Monday, December 22, 2008

A Few Assorted Quotes

I'm not the only one who thinks corporate secrecy is out of hand. Here are a few tidbits from around the web.

"It's something any bank would demand to know before handing out a loan: Where's the money going? But after receiving billions in aid from U.S. taxpayers, the nation's largest banks say they can't track exactly how they're spending the money or they simply refuse to discuss it."
Matt Apuzzo, Associated Press

"We've lent some of it. We've not lent some of it. We've not given any accounting of, 'Here's how we're doing it'... We have not disclosed that to the public. We're declining to."
JPMorgan Chase, which received $25 billion in emergency bailout money.

"We're choosing not to disclose that...I just would prefer if you wouldn't say that we're not going to discuss those details."
Spokesman for Bank of New York Mellon, which received about $3 billion

"We are going to decline to comment..."
Morgan Stanley

"We're not sharing any other details. We're just not..."
Comerica Inc. in Dallas, which received $2.25 billion

"If the appropriate restrictions were put on the money to begin with, if the appropriate transparency was in place, then we wouldn't be in a position where you're trying to call every recipient and get the basic information that should already be in public documents..."
Elizabeth Warren, TARP watchdog

"...no one knows how it happened, least of all the federal regulators charged with policing [Madoff] and protecting the public....But have we yet learned anything? Incredibly enough, as we careen into 2009, the very government operation tasked with repairing the damage caused by Wall Street’s black boxes is itself a black box of secrecy and impenetrability."
Frank Rich, columnist, NY Times

"...without transparency and accountability in Washington’s black box, as well as Wall Street’s, there will continue to be no trust in the system, no matter how many cops the S.E.C. puts on the beat."
Frank Rich, columnist, NY Times

“...the standard agreement between Treasury and the participating institutions does not require that these institutions track or report how they plan to use, or do use, their capital investments.”
US General Accounting Office


sources:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081222/ap_on_bi_ge/meltdown_secrets_3
Where'd the bailout money go? Shhhh, it's a secret

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/opinion/21rich.html
Who Wants to Kick a Millionaire?

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09161.pdf
TROUBLED ASSET RELIEF PROGRAM: Additional Actions Needed to Better Ensure Integrity, Accountability, and Transparency

No comments:

Post a Comment