Erin Burnett
Before she was a reporter, CNN host Erin Burnett worked on Wall Street. Evidently she still sees things from that perspective.
On October 21, Burnett took time on her show OutFront to criticize the Justice Department’s reported $13 billion settlement with JPMorgan Chase. The bank is apparently ready to settle over a variety of claims relating to mortgage securities and the 2008 economic collapse.
To Burnett, this is the government punishing success–and making the bank pay for things it didn’t even do:
This is all related to mortgage-backed securities and bad mortgages. It’s a hell of a lot of money, but JPMorgan can afford it, which brings me tonight’s number: $26 billion. That’s how much JPMorgan made last year. So, the fine will take about half what they make.
If that makes you feel better, maybe it shouldn’t. Just because they can afford it doesn’t make it right. Going after companies, of course, should be based on wrongdoing, not on who has the money. And the truth in the case of JPMorgan’s $13 billion fine is that many of the problem mortgages that they’re paying for now stem from two acquisitions the bank made during the depth of the financial crisis.
Five years ago, JPMorgan bought Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual. These were hastily arranged deals brokered by Uncle Sam. In fact, many would say the fair word to use is “forced by Uncle Sam.” Jamie Dimon was told, if you don’t buy these, which are in death spirals, you’re going to jeopardize the financial system. It’s a patriotic duty, got to do it.
JPMorgan didn’t have the luxury of time to do due diligence at the time. They didn’t have the luxury of saying, no, I don’t want to buy this company because we’re worried (INAUDIBLE). Jaime Dimon got the banks cheap. They also had to take on those banks bad loans and now they’re paying for it.
From the sound of it, you’d think the Justice Department was adopting the mentality of a bank robber: They went after JPMorgan because that’s where the money is. Burnett is suggesting that the bank is being penalized for the actions of two other institutions, Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual, that JPMorgan was forced to buy.
Buy a giant investment bank and we’ll throw in this billion-dollar office building absolutely free! (cc photo: CR)
It’s a helpful story if you’re Jamie Dimon, but it falls apart under scrutiny. As Peter Eavis of the New York Times reported last month (9/30/13), JPMorgan had been keen on the idea of buying both companies months before they were “forced” to do so by the government. That might explain why company executives like Dimon made statements after the acquisitions that they knew what they were getting.
Eavis also pointed out that it is not at all unusual for a company to assume certain liabilities when it assumes ownership of a corporation. As he put it, “the practice of holding acquirers accountable for the missteps of purchased companies is quite common.” (If this weren’t the case, it would be absurdly easy for corporations to avoid accountability for misdeeds by simply transferring ownership.)
As Yves Smith explained on CounterSpin this week (10/25/13), JPMorgan Chase bought both companies for next to nothing–and they’ve profited handsomely since then as a result. As many have noted, the Bear Stearns building itself is valued at more than Dimon paid for the entire company.
And as George Zornick at the Nation wrote last year (10/24/12), JPMorgan received plenty of things in the deal; the government “took $30 billion of toxic assets off of Bear Stearns’s books,” for instance.
So it’s hard to imagine seeing JPMorgan or its CEO as the victim here–but a CNN host who used to work as a Goldman Sachs analyst might be able to find a way.
Is that a grimace on Burnett’s face in the accompanying photo
As this absurd lie exits her anus?
That ain’t no reporter, that’s a shill for Wall Street. Wait till they kick her out of bed she’s sleeping in with those goons..
So it’s hard to imagine seeing JPMorgan or its CEO as the victim here–but a CNN host who used to work as a Goldman Sachs analyst might be able to find a way.
Meant to add, not only possible, but was inevitable. This is the same type who honestly believes that if you don’t allow them to oppress someone and steal everything, your being oppressed.
She doesn’t see them as victims, she has her belief; which is better for her, since she doesn’t have to ‘prove’ her belief.
Her Wall St connections (as well as her prior stints on CNBC and membership of the Council on Foreign Relations) made it no surprise that CNN embraced her in 2011. Just as her (farcical) defense of the largest and most powerful bank in the nation is no surprise now. Along with the hiring of Erick Erickson, Burnett is yet another reason CNN is on its way to the trash heap of cable news.
She not only worked at Goldman Sachs, but also Citigroup where she met her husband, who still works for Citigroup as Managing Director. She’s like Super Woman protector and defender of Wall Street. Talk about inaccurate reporting. When she launched her show in Oct 2011, she had a “Seriously?’ segment on the 1st show where she went out to where the Occupy Wall Street Protestors were demonstrating and made an idiotic case by taking out what looked like a 20 year old kid telling him “You know where that laptop you’re using came from? It came from one of the firms which trades on Wall Street”. What she’s doing is trying to protect her husband’s firm, Citigroup, and I’m sure he and she have a bunch of Citigroup stock or Stock which is traded by Citigroup. Remember Citigroup was bailed out by the government to the tune of $45 billion and last year it was given a slap on the wrist for bundling mortgages and selling them as mortgage securities to investors which it knew would be worthless, and was fined $399 million last year. The problem with Burnett is that she takes her viewers for idiots, and of course many are who watch her not for news but her phony personality.
If Erin Burnett expects her viewers to believe JPMorgan bought those companies because they felt it to be their patriotic duty, or because they did not see they were losing propositions, then she has a lower opinion of her viewer’s intelligence than I now have of hers. What an outrage. How about her telling her sources for these remarkable version of the sad story. Should be interesting.
And is this what CNN wants us to believe is “News” these days? Well, at least now we viewers kmow where CNN is coming from. Or is Ms Burnett angling for a job at Fox. news?
Hi Erin Burnette:
I think that just about everyone knows where “that laptop” came from. It came from somewhere overseas, where workers are locked into their factories, not paid their wages, and they sometimes, kill themselves rather than live like that. I would hope you might know that already.
The weirdness of blaming the consumers for a lot of things is very disturbing. Maybe you haven’t thought about this, but quite a few people find buying a house a really unique experience. When they go to a bank, they are trusting that the bank would know what it was doing. It’s hard to believe that all these bad mortgages came about from inexperienced buyers and poor people.,
I really don’t think it’s a journalist job to focus on makig people ( as the OWS interviewee) sound silly; I’ve always believed that is the job of the readers towards the journalist. So… you had a silly premise and lack of supporting facts on Mr. Dimon’s situation. The street of Wall has very low street creds and like Wall St., Ms. Burnette, you are not being responsible or believable either.
an absolutely sterling synopsis:
“So it’s hard to imagine seeing JPMorgan or its CEO as the victim here–but a CNN host who used to work as a Goldman Sachs analyst might be able to find a way. “
Small Potatoes……If only “we the people” could take the government to court to get from them the money they owe us.That would be 17 trillion and counting.They are the real crooks.This story is about a company buying the golden goose cheap ,and the government glomming on their success,because…well they can.Its called double dipping.Happens every day now
Also anyone who puts thier company on the line in an Uncle Sam Brokered deal has to know the truth.If it fails Uncle Sam will ignore extending a helping hand .If it succeeds they will be back.Extending a finger…..in a rubber glove.So yeah they deserve what they get for dealing with this bunch.A lesson learned .When the gov calls and says…Listen we need your help and we think you can make a ton of money in the deal.Hang up the phone and run.Their is a reason China and most other countries dont buy our bonds.I think the word is shyster!
I’ve watched it from the start, when the bail out came and I know some of the people involved. Erin is completely right, and not under the thumb of the Obama administration who is trying to break up JPMorgan, as they are jealous of the two trillion they have control of. I can’t tell you why exactly I know, but someone close to me knows Jamie Dimon. He didn’t want the TARP money either. The Whale mistake was in their own domain, had nothing to do with public money, and they absorbed it. What is frightening, is how people can be “made” to do something by the government, then blamed for it. There is just one documentary that shows what happened and I wish I knew where I could find it again. And, Doug, you are not worthy to talk about Erin’s body parts. She a great gal. Do your own deep research. If you can find good sources, that is. The safe banks were made to take the TARP money so the ones without resources woudn’t have a run on them. Actually, the money in banks are mostly decimal points in a computer, and the Fed the same…just move them a little instead of printing money. Stuff it under your mattress if you are afraid, or get gold. The thing that holds our nation together is FAITH in it. I do not have any faith in Obama or anyone close to him…