: Where All the #Money's Hidden? huff.to/M4O5JA via @HuffPostPol

— joywit (@joywhitaker) July 4, 2012

JP Morgan Bank Losses in the Billions from Sketchy Hedge Trading

We made a terrible, egregious mistake...There's almost no excuse for it...We got very defensive. And people started justifying everything we did.
~ CEO of JP Morgan, Jamie Dimon, on NBC's Meet the Press

Since when does a mea culpa deserve praise? JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon shows how low the leadership bar can go. ow.ly/aUocG

— Inc.(@Inc) May 14, 2012

"You either get to be a bank, or you get to be a casino." @mtaibbi on JP Morgan's disastrous $2 billion bet: bitly.com/IXRtpZ

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) May 11, 2012

JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon has a top post at the New York Fed, presumably because Madoff was unavailable.

— Andy Borowitz (@BorowitzReport) May 14, 2012

JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon: "We Just Lost $2 Billion on Credit Derivatives, But I Have a Real Good Feeling About Next Mega Millions Drawing"

— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) May 11, 2012

"Just cause we're stupid doesn't mean everyone else was." -Jamie Dimon on health of the financial industry: bloom.bg/ILW8Zr $JPM

— Bloomberg TV(@BloombergTV) May 12, 2012

The JP Morgan Whale joins the Goldman Sachs Vampire Squid in the great hall of deep-water and sinking financial monsters

— Nouriel Roubini (@Nouriel) May 14, 2012

Jamie Dimon, the head of it, is one of the smartest bankers we got, and they still lost $2 billion and counting....We don't know all the details," Obama said. "It's going to be investigated, but this is why we passed Wall Street reform.
~ President Obama on The View

Jamie Dimont Put in the Rough
~ Headline on Boston Herald

It’s no secret that bankers have been feeling the wrath of an angry public—although nowhere near as much wrath or anger as the situation demands. They kept a low profile for a while, garaging their Lamborghinis and keeping the big watches in the sock drawer. But like penny-ante crooks who ignore warnings not to flash their money around after a heist, they are what they are. And everything, from multi-million-dollar duplexes to oceangoing yachts and NetJets accounts, is back on display.
~ From an article called "Dimon in the Rough" on VanityFair.com

If we are going to define this trade as a hedge, then there is no other conclusion to reach except that everything at a huge bank is a hedge.
And once you define everything as a hedge, well then, nothing is a hedge.
~ Barry Ritholtz on The Big Picture Blog

You liberals need to get out of the way, u don't understand capitism (sp)
~ Huffpost Super User Oppose Obama (who cannot spell)

What is capitism, brainwave? We DO understand fraud and malfeasence.
~ Celiene on Huffpo in response to Oppose Obama

Why is this a left vs. right problem? How can anyone think we don't need tighter regulation?
~ comment by Jaguar Man on Huffington Post

That is what Jamie Dimon has said. He says it’s stupid and sloppy but we’ll fix it. So stay away. But what if the next loss is $20 billion or $200 billion? Is he saying JP Morgan should be entitled to continue to take these bets right up until the day it lands in the taxpayers lap again?
...That’s the strongest argument for a modern Glass-Steagall. Glass-Steagall said in effect that hedge funds should be separated from commercial banking. If a big institution wants to go out and play in the market, that’s fine. But it doesn’t get the backup of the federal government. If it’s too complicated to implement the Volcker rule, do you say we give up and let the largest financial institutions do what they want? Or do you say maybe that’s the reason we need a modern Glass-Steagall?
~ Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to Ezra Klein of Washington Post

I spoke with @EzraKlein this afternoon about JPMorgan and the argument for a modern Glass-Steagall Act. wapo.st/L1t4fx #wallstreet

— Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) May 14, 2012

Banks have been loading up on risk and they don't want to be accountable. Jamie Dimon not only is CEO of JP Morgan Chase, he holds this position of public trust, advising the New York Fed. on how to regulate risk for these large financial institutions, like his own finanicial institution.
It's not just conflict of interest, it's a real point about attitude here. This isn't personal to Jamie Dimon. It's what's been going on ever since Dodd-Frank passed. There's been a guerrilla war out there in which the largest financial institutions have been doing everything they can to make sure that financial regulations don't get put in place. And if they do get put in place, that they're loaded with loopholes and not very effective. There's been a lobbying army hired by these financial institutions becasue they really don't want to have any oversight. They want to take on risks however they want to take on risk and let the rest of us bear the consequences...
~ Elizabeth Warren on CNN's Starting Point