Courtesy of Pam Martens
The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, chaired by Congressman Al Green of Texas, will hold a hearing on June 30 titled: “America on ‘FIRE.’ Will the Crypto Frenzy Lead to Financial Independence and Early Retirement or Financial Ruin?”
The announcement of the hearing came yesterday, the same day that Wall Street On Parade reported that the Federal Trade Commission was witnessing a skyrocketing increase in crypto scams. The FTC wrote on May 17:
“Reports to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel suggest scammers are cashing in on the buzz around cryptocurrency and luring people into bogus investment opportunities in record numbers. Since October 2020, reports have skyrocketed, with nearly 7,000 people reporting losses of more than $80 million on these scams.”
The Subcommittee has not yet posted its lineup of witnesses for the hearing. Republicans, who are the minority party in the House at present, can be expected to call at least one of the shills for crypto. Democrats will likely call witnesses from academic and investment circles.
One of the biggest crypto critics has been Nouriel Roubini, Chairman of Roubini Macro Associates and a former senior economist for international affairs in the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers during the Clinton Administration. Roubini has also worked for the International Monetary Fund, the Federal Reserve, the World Bank, and was Professor of Economics at New York University’s Stern School of Business from 1995 to 2021.
In a Bloomberg TV interview in April, Roubini gave this scathing critique of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies:
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