Doug French, Former Bankster, Now VP of Von Mises

[Dustancostine]

Why is Von Mises hiring banksters that just got finished swindling old ladies out of money to lend to corrupt Casino developers, while making millions on the side?

From CNN today:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/01/26/siu.bank.failure/index.html

Doug French, the man who made that loan, reluctantly agreed to sit down with CNN for a taped interview. He is now vice president at a Libertarian think tank in Auburn, Alabama. French told CNN that at "the time" he believed the land was "very valuable." But when it all went up in smoke, he says, "It's very humbling, believe me."

French says mistakes at Silver State Bank were "preventable," but according to a lawsuit filed by the developer, the loans were part of a series of loans, each one preceding the other -- to different corporations.

At the time French left Silver State Bank, the bank told reporters he had resigned for "personal reasons." But French told CNN he was fired from Silver State.
Don't Miss

According to Securities and Exchange Commission documents, he sold $1.8 million in Silver State stock from November 2007 through February 2008. That was on top of his $650,000 in salary and bonuses, according to bank records. He left the bank in March 2008.

In September 2008, when Silver State Bank collapsed, a group of elderly Las Vegas deaf residents was especially hurt. The local chapter of the Deaf Seniors Association put an estimated $400,000 into certificates of deposit sold by Silver State. That money was to be used to help fund the group's annual national convention in Las Vegas in 2009. The group lost half of its money. The FDIC said after it seized Silver State that it did not have enough capital to cover business activities.

"I just can't believe it happened," one woman told CNN through a sign language interpreter. "We're just so frustrated."

http://www.lewrockwell.com/french/french-arch.html


Something just doesn't seem right.

 

[danberkeley]

A bank made a shady loan? So what else is new? Anyway, Franch got his degree under Murray Rothbard at UNLV.

 

[Truth Warrior]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Doug French Archives[/FONT]

 

[Dustancostine]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Doug French Archives[/FONT]

I know I read it:

In 2003 he said:

Even for those of us who have studied the history of past speculative bubbles and how badly they end, it’s hard not to be seduced by what seems to be the inevitable increase in land prices......

But, eventually interest rates will rise, home prices will outstrip the average Las Vegas working stiff’s ability to cover the monthly mortgage nut, Nevada’s state government will burden businesses with enough taxes to stunt job growth, and these builders – or their lenders – will have more ground than they know what to do with.

Although it looks like Alan Greenspan is going to be on the job tending to the printing press for a long time, the BLM shouldn’t expect to continue setting land-price records. Eventually the music will stop. However, sanity is not likely to appear in time for the next auction coming this fall. Developers already have their eyes on a prized 1,500-acre parcel located in the southeast part of the valley, with the bidding likely to start at $300 million.

Then In 2004:

"There are three rules for bubbles," Jim Jubak wrote in The Daily Reckoning last week.

* "Rule #1 is that they continue much longer than you expect.
* "Rule #2 is that they expand faster near the end of the cycle... so just when you think they should have ended long ago, they seem more robust than ever.
* "Rule #3 is that no one wants to admit when it's over."

Then in 2005 he loses his brain:

Commentators have been predicting Vegas’ demise for years. But, democracy and big government play right into Las Vegas’s hand. The bigger and more intrusive government becomes, the more time-preferences rise, and Vegas seductively waits with open arms, waiting to exploit and cash in on each and every person’s weakness, making it hard to bet that Vegas will ever bust.

Then in 2006 he is still seduced by the bubble so that he loses his mind:

Billions of dollars are being invested in Las Vegas to provide aging Baby Boomers and Gen-Xer’s a place to go and gamble away their retirement money. Gaming executives know that Americans love to drink, gamble and party when times are good, and especially when times are bad. Wagering on a housing crash in Las Vegas is likely a bad bet.

In 2007 he is still clueless and even quotes Baron Rothschild:

The old saw repeated often by Las Vegas old timers is that if there are high-rise cranes on the Strip, it’s a good time to buy real estate. Dozens of them continue to dot the skyline. Number crunchers stress that each new hotel room creates 2.5 jobs, and that each new hotel/casino job creates another 1.5 jobs off the Strip. The people who will ultimately fill those jobs don’t live in Las Vegas yet. When they pull into town in their rental trucks they will need places to live.

Baron Rothschild advised that one "should invest when there is blood in the streets."

It won’t be bloody in Las Vegas much longer.

 

[Truth Warrior]

I know I read it:

In 2003 he said:

Even for those of us who have studied the history of past speculative bubbles and how badly they end, it’s hard not to be seduced by what seems to be the inevitable increase in land prices......

But, eventually interest rates will rise, home prices will outstrip the average Las Vegas working stiff’s ability to cover the monthly mortgage nut, Nevada’s state government will burden businesses with enough taxes to stunt job growth, and these builders – or their lenders – will have more ground than they know what to do with.

Although it looks like Alan Greenspan is going to be on the job tending to the printing press for a long time, the BLM shouldn’t expect to continue setting land-price records. Eventually the music will stop. However, sanity is not likely to appear in time for the next auction coming this fall. Developers already have their eyes on a prized 1,500-acre parcel located in the southeast part of the valley, with the bidding likely to start at $300 million.

Then In 2004:

"There are three rules for bubbles," Jim Jubak wrote in The Daily Reckoning last week.

* "Rule #1 is that they continue much longer than you expect.
* "Rule #2 is that they expand faster near the end of the cycle... so just when you think they should have ended long ago, they seem more robust than ever.
* "Rule #3 is that no one wants to admit when it's over."

Then in 2005 he loses his brain:

Commentators have been predicting Vegas’ demise for years. But, democracy and big government play right into Las Vegas’s hand. The bigger and more intrusive government becomes, the more time-preferences rise, and Vegas seductively waits with open arms, waiting to exploit and cash in on each and every person’s weakness, making it hard to bet that Vegas will ever bust.

Then in 2006 he is still seduced by the bubble so that he loses his mind:

Billions of dollars are being invested in Las Vegas to provide aging Baby Boomers and Gen-Xer’s a place to go and gamble away their retirement money. Gaming executives know that Americans love to drink, gamble and party when times are good, and especially when times are bad. Wagering on a housing crash in Las Vegas is likely a bad bet.

In 2007 he is still clueless and even quotes Baron Rothschild:

The old saw repeated often by Las Vegas old timers is that if there are high-rise cranes on the Strip, it’s a good time to buy real estate. Dozens of them continue to dot the skyline. Number crunchers stress that each new hotel room creates 2.5 jobs, and that each new hotel/casino job creates another 1.5 jobs off the Strip. The people who will ultimately fill those jobs don’t live in Las Vegas yet. When they pull into town in their rental trucks they will need places to live.

Baron Rothschild advised that one "should invest when there is blood in the streets."

It won’t be bloody in Las Vegas much longer.

Well apparently he passes Lew's filter. That's good enough for me.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

Why is Von Mises hiring banksters that just got finished swindling old ladies out of money to lend to corrupt Casino developers, while making millions on the side?

From CNN today:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/01/26/siu.bank.failure/index.html

Doug French, the man who made that loan, reluctantly agreed to sit down with CNN for a taped interview. He is now vice president at a Libertarian think tank in Auburn, Alabama. French told CNN that at "the time" he believed the land was "very valuable." But when it all went up in smoke, he says, "It's very humbling, believe me."

French says mistakes at Silver State Bank were "preventable," but according to a lawsuit filed by the developer, the loans were part of a series of loans, each one preceding the other -- to different corporations.

At the time French left Silver State Bank, the bank told reporters he had resigned for "personal reasons." But French told CNN he was fired from Silver State.
Don't Miss

According to Securities and Exchange Commission documents, he sold $1.8 million in Silver State stock from November 2007 through February 2008. That was on top of his $650,000 in salary and bonuses, according to bank records. He left the bank in March 2008.

In September 2008, when Silver State Bank collapsed, a group of elderly Las Vegas deaf residents was especially hurt. The local chapter of the Deaf Seniors Association put an estimated $400,000 into certificates of deposit sold by Silver State. That money was to be used to help fund the group's annual national convention in Las Vegas in 2009. The group lost half of its money. The FDIC said after it seized Silver State that it did not have enough capital to cover business activities.

"I just can't believe it happened," one woman told CNN through a sign language interpreter. "We're just so frustrated."

http://www.lewrockwell.com/french/french-arch.html


Something just doesn't seem right.

"Think Tanks" always have and will be targets for subversion. The tactic is to be so slow about it that the entire movement can be redirected, and they won't even realize it.

 

[Paulitician]

Well apparently he passes Lew's filter. That's good enough for me.

WTF

 

[dougfrenchfansite]

Hi there guys I kind of made a Doug French hatemail blog lol. This guy really pisses me off, because he basically betrayed almost every libertarian principle out of greed. His shareholders got screwed, his customers got screwed, his employees got screwed, while he made away scott free with 1.8 million in stock sells right before his company went belly up on top of his salary and bonuses. Ironically on Sept 5th it was announced Silver State Bank was being taken over, but on Sept 13th this jerk has the nerve to make a speech titled "Booms and Busts" http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=doug+french&emb=0&aq=f# a week after his company got taken over by FDIC . He wrote for years about ethics in libertarianism and speculative bubbles to his readers before his bank went out of business, what a complete and utter phony this man is!

http://dougfrenchsucks.wordpress.com/

 

[danberkeley]

Hi there guys I kind of made a Doug French hatemail blog lol. This guy really pisses me off, because he basically betrayed almost every libertarian principle out of greed. His shareholders got screwed, his customers got screwed, while he made away scott free with 1.8 million in stock sells right before his company went belly up on top of his salary and bonuses. He wrote for years about ethics in libertarianism and speculative bubbles to his readers before his bank went out of business, what a complete and utter phony this man is!

http://dougfrenchsucks.wordpress.com/

Seems like the hit-piece parade is in full gear nowadays. Btw, how were French's actions unbecoming-a-libertarian?

 

[mudhoney]

Wow. This is the first evidence I've ever seen of the Mises Institute possibly bending on some principles. I wonder what Rothbard would have to say if the institute is benefiting from some of French's money.

Then again, is taking advantage of a state created bubble anti-libertarian?

 

[dougfrenchfansite]

Its very simple in this video French admitted to engaging in real estate speculationhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0NKd07gjns.

5 years earlier in his writings he admits to knowing he is in a real estate bubble http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig2/french3.html.

You would think he would invest his banks money into shorting financial companies, or gold bullion, but apparently the greater fool theory of real estate flipping was more appealing to Silver State Bank. Do you think the guy that studied directly under Rothbard and won the Rothbard Medal of Freedom should be trying to sell real estate to the greater fools? Is it ethical for him to put his depositors at risk like that when he knew years in advance he was just selling real estate to greater fools?

 

[danberkeley]

Wow. This is the first evidence I've ever seen of the Mises Institute possibly bending on some principles. I wonder what Rothbard would have to say if the institute is benefiting from some of French's money.

Then again, is taking advantage of a state created bubble anti-libertarian?

Is using the sidewalk also unbecoming a libertarian?

 

[Paulitician]

Hi there guys I kind of made a Doug French hatemail blog lol. This guy really pisses me off, because he basically betrayed almost every libertarian principle out of greed. His shareholders got screwed, his customers got screwed, his employees got screwed, while he made away scott free with 1.8 million in stock sells right before his company went belly up on top of his salary and bonuses. Ironically on Sept 5th it was announced Silver State Bank was being taken over, but on Sept 13th this jerk has the nerve to make a speech titled "Booms and Busts" http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=doug+french&emb=0&aq=f# a week after his company got taken over by FDIC . He wrote for years about ethics in libertarianism and speculative bubbles to his readers before his bank went out of business, what a complete and utter phony this man is!

http://dougfrenchsucks.wordpress.com/

You're awesome man.

Yesterday Lew was complaining on a podcast with Gerald Celente about bankers getting record bonuses even though they were running their companies down to the ground, and here we find out one of Lew's buddies has done the same thing! What a crook!

 

[mudhoney]

A word from Lew about all this would be great...

 

[danberkeley]

Its very simple in this video French admitted to engaging in real estate speculationhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0NKd07gjns.

Engaging in a real estate speculation in unlibertarian?

5 years earlier in his writings he admits to knowing he is in a real estate bubble http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig2/french3.html.

Knowing there is a real estate bubble is unlibertarian?

You would think he would invest his banks money into shorting financial companies, or gold bullion, but apparently the greater fool theory of real estate flipping was more appealing to Silver State Bank. Do you think the guy that studied directly under Rothbard and won the Rothbard Medal of Freedom should be trying to sell real estate to the greater fools? Is it ethical for him to put his depositors at risk like that when he knew years in advance he was just selling real estate to greater fools?

Do you even understand how banks work?

 

[danberkeley]

You're awesome man.

Yesterday Lew was complaining on a podcast with Gerald Celente about bankers getting record bonuses even though they were running their companies down to the ground, and here we find out one of Lew's buddies has done the same thing! What a crook!

Those bankers should have never received those bonuses. They money they received was from the bailouts. French was fired before the bailouts. What else, oh, how big was French's bonus?

 

[Truth Warrior]

A word from Lew about all this would be great...

Lew is the boss. He most probably picked him.

 

[dougfrenchfansite]

Do you even understand how banks work?

Regardless of what type of bank it was and the legalities concerning that, he could have still tried to convince the other executives to stay cash rich. So they could buy everyone else out after the foreclosure tsunami hit, combined with the derivatives mess after the market bottomed. Or he could have just resigned a lot earlier if the other executives would not cooperate, instead of milking his shareholders for 5 years. I doubt the disabled senior citizens are going to get their 150k back from French's 1.8 million anytime soon.

 

[Truth Warrior]

Regardless of what type of bank it was and the legalities concerning that, he could have still tried to convince the other executives to stay cash rich. So they could buy everyone else out after the foreclosure tsunami, combined with the derivatives mess after the market bottomed. Or he could have just resigned a lot earlier if the other executives would not cooperate, instead of milking his shareholders for 5 years.

Good old reliable 20/20 hindsight.

 

[danberkeley]

Regardless of what type of bank it was and the legalities concerning that, he could have still tried to convince the other executives to stay cash rich. So they could buy everyone else out after the foreclosure tsunami hit, combined with the derivatives mess after the market bottomed. Or he could have just resigned a lot earlier if the other executives would not cooperate, instead of milking his shareholders for 5 years. I doubt the disabled senior citizens are going to get their 150k back from French's 1.8 million anytime soon.

How was he milking shareholders?