Almost three years ago crushing debt brought Lehman Brothers, a 158-year-old investment bank to its knees. It was a bankrupctcy bigger than any our world has ever seen. Lehman's failure was 10 times the size of Enron. If fact, its demise was bigger than the spectacular failures of General Motors,...

I recently delivered a keynote speech in New York city focused on valuable risk management and corporate governance lessons, as well as the future of Financial Reform and its impact on the economy, the capital markets and investors.

Over two dozen institutional investors came up to me after...

Congress recently held the first of what promises to be many hearings on the situation in Libya, with the House and Senate Armed Services Committees hearing testimony from Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Defense Secretary Gates and Chairman of the...

The earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on Friday have caused tragic devastation to lives and property, but Japan may soon be overwhelmed by a debt crisis tsunami of epic proportions. With crony deficit spending by the Japanese government having destroyed its economy over the last two decades; Japan now...

In recent months, the Chinese Central Bank, the People's Bank of China (PBOC), has begun a two-pronged shift in its policies governing foreign currency reserves. The PBOC is decreasing the share of its portfolio that is made up of U.S. Treasury securities, while increasing its rhetoric in support of the...

Fiscal matters have taken center stage in Washington and important deadlines are approaching. Although President Obama will release his much-anticipated fiscal year 2012 budget proposal next Monday, Congress will be focused on more immediate budget and deficit concerns in the coming weeks. Government operations for the current fiscal year 2011...

In my New York Times Best Selling book, A Colossal Failure of Common Sense -- The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers, I make a strong case. Our government allowed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to become a giant mortgage backed security hedge fund, complete with...

This week marks a turning point in the recovery from the "Great Recession." The Financial Stability Oversight Counsel will release an 80 page draft of "recommendations" on the Volcker Rule to the Federal Reserve.

The main objective? Prevent the next Lehman Brothers. The head of this...

Later today, all of the members of the House and a third of the Senate will be sworn in and the new reality in Washington will officially set in. The initiatives that will roll out of each body in the coming days and weeks will be a radical departure from...

This week the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meets in its last regularly scheduled meeting for 2010. It's important to note this meeting marks the first opportunity for FOMC members to discuss formally the implementation of QE2 since its announcement on November 19.

With only a few weeks having...

Today, the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform released and met to discuss its final deficit proposal entitled, "The Moment of Truth." The Commissioners will have until Friday to read through the details of the plan before their expected formal vote. Though it appears unlikely, in order to obtain...

I kept hearing Thursday from some of my well connected friends on the Street, "Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is meeting behind closed doors with Senate Banking members today about QE2." I was thinking in my lifetime have we ever seen a more politicized Fed? Have we ever seen a Fed...

I remember it like yesterday, it was the Autumn of 2006. I was on the Lehman Brothers trading floor where I traded distressed debt, bonds of companies in trouble. One of the brightest analysts in the firm came up to me with an interesting piece of data. He showed me...

It's right out there in front of us like an Iceberg on the horizon. I'm seeing more and more hedge funds and asset management firms focused on Washington DC based policy moves to come up with crucial investment decisions. There is a secular change going on, investors ignore Capitol Hill...

QE2, QE3, and QE4? Not so fast.

The official FOMC announcement of QE2 has already been greeted by new speculation on the possibility of additional quantitative easing measure. This has raised concerns across the ideological spectrum. Key questions for investors are:

o Are financial markets putting the...

Inside FInance Reform

I returned to Manhattan from Canada's Western Frontier a few days ago, where I spoke at two major events, the first co-sponsored by Societe Generale and First Energy, the second by the Canadian Investor Relations Institute (CIRI), all arranged by my speaking agent, James Robinson of IPG,...

Last weekend I attended the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting in Omaha, which has become a Mecca for investors, packed with 25,000 shareholders from all over the world. I had never seen anything like it, in all my years in finance.

Warren Buffett and his lifelong business partner, Charlie Munger, sat...

We are on a collision course with a meteor and it's not from outer space.

Almost 10 years after 9/11 and the Enron off-balance sheet accounting scandal, what have we learned? The answer is categorically nothing.

"I was disturbed to learn after 9/11 that various intelligence agencies did...

In recent days, I have spoken to several of the whistle blowers who helped the examiner and the Feds; I received some amazing information, there are fireworks ahead.

From what I am hearing, the SEC, the Justice...

It's pretty clear the most disgruntled man in Washington 15 days ago was Paul Volcker. He had been pounding the table to bring back Glass Steagall since Thanksgiving, and had been consistently ignored by the Obama administration. He clearly stated the only invention worth a damn to come from the...