Quote: What if women, not men, were the real powers on Wall Street? With the arrival of Bair, Schapiro and Warren, we are finally getting an answer.
Go on! Tickoff Madoff. Help him toward sharing .. his last glory days ..
Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff has contempt for victims, is hero to inmates: report June 8, 2010
Bernard Madoff ... will die in prison. Photo: Reuters
Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff, serving a 150-year sentence for masterminding Wall Street's biggest fraud, has total contempt for his victims and is considered a hero by his fellow inmates, New York Magazine said Monday.
In a profile of the 72-year-old fraudster, a year into his sentence at Butner federal prison, in North Carolina, the weekly said Madoff's feelings for the people he scammed were overheard one day when he said: "F--- my victims. I carried them for 20 years, and now I'm doing 150 years."
The magazine said Madoff enjoyed celebrity status from the moment he arrived at the penitentiary under security escort complete with circling helicopters and a bevy of reporters.
He has made friends in prison with the likes of Colombo crime family boss Carmine Persico, with whom he takes long walks during recess.
Butner is described as a relatively pleasant institution that includes a gymnasium, library, pool tables, chapel and a volleyball court. Its outdoor facilities are dotted with trees, flowers and lawns where inmates take in the sun.
In this closed-off world, Madoff - convict number 61727-054 - has his admirers.
"He enjoys being a celebrity," said lawyer Nancy Fineman who met Madoff shortly after he was locked inside Butner.
His fellow inmates above all admire his "accomplishments": bilking thousands of his clients out of what he claimed before his arrest were $US65 billion.
One convict said Madoff struts around the prison "like he beat the world".
"In the context of prison, he isn't a cancer on society; he is a success, admired for his vast accomplishments," the inmate told the magazine.
Watching him on CBS television's 60 Minutes one day, inmates cheered him on: "Bernie, you got 'em for millions ... No, billions," one of them said.
"He's arguably the greatest con (confidence man) of all time," said another on a website.
Madoff is sought for his financial advice especially by inmates serving less than life.
Many obviously think he has a stash of money hidden somewhere. "Where did you hide it?" bank robber KC White said he once asked Madoff.
"It's H2O," answered Madoff, meaning the money slipped through his fingers like water.
See you around, Elizabeth Warren. With New Power, GOP Takes On Consumer Agency
If it or anyONE HELPS people .. it's/he/she MUST GO
NOVEMBER 23, 2010
Rep. Spencer Bachus (R., Ala.), seen here last fall, is one of the House Republicans who have ordered a probe of the new consumer bureau.
House Republican lawmakers fired the opening salvo Monday in a war they plan against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau created by this year's overhaul of financial regulations.
Republican Reps. Spencer Bachus of Alabama, the leading contender to take the reins of the House Financial Services Committee, and Illinois Rep. Judy Biggert, the top Republican on the panel's oversight and investigations subcommittee, sent letters to the inspectors general of both the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve, directing them to conduct an investigation into the work being done to establish the new bureau.
The lawmakers wrote that the agency warrants "rigorous" oversight by the inspectors general because it will play a significant role in credit availability for consumers and small businesses. GOP lawmakers have also sent letters to regulators on the legal bills incurred by former executives of government-controlled mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the economic impact of the financial-overhaul rules being written by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The letters are the strongest signals yet of how the new House Republican majority plans to use its oversight powers to hobble elements of the Obama agenda.
While they have little hope of repealing the new consumer agency—which has broad powers to write rules for mortgages, credit cards and other financial products—Republicans can work to influence regulators to blunt the agency's power.
Sending critical letters and ordering up investigations are two time-honored ways lawmakers exert influence. In this case, Republicans have two main targets: the Treasury Department, which is running the new agency until it assumes its full powers on July 21, and Elizabeth Warren, who was tapped as a special adviser by President Barack Obama to lead the setup of the bureau.
The reports requested by the lawmakers will likely lead to hearings, another tool in the lawmakers' arsenal. Reps. Bachus and Biggert asked for the reports by Jan. 10.
In the letters, the lawmakers criticized the Treasury and Ms. Warren for not making public information about the meetings with lobbyists, financial-industry officials and others as they set up the bureau. As noted by Mr. Bachus and Ms. Biggert, other key financial regulators post details online of their meetings with outsiders as a result of the financial overhaul.
"There is a clear absence of accountability and transparency" about the activities Treasury is undertaking to establish the consumer bureau, the letters said.
Earlier this month, the Treasury Department adopted a "transparency policy," saying it would begin posting details of in-person meetings between private-sector individuals and high-level Treasury staff, including Secretary Timothy Geithner. The disclosures lag behind meetings by a month. The first posting is not expected until Dec. 31.
Ms. Warren's contacts with industry participants will be covered by the Treasury's disclosure policy because she is a special adviser to Mr. Geithner. However, a Treasury official said Ms. Warren's schedule will be more regularly on the consumer agency's website once one is established. A treasury spokesman added that Ms. Warren is also willing to testify before Congress. Treasury also has said anyone who wants earlier access to the meeting logs should file a Freedom of Information Act request.
Ms. Warren has made no secret of her contact with industry participants, saying the input of banks, consumer advocates and others is crucial to making the agency's work a success. Among those she has met with are J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. CEO James Dimon, as well as the heads of dozens of other Wall Street firms, according to people familiar with the meetings.
The lawmakers signaled they planned to scrutinize Ms. Warren's every move, writing that they "are concerned that Professor Warren will be approaching this task without any experience managing—or creating—an organization of this scale and importance."
Ms. Warren's supporters, including many congressional Democrats, argue that she is the best suited to establish the agency since it was her idea, which she first floated in 2006, including to then-Sen. Obama.
Among the issues the inspectors general have been asked to investigate is the power Ms. Warren enjoys in her temporary post, as well as how much authority the bureau has to write rules before it has a full-time director.
Interesting the ones they Pick to 'get rid of' ..last year it's insurance reform..today it's Elizabeth.. Yesterday it was/is .. the Ethics committee .. just can't imagine why.
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