New York Times
Gretchen Morgenson is an assistant business and financial editor and columnist at the New York Times and a 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winner for her coverage of Wall Street. She is the author of Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed and Corruption Created the Worst Financial Crisis of Our Time.
The president and the economy: winners and losers As the stock market hits the highest level it's ever been, President Trump is celebrating what's often used as a measure of the US economy. But the devil is always in the details. Stocks are rising partly due to corporations buying back their shares at record low interest rates -- instead of creating new jobs or increasing wages. Ten percent of Americans are in on the good news. Ninety percent are being left behind. The president has promised help for those "forgotten Americans" — so, why tax cuts for corporations and shareholders?
Is Wells Fargo CEO Stumpf getting off easy? Wells Fargo’s board will force CEO John Stumpf to give up $41 million in stock options. Wells Fargo employees created millions of fraudulent accounts for customers without their knowledge under Stumpf’s watch, crossing all kinds of ethical boundaries, not to mention being illegal. So for Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, that financial punishment does not go far enough. Warren thinks Stumpf should resign and face criminal charges. But remember when Wall Street banks decimated the entire American economy? None of those CEOs were arrested or forced to give up their millions.
Wells Fargo Bank Sued by L.A. California-based Wells Fargo Bank with its folksy stage-coach logo is being accused of highway robbery. Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer filed a lawsuit accusing the bank of employing shady, high-pressure sales tactics - such as opening bogus bank accounts - to juice its sales. What are the details of the allegations, and what is Wells Fargo's overall track record when it comes to customer shadiness?
California Sued Over Diversion of Money From National Mortgage Settlement Six years after the financial crisis, a lot of people are still struggling to hang onto their houses. And help is hard to come by. Now, 3 nonprofit groups are suing California. The suit says the state misused nearly $370 million that were supposed to help people facing foreclosure. Meanwhile, a new report says the Justice Department has basically stopped investigating mortgage fraud cases. Are our local and federal authorities giving up on cleaning up the mortgage mess?
Are America's Financial Institutions Still 'Too Big to Fail?' Five years ago this week, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers led to America's worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The Bush and Obama Administrations used billions of taxpayer dollars to bail out banks that were so big their failure would have hurt the economy even more. Now some of those banks are bigger than ever. Will that lead to another round of excessive risk-taking by executives and investors confident of another government bailout? JP Morgan Chase is America's biggest bank. Today, JP Morgan Chase made a rare admission that it did wrong — to the tune of $920 million in fines to four regulatory agencies. The Dodd-Frank bill was supposed to prevent a repeat of the Great Recession. We talk to former Congressman Barney Frank and others. Should Main Street be worried about the future of Wall Street?
Goldman Sachs, Public Anger and a Possible Crackdown on Wall Street After weeks of secret negotiations, the Securities and Exchange Commission aimed at the fattest target on Wall Street and charged Goldman Sachs with securities fraud. Normally such votes are unanimous, but this time it was three to 2 with two Democrats and an Independent prevailing over two Republicans.
Goldman Sachs, Public Anger and a Possible Crackdown on Wall Street After weeks of secret negotiations, the Securities and Exchange Commission aimed at the fattest target on Wall Street and charged Goldman Sachs with securities fraud. Normally such votes are unanimous, but this time it was three to 2 with two Democrats and an Independent prevailing over two Republicans. Democrats see a chance to push finance reform, Republicans warn of more taxpayer bailouts, with each party accusing the other of siding with Wall Street. We look at what Goldman Sachs might or might not have done wrong, and get different opinions on how to stop banks from risking so much they threaten the whole economy.
Deleterious Effects of Lines outside IndyMac Last week, IndyMac bank in Pasadena, California, was taken over by the FDIC. It re-opened Monday, with police called to calm depositors standing in line. The run on deposits apparently was triggered when Charles Schumer (D-NY) raised questions about its solvency. The Senator blames the bank for its own problems, saying it engaged in "poor and loose lending practices" for years. Gretchen Morgenson, Pulitzer Prize-winning business columnist and reporter for the New York Times , has more on perceptions, realities and consumer confidence.
The Housing Crisis Is Eating America's Economy Home foreclosure may become an industry in itself. Today's New York Times features a California company called You Walk Away , which is looking for clients whose mortgages are now worth more than their houses, so they can't refinance to meet rising payments. For less than a thousand dollars, You Walk Away will show them how to deliver their problems back to the bank by foreclosure. Part of the problem is the idea that housing is not just a place to live, but a gold-plated investment whose value just keeps going up. What goes up must come down, leaving tens of thousands of people with increased payments on loans worth more than their houses. Are greedy banks and investors at fault? What about home buyers themselves? And what's the impact on an economy that depends on consumer spending?
Venezuela spirals into economic and political chaos Venezuela, a country whose potential for prosperity is unmatched, finds itself on the verge of civil war. What sustains the repressive government? With time running out, guest host León Krauze looks at what the international community can do to pull the country from the edge of collapse.
What is Trump's plan for Middle East peace? On his first foreign tour, President Trump has promised "peace" between Israel and the Palestinians. Are there any details for re-starting talks that have been stalled for the past three years?
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.