What learning curve?

JPMorgan Trading Loss Suggests Little Has Changed Since The Financial Crisis

JPMorgan Chase CEO: I Have No Idea Whether We Broke The Law
(Best quote so far, my bold)

NEW YORK -- JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon says he does not know whether the bank broke any laws in the surprise $2 billion loss by one of its trading groups. In an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," Dimon says regulators should look at the matter.

What? NOW you want regulators to do their job? AFTER you've lost 2 BILLION, BILLION with a B dollars?? Because you don't know if losing 2 BILLION dollars on "from risky bets on opaque derivatives at a London trading desk" was the thing to do or not? Do you know where that 2 BILLION dollars went to, sir? ... Do you know how much good 2 BILLION dollars could do for our schools and communities and infrastructure and elderly and students and everybody? Just don't ask the US taxpayer to bail you out again. And don't try to make up the loss by overcharging on student loans or sneaking unnecessary fees into checking accounts or screwing over desperate mortgage holders. Make up the loss out of your fucking bonuses.

What do you mean foxes can't guard the henhouse?

The inmates can't run the asylum? ... Corporations can't self-regulate?

I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you!!

In opening statements, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., committee chairman, said the current economic crisis could have been prevented "if regulators had paid more attention and intervened with responsible legislation. The list of regulatory mistakes and misjudgments is long and the cost to taxpayers and the economy is staggering."

Waxman put Greenspan on the spot, asking if he made any mistakes during his tenure as Federal Reserve chairman that may have contributed to the mortgage crisis.

Greenspan said he made a mistake in presuming that lenders themselves were more capable than regulators of protecting their finances. He said he was "shocked" when that system "broke down."

"I still do not understand exactly how it happened," said Greenspan.

Well... you see, Mr. Greenspan, it's like this.... human nature by default is self-obsessed and greedy. We must assume that those who know they won't be caught will do things that benefit themselves, ignoring the cost to others. We need checks and balances built into the system. When you take those away, you see the wreckage before you as an illustration of the end result.

Will this lesson take? Nah, I give it ....oh... another twenty years or so before we hear the pleading for deregulation again... long enough for the next generation of neocons to spawn and for voters to forget.

crossposted at American Street

The Keating Five Scandal

Kinda fits with the stuff happening on Wall Street today, doncha think? Why hasn't the media picked up on this?

Can you imagine what they would be doing if Obama or Clinton had this scandal in their background?

Why is McCain getting a free ride? Why is he not answering persistent and probing questions about his unsavory past and questionable strip mall investments with Charles Keating?