Apparently, this is what “an unprecedented level of openness in Government” looks like:
Via Kirsten Grind at the Puget Sound Business Journal.
The Puget Sound Business Journal for months has asked the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), the federal agency that regulated Washington Mutual, to release internal communications between WaMu’s regulators.
…
On Wednesday, an OTS official told the Business Journal in an email: “After careful review, I have determined that your request, as it pertains to the above-referenced documents, is denied in full.”
…
Under the Freedom of Information Act, the Business Journal has received several hundred pages of government emails about WaMu, written during its final months, in which almost all of information is blacked out. Some of those “redacted” emails are posted here.These emails were released by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., another government agency in charge of WaMu.
Absolutely inexcusable.
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Yes this is the second time this week I’ve posted this. But I really wanted to get the full visual effect of the big wall of censored documents, and Kirsten didn’t post any of the additional images until earlier today.
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It is horrific. Thanks for posting it though:)
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Thank you, Tim, for having the courage to promote the truth. This is not only inexcusable, it is very unsettling. WOW. …who woulda thunk that BIG BROTHER would come disguised this way? Veritas. The truth will set us free.
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What is it that you need to know?
The loan portfolios needed to be dumped some place. Washington Mutual was the likely candidate going back to 1998.
All of the concern about banks is a diversion from the real problems in the financial markets. You should know that because I read it here first.
Rather than making loans, banks created debt instruments that could be sold. This is an important part of the equation. In my opinion banks never cared about the strength of the borrower or the value of the asset. They sold the Notes as fast as they created them, got more cash for the reserves, then created more Notes to be sold.
You’re not going to get documentation, because there is no documentation. Nobody cared enough to make documents or memos. No body cared, it’s just not that important.
What do you expect to find? It’s all legal. Everything that was done was done legally. It’s laws you wanted, every body wanted. It created jobs. It’s your private sector creating those good paying jobs that every body wants.
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RE: David Losh @ 4 – Can you summarize your post in two sentences? I don’t understand what you are trying to say. Thanks.
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RE: wreckingbull @ 5 –
The letters are probably about some one’s lunch plans.
H.F. Ahmanson & Company’s role as a leader in the industry seemed assured heading into the late 1990s.
Prior to 1998 the principal Subsidiaries were Home Savings of America; Savings of America; Ahmanson Mortgage Company; Ahmanson Marketing, Inc.; Griffin Financial Services.
In 1998, Seattle-based thrift Washington Mutual (WaMu) purchased HF Ahmanson and its Home Savings unit for $10 billion. As a result of this takeover and those of American Savings and Great Western Financial, Washington Mutual became California’s second largest bank. At the time, HF Ahmanson had $55 billion in assets. [1]
Ahmanson was loaded with restdential loans, some of which were questionable even in 1998.
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RE: wreckingbull @ 5 – Why get real documentation when you can get all you need to know from Losh?
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Tim, this is unacceptable. UNACCEPTABLE.
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Tim good for you I assume you were on the streets protesting the war in IRAC you know the one that cost us a s load of money. I am with you 100 percent I agree govt is by the people for the people.
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RE: AMS @ 7 – Maybe for Santa’s sake, cease. I appreciate this forum more than yer knowledge.
Thanks Tim, this is awful! but good to know.
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RE: truthtold @ 10 – Have you been naughty or nice?
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Come on Tim, you really don’t need to know- it would just complicate matters and might tarnish the image of our dear leader. Ben, Timmy, Barack, Sheila, they have a plan worked out and we should just get out of their way. /sarc
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Hmmm, where are all of the Obama supporters when you need them?
Anybody?
Oh, that’s right, they all quit reading this blog because it was getting too “political” . . .
To me, this is not a partisian issue. It goes to show that there is no substantive difference between leaders of either party. This would be the perfect opportunity for ‘bama to prove how open his administration is as opposed to that of the one he replaced (and keeps blaming for today’s problems). Hmmm, so why isn’t he?
What say you?
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So why aren’t banks providing credit? (1) they can borrow at zero percent from the gov’t and invest in liquid trading securities at a much higher rate, so why lend? (2) the banks see what happened to Wamu, i.e., the gov’t can swoop in and wipe you out even if you exceed all so the so-called regulatory requirements, so why add any risk to your book if you can’t trust an erratic gov’t. Who knows what the fck the gov’t is going to do? Uncertainty relating to the the elephant in the room (the gov’t) that just may step on and squash you is causing banks and businesses to freeze all long term risk taking, i.e., no hiring, no lending, … It’s a vicious circle that won’t end until the government gets its sh.t together and provides some openness/transparency and private sector friendly policies. Otherwise, those of us out of work are going to be royalty fcked, and those of you working are going to see your investments decline before too long unless you pull out of risk assets too.
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Sorry my friend, but it wasn’t legal. None of it was legal. Sort through this on your own and see if you can detect a problem.
http://www.wamuequity.org/welcome-to-wamuequity-org/
Go read the court filings… The use of moles, breaches of confidentiality agreements signed between JPM and WaMu stating that JPM wouldn’t purchase any of the bank’s assets from anyone but WMI, the bank’s holding company… Leaking malicious lies to the press in order to cause a panic, thus giving the OTS an excuse to seize them. Lying about the reason for the seizure is “legal”? They claimed it was a liquidity crisis. 30+ billion dollars in liquidity put them around double the liquidity of a troubled bank.
http://www.kccllc.net/documents/0812229/0812229090501000000000002.pdf
Even the sale to JPM, considered aq success because it didn’t cost the FDIC any money violated the FDI Act by failing to maximize the bank’s assets. They chose to sell it all, a 300 billion dollar bank for less than 2 billion dollars.. which the banks holding company hasn’t seen a cent of.
There are lawsuits in DC, Delaware, and Texas right now… and sooner or later we’ll find out just how “legal” all of this was. But from someone that’s looked at the facts, there was nothing legal about any of this. And yes, the FDIC has plenty to hide. We know they were in contact with JPM trying to set up a deal to sell them wamu 2 weeks before the bank run. JPM just filed a motion to have the DC court keep the confidentiality agreement they signed with the holding company out of the public’s eyes.
If you think this was a legal deal done on the up and up…I can only assume that you haven’t looked at the facts.
http://wamuqd.com
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I submitted the PSBJ story to BoingBoing, who ran it Saturday night. It has since been picked up by Calculated Risk, Market Ticker, and The Big Picture.
Nice.
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RE: redmondjp @ 13 – hmmm, and what is the date on those e-mails? Ya, it is nice to know you hold the current President to a higher standard than the one you voted for twice. Oh did you bring this up before in the last eight years — oh, that’s right there were WMD.
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Tim, did you send this to Sen. Murray or Cantwell’s offices? How about McDermott? I wouldn’t discount the power that some of our representatives now have in D.C. A few of them have been there awhile and are on some powerful committees. Just a thought.
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RE: PhinneyDawg @ 18 – …or Ron Paul. While generally he might not care much about the FOIA, I don’t really know one way or the other, he does seek openness in this area.
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LOL. Keep beating the dead horse. Nothing will happen. The takeover will still stand, its not going to be reverted. Maybe Chase will end up settling with the parent entity for 50 cents on the dollar of the current lawsuit and will laugh all the way to the bank literally.
Do you guys really think this will change anything or make some examiner go: “Oh we need to figure this out?”
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RE: mukoh @ 20 – Let’s bifurcate the issues.
1. The WaMu Situation.
2. FOIA & Govt Openness.
We cannot change the past, but government openness can change going forward. The FOIA is not a dead horse.
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RE wgumcd @17:
I’m only holding Obama to his own words, and after 8 years of Bush/Cheney I now consider myself an independent. I’m certainly not a supporter of much of what transpired during that time.
It’s time for people to wake up and realize that there is no real difference between parties–you’ve either got the Republicrats or the Democans, with the end result being the same. Bush/Cheney eroded our freedoms using the Patriot Act, and now Obama is doing more of the same via healthcare and climate change.
Having had a Wamu account which is now Chase, I can say that I really hate Chase, much in the same way that I hate AT&T (having been a long-time long-distance customer of theirs). The east-coast arrogance and lack of customer focus is really annoying. Gee whiz, you mean to withdraw $5 from my account I have to print my entire address on the paper slip? Are you kidding me? What is this, 1923? Actually they must have gotten a lot of flack for this, I think they have revised slips now which don’t require the address.
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RE: AMS @ 21 – Yes it is a dead horse AMS. The act was conjured up and put in place, however under the act I guarantee you no information that can help anyone claim anything against anyone will ever be released.
If people are dreaming about this pie in the sky of completely open government that does not get manipulated by entities it has allowed to create and operate, they might as well keep dreaming and shaking their fists in the air. While people up there just smile and wave.
So keep dreaming, kayaking, feeding the birds, etc…
I do not see any of the involved agencies release ANY information on this that will help anyone get a conviction or even a court case against people and agencies that were involved. Or at least until 13 years runs out.
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Nothing to hide……..then why all the blackout?
East coast financial mafia wanted WAMU, so they staged the WAMU “crisis”, swooped in, bought it for a song, and will continue to use their influence in government/MSM to cover the tracks.
The rape of WAMU by JPMC was planned YEARS in advance.
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Change you can believe in.
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