Wall Street Begins Campaign to Thwart ‘Populist Overreaction’

Wall Street’s largest trade group has started a campaign to counter the “populist” backlash against bankers, enlisting two former aides to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to spearhead the effort.

In memos of confidential meetings with top financial executives, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association said it began this month the “execution phase” of the operation, which pledges to “embrace change” and accountability. The plan targets policy makers and the media in New York, London, Washington and Brussels and calls for a “city-by-city, grass roots” approach.

The securities industry “must be perceived as part of the solution, which will allow it to better defend against populist overreaction,” the documents, prepared for a June 17 meeting of SIFMA’s board, said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aNBWPPxGyWaU

 

It must be a populist overreaction that the economy has crashed, unemployment is high all over, housing market sucks, and a heavily bailed out Wall Street is once again licking their chops at huge pay increases and record bonuses.

It wasn't main street that was receiving taxpayer bailouts, it was Wall Street and they received such federal opportunity because they were not smart enough to manage their business and the risk in that business.

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticke...Thanks-for-the-Bailouts-Have-Some-Higher-Fees

Wall St. to Taxpayers: "Thanks for the Bailouts, Have Some Higher Fees"

Posted Jun 25, 2009 12:40pm EDT by Aaron Task
Related: XLF, BAC, JPM, C, MA, V, AXP
Wall Street is responding to new proposed regulations in classic form: They're trying to circumvent restrictions on compensation and want to pass along the cost of compliance to their clients, namely you and me.
JPMorgan Chase has informed clients its raising fees on balance transfers and cash advances to 5%, the highest among the nation's big banks. (Earlier this month, Bank of America raised similar fees to 4%.)

In a notice to customers, JPMorgan cited "new federal regulations" as the rationale for higher fees, The LA Times reports.

Get used to being nickled and dimed by the banks (even more than usual), says Diane Garnick, investment strategist at Invesco, who notes deflation has hit every other asset class in the past year, save ATM fees.

"We're going to get hit with all of these small fee coming from the banks," she says, noting banks' institutional customers are both smaller in number and much more cost conscious after the credit bust. "The way we're going to see these fees really come about will be on the retail side.
They're saying, the people who borrowed from Mastercard to pay Visa -- the little guys -- we're going to bump those fees all the way up."

Higher credit card fees: Think of it as just one more way of Wall Street saying "thanks" to the American taxpayer for bailing them out last year.

 

Case in point:

http://www.minyanville.com/articles/GS-WMT-TGT-C-citigroup-BRK/index/a/23284

 

Wall St just showed the world how stupid & greedy they are/were. As a result, many companies/individuals in the rest of the world will further stay away and actually launch competing financial centers. ByeBye "wall st".

Dubai
Dominican Republic
China
etc

 

Eight step program to improve Fed's image:

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/06/eight-step-program-to-improve-feds.html

 

What a move, start a movement to counter populism and hire people from Goldman Sachs on day one

 

What do you expect? In a world where politicians decide who wins and loses instead of allowing companies to succeed or fail based on whether or not they create products that please their fellow man, this kind of behaviour is par for the course Just as it is par for the course that politicians create politically protected groups in whose name they tax the productive and increase their power.

Don't look at Wall Street. Wall Street can beg and plead and stomp its feet all it wants but it can't receive any of your money unless and until your trusty politician takes it from you to give to them. And if politicians are handing out the goodies, it is the job of every Wall Street CEO to get as much of them for his own team as he can get his greedy paws on.

If you want politicians to set limits on Wall Street after they've handed out the goodies that's fine too. Then you effectively have politicians who can't balance their own checkbooks and whose only skill is bribe collection running a complicated industry. That has usually worked to impoverish every country that's ever tried it.

 

Actually this day has been in the making for awhile. Only GS

and MS are left standing on the IBs.

 

Exactly. It's amazing how out of touch these people are. They are in serious danger of getting metaphorically strung from the lamp posts, all it will take is one populist orator and they are toast.