Bad C’s
by ilene - October 31st, 2009 2:04 pm
Bad C’s prompts me to recycle my introduction to George Washington’s Blog’s "The Ongoing Cover Up of the Truth Behind the Financial Crisis May Lead to Another Crash":
Our freedom depends on our government enforcing and abiding by the law. It’s apparent that we are headed down the slippery slope Justice Louis Brandeis describes in Olmstead v. United States (1928):
"In a government of laws, the existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. Our government is the potent, the omnipotent teacher. For good or ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If government becomes a lawbreaker it breeds contempt for law: it invites every man to become a law unto himself. It invites anarchy."
We have the Federal government’s massive and flagrant display of lawlessness, and population somewhere on the way from apathy to dependency in the Fatal Sequence cycle of civilization. – Ilene
Michael Panzner elaborates on this theme:
Bad C’s
Courtesy of Michael Panzner of Financial Armageddon
Before the era of Frankenstein Finance and the fanatical focus on fee-based income, lenders tried to hold themselves out as models of probity (for the skeptics out there, I did say "try."). Those responsible for making credit-granting decisions and looking after the interests of shareholders also demanded that borrowers meet certain standards before they would see even a dime of their employers’ money. These criteria are known as the "5 C’s of Credit," which are the
key elements a borrower should have to obtain credit: character (integrity), capacity (sufficient cash flow to service the obligation), capital (net worth), collateral (assets to secure the debt), and conditions (of the borrower and the overall economy).
In an interesting twist of fate, the firms that have traditionally decided who should get credit have been put in the position of needing extraordinary amounts of other people’s money just to stay alive. Unfortunately, based on what we’ve seen so far, including reports like those that follow, it’s doubtful whether most, if not all, of today’s troubled financial institutions would even qualify for a loan based on traditional measures of suitability — like "character," for example — if their friends in high places weren’t so intimately involved in the process.
…
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn 
del.icio.us
DiggAmgen vs. Cuomo
by ilene - October 30th, 2009 4:58 pm
Amgen: Cuomo’s Full Of It (AMGN)
Amgen has responded to the charges of corruption and fraud related to its big anemia drug, Aranesp, made by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo today along with 14 other states.
Amgen spokesman David Polk told us "We believe that the allegations are without merit, and we look forward to the opportunity to examine these matters with the states before the Court."
Polk adds: "Because this lawsuit is now in litigation, we are limited in our remarks," and that "Amgen has a solid compliance program and Code of Conduct called “Do The Right Thing,” and we expect that all of our employees follow it at all times."
AMGN was down 0.56 today, or -1.03%.
See also Lawrence Delevingne’s earlier entry:
Amgen Down As Cuomo Alleges Massive Corruption, Kickbacks, And Fraud (AMGN)
Breaking from the New York Attorney General’s Office:
his office into a nationwide kickback scheme to boost drug sales.
In a lawsuit filed today in federal court the states charge drug manufacturer Amgen, International Nephrology Network (INN), a specialty group purchasing organization, and ASD Healthcare, a wholesaler, with offering kickbacks to medical providers to increase sales of Amgen’s anemia drug, Aranesp.
“Drugs should be prescribed to patients on the basis of need, effectiveness, and safety, not on a corporate giant’s promise of an all-expense paid vacation,” said Attorney General Cuomo. “In an egregious violation of the law, Amgen allegedly bribed medical providers and left taxpayers footing the bill for free drug samples. My office’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit will continue to work with our partners in other states to uncover these kinds of abuses.”
According to the multi-state complaint, the companies would encourage medical providers to bill third party payers such as Medicaid for free Aranesp that were provided at no cost. Amgen is further alleged to have conspired with INN and ASD Healthcare to offer illegal kickbacks to medical providers, such as sham consultancy agreements, weekend retreats, or other services to induce them to purchase and prescribe Aranesp with the intention and effect of increasing sales of Aranesp and converting new providers from competitor drugs to Aranesp.
As a result…
The Great American Bankruptcy
by ilene - August 9th, 2009 12:25 pm
Here’s an excellent documentary video called "The Great American Bankruptcy." H/t Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge, who h/tipped Ian. William K. Black, a white collar criminologist, discusses the financial crisis and our pseudo-capitalistic fraud-ridden system. - Ilene
William Kurt Black is an American lawyer, academic, author, and a former bank regulator. Black’s expertise is in white-collar crime, public finance, regulation, and other topics in law and economics. He developed the concept of "control fraud", in which a business or national executive uses the entity he or she controls as a "weapon" to commit fraud.
On April 3, 2009 Black appeared on "Bill Moyers Journal" on PBS and provided critical commentary on the U.S. banking crisis. In the interview with Bill Moyers, Black asserted that the banking crisis in the United States that started in late 2008 is essentially a big Ponzi scheme; that the "liar loans" and other financial tricks were essentially illegal frauds; and that the triple-A ratings given to these loans was part of a criminal cover-up.
German
Spanish
French
Italian
Portuguese
Japanese
Korean
Russian
Chinese
Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW. She manages the Favorites backup site
(