13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown (53 page)

73.
Quoted in John Arlidge, “I’m Doing ‘God’s Work.’ Meet Mr Goldman Sachs,”
The Sunday Times
(London), November 8, 2009, available at
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article
6907681.ece
.

74.
Job losses are seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Current Employment Statistics,
available at
http://www.bls.gov/ces/
.

75.
GDP data are from Bureau of Economic Analysis,
National Income and Product Accounts,
Table 1.1.6, available at
http://bea.gov/national/nipaweb/SelectTable.asp
.

76.
Unemployment statistics are from Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Current Population Survey,
available at
http://www.bls.gov/webapps/legacy/cpsatab12.htm
(U-3 and U-6).

77.
Deficit for 2009 is from Congressional Budget Office,
Budget Projections,
available at
http://cbo.gov/budget/budproj.shtml
; historical deficit figures are from Office of Management and Budget,
Historical Tables,
available at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals/
.

78.
Congressional Budget Office,
The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2008 to 2018,
January 2008, available at
http://cbo.gov/ftpdocs/89xx/doc8917/01–23–2008_BudgetOutlook.pdf
; Congressional Budget Office,
The Budget and Economic Outlook: An Update,
August 2009, available at
http://cbo.gov/ftpdocs/105xx/doc10521/08–25-BudgetUpdate.pdf
.

79.
Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff,
This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009), 231–32.

80.
Maura Reynolds and Janet Hook, “Critics Say Bush Is Not Doing Enough,”
Los Angeles Times,
March 18, 2008, available at
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/mar/18/nation/na-bush18
; cited in Sorkin,
Too Big to Fail, supra
note 2, at 38.

81.
“Executive Compensation: Vikram S. Pandit,”
Equilar,
available at
http://www.equilar.com/CEO_Compensation/Citigroup_Vikram_S.
_Pandit.php
.

82.
David Enrich, “Old Lane Managers Look for Exit from Citi,”
The Wall Street Journal,
December 24, 2008, available at
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123008418545132173.html
.

83.
Sorkin,
Too Big to Fail, supra
note 2, at 201–2.

84.
Ibid., at 210–11, 221–22, 382.

85.
Jackie Calmes, “Obama’s Economic Team Shows Influence of Robert Rubin—With a Difference,”
The New York Times,
November 24, 2008.

86.
Jo Becker and Gretchen Morgenson, “Geithner, Member and Overseer of Finance Club,”
The New York Times,
April 26, 2009, available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/business/27geithner.html
.

87.
Robert Schmidt, “Geithner Aides Reaped Millions Working for Banks, Hedge Funds,” Bloomberg, October 14, 2009, available at
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=abo3Zo0ifzJg
.

88.
For a less positive interpretation, see Matt Taibbi, “Obama’s Big Sellout,”
Rolling Stone,
December 9, 2009, available at
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/31234647/obamas_big_
sellout
.

89.
Michael Barr, Written Testimony Before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, July 14, 2009, available at
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg208.htm
; Noam Scheiber, “Could Wall Street Actually Lose in Congress?,”
The New Republic,
November 23, 2009, available at
http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-stash/could-wall-street-actually-lose-congress
.

90.
Louis Uchitelle, “Volcker Fails to Sell a Bank Strategy,”
The New York Times,
October 20, 2009, available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/21/business/21volcker.html
.

91.
Information on Geithner’s calendar was reported in Matt Apuzzo and Daniel Wagner, “Mr. Geithner, Wall Street Is on Line 1 (Again): When These Men Call, the Treasury Boss Listens,” Associated Press, October 8, 2009, avail-able at
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Mr-Geithner-Wall-Street-is-on-apf-3283001415.html?x=0
.

92.
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.,
The Coming of the New Deal, 1933–1935
(Boston: Mariner, 2003), 444.

93.
Michael Lewis (lecture, Hudson Union Society, New York, NY, June 1, 2009), video available at
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/18/michael-lewis-attacks-gol_n_217542.html
.

CHAPTER 7: THE AMERICAN OLIGARCHY

1.
Paul Volcker, Statement Before the Committee on Banking and Financial Services of the House of Representatives, September 24, 2009, available at
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/volcker
.pdf
.

2.
Alan Greenspan, “The Global Financial Crisis: Causes and Consequences” (lecture, C. Peter McColough Series on International Economics, Council on Foreign Relations, October 15, 2009), available at
http://www.cfr.org/publication/20417/
.

3.
Richard Scott Carnell, Jonathan R. Macey, and Geoffrey P. Miller,
The Law of Banking and Financial Institutions,
fourth edition (Austin: Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, 2009), 29.

4.
Robert D. Hershey, Jr., “Bush Signs Savings Legislation; Remaking of Industry Starts Fast,”
The New York Times,
August 10, 1989, available at
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/10/business/bush-signs-savings-legislation-remaking-of-industry-starts-fast.html
.

5.
“The Watchmen,”
This American Life,
first broadcast on June 5, 2009, transcript available at
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/extras/radio/382_transcript.pdf
.

6.
Quoted in Jeff Zeleny, “Obama Weighs Quick Undoing of Bush Policy,”
The New York Times,
November 9, 2009, available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/us/politics/10obama.html
.

7.
Eric Dash, “Bankers Pledge Cooperation with Obama,”
The New York Times,
March 27, 2009, available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/28/business/economy/28bank.html
.

8.
Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President on 21st Century Financial Regulatory Reform,” June 17, 2009, available at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-of-the-President-on-Regulatory-Reform
.

9.
For an overview of the administration’s proposals, see Department of the Treasury,
Financial Regulatory Reform: A New Foundation: Rebuilding Financial Supervision and Regulation,
June 17, 2009, available at
http://www.financialstability.gov/docs/regs/FinalReport_web.pdf
.

10.
Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President on Financial Rescue and Reform,” Federal Hall, New York, NY, September 14, 2009, available at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-on-Financial-Rescue-and-Reform-at-Federal-Hall
.

11.
Proposals to strengthen shareholder governance may help a little, but they overlook the fact that shareholders themselves benefit from increased risk-taking and government guarantees just like bank executives. See, e.g., Lucian A. Bebchuk and Holger Spamann, “Regulating Bankers’ Pay,” Harvard Law and Economics Discussion Paper No. 641, June 2009, available at
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1410072
.

12.
Joe Nocera, “Only a Hint of Roosevelt in Financial Overhaul,”
The New York Times,
June 17, 2009, available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/business/18nocera.html
.

13.
Jonathan D. Salant and Lizzie O’Leary, “Citigroup Taxpayer Ownership Doesn’t Prevent Lobbying,” Bloomberg, October 23, 2009, available at
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=axiOjGkS2zYY
; Michael Hirsh, “Why Is Barney Frank So Effing Mad?,”
Newsweek,
December 5, 2009, available at
http://www.newsweek.com/id/225781
.

14.
Quoted in Hirsh, “Barney Frank,”
supra
note 13.

15.
Stephen Labaton, “Bill Shields Most Banks from Review,”
The New York Times,
October 15, 2009, available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/business/16regulate.html
; Hirsh, “Barney Frank,”
supra
note 13.

16.
William Greider, “The Money Man’s Best Friend,”
The Nation,
November 11, 2009, available at
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091130/greider
.

17.
Martin Wolf, “Why Narrow Banking Alone Is Not the Finance Solution,”
Financial Times,
September 29, 2009, available at
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/34cbca0c-ad28–11de-9caf-00144feabdc0.html
.

18.
Time
Magazine/ABT SRBI Survey, conducted October 26–27, 2009; results available at
http://www.srbi.com/Wall%20Street%20Questionnaire%20and%20Poll%20Results.pdf
.

19.
Keith Ernst, Debbie Bocian, and Wei Li, “Steered Wrong: Brokers, Borrowers, and Subprime Loans,” Center for Responsible Lending, April 8, 2008, available at
http://www.responsiblelending.org/mortgage-lending/research-analysis/steered-wrong-brokers-borrowers-and-subprime-loans.pdf
.

20.
Michael Powell, “Bank Accused of Pushing Mortgage Deals on Blacks,”
The New York Times,
June 6, 2009, available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/us/07baltimore.html
.

21.
Cited in Michael Powell and Janet Roberts, “Minorities Affected Most as New York Foreclosures Rise,”
The New York Times,
May 15, 2009, available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/16/nyregion/16foreclose.html
.

22.
Ron Lieber and Andrew Martin, “The Card Game: Overspending on Debit Cards Is a Boon for Banks,”
The New York Times,
September 8, 2009, available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/your-money/credit-and-debit-cards/09debit.html
; Center for Responsible Lending, “Quick Facts on Overdraft Loans,” available at
http://www.responsiblelending.org/overdraft-loans/research-analysis/quick-facts-on-overdraft-loans.html
.

23.
See Adam Levitin, “Complex Pricing of Credit Cards Should Be Simplified,”
Chicago Tribune,
December 27, 2007, available at
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2007/dec/27/opinion/chi-oped1227creditdec27
.

24.
Adam Levitin, “Priceless? The Social Costs of Credit Card Merchant Restraints,”
Harvard Journal on Legislation
45 (2008): 1–58. See also Felix Salmon, “How Banks Give Up Trust for Money,” Reuters, August 11, 2009, available at
http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/08/11/how-banks-give-up-trust-for-money/
.