Sheila Bair, Brooksley Born: JFK Award Recipients For Predicting Crisis

BOSTON — Two U.S. federal regulators who sounded early warnings on the financial crisis and a Liberian peace activist who helped end that nation's civil war were honored for their efforts Monday at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chairwoman Sheila Bair, former chairwoman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Brooksley Born, and peace activist Leymah Gbowee (LAY'-mah BOH'-wee) were presented with Profile in Courage Awards, annual honors named for a 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book written by John F. Kennedy.

"(It's) a special honor to present the award to three women who have inspired all those who seek to bring about change in their political systems," said Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President Kennedy and head of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation that administers the awards.

Bair was one of the first to speak out about the subprime lending crisis, and Born warned a decade ago that unregulated financial contracts, including credit default swaps, could pose dangers to the economy. Gbowee organized a group of Christian and Muslim women to challenge Liberia's warlords.

In accepting her award, Bair said she was proud to join the list of those who have received past Profile in Courage awards. "I'm particularly pleased to be joining two other female awardees who stood up when some of their male counterparts failed to act, or worse, actively fought them," she said.

Gbowee received her award on behalf of the Liberian women who were featured in the "Pray the Devil Back to Hell" documentary about Liberia's civil war.

"For us women of Liberia, this award is a call that we will keep walking until peace, justice and the rights of woman (are) not a dream," Gbowee said, "but a thing of the present."

Comments

[skymuffin]

Hey, HuffPo, maybe it wasn't "Women's Intuition", which is a condescending, sexist phrase actually, but some honest, hard work, and clear-eyed analysis.

[OtayPanky]

You think the little ladies actually did some heavy lifting, do you?

[ChicagoDMT]

I completely agree. These women used their intelligence and their ethics to assess the coming economic dangers. To refer to their intellectual capacities as "intuition" makes it sound as though they were one step away from reading astrology charts and tea leaves.

I don't know who writes the headlines for HuffPo, but they do a horrendously bad job.

[nailinpalinnow]

where is "women's intuition" used in the article? I searched and failed to find it.

Why such a chip on your shoulder? To bring up a phrase not even used. I find no insult in women's intuition - it is neither condescending nor sexist unless that is what is intended by the speaker. You find insult where it doesn't exist because you seek it.

[Rule Of Law]

Check the headline on the front page brainiac.

[weatherwaxx]

It's the headline. And yes, it is condescending and sexist, and just because you're too ignorant to understand why that's the case doesn't make it otherwise.

[oakley9]

Yes. HP is really more and more sexist these days. T&A in the entertainment section. Oh brother.

[RevBookburn]

Maybe they should be in charge of the nation..or world. Then they can remove any person who represents maintaining the old ways, and replace them with people who truly stand for change. Rev. Bookburn - Radio Volta

[adamsmith3]

If only JFK actually wrote Profiles in Courage.

[Kassandra]

Where's MY award? I predicted this in '05 ;-}

[nailinpalinnow]

Ok Kassandra, here we go ~

There will be another similar collapse starting with the banks but crumpling what is left of the stock market and plunging real estate values this August 2009 probably in the 3rd or 4th week. The initial shock and fall out will continue for about three weeks sending shockwaves around the world again. Some civil unrest and panic will naturally follow. It will be a true economic disaster, but just like the last one, the nation and the world will get through it of course. After this second collapse and hitting rock bottom the real economic recovery will begin because there will be nowhere to go but up.

You heard it here. Accept or reject the information as you wish.

[Mildmannered]

Ms Born is very very deserving. See http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/business/economy/09greenspan.html

[Mildmannered]

If only people in charge had been listening to you, Brooksley Born. Congrats.

[JohnSawyer]

Many people in charge probably were listening to her, and were depending on what she was predicting, to actually happen, since they knew they'd profit from the financial collapse. Many banksters and their allies were counting on making huge profits from the initial "benefits" of deregulation, and then counting on being bailed out when everything went to hell, so they wouldn't lose any money, but would just keep right on going.

[Rule Of Law]

John--this is so totally accurate that it makes my hair stand up. For 8 years we had to endure the lie that Bush was some inept bumbler, when in fact he fronted a crime syndicate of historic proportion.

Now we're getting the same lies regarding this so called economic crisis--"No one could have predicited it. We never saw it coming. Took us by surprise, it did." From Greenspan right on down. But here we have 3 people who did see it coming and were ignored.

That tells us everything we need to know about why and how this rip off was allowed to occur.

[Quintspect]

In the first place, these women have brains...which is not the same as the PC "empowerment!"

Obama could have appointed one or more of these bright women, instead of appointing the usual suspects in predatory capitalism.

[firewmn]

Empowered Women....!

[Ginger Ale]

This is an emotional moment for women!!

[weatherwaxx]

'an emotional moment'?

Emotion runs from darkest despair to elation and triumph. "Emotional" is kind of a null signal, here.

[NotMcCain]

Sheila Bair stood up against both Paulson AND Bernanke.

She was right.

[PhilipTaylor]

And Geithner! Geithner said she was not a "Team Player" because she saw his plan as WRONG HEADED and serving the interests of Goldman and his other buddies!

She has been the only VOICE for going to the ROOT of the PROBLEM: Main Street Housing and Employment!

[Mildmannered]

And thus very deserving of this award.

[beaupritchard]

Caroline herself should get the award.

[zenmonkman]

Uhhhh! Why?

[beaupritchard]

Well she keeps making an ass out of her critics ... I see that as good thing don't you.

[zenmonkman]

One more time for the sake of Team America ... get Elizabeth Warren into the high stakes game immediately. For the untested, go see her media blurts on NPR, the Daily show, wherever you can. I promise you if you don't walk away feeling like Spring Rain ... well, I'll apologize to Tim Geithner and pretend he knows something.

[argentium]

Sheila take a bow!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-HW_2c3JTw

[PhilipTaylor]

It is time for a Women as head of Treasury! Bair, Warren, or Born are all capable!

Geithner/Summers have FAILED applying the same corrupt principles that put us into this CRISIS!

It is time for a Balanced approach with Main Street as the focus to bring Americans on PAR with the Wall Street crowd. Empathy for REAL Americans has been missing for 30 years in Treasury!

[23000Days]

Right. I'd say Warren at Treasury and Born at the Fed..

[brooklyncitizen]

Well Geithner and Summers are part of the problem...more smoke and mirrors.

[cyoohoos]

Was it really hard to predict that giving people large first and second mortgages on overpriced homes who had no steady income would be a disaster?

[littleblackcat]

I believe these women were speaking out long before the lending got quite as ridiculous as it eventually did.

[FrictionSoul]

Not if you believed Greenspan's twisted Naked Lunch myopia and irrationality. Lots of people swallowed the kool aid that the FR served up.

[JohnSawyer]

The number of subprime mortgages that were handed out, weren't what really took down the economy--it was what the banking industry did with those mortgages, via credit default swaps, arcane bundling of those and other bad loans, multiplying the eventual damage done far more than if these "creative" financial instruments had been regulated (or even allowed in the first place). If not for these so-called creative financial instruments, the economy would have been able to absorb the impact of the mortgage mess easily, compared to what did happen.