Sheila Bair is widely acknowledged in government circles and the media as one of the first people to identify and accurately assess the subprime crisis. Appointed by George W. Bush as the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in 2006, she witnessed the origins of the financial crisis and in 2008 became—along with Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, and Timothy Geithner—one of the key players trying to repair the damage to our economy. Bull by the Horns is her remarkable and refreshingly honest account of that contentious time and the struggle for reform that followed and continues to this day.

A level-headed, pragmatic figure with a clear focus on serving the public good, Bair was often one of the few women in the room during heated discussions about the economy. Despite her years of experience and her determination to rein in the private banks and Wall Street, she frequently found herself at odds with Geithner. She is withering in her assessment of some of Wall Street’s finest, and her narrative of Citibank’s attempted takeover of Wachovia is a stinging indictment of how regulators and the banks worked against the public interest at times to serve their own needs.

Bair is steadfast in her belief that the American public needs to fully understand the crisis in order to bring it to an end. Critical of the bank bailouts and the Can. $29.99 lax regulation that led to the economic crash, she provides a sober analysis as well as a practical plan for how we should move forward. She helps clear away the myths and half-truths about how we ran our economic engine into the ditch and tells us how we can help get our financial and regulatory systems back on track.

As The New Yorker said, “Bair has consistently stood out for her skepticism of Wall Street and for her eagerness to confront the big banks. A Kansas Republican, she has become an unlikely hero to economic liberals, who see her as the counterweight to the more Wall Street–centric view often ascribed to Timothy Geithner, the Treasury Secretary” (July 6, 2009).

]]> http://www.banks.ca/banks/bull-by-the-horns-fighting-to-save-main-street-from-wall-street-and-wall-street-from-itself-2/feed/ 0 http://www.banks.ca/retirement/enough-bull-how-to-retire-well-without-the-stock-market-mutual-funds-or-even-an-investment-advisor-2/ http://www.banks.ca/retirement/enough-bull-how-to-retire-well-without-the-stock-market-mutual-funds-or-even-an-investment-advisor-2/#comments Mon, 10 Jun 2013 23:57:40 +0000 http://www.banks.ca/retirement/enough-bull-how-to-retire-well-without-the-stock-market-mutual-funds-or-even-an-investment-advisor-2/

More than ever before, Canadians are frightened and stressed out about their retirement and financial future. With the mortgage, car payments and credit card bills, there never seems to be enough to pay the current bills let alone save thousands in RRSPs. At the same time, the large financial institutions are bombarding us with fearful messages of destitution unless we maximize our RRSP contributions.

The stock market crash of 2008 has proven one thing: traditional retirement planning advice simply doesn't work. The risks are too enormous. Throwing money into RRSPs and trusting the stock market is like gambling with your family's future. But how do you plan for retirement without risking everything? In Enough Bull, David Trahair explains:

• How to invest only in 100% safe investments that will never decline
• How to get out of mutual funds and the stock market - forever
• The "Tax Turbo-Charged RRSP strategy" - why you should wait until you are over 50 to start your RRSP
• Exactly what age to elect to receive the CPP pension
• How to avoid the scams that lead to personal financial disaster

Easy to understand and simple to apply, Enough Bull shows Canadians how to avoid all the traps and why doing the exact opposite of what they have been told will leave them much further ahead.