All Articles Finance While You Were Working - March 7

While You Were Working – March 7

Wells Fargo burned by nuns and guns, unpatriotic execs at Jack Daniel's, the beginning of another HSBC scandal, and what now for Gary Cohn?

3 min read

Finance

Gary Cohn

Nah ... there is no way Gary Cohn wants to be the next standard-bearer for the Democratic Party. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

What now for Gary Cohn?

Gary Cohn’s departure from the White House yesterday certainly rattled the Wall Street establishment, but it didn’t take long for some of them to start making bold predictions about what Cohn should do next. I reckon Cohn will probably go sit on a beach somewhere for a while and think about what the heck just happened to the last 15 months of his life. After that, who knows?

The board at General Electric would be wise to give Cohn a call. And it probably wouldn’t be crazy for Warren Buffett to do the same.

If I wasn’t so certain Cohn’s time in the White House had soured him on politics, I think a political career of his own might appeal to Cohn.  After all, it’s not like the Democrats have anyone better as a possible challenger to Trump in 2020.

We can already see the scandalous headlines of the future

I mean … When a bank with an extremely checkered past when it comes to things like money-laundering and other financial shenanigans announces it is doubling the staff at the securities unit it operates in China’s rather opaque markets, what could possibly go wrong?

Nuns and guns

The hits just keep coming for Wells Fargo. I skipped a news story yesterday about nuns shaming Wells Fargo because picking on Wells Fargo has become like beating a dead, stagecoach-pulling horse. But today is a new day, so that means more bad headlines for Tim Sloan and his team. In a time when many big companies are turning their backs on guns, it turns out Wells Fargo is a favorite of the National Rifle Association and sits atop the league table when it comes to banks arranging funding for gunmakers.

CBA pushes for limits to government student loans

When it comes to the student loan industry, I think anyone talking about change is better than no one talking about change. And at first blush, the Consumer Bankers Association pushing to limit the amount students (and their families) can borrow from the government might seem like merely a move aimed at funneling more students to borrow from banks (The WSJ headline writers certainly think so). But if students of the future have to think twice about borrowing more because they will owe a private lender rather than the government, maybe that will be a good thing. Otherwise, sky-rocketing tuitions and the attached piles of debt that follow will continue unabated.

WYWW Appetizers

  • But Mr. Hammond, what if those other cities don’t even want to replicate the City of London?
  • Rut roh. This probably isn’t good news for SNAP.
  • Clearly, the executives at Jack Daniel’s are being unpatriotic.
  • Juventus came from behind to beat Tottenham, while Manchester City rolled in the Champions League.