~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL
Bloomberg News has reported that Mark Pittman, who investigated the run-up to the banking system crash, has died. From Bloomberg:
Mark Pittman, Reporter Who Foresaw Subprime Crisis, Dies at 52
Nov. 28 (Bloomberg) — Mark Pittman, the award-winning investigative reporter whose fight to open the Federal Reserve to more scrutiny led Bloomberg News to sue the central bank and win, died Nov. 25 in Yonkers, New York. He was 52.
Pittman suffered from heart-related illnesses. The precise cause of his death wasn’t known, said his friend William Karesh, vice president of the Global Health Program at the Bronx, New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society.
A former police-beat reporter who joined Bloomberg News in 1997, Pittman wrote stories in 2007 predicting the collapse of the banking system.
Pittman’s determination to dig into the workings of the Federal Reserve led to a recent court victory:
Pittman’s fight to make the Fed more accountable resulted in an Aug. 24 victory in Manhattan Federal Court affirming the public’s right to know about the central bank’s more than $2 trillion in loans to financial firms.
Pittman wrote an article in mid-2007 warning of the mortgage bond risks and was mocked, as so many are who try to put the truth out there:
His June 29, 2007, article, headlined “S&P, Moody’s Hide Rising Risk on $200 Billion of Mortgage Bonds,” was excoriated at the time by Portfolio.com for “trying to play ‘gotcha’ with the ratings agencies.”
“And that really isn’t helpful,” said the unsigned posting.
Not helpful, for whom??
The story continues:
Pittman’s story proved prescient. So did his reports on U.S. banks exporting toxic mortgages overseas, on Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson’s role in creating those troubled assets while he was chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and on the U.S. bailout of American International Group Inc.
The Bloomberg piece offers a complete rundown of Pittman’s career.
It’s a shame that we’ve lost a courageous reporter at such a young age. There are so few real investigative reporters still around.
REST IN PEACE and Godspeed, Mark Pittman.
Filed under: Current Politics | Tagged: American International Group Inc. (AIG), Bloomberg News, Federal Reserve, Global Health Program, Goldman Sach Group Inc., Henry M. Paulson, investigative reporting, Manhattan Federal Court, Mark Pittman, Moody's, Porfolio.com, public's right to know about Federal Reserve loans to financial firms, ratings agencies, Standard & Poor, Subprime mortgage crisis, U.S. banking system collapse, Wildlife Conservation Society |
InsightAnalytical -- Watching Our World 
Thank you for this, IA. We have truly lost a valuable member of our society. I don’t know what else to say right now.
There are too few Mark Pittmans in this world today. Everything he warned us about has come to pass and more.
Yes, Henry Paulson exported troubled assets and he also exported our TARP money with a vengeance. He has always been my prime suspect for the initial downfall of the fiancial situation in America and I just can’t understand why more people couldn’t figure this out after his testimony before congress following the first TARP bailout. He didn’t even try to hide the fact that he lied to us about where the money was going and practically told us it was none of our business. It’s a sad day, but it isn’t over yet. As long as there is a dollar in the taxpayer’s pocket for them to pick, this trend will continue.
Let’s not excuse George Bush’s role in all this. He is the one who enabled Paulson to put a stranglehold on our future.
W@hen they (the PTB0 have us all under the same umbrella they might be satisfied, but I doubt it. Their idea of “One World” doesn’t stop with the financial sector, it includes our whole life.
Sorry, I meant to say “when TPTB have us all under the same umbrella” My fngers just aren’t cooperating today.
By all of us, I don’t just mean Americans, but any other poor countries who thought they had a democracy.
This is sad news, indeed. I hope this man received the respect that he earned, rather than the mocing he first received, while he was still alive.
What I meant to say was:
This is sad news, indeed. I hope this man received the respect that he earned, rather than the mocking he first received, while he was still alive.
Bad, bad typist.
Heart problems. Easiest thing in the world to trigger, especially if someone knows you have them. Just sayin…
My thoughts, too, Grail, when I first read this……..wonder what he was working on….
There have been a few reporters/writers who have wound up dead in motel rooms and various other places in the last decade or so…
My guess is we’ll never know (although we’ll eventually learn all the sordid details of Tiger Woods’ life, whether we want to or not).
And just for the record: I am healthy as a horse!
Grail and IA, The more I think about it, the more I don’t believe in coincidences. Too freaking convenient for some people for this to happen now.