An Open Letter to Congressman James Comer, Chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee ~ September 2, 2025 ~ Dear Chairman Comer: On August 31 you sent a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent seeking, no later than September 15, all Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) filed by banks “in reference to or relating to Mr. Jeffrey Epstein and/or Ghislaine Maxwell.” Your letter of August 31 follows a letter dated July 21 that Senator Ron Wyden, the Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, sent to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. In that letter, Senator Wyden reveals that bipartisan staff of the Senate Finance Committee were allowed earlier this year to look at the SARs material you are seeking from the U.S. Treasury, but not make copies. Senator Wyden writes: “On February 14, 2024, bipartisan staff of the Senate Finance Committee conducted in camera review of thousands … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: June 30, 2025 ~ Aren’t Republicans the candidates who got elected promising to bring down the spiraling U.S. debt and annual deficits? Yesterday, the national debt clocked in at $37 trillion as the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report showing that President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” would add $3.3 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. Donald Trump has been a master of Orwell’s reverse-speak throughout his life. So when he labels federal legislation “Beautiful” when it actually gives massive tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans while cutting critical food and health care benefits to the poor and middle class, Americans should finally accept that they have a clear window into the soul and sociopathy of multi-billionaire Donald Trump. Among the biggest winners, of course, is the fossil fuel industry and the political kingpin of that industry, Charles Koch, … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: May 26, 2025 ~ Last Thursday, two things happened that tens of millions of Americans believed could never happen in their country. First, the sitting President of the United States, Donald Trump, brazenly and openly courted monetary investments from foreign actors in one of his personal crypto business schemes in exchange for access to the President at an invitation-only reception and dinner, at which the press was barred from attending. The marketing site for the event included this language: “The Top 25 $TRUMP Meme Coin Holders on the leaderboard will enjoy a Private VIP Reception with President TRUMP and Separately by us to a Special VIP TOUR.”   In law-abiding countries this is known as illegal quid-pro-quo by a sitting government official. The U.S. previously dealt with such matters with criminal prosecution. But that was before Donald Trump turned the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney General, and the … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: May 5, 2025 ~ Donald Trump’s assault on the rule of law is now the ubiquitous and defining feature of his administration. That assault also represents the gravest threat to the national security of the United States, its economic standing, and the stability of the U.S. financial system. Take, for example, what has happened recently. Last Wednesday, Congressman Sean Casten, Democrat of Illinois, stated the following in an open meeting of the House Financial Services Committee: “For the first time in my memory, foreign investors are not only fleeing U.S. equities but are fleeing U.S. Treasuries. I met with banks last week – banks under our jurisdiction – who said that the international community is putting a risk premium on investments in the United States because of regulatory risk and because they question whether the rule of law that they depend on to execute contracts … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: April 28, 2025 ~ Common sense voters in the U.S. didn’t need an economics degree or a crystal ball to predict that putting Donald Trump in the Oval Office for a second term – a man unanimously convicted of 34 felony counts by 12 members of a U.S. jury prior to his election – was not going to produce a shining moment in history for the United States. Trump’s first 100 days in office in his second term arrives this week, and it comes on the wings of this headline: “Trump has lowest 100-day approval rating in 80 years.” That data comes from a new ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll showing that only 39 percent of poll respondents approve of how Trump is performing as President. A solid majority, 55 percent, said they disapprove. Even more alarming for the U.S. economy – where two-thirds of GDP … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: April 21, 2025 ~ The clown show in Washington should not divert your gaze from the circus at the Nasdaq stock market. On January 20, 2025, the day that Donald Trump was sworn into office for his second term as President, the stock market was closed in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. On January 21, 2025, Trump’s first full day in office, the Nasdaq stock market closed at 19,756.7793. On Thursday, April 17, 2025 – the final day of trading last week because the stock market was closed for Good Friday on April 18 – the Nasdaq closed at 16,286.4476 – bringing its losses during Trump’s new reign in the White House to 3,470.3317 points or 17.57 percent. (The data comes from Dow Jones’ BigCharts.MarketWatch.com.) There are legitimate questions now being raised as to whether we’re in a tech bubble that’s going to … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: April 13, 2025 ~ U.S. President Donald Trump’s reputation for chaos; his longstanding history of thumbing his nose at the rule of law; his unpresidential insults directed at world leaders and willingness to turn his back on longstanding U.S. allies; and his packing of top cabinet posts with preposterously unqualified loyalists – have now delivered the inevitable blow to two of America’s most critical financial assets in domestic and  international markets: the U.S. dollar and U.S. Treasury securities. Instead of performing their usual role as safe havens in times of turmoil, they are now indelibly linked to the Trump brand of erratic behavior. Both the U.S. Dollar and U.S. Treasury securities are in a downtrend, with the 10-year Treasury note taking a wild plunge in value last week. Mark Blyth, a political economist at Brown University, was quoted in the New York Times today with this … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: April 6, 2025 ~ On Wednesday, President Donald Trump unveiled his sweeping tariff plan. By Thursday, Wall Street was stampeding to the exit doors, leaving the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 1,679.39 points by the closing bell. Showing just how dangerous the market is assessing Trump’s tariff war to be, contrarian investors couldn’t even stage a short squeeze by Friday to push stocks back up – something they have been able to do regularly since Trump’s chaos courtiers invaded Washington, promising to “Occupy Mars” as they took a blow torch to their current planet. Friday was indicative of full-on selling panic, with the Dow losing another 2,231 points. The two-day rout in the S&P 500 tallied up to a breathtaking $5 trillion in market value losses, setting a two-day historic record. The plunge in the S&P 500 futures market was so steep before the stock market … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: March 24, 2025 ~ The New York Times’ Sunday, March 23 newspaper featured a lead story on how the 1,000-lawyer Big Law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, a Wall Street favorite, had caved to threats in a Presidential Action from Donald Trump, which would have banned lawyers at the firm from entering federal buildings; from reviewing classified documents for their clients by stripping them of security clearance; and effectively blacklisting the firm as a member of Donald Trump’s enemy list. The Chair of Paul Weiss, Brad Karp, negotiated with Trump and got the order rescinded by agreeing to spend $40 million in pro bono work on projects amenable to Trump — along with other subservient concessions. Trump’s move against Paul Weiss followed his similar actions against Big Law firms Perkins Coie and Covington & Burling. Unlike Paul Weiss, Perkins Coie hired another Big … Continue reading →