It Can’t Only be Elizabeth Warren and Journaliat Calling for Change
The lack of transparency by federal agencies is part of a bigger problem. In working on the story I found most people couldn’t speak to me, or if they did it wasn’t on record. This is a function of a world that is so focused on blaming and finger-pointing that understanding how and why we’re doing things is roadkill. This of course, is not a positive thing for the simple fact that darkness is not the most healthy environment for anything human to thrive in. Policies included.
“Scandals involving insider trading and unreported meetings between Fed officials and major financial services groups are baked into the foundation of the Federal Reserve as a system created by and for bankers.“ The Intercept, October 2022
“The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday approved a final rule to help ensure banks maintain strong capital positions” is how they titled their press release on implementing sweeping changes that were needed as a result of hundreds of failed banks and an economic crisis. That’s some spin. And superfluous in light of the above quote from The Intercept.
Now, failure is not necessarily the worst thing in the world. It’s a necessary part of success as most say, and a part of our human experience that too often is vilified. And positive spin is not necessarily horrible. However, not looking honestly at things is where we get more problems. And with information on the origin of TruPS hard to find, it’s hard to have a sincere look at these policies formation to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Let alone to trust the same agencies to do the job. Especially when most of the people that work in these agencies went to the same schools so got the same training.
“Over the past two years, the failure of several federally insured depository institutions was due largely, or in part, to their investment in TruP CDOs.” FDIC Supervisory Insights, Winter 2010
It needn’t be so inside baseball that information is behind locked sites that require payment or security. It’s our information. These are our policies. The path that lead to them should be readily available and accessible to learn from. That they’re not demands attention.
Numerous articles talk about the plethora of issues within banking and finance, including the fact that many people working there were previously in banking. And considering the pool of people within this world is pretty small to begin with, we’re talking people from many of the same schools, we’re expecting these people to monitor each other. It’s a tall order but ethical conduct is for all of us. When major institutions do not act with integrity, economic collapses happen. That’s why access to information is key.
Sun Tzu talks about deception being a part of defense. With no one answering when investors and journalists call asking questions it’s a wily one. Especially when we’re all supposed to be on the same team.
There’s a movie where a character is asked what’s the biggest lie he was ever told. His answer, ’it’s not that simple.’ “It’s how they get you to give up.”
It is simple.
Cui bono. Who benefits? Why in 2023 are two of the most important financial institutions in America stonewalling citizens? When are we going to be able to look at our failures as honestly as our successes?
