Elizabeth Warren: The Timeline of her Native American Controversy

Elizabeth Warren listed race as 'American Indian' in newly revealed Texas State Bar card from 1986

Excerpt:

Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren indicated that her race was "American Indian" in a handwritten registration form filed in 1986 with the Texas State Bar, according to a new report on Tuesday that documents the presidential hopeful's efforts to identify as a minority during her earliest days as a law professor.

The revelation, initially reported by The Washington Post, is the first known instance of Warren claiming Native American ancestry in an official document or in her own handwriting.

The Timeline of Elizabeth Warren’s Native American Controversy

Excerpt:

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) will announce Saturday she's officially running for president with a speech in Lawrence, Massachusetts, but she'll do it after another week of controversy surrounding her longtime claims of Native American ancestry.

The latest blow: The Washington Post reporting Warren wrote "American Indian" as her race for her State Bar of Texas registration card in 1986. It marked the first known example of Warren making such a claim in her own handwriting. She apologized Tuesday in response to the report for identifying herself with that race, both then and when she taught law at Harvard, the University of Texas, and the University of Pennsylvania.

This followed her widely panned DNA test release in October, which was intended to offset criticisms by President Donald Trump to prove her claims of Native ancestry. She wound up having to apologize to the Cherokee Nation for "causing confusion on tribal sovereignty and tribal citizenship," according to a tribal spokeswoman.

Comment: 2nd article has the interesting timeline. I had intended to have a blog post on each of the announced but have fallen hopelessly behind.

Warren Struggles to Move Past Native American Heritage Flap https://t.co/FerBtmlIBg

— James Peet (@jrpeet) February 7, 2019

Elizabeth Warren’s ‘American Indian’ Claim https://t.co/HCFpPYVOiw via @WSJOpinion

— James Peet (@jrpeet) February 7, 2019

For what reason, other than to gain advantage, does a white lawyer without any recognized tribal affiliation describe her race as “American Indian” on a government document? https://t.co/v2B7q1BTrt

— WSJ Editorial Page (@WSJopinion) February 8, 2019

Wells Fargo "taken behind the woodshed" - time to Breakup Wells Fargo?

Source

The Fed's unprecedented slap at Wells Fargo may cost the bank more than just $400 million this year

Excerpt:

Last week's unprecedented rebuke on Wells Fargo from the Federal Reserve was noteworthy in a number of ways. Never before has the Fed placed a firmwide limit on a bank, stopping them from growing.

Outgoing Fed Chair Janet Yellen described the growth restriction as "unique and more stringent then the penalties the Board has imposed against other bank holding companies for similar unsafe and unsound practices, but is appropriate given the pervasiveness and persistence of the problems at Wells Fargo."

The Fed has enacted this by preventing the bank from growing assets. This means, that all else equal, the bank cannot write any new loans. However, there are some changes within their balance sheet that they can make in order to be able to lend, such that they remain "open for business" in CEO Tim Sloan's words.

Still, these changes may cost them in the region of $400 million of earnings for this year alone, according to the bank's estimates. The rationale for this particular form of punishment stems from the bank having prioritized growth since the financial crisis. In the Fed's view, Wells Fargo failed to increase risk management and oversight alongside that growth. Thus, the central bank decided to limit growth until things like risk management catches up. It also felt the incentive for Wells Fargo to act will be strong, since they will be starved of the growth they seek in the meantime.

Maxine Waters: I want to break up Wells Fargo (9/2016)

Excerpt:

The top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee said Thursday that she is actively working to break up Wells Fargo. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) announced that the creation of potentially 2 million fake accounts by bank employees has led her to believe the bank is too large to be effectively managed.

“I have come to the conclusion that Wells Fargo should be broken up. It’s too big to manage,” she said. “I’m moving forward to break up Wells Fargo bank.” Waters made her announcement at a hearing with John Stumpf, the bank’s CEO and board chairman. For several hours, Stumpf was excoriated by members of both parties by the wrongdoing at his bank. The bank potentially created more than 2 million accounts without authorization from customers in order to meet sales goals.

Warren Statement on Fed Chair Yellen's Regulatory Actions Against Wells Fargo

Excerpt:

Today, United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released the following statement on the Federal Reserve's decision to freeze the growth of Wells Fargo and remove four of its board members:

"For months, I have repeatedly pressed Janet Yellen to hold Wells Fargo accountable for its fake accounts scam and push out responsible Board Members. Today she did it - in her last act as Fed Chair. Fines alone will never rein in fraudulent behavior at the big banks and by pushing out Board Members at Wells Fargo, Chair Yellen sends a strong message. Her decision today demonstrates that we have the tools to rein in Wall Street - if our regulators have the guts to use them," said Senator Warren. "The massive fraud at Wells Fargo showed the whole country that we need more accountability on Wall Street. But for more than a year, we've watched as President Trump and his administration raced to turn big banks loose again to once again threaten our whole economy. Trump has filled our top economic jobs with people obsessed with sucking up to Wall Street. Today is Chair Yellen's last day at the Fed. Tomorrow, her replacement will face a choice: show the same kind of courage - or own the next financial crisis." Today, Chair Yellen sent a letter in response to Senator Warren's many calls for removing Wells Fargo Board Members. Read the letter detailing the Fed's actions against Wells Fargo here.

Comment: Reader may think that I care (or am biased) because I am a Wells Fargo retiree. I actually am neutral. As a customer I am very happy with Wells Fargo but I could just as easily be with Charles Schwab.  While we are very diversified, we are also Wells Fargo investors. The stock did take a hit today!

What the Wells Fargo board could decide is that a self-initiated breakup could be best for investors!  Imagine this (a hypothetical even split):

Final: Look ahead to the mid-terms. Imagine a Democratic sweep! Maxine Waters as the chair of the House Financial Services Committee and Elizabeth Warren as the chair of the United States Senate Banking Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection Update:

Statement from $WFC #WellsFargo #TimSloan

https://t.co/pullb5f5rv pic.twitter.com/vyNTtto0Lo

— James Peet (@jrpeet) February 5, 2018

A Sacrifice to the "Beltway gods"

Wells Fargo’s Political Sacrifice - CEO John Stumpf is offered up to the Beltway gods.

Excerpt:

The political class got its second ritual sacrifice for the sins of Wells Fargo, as the bank’s chairman and CEO John Stumpf resigned Wednesday, effective immediately.

Mr. Stumpf had already forfeited $41 million in unvested equity grants as recompense for the sales tactics that caused employees to open accounts that customers hadn’t asked for. Now he’s paying with his job, as the bank tries to appease the political lords who under Dodd-Frank have become more or less co-owners of our largest banks. The politicians claim to want compensation clawbacks, but what they really want are heads on pikes.

You won’t read this elsewhere, but Mr. Stumpf has been one of the most successful American CEOs of recent times. Our colleague Dennis Berman reports that in nine years he produced some $149 billion in profits and saw an increase in market cap of $124 billion. Wells Fargo tried to turn down the government’s rescue funds during the 2008 financial panic because it didn’t need the help, only to be forced by Treasury to take the money.

Comments:  Oh the selective outrage in DC. Dump on Trump (he deserved it) and demand clawbacks (deserved and delivered). Why not demand clawbacks from Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew for his Cayman connections or his tenure at Citi when it received taxpayer bailouts of $45 billion in cash, and hundreds of billions more in loans and guarantees. See Rep. Garrett Says Democrats Have Double Standard for Clawback Rules . Oh the outage over Trump (this is more the media, I suppose (and deserved)) but none for Hillary for her campaign's mocking of Catholics, Southerners, ‘needy Latinos’

Fauxohontas Warren

Massachusetts Senate debate begins with discussion of Warren’s Cherokee heritage

Excerpt:

The first official debate between Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown and his Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren began Thursday with a discussion about Warren's Native American heritage.

Brown devoted his opening remarks to accuse Warren, a Harvard Law School professor who says she is part Cherokee Indian, of using her background to give her an advantage when competing for jobs throughout her career.

"The professor said she is a Native American, a person of color, and you can see she's not," Brown said in the first moments of the debate, echoing an attack line that has dogged Warren throughout much of the race this year.

Comment: My lovely wife is actually 1/64 American Indian (we have the records to prove it). She's never claimed "affirmative action"! By the way ... time to end all Affirmative Action programs!