Michael Bloomberg: 'It Was Not the Banks That Created the Mortgage Crisis'

Michael Bloomberg is yet again treating Wall Street protesters' gripes with his unique style of empathy, "utter dismissiveness." The billionaire, who can thank the robust growth of the financial services sector over the decades for his fortune, knows the truth! The banks did nothing wrong; it was all Fannie Mae,…
Jon Corzine's Spectacular Failure Just Got More Spectacular
There's no better argument against the privilege of wealth than Jon Corzine, the clownish former Goldman Sachs CEO who thought his facility for extracting money from a rigged financial game entitled him to run the state of New Jersey. After getting roundly rejected by voters after one term, he got a job from a friend…
Feel Like You Haven't Been Giving Enough Money to Citibank? You're in Luck!
Not to be outdone by Bank of America's rank avarice, Citibank announced today that it's raising monthly fees for checking accounts—doubling them, in fact, for its mid-level option—and bumping up the minimum balances. They're basically looking at their customers, identifying the ones who have the least amount of money,…
Everyone Loves Burning Banks
Alex Schaefer, an artist in Los Angeles, just sold this painting of a burning Chase bank branch on eBay for a cool $25,000. Great imagery! It helped that he got a shitload of publicity, from two(!) police investigations.
Goldman Sachs Hunts Down Its Elevator Tweeter
The golden age of anonymous corporate elevator Twitter accounts is ending. It lasted about a week. After @CondeElevator closed down operations because "This got really crazy. Love my job," a series of knock-off elevator Twitter accounts launched. The only worthwhile one was @GSElevator, tweeting overheard conversations
All the Powerful People Really Hate New York AG Eric Schneiderman
Things are going about as expected for New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman when he decided to take on the full brunt of the White House and the largest megabanks in the country by trying to investigate the full load of their mortgage-related crimes over the past decade: Somewhat difficultly.
Bank-Robbing Stripper and Brothers Caught After Car Chase, Gun Battle
The brief, delightful August reign of the Doughtery gang has finally come to an end, in exactly the way you'd expect a nationwide manhunt for a bank-robbing stripper and her two brothers to end: A high-speed car chase and a gun battle.
Pity of Pities: Goldman Sachs is Sending Jobs Overseas
Be warned: You are going to be enraged when you hear this news, imbued with all the populist animalism you can muster and smashing crap all afternoon: Goldman Sachs is cutting some jobs in America and adding 1,000 people in Singapore. Are there even words to describe how much the average American will miss its…
Banks Lose in Washington's Most Heavily Lobbied Battle
The $16 billion battle between retailers and banks over new caps on debit card swipe fees appears to have been won by... retailers! The Senate was unable to pass an amendment today that would've "delayed" (killed) the caps' implementation.
Couple Attempts to Seize Bank of America's Furniture, Computers
Florida homeowners Maurenn Nyergers and her husband paid for their home in cash, and never took out a mortgage, so when Bank of America filed foreclosure papers on the house, they took the bank to court, and won. And when Bank of America wouldn't pay their legal fees — as it was ordered to by the court — their…
Guess Who's Speaking Up on Behalf of the Poor Banking Industry?
You may be aware that the banking industry is currently engaged in a furious lobbying campaign to avoid the frightening prospect of being forced to lower the fees it charges retailers every time you use your debit card to buy something. It would just put "unfair profits" into the pockets of retailers, while forcing…
