William Black: Reinventing Crony Capitalism

Jim is pleased to welcome back Professor William Black to the program. Professor Black discusses the "reinvention" of crony capitalism and notes that accounting is now the weapon of choice for fraud. He also discusses the concentration of derivative positions, and notes that five large banks account for 90% of derivatives. As to where the regulators are in this financial crisis, Professor Black says they are both absent and bought.

Bill Black is an Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC). He was the Executive Director of the Institute for Fraud Prevention from 2005-2007. He has taught previously at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and at Santa Clara University, where he was also the distinguished scholar in residence for insurance law and a visiting scholar at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.