A few days ago a reader asked me what I thought of Bill Black. Answer: he’s a pretty fascinating guy. I met him at a conference last year, and probably the best time I had was the hour I spent sitting next to him and Dean Baker one night at dinner as they regaled each other with stories about financial fraud and the S&L crisis of the 80s. (Black was a bank regulator at the time.) As it happens, I don’t think fraud is the be-all-and-end-all of the 2008 meltdown, but it was a significant piece of it and it doesn’t get as much attention as it should.
Black isn’t in the news much, which means I don’t get a chance to link to him much. But TRNN recently did an interview with him, so this is my chance. And yours. Watch the video and hear him toss out Taibbi bait like this about the finance industry: “Think of it as a giant engorged leech on Main Street.” Or listen to him explain that “We now have sociopaths in control of our major financial institutions.” Booya! Part 2 of the interview is here.
