Distant Early Warning on Media Madness

NinaIllingworth May 20, 2019November 5, 2022 2008 Financial Crisis, banks, CA4, derivative trading, Economics, Essays, federally insured gambling, Finance, Fraud, Griftopia, Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan Chase, London Whale scandal, Matt Taibbi, Media Madness, neoliberalism, Nina Illingworth, OCC, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Offsite Writing, OTC derivative trades, pension funds, stock derivatives, the global economy is a ponzi scheme, Wall Street, Wall Street on Parade

Editor’s note: as part of a project to turn ninaillingworth.com into a central hub for all of my writing (thanks to ongoing censorship of my work by giant tech companies) I’m spending the next little while cross-posting older material from other platforms. Please accept my apologies for any potentially unwanted email notifications in advance.

The Economic Model Is Fantasy and Fraud

Quite frankly I don’t write about Wall Street, the fraud economy and big banker f*ckery as often as I want to, or perhaps should; but when I do decide to wade into the muck, it’s invariably because there’s a massive scam afoot in the open and mainstream media, even financial media, can’t be bothered to cover it. That was certainly the case in this May 20th, 2019 Media Madness essay where I looked at JP Morgan’s $2.2 trillion dollar sketchy derivatives timebomb. Building on the back of a Wall Street on Parade article, I examine why Jamie Dimon’s risky bets weren’t all that big of a risk for his bank, but could leave the rest of the planet and particularly American taxpayers on the hook if anything disturbed the delicate balance of the market. You know, like say a global pandemic. You folks might want to keep your boots handy because this issue has never been resolved and if the dam breaks on JP Morgan Chase, the whole market is going to flood with toxic, unsustainable debt in a heartbeat.

“As bad as all of that is however, we’re still looking at a situation which is merely alarming, predatory and immoral. Sure, JPMorgan Chase has accepted $2.2 trillion worth of obfuscated, unregulated and absurdly complex wagers on volatile stock markets through a bank that’s backed up by public funds. Yes, the bank has packaged those bets into an undesirable investment vehicle to theoretically offset a potential loss. Yes, these risky derivatives are crappy and yes, it’s objectively sh*tty that Jamie Dimon is pawning them off on complicit yokel government administrators and pension fund managers whose clients likely believe their investments are much safer than they are. So far, that’s a pretty sad story for working class retirees but it hardly rates as “iceberg ahead” for the global economy. For things to get really out of hand here, the bigwigs at JPMorgan Chase would have to be making uniquely awful, insanely risky bets that are going to explode long before they can pass the risk on to children and the elderly. What are the odds of that eerily familiar situation coming up again this time?”

To check it out over on Media Madness, click on the quotation block above, or the header below:

Distant Early Warning

nina illingworth

Independent writer, critic and analyst with a left focus. Please help me fight corporate censorship by sharing my articles with your friends online!

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“It’s ok Willie; swing heil, swing heil…”