In letters delivered to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this last month, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley are seeking exemption from a shareholder proposal, filed by the AFL-CIO labor coalition, which would force them to identify all their executives who are eligible for awards for entering government service, as well as the specific amounts in question…. [Read More]
Shooting the Messenger
It was an honor to be interviewed recently by Neil King and Samantha Early of Deutsche Welle, one of the largest broadcasters in the world. According to their website, they interact with 150 million across the world. On their weekly Worldlink program, they focus on showing the human side of top world stories. The interview was about… [Read More]
The Dallas Morning News: An Unsung Hero
Every once in a while events happen that really get to you. In the last decade I’ve sure had more than my share of these, but I have to tell you, this last Sunday’s article in the Dallas Morning News Business section about the incidents at Citigroup and my role in them, both exhilarated and… [Read More]
Too Big To Fail Survey
Too Big to Fail, a U.S. television drama film was first broadcast on HBO, May 23, 2011. Based on Andrew Ross Sorkin‘s non-fiction book Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System—and Themselves (2009), the film received public acclaim and 11 nominations at the 63rd… [Read More]
Why Is Our Government in the Mortgage Business?
We sure don’t want to be, but it looks like we are heading in that direction. “In the name of affordable loans, the White House is creating the conditions for a replay of the housing disaster,” states the caption in a recent WSJ article on the “coming mortgage meltdown.” [tweetthis twitter_handles=”@richardmbowen”]Why are we – oh,… [Read More]
Whistleblowing for Dummies
In the last several months I’ve been posting my opinions about the Department of Justice, former Attorney General Eric Holder and numerous other thoughts about whistleblowing and the 2008 financial debacle; as well as my concerns that Citi and the Too Big To Fail Banks are now heading in the same direction that landed us… [Read More]
Ethical Leadership- Culture is the Culprit!
People act in their own best interests; not necessarily because they believe they are doing the right thing or because they may be punished or rewarded for doing so. And if a company wants to promote and assure ethical standards are followed then transparency, trust and developing an ethical culture based on guiding principles is… [Read More]
Is Citi the next AIG… ?
An interesting and disturbing piece of news just came across my radar. The Office of the Currency Comptroller’s most recent report of the total amount of derivatives held at the Big 4 banks shows that Citibank has surpassed JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America with $70 trillion in holdings, making it the single… [Read More]
Who Owns Congress?
The recent efforts from Citi and the banking establishment to repeal key provisions of the Dodd- Frank reform bill and the furor it is causing may have some positive effect. The public is getting more insight into how the Too Big To Fail banks are writing the rules. According to Scott Burns, Dallas Morning news… [Read More]
How Wall Street Foils Truth, Trust, Transparency and Democracy
Headlines recently focused on Citigroup and its blatant power over government with the inclusion of a Citi-written provision in year-end funding legislation that guts part of Dodd-Frank’s restrictions on banking. It seems that while we were paying attention to, as Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) labeled it, Wall Street institutions’ extraordinary influence in Washington’s corridors of… [Read More]
