Why the Occupy Wall Street protesters are so damn angryIt may be a movement with no clear leadership or aims, but a look at these graphs — showing growing unemployment rates in the US compared to the growing level of corporate profits — and it’s no surprise why Americans are protesting.
Wall Street
Gottliebsen: Wall Street’s confidence trick
Wall Street’s high risk taking could be a key issue at the 2012 US election, writes Robert Gottliebsen of Business Spectator.
Crikey Says: Crikey says: this movement might be something after all …
People are starting to pay attention to a growing movement in the US, and no it’s not the Tea Party.
Video of the Day: The men who crashed the world
As the global markets continue to look shaky, it seems an appropriate time to check out this Al Jazeera documentary series Meltdown. Pull up a chair — it’s 40 minutes — and examine the world of greed and recklessness on Wall Street that brought us the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-08.
Kohler: Wall Street calls a code blue
America has reached its debt limit and must start cutting back just as the economy is apparently getting weaker. Something similar is happening in Europe and Australia.
Power Index: S&P’s faceless few have world in their hands
S&P’s decision has shone a spotlight on the handful of credit analysts with the power to keep governments on a tight leash — individuals whom we know very little about.
Mayne: markets crash but we’ll be OK
Australia’s three great advantages in this situation are our relatively high official interest, the best ever terms of trade and gross federal government debt of only $195 billion.
Crunch time looms for US economy but China’s holding up
It’s Groundhog Day for the the global economy — May was a rough month and June has started worse with the first day seeing another big fall on global markets last night.
Maley: Goldman hears the QE2 music stop
Risk assets, such as shares and commodities, were sold off heavily overnight, as investors worried about the damage that high commodity prices are inflicting on global growth, writes Karen Maley, of Business Spectator.
All villains and no heroes: everyone’s guilty on Wall Street
The Finding Crisis Inquiry’s Commission into actions on Wall Street that led to the global financial crisis appears to have taken inspiration from Murder on the Orient Express: everyone’s guilty. They partied hard and the hangover was horrible, writes Susanne Craig and Ben Protess.
Morning Market Report: Morning Market Report
The market is up 15. The SFE Futures were up 50 this morning.
Att: Wall Street – hurry up and cap banker bonuses
This week European Parliament overwhelmingly decided to cap bonuses for bankers but the US appears incapable of implementing a similar policy for Wall Street, even though failing to do so risks another financial tsunami, warns Randall Lane.
Democrats stocks fall on Wall St
Obama’s mission to clean up Wall Street has resulted in a dramatic decrease in political donations from big corporations to the Democrats, with a drop of 65% in two years.
Too much money on Wall Street
Private equity firms on Wall Street have a current piggy bank of around US$500 billion and nowhere for it to go. But they need to make some deals, because if they don’t invest the money quickly, they’ll have to return it to their clients.
Gold, gold, gold for investors
Gold prices have just set a new record high, as investors rushed to invest in a reliable stock amongst violatile world markets. It rose as high as US$1,254.50 in the US.
From short selling to short blacks
No more hysterical traders huddled into one tiny booth, the New York Stock Exchange is getting a makeover. Floor numbers have halved to 500 traders and modern work pods have been installed. There’s even a Starbucks!
Riding the market tsunami
Greek bailout, the Flash Crash, reducing Spain’s credit rating: the market is a volatile place at the moment. Now high frequency traders are the secret villains of the finance world.
Matt Taibbi: Wall St’s war on finance reform
Matt Taibbi continues his excellent work exposing the unsightly underbelly of the big banks, with a detailed look at how their army of lobbyists neutered the US Congress’ attempts at financial reform.
Living with market fear
For a while there it seemed like global markets had returned to normal. Then, the Greece mess happened and the mayhem returned. Market fear needs to be managed so as not to scare real world activity.
Obama vs. the Wall Street bigwigs
Wall Street thinks Barack Obama is an anti-capitalist, Obama thinks he’s saving Wall Street from itself. Check out this fascinating article into the tumultuous relationship between Obama and the banks.
Krugman: Corporate America really, truly hates Obama
Wall Street usually love whoever is in power and donates campaign funds accordingly, but Obama’s regulations and taxes have the big corporations pissed. Paul Krugman explains.
NYT takes on Goldman Sachs
The New York Times has dealt a “devastating” blow to Goldman Sachs, with an extensive front-page report into the company’s conflicted business position and dodgy deals. The article is now the talk of the business world.
Goldman’s secret army
Goldman Sachs may be publicly cheering for tighter financial regulations, but behind the scenes, it has spent $6 million in the last year alone, running an army of DC lobbyists, employing the services of 14 separate lobbying firms.
Wall St pays Senators hush money
Why wasn’t the US “too big to fail” policy — bailouts for struggling banks in order to save the economy — scrapped? Because the Senators voting against it get most of their donations from the financial sector.
Dear Wall Street: you’re all wankers, sincerely, Main Street
There’s a big divide between Wall St and everybody else in the US, and a recent anonymous abusive letter written by a banker type only highlighted the divide. Nick Kapur penned a reply on behalf of the lowly worker.
