Watch Paul Volcker Hearing Before Senate Committee On Banking And Other Things

Paul Volcker's live testimony before Chris Dodd's Senate Committee on Bribery, Vice and Corruption can be seen live here.

Comments

[Racer]

Bribery, Vice and Corruption

That sums up the Banksters very nicely

[threehundredthi...]

"All the worlds indeed a stage, and we are merely players, performers and portrayers.."

[DaveyJones]

"all the world's a stage" - Shakespeare

"exit, stage right" - Snagglepuss 

[Joe Sixpack]

" Revoke The Fed " - Joe Sixpack

[DaveyJones]

Volker: In other words, nothing justified these bailouts and it was nothing more than corrupt politicians stealing our money to pay off the bad luck and skill of their gambling friends.  

[Anonymous]

yeah, new regulations! Save us, just like when they saved us by creating the fed! Only, this time, make sure ALL financial institutions are regulated under one super regulator...and if we make the regulator private, even better!

[Anonymous]

You are aware that the previously existing regulatory system was simultaneously gutted (by legislation) and emaciated (by underfunding) over the last 30 years, yes?

[THE DORK OF CORK]

Its becoming more of a sick joke

The lords of thermodynamics are all powerful and to cheat them today is to pay more heavily tomorrow

They are laughing now at our hubris.

They joke about those foolish humans who believed in constant economic growth without setting aside capital for future growth.

This is not a comic play I wish to see but it will have its lighter moments

[Anonymous]

Big yuk yuk , wink, wink - cart the old guy out and move on - nothing to do here....too bad hes the only guy in Bam Bam's financial bevy that has any gravitas.

[Anonymous]

Why isn't Volcker our Treasury Sec? He exudes wisdom and confidence. Good God, he makes Geithner look like a court jester. You can really tell which of these Congress critters is bought off just by their questions. Thankfully Volcker seems to destroy all their trickster questions.

[DaveyJones]

Corker's not making any sense

"While Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) isn't up for reelection until 2012, finance companies donated $500,000 during the last election cycle.
Corker said the industries aren't buying his ear: "I know it's hard for people to believe -- I have no idea how much I have received from various entities. And you know these are huge races -- my race in particular was a $25 million race, and I know that people think that somehow or another has an affect, but it just doesn't," Tennessee’s junior senator said."

Oh, now I get it

[Screwball]

Exactly.  We need a owned by the bank list to keep track of these people.

[Reggie Middleton]

Mr. Cofker (spelling?) challenged Mr. Volcker\'s stance by saying that no financial holding company that had a commercial bank failed while performing proprietary trading. It appears as if Mr. Cofker may have received his information from the banking lobby, and did not do his own homework.
Let\'s reference the largest commercial bank/thrift failure of the all:

http://www.allbusiness.com/banking-finance/banking-lending-credit-servic...

Washington Mutual Hires John Drastal as Managing Director of Trading for WaMu Capital Corp.
Publication: Business Wire
Date: Monday, November 18 2002
You are viewing page 1

Business Editors

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 18, 2002

WaMu Capital Corp., a fixed-income institutional broker-dealer and subsidiary of Washington Mutual, Inc. (NYSE:WM), has hired John Drastal as the managing director of trading.

Drastal will oversee all fixed income trading and risk management within the firm, and will act as primary contact within the dealer community.

\"John will play a key role as WaMu Capital Corp. continues to build out its mortgage and securitization platform,\" said Tim Maimone, president, WaMu Capital Corp. \"Over the next year we expect to strategically grow our sales and trading operations. We also plan to open a New York sales office to complement our current offices in Seattle and Los Angeles.\"
Drastal brings a wealth of Wall Street experience to the broker-dealer. Prior to joining WaMu Capital Corp., Drastal spent five years as managing director and principal for Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette, where he was responsible for all aspects of the mortgage and asset-backed security trading business, including position and risk management, personnel, distribution, research, finance, operations and new business development.

In his 14 years of experience in fixed-income trading and management, Drastal has also held senior positions at Goldman Sachs and Company, Lehman Brothers Inc. and Drexel, Burnham and Lambert. Drastal holds a master\'s degree in industrial administration (MBA) from Carnegie Melon University and earned a bachelor\'s degree in computer science from the University of Delaware.

About Washington Mutual

With a history dating back to 1889, Washington Mutual is a national financial services company that provides a diversified line of products and services to consumers and small- to mid-sized businesses. At September 30, 2002, Washington Mutual and its subsidiaries had assets of $261.10 billion. Washington Mutual currently operates more than 2,500 consumer banking, mortgage lending, commercial banking, consumer finance and financial services offices throughout the nation.

It is truly unfortunate that such misinformation and disinformation is allowed to permeate through not only the media, but actual congressional hearings. It is truly a shame. If I am not mistaken, WaMu was the biggest bank/thrift failure, EVER! If anything, this should provide momentum BEHIND the Volcker Rule in lieu of having politicians trying to out-regulate an accomplished regulator on how to regulate banks.

[carbonmutant]

I want to remove Taxpayer support for Speculative Equities" - Volcker

[Let them all fail]

YOU ARE LOSING HIM BECAUSE HE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!!!!!!

[Screwball]

Volcker - It puzzles me why you don't understand.  Priceless!

I wouldn't last 10 minutes.  To answer - either your paid off by the banks, or your stupid.

Probably both.

***

Volcker - I might not live long enough to see it, but my soul will come back to haunt you.  Another beauty.

[Let them all fail]

That was absolutely classic, that should be top news tonight for entertainment value alone....however, thanks to our wonderful media, it will never be seen again....

[assumptionblindness]

"I might not live long enough to see it, but my soul will come back to haunt you."  

That line was delivered like a strong safety hit on a 160lb wide receiver going over the middle.  I loved it!

[Let them all fail]

Don't mean this rudely, but is Mr. Johnson mentally challenged or does he have a speech impediment, or is he drunk?

[Anonymous]

There is a Senator named, CRAPO? Oh the hilarity.

[Gimp]

Bribery, Vice and Corruption sums up the members of the committee nicely.

[pak]

I'd also favor Martin Hutchinson's (of prudentbear.com) "single capacity" idea to be considerd alongside the Volcker proposal.

If they really want any "change", they'll have to make limitations SHOCKINGLY tough. If, instead, only some mutilated version of the initial proposal is passed into law, it will only make things worse by giving rise to a plethora of cheating techniques.