“Fraud was not the problem, it was the solution.” James Galbraith, The End of Normal This is the fourth in a series on the weaknesses of the US banking system. The series begins here. In my last post, I explained the role of residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS) innovated by…

“Mass corporate activity could not match private entrepreneurship, because people in charge of others’ money would not exercise as much care as they would with their own” Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations. This is the third in a series about the banking system. The series begins here. We continue…

This is the second in a series explaining how banks actually operate, and not how most people think that they do. The first in the series discussing the new model of bank profit making is here. Commercial banks no longer keep the home mortgages that they take as security when…

“And I sincerely believe with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies… Thomas Jefferson in a letter to John Taylor in 1816 Economist Thomas Piketty, in his bestseller noted that a major cause of economic inequality was executive pay especially in the banking industry. However, there are…

This is the sixth in a series on the predstory tactics of equity/hedge funds. The series begins here. Why isn’t there greater awareness that the Private Equities are destroying so many American businesses? Every report on the demise of a PE controlled retail company will emphasize poor management strategy and focus on Amazon, as if those two factors were the critical ones. Most analysts totally ignore the role of the PE funds.

Are equity hedge funds beneficial or harmful? Harvard economists Bebchuk, Brav and Jiang conclude in a 2015 study that all the criticisms levelled at the predatory tactics of equity/hedge funds are unfounded. …

This is the third in the series on how hedge funds loot corporations. The first can be read here, the second here. As we examine how a hedge fund took over Sears, and the consequences, we will see many of the predatory tactics of the equity/hedge fund playbook in action…

This is the second in a series on the equity/hedge funds: what they are, and how they plunder successful corporations. The first is here. Some hedge funds are merely passive investors. …

The first in a series on how equity/hedge funds loot corporations The Board of Directors of Bed Bath and Beyond did something incompetent to the point of self-destruction. In 2014, the business was clear of debt, but the Board aggressively increased a buyback campaign, not just stripping out every cent…