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FredEthelMertz, please explain why you have repeatedly deleted this section in the article. As OTS Director, John M. Reich was responsible for overseeing his agency's mission to supervise savings associations in order to maintain their safety and soundnes. The failure of Indymac Bank on his watch should be included in this article. Coasting ( talk) 16:56, 27 March 2009 (UTC)
This page has been edit protected to stabilize the situtaion and allow time for material to be correctly discussed here. As this is a Biography of a Living Person, any and all controversial and/or potentially libellous information must be completely sourced to highly reliable independent sources. There cannot be any original research or synthesis. Please use the time to set out what can and cannot be included. If a resolution is reached before the protection expires then please contact me or apply for unprotection at RFPP. Mfield ( Oi!) 06:23, 1 April 2009 (UTC)
Time does not allow discussing issues on a daily basis. A BLP is intended to provide facts and, although an editor may feel their facts are substantiated, by producing only those “facts” that support an opinion, it is no longer truly accurate. If strong opinions exist, a blog or other chat device would be a valid location for those discussions – not a BLP. FredEthelMertz ( talk) 01:48, 2 April 2009 (UTC)
FredEthelMertz, why don't you want this fact mentioned in the article? Not only did he not finish his five-year term, but he left the agency during one of the most challenging economic periods in U.S. history. In his own words, "It is not a good time for OTS for me to leave ... but it is a good time for me." [1] Coasting ( talk) 17:49, 1 April 2009 (UTC)
Let's go item-by-item.
First:
"Mr. Reich took the oath of Director of OTS on August 9, 2005 and continued in that capacity as well as serving as a member of the FDIC Board of Directors until he resigned on February 12, 2009 and stepped down February 27, 2009. [1]"
- This is true per the citation already on the page, which now states the situation incorrectly.
From Regulation and Reform:
"An ardent foe of regulatory red tape, Mr. Reich dedicated much effort and public testimony toward reducing regulatory burdens on financial institutions and, beginning in 2005, led a three-year interagency review of all federal bank regulations, mandated under the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996."
- Undisputed, rephrased by FredEthelMertz to include Reich's leadership on EGRPRA, totally supported by cite.
"Then Director of OTS, championed more regulatory independence and discretion for his agency in the cause of efficiency and regulatory burden relief. [2]."
- Fair description per Mr. Reich's own testimony to the Senate, as cited here, as well as the following citation including Mr. Reich's own description of his own opinions about his own agency.
"On July 21, 2008, following the subprime mortgage meltdown and failure of IndyMac Bank but before the failures of Washington Mutual and AIG Financial Products - all three regulated by OTS [3] [4] - Reich described his agency's "Financial Institution Reform Initiative":"
- Historical context is right and characterization of his agency's regulatory role is right per arguably the two most-trusted sources in financial journalism. Describes Mr. Reich's own characterization of his own agency's actions in public, per following cite.
I believe Congress should help create a level, scrupulous and well-regulated playing field so consumers and investors have confidence in the transparency, fairness and integrity of all mortgage originations. The standards of the under-regulated segments of the market must be raised to the level followed by the federally regulated segments. All entities that originate home loans should be required to comply with basic credit principles, such as conducting a reasonable assessment of each borrower’s ability to repay.
- This represents the leading "key" to financial mortgage market reform and stabilization, per Mr. Reich himself, in public, to an industry group, as reported in their publications and the Treasury department's files.
"In those same remarks, he described the role he felt his agency should play:
Selecting a strong regulator to monitor this new level playing field is critical for
protecting consumers and restoring market confidence. I won’t pretend to be a disinterested party, but I know that the OTS has the most extensive expertise of any regulatory agency in the oversight and supervision of mortgage banking operations and I believe the OTS is in the best position to assume federal authority to regulate the
currently unregulated players in mortgage banking.
- Again, quoting Mr. Reich himself, buttressing previous characterization of Mr. Reich's multiply-stated opinion that OTS should have a broader purview and characterizing his opinion of the state of OTS at this critical juncture in history.
From Role In IndyMac Bank Failure and Controversy:
"The failure of IndyMac Bank on July 11, 2008, was the fourth largest bank failure in United States history [6]"
- Establishes notability, undisputed, reliably cited, necessary for context, Reuters.
"Prior IndyMac's failure on July 11, 2008, the bank had come to rely heavily on higher cost, less stable, brokered deposits, as well as secured borrowings, to fund its operations and focused on stated income and other aggressively underwritten loans in areas with rapidly escalating home prices, particularly in California and Florida. [7]"
- Publicly released final assessment of IndyMac by the FDIC after months of investigation and conservatorship while Mr. Reich was on the Board of Directors,.
"On June 26, 2008 Senator Charles E. Schumer publicly released letters he had previously sent to Reich's agency and others, suggesting that IndyMac bank was in danger of failing and that the danger was being ignored. In the weeks that followed, Director Reich blamed Schumer's release of the letters for instigating IndyMac's collapse. [8]."
- On Schumer, from CNN, well-known. Mr. Reich's blaming is a direct quote, also found in his remarks to the American Bankers Assocation, as cited above.
"On July 21, 2008 Mr. Reich described "interference with the regulatory process by reporting and disseminating speculation about the condition of financial institutions, thereby undermining public confidence in those institutions and causing serious harm" as a contributor to the failure of IndyMac as well as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Lehman Brothers. [9]"
- Direct quote, as cited.
"On December 22, 2008 Mr. Reich removed his agency's western director, Darrel W. Dochow for allowing IndyMac to backdate a capital infusion of $18 million from its parent company so that the bank would appear "well capitalized" in its 10-Q for the period ending March 31,2008. [10]"
- Matter of public record, reliably cited here and supported by subsequent cites.
"According to a source with knowledge of the incident, at another point Mr. Dochow limited the scope of a review by OTS regulators of IndyMac's portfolio of loans and other assets, overruling the advice of others in the agency [11]"
- Reliably cited here, same source as above.
"Mr. Dochow played a central role in the savings-and-loan scandal of the 1980s, overriding a recommendation by federal bank examiners in San Francisco to seize Lincoln Savings, the giant savings and loan owned by Charles Keating. Mr. Reich called the backdating irregularity “a relatively small factor” in the collapse of IndyMac. [12]"
- On Dochow, matter of undisputed public record and reliably cited. On backdating, Reich's own words, reliable citation.
"Mr. Reich resigned on February 12, 2009 and stepped down February 27, 2009 [13]"
- Matter of public record, reliably cited, see above.
"amidst the Treasury Department's reports on, and continuing audit of backdating at IndyMac and four other institutions. [14]"
- Undisputed matter of public record, reliably and multiply cited per below.
"Scott Polakoff, OTS senior deputy director and chief operating officer under Mr. Reich became acting director on his departure, but on March 26, 2009 Polakoff was removed and placed on leave by United States Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, amidst an announced further review and investigation of the backdating scandal by the U.S. Treasury's Inspector General. [15]""
- Undisputed matter of public record, reliably and multiply cited.
"A report from the Treasury Department's inspector general released February 26, 2009 cited laxity at the OTS under Reich for exacerbating the estimated at $10.7 billion in FDIC losses from the IndyMac failure as well as the estimated $270 million in losses suffered by uninsured depositors. Commenting on the report, Inspector General Eric Thorson dismissed Reich's claim that Senator Schumer's letters caused the failure. Marla Freedman, the assistant inspector general for audit, detailed a pattern of IndyMac's excess risk-taking and abuse of the lending process and the OTS's consistent failure to act. Mr. Reich said in a letter to the inspector general that he agreed with the agency's filings. [16] [17]"
- Matters of public record, reliably cited, from a major newspaper initially sympathetic to Reich's view of the IndyMac situation Includes Reich's own accession to the Inspector General, completing the picture of where the story began and what has changed.
In the absence of material disagreements with these points or their value as biography of this critical figure in the world financial crisis, I feel they should be restored in their entirity and then edited through the normal process. -- Dlawbailey ( talk) 23:49, 1 April 2009 (UTC)
References
{{
cite news}}
: Check date values in: |date=
(
help)
The subject of the biography led an important agency at an important time and was involved in happenings of great controversy.
As noted on Mfield's talk page: Time does not allow discussing issues on a daily basis. A BLP is intended to provide facts and, although an editor may feel their facts are substantiated, by producing only those “facts” that support an opinion, it is no longer truly accurate. If strong opinions exist, a blog or other chat device would be a valid location for those discussions – not a BLP. FredEthelMertz ( talk) 01:43, 2 April 2009 (UTC)
Thank you for providing your comments on the article. What started as a Google search for background information on Mr. Reich, and finding a Wikipedia page full of IndyMac information, has now apparently turned into a bit of a firestorm. It was never my intention to get into a debate and it was likely my lack of familiarity with Wikipedia’s editorial systems that spurred the firestorm. For that, I apologize.
Watching the comments and the ambitiousness of the editors, it is understood that there are very strong feelings about the IndyMac issue. It does appear, however, that the blame for the failure is being placed in one spot. Yes, there is blame at the regulatory level; however, the IndyMac failure began years ago with the development of sub-prime mortgages, and the eventual decline in the housing market. Banking regulators in current years did not entirely cause the recent bank failures…fingers can be pointed at a number of Congressional committees, past regulatory decisions, mortgage brokers, bank CFO’s, etc., and the roots go back several years.
On a random note, I am searching for (and hope to find soon!) copies of Mr. Reich’s speeches to the Florida Bankers Association (July 2008), the New York State Bankers Association (October 2008), and the American Bankers Association (November 2008) in which he informed the audiences that he would be retiring once the new Administration was in office.
Although I believe that several of the “facts” provided by the editors are out of context and their meaning is, therefore, misconstrued, I do not have the time to debate each item. I do ask, however, that the following be considered (as referenced by Mfield): •The materials are too specific and specialized for a biography article, but would be perfectly acceptable for example in an article on the failure of IndyMac •BLP’s are supposed to be an article that summarizes the life of the subject •It is unreasonable to list every dealing that they have made, especially if it is recent, as there is no time past yet to put these facts into historical significance. •By allocating too many column inches to something that seems important to a section of society may well put undue and unfair weight on that issue. Arguments have been posted on this page regarding the above bullet points; however, the inclusion of substantial information on IndyMac does tend to shift this from a BLP to a single-subject article. I ask that Mfield considers this when evaluating the amount of content to be allowed on the page.
Regards to all - FredEthelMertz ( talk) 23:59, 2 April 2009 (UTC)
With a few days under the belt of Wiki-learning, it’s quite obvious that the other editors on this page are certainly more skilled and knowledgeable about research, editing, and processes. And credit is certainly due for the extent of effort and commitment to the subject. A brief review of Wiki-policy provides the following excerpts:
Subject: BLP: Undue Weight – Undue weight applies to more than just viewpoints. Just as giving undue weight to a viewpoint is not neutral, so is giving undue weight to other verifiable and sourced statements. An article should not give undue weight to any aspects of the subject, but should strive to treat each aspect with a weight appropriate to its significance to the subject. Note that undue weight can be given in several ways, including, but not limited to, depth of detail, quantity of text, prominence of placement, and juxtaposition of statements. Be careful not to give a disproportionate amount of space to particular viewpoints.
Subject: Biographies of Living Persons - Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a tabloid paper; it is not our job to be sensationalist, or to be the primary vehicle for the spread of titillating claims about people's lives. The possibility of harm to living subjects is one of the important factors to be considered when exercising editorial judgment.
Given that the subject currently has 5 lines of text dedicated to his entire career, the length and volume of information regarding the IndyMac issue appears to conflict with Wiki-policy of BLP and Undue Weight. From the inexperienced to the experienced…how can the two sides meet and comply with policy? FredEthelMertz ( talk) 03:12, 4 April 2009 (UTC)
Dlawbailey -
FredEthelMertz ( talk) 19:50, 5 April 2009 (UTC)
My questions are two about this article: [2].
1) Is ProPublica considered a reliable source?
2) In the .pdf of the letter from Mr. Reich to Secretary Geithner, Mr. Reich makes, it seems to me an achingly obvious mistake in simple arithmetic. He states that a Prompt Corrective Action would not have been necessary in May because an $18 million equity injection from IndyMac's parent company raised IndyMac's total risk-rased capital ratio from just under 10% to 10.26%. However, he also acknowledges that IndyMac had suffered downgrades on assets it held which, actually referring to a section in IndyMac's 10-Q where the company admits that the April downgrades would have lowered their risk-based capital to 9.27%. Relevant 10-Q section is here [3].
Is it "original research" to simply add and, more importantly, subtract numbers from publicly-available sources? -- Dlawbailey ( talk) 15:56, 2 April 2009 (UTC)
- as it comes from the Office of the Inspector General of the United States Treasury - would that be okay? If so, I think I'll compare Mr. Reich's sentiments about his agency's actions with that - in briefer form, of course. It seems to me that Mr. Reich has made a large and personal effort to be outspoken and tell an important story about OTS, IndyMac and the financial crisis. I feel his bio should tell his side of the story - in context. -- Dlawbailey ( talk) 21:54, 2 April 2009 (UTC)We believe, however, that OTS should have taken PCA in May 2008 based on information in IndyMac’s 10-Q filing for the quarter ending March 31, 2008. In that 10-Q, IndyMac reported that its total risk-based capital was 10.26 percent at the end of the quarter, which was above the 10 percent threshold for well capitalized. However, IndyMac included a disclosure that during April 2008, Moody’s Investor Service and Standard & Poor’s downgraded the thrift’s ratings on a significant number of mortgage backed securities including certain of those issued by IndyMac and for which IndyMac retained interest. IndyMac also stated that had the downgraded ratings been applied to the balance sheet as of March 31, 2008, its total risk based capital would have been reduced to 9.27 percent, which is below the 10 percent well capitalized threshold. OTS, therefore, could have used this information to downgrade the thrift to the lower capital level and implemented PCA.
With no sustained objections to the material cited, I have restored my last edit before the controversy. I have added material on Mr. Reich's concern for community banking and his April 6, 2006, remarks about underwriting and nontraditional lending. I plan to make more edits in the future.-- Dlawbailey ( talk) 15:42, 9 April 2009 (UTC)
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This article must adhere to the biographies of living persons (BLP) policy, even if it is not a biography, because it contains material about living persons. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libellous. If such material is repeatedly inserted, or if you have other concerns, please report the issue to this noticeboard.If you are a subject of this article, or acting on behalf of one, and you need help, please see this help page. |
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FredEthelMertz, please explain why you have repeatedly deleted this section in the article. As OTS Director, John M. Reich was responsible for overseeing his agency's mission to supervise savings associations in order to maintain their safety and soundnes. The failure of Indymac Bank on his watch should be included in this article. Coasting ( talk) 16:56, 27 March 2009 (UTC)
This page has been edit protected to stabilize the situtaion and allow time for material to be correctly discussed here. As this is a Biography of a Living Person, any and all controversial and/or potentially libellous information must be completely sourced to highly reliable independent sources. There cannot be any original research or synthesis. Please use the time to set out what can and cannot be included. If a resolution is reached before the protection expires then please contact me or apply for unprotection at RFPP. Mfield ( Oi!) 06:23, 1 April 2009 (UTC)
Time does not allow discussing issues on a daily basis. A BLP is intended to provide facts and, although an editor may feel their facts are substantiated, by producing only those “facts” that support an opinion, it is no longer truly accurate. If strong opinions exist, a blog or other chat device would be a valid location for those discussions – not a BLP. FredEthelMertz ( talk) 01:48, 2 April 2009 (UTC)
FredEthelMertz, why don't you want this fact mentioned in the article? Not only did he not finish his five-year term, but he left the agency during one of the most challenging economic periods in U.S. history. In his own words, "It is not a good time for OTS for me to leave ... but it is a good time for me." [1] Coasting ( talk) 17:49, 1 April 2009 (UTC)
Let's go item-by-item.
First:
"Mr. Reich took the oath of Director of OTS on August 9, 2005 and continued in that capacity as well as serving as a member of the FDIC Board of Directors until he resigned on February 12, 2009 and stepped down February 27, 2009. [1]"
- This is true per the citation already on the page, which now states the situation incorrectly.
From Regulation and Reform:
"An ardent foe of regulatory red tape, Mr. Reich dedicated much effort and public testimony toward reducing regulatory burdens on financial institutions and, beginning in 2005, led a three-year interagency review of all federal bank regulations, mandated under the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996."
- Undisputed, rephrased by FredEthelMertz to include Reich's leadership on EGRPRA, totally supported by cite.
"Then Director of OTS, championed more regulatory independence and discretion for his agency in the cause of efficiency and regulatory burden relief. [2]."
- Fair description per Mr. Reich's own testimony to the Senate, as cited here, as well as the following citation including Mr. Reich's own description of his own opinions about his own agency.
"On July 21, 2008, following the subprime mortgage meltdown and failure of IndyMac Bank but before the failures of Washington Mutual and AIG Financial Products - all three regulated by OTS [3] [4] - Reich described his agency's "Financial Institution Reform Initiative":"
- Historical context is right and characterization of his agency's regulatory role is right per arguably the two most-trusted sources in financial journalism. Describes Mr. Reich's own characterization of his own agency's actions in public, per following cite.
I believe Congress should help create a level, scrupulous and well-regulated playing field so consumers and investors have confidence in the transparency, fairness and integrity of all mortgage originations. The standards of the under-regulated segments of the market must be raised to the level followed by the federally regulated segments. All entities that originate home loans should be required to comply with basic credit principles, such as conducting a reasonable assessment of each borrower’s ability to repay.
- This represents the leading "key" to financial mortgage market reform and stabilization, per Mr. Reich himself, in public, to an industry group, as reported in their publications and the Treasury department's files.
"In those same remarks, he described the role he felt his agency should play:
Selecting a strong regulator to monitor this new level playing field is critical for
protecting consumers and restoring market confidence. I won’t pretend to be a disinterested party, but I know that the OTS has the most extensive expertise of any regulatory agency in the oversight and supervision of mortgage banking operations and I believe the OTS is in the best position to assume federal authority to regulate the
currently unregulated players in mortgage banking.
- Again, quoting Mr. Reich himself, buttressing previous characterization of Mr. Reich's multiply-stated opinion that OTS should have a broader purview and characterizing his opinion of the state of OTS at this critical juncture in history.
From Role In IndyMac Bank Failure and Controversy:
"The failure of IndyMac Bank on July 11, 2008, was the fourth largest bank failure in United States history [6]"
- Establishes notability, undisputed, reliably cited, necessary for context, Reuters.
"Prior IndyMac's failure on July 11, 2008, the bank had come to rely heavily on higher cost, less stable, brokered deposits, as well as secured borrowings, to fund its operations and focused on stated income and other aggressively underwritten loans in areas with rapidly escalating home prices, particularly in California and Florida. [7]"
- Publicly released final assessment of IndyMac by the FDIC after months of investigation and conservatorship while Mr. Reich was on the Board of Directors,.
"On June 26, 2008 Senator Charles E. Schumer publicly released letters he had previously sent to Reich's agency and others, suggesting that IndyMac bank was in danger of failing and that the danger was being ignored. In the weeks that followed, Director Reich blamed Schumer's release of the letters for instigating IndyMac's collapse. [8]."
- On Schumer, from CNN, well-known. Mr. Reich's blaming is a direct quote, also found in his remarks to the American Bankers Assocation, as cited above.
"On July 21, 2008 Mr. Reich described "interference with the regulatory process by reporting and disseminating speculation about the condition of financial institutions, thereby undermining public confidence in those institutions and causing serious harm" as a contributor to the failure of IndyMac as well as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Lehman Brothers. [9]"
- Direct quote, as cited.
"On December 22, 2008 Mr. Reich removed his agency's western director, Darrel W. Dochow for allowing IndyMac to backdate a capital infusion of $18 million from its parent company so that the bank would appear "well capitalized" in its 10-Q for the period ending March 31,2008. [10]"
- Matter of public record, reliably cited here and supported by subsequent cites.
"According to a source with knowledge of the incident, at another point Mr. Dochow limited the scope of a review by OTS regulators of IndyMac's portfolio of loans and other assets, overruling the advice of others in the agency [11]"
- Reliably cited here, same source as above.
"Mr. Dochow played a central role in the savings-and-loan scandal of the 1980s, overriding a recommendation by federal bank examiners in San Francisco to seize Lincoln Savings, the giant savings and loan owned by Charles Keating. Mr. Reich called the backdating irregularity “a relatively small factor” in the collapse of IndyMac. [12]"
- On Dochow, matter of undisputed public record and reliably cited. On backdating, Reich's own words, reliable citation.
"Mr. Reich resigned on February 12, 2009 and stepped down February 27, 2009 [13]"
- Matter of public record, reliably cited, see above.
"amidst the Treasury Department's reports on, and continuing audit of backdating at IndyMac and four other institutions. [14]"
- Undisputed matter of public record, reliably and multiply cited per below.
"Scott Polakoff, OTS senior deputy director and chief operating officer under Mr. Reich became acting director on his departure, but on March 26, 2009 Polakoff was removed and placed on leave by United States Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, amidst an announced further review and investigation of the backdating scandal by the U.S. Treasury's Inspector General. [15]""
- Undisputed matter of public record, reliably and multiply cited.
"A report from the Treasury Department's inspector general released February 26, 2009 cited laxity at the OTS under Reich for exacerbating the estimated at $10.7 billion in FDIC losses from the IndyMac failure as well as the estimated $270 million in losses suffered by uninsured depositors. Commenting on the report, Inspector General Eric Thorson dismissed Reich's claim that Senator Schumer's letters caused the failure. Marla Freedman, the assistant inspector general for audit, detailed a pattern of IndyMac's excess risk-taking and abuse of the lending process and the OTS's consistent failure to act. Mr. Reich said in a letter to the inspector general that he agreed with the agency's filings. [16] [17]"
- Matters of public record, reliably cited, from a major newspaper initially sympathetic to Reich's view of the IndyMac situation Includes Reich's own accession to the Inspector General, completing the picture of where the story began and what has changed.
In the absence of material disagreements with these points or their value as biography of this critical figure in the world financial crisis, I feel they should be restored in their entirity and then edited through the normal process. -- Dlawbailey ( talk) 23:49, 1 April 2009 (UTC)
References
{{
cite news}}
: Check date values in: |date=
(
help)
The subject of the biography led an important agency at an important time and was involved in happenings of great controversy.
As noted on Mfield's talk page: Time does not allow discussing issues on a daily basis. A BLP is intended to provide facts and, although an editor may feel their facts are substantiated, by producing only those “facts” that support an opinion, it is no longer truly accurate. If strong opinions exist, a blog or other chat device would be a valid location for those discussions – not a BLP. FredEthelMertz ( talk) 01:43, 2 April 2009 (UTC)
Thank you for providing your comments on the article. What started as a Google search for background information on Mr. Reich, and finding a Wikipedia page full of IndyMac information, has now apparently turned into a bit of a firestorm. It was never my intention to get into a debate and it was likely my lack of familiarity with Wikipedia’s editorial systems that spurred the firestorm. For that, I apologize.
Watching the comments and the ambitiousness of the editors, it is understood that there are very strong feelings about the IndyMac issue. It does appear, however, that the blame for the failure is being placed in one spot. Yes, there is blame at the regulatory level; however, the IndyMac failure began years ago with the development of sub-prime mortgages, and the eventual decline in the housing market. Banking regulators in current years did not entirely cause the recent bank failures…fingers can be pointed at a number of Congressional committees, past regulatory decisions, mortgage brokers, bank CFO’s, etc., and the roots go back several years.
On a random note, I am searching for (and hope to find soon!) copies of Mr. Reich’s speeches to the Florida Bankers Association (July 2008), the New York State Bankers Association (October 2008), and the American Bankers Association (November 2008) in which he informed the audiences that he would be retiring once the new Administration was in office.
Although I believe that several of the “facts” provided by the editors are out of context and their meaning is, therefore, misconstrued, I do not have the time to debate each item. I do ask, however, that the following be considered (as referenced by Mfield): •The materials are too specific and specialized for a biography article, but would be perfectly acceptable for example in an article on the failure of IndyMac •BLP’s are supposed to be an article that summarizes the life of the subject •It is unreasonable to list every dealing that they have made, especially if it is recent, as there is no time past yet to put these facts into historical significance. •By allocating too many column inches to something that seems important to a section of society may well put undue and unfair weight on that issue. Arguments have been posted on this page regarding the above bullet points; however, the inclusion of substantial information on IndyMac does tend to shift this from a BLP to a single-subject article. I ask that Mfield considers this when evaluating the amount of content to be allowed on the page.
Regards to all - FredEthelMertz ( talk) 23:59, 2 April 2009 (UTC)
With a few days under the belt of Wiki-learning, it’s quite obvious that the other editors on this page are certainly more skilled and knowledgeable about research, editing, and processes. And credit is certainly due for the extent of effort and commitment to the subject. A brief review of Wiki-policy provides the following excerpts:
Subject: BLP: Undue Weight – Undue weight applies to more than just viewpoints. Just as giving undue weight to a viewpoint is not neutral, so is giving undue weight to other verifiable and sourced statements. An article should not give undue weight to any aspects of the subject, but should strive to treat each aspect with a weight appropriate to its significance to the subject. Note that undue weight can be given in several ways, including, but not limited to, depth of detail, quantity of text, prominence of placement, and juxtaposition of statements. Be careful not to give a disproportionate amount of space to particular viewpoints.
Subject: Biographies of Living Persons - Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a tabloid paper; it is not our job to be sensationalist, or to be the primary vehicle for the spread of titillating claims about people's lives. The possibility of harm to living subjects is one of the important factors to be considered when exercising editorial judgment.
Given that the subject currently has 5 lines of text dedicated to his entire career, the length and volume of information regarding the IndyMac issue appears to conflict with Wiki-policy of BLP and Undue Weight. From the inexperienced to the experienced…how can the two sides meet and comply with policy? FredEthelMertz ( talk) 03:12, 4 April 2009 (UTC)
Dlawbailey -
FredEthelMertz ( talk) 19:50, 5 April 2009 (UTC)
My questions are two about this article: [2].
1) Is ProPublica considered a reliable source?
2) In the .pdf of the letter from Mr. Reich to Secretary Geithner, Mr. Reich makes, it seems to me an achingly obvious mistake in simple arithmetic. He states that a Prompt Corrective Action would not have been necessary in May because an $18 million equity injection from IndyMac's parent company raised IndyMac's total risk-rased capital ratio from just under 10% to 10.26%. However, he also acknowledges that IndyMac had suffered downgrades on assets it held which, actually referring to a section in IndyMac's 10-Q where the company admits that the April downgrades would have lowered their risk-based capital to 9.27%. Relevant 10-Q section is here [3].
Is it "original research" to simply add and, more importantly, subtract numbers from publicly-available sources? -- Dlawbailey ( talk) 15:56, 2 April 2009 (UTC)
- as it comes from the Office of the Inspector General of the United States Treasury - would that be okay? If so, I think I'll compare Mr. Reich's sentiments about his agency's actions with that - in briefer form, of course. It seems to me that Mr. Reich has made a large and personal effort to be outspoken and tell an important story about OTS, IndyMac and the financial crisis. I feel his bio should tell his side of the story - in context. -- Dlawbailey ( talk) 21:54, 2 April 2009 (UTC)We believe, however, that OTS should have taken PCA in May 2008 based on information in IndyMac’s 10-Q filing for the quarter ending March 31, 2008. In that 10-Q, IndyMac reported that its total risk-based capital was 10.26 percent at the end of the quarter, which was above the 10 percent threshold for well capitalized. However, IndyMac included a disclosure that during April 2008, Moody’s Investor Service and Standard & Poor’s downgraded the thrift’s ratings on a significant number of mortgage backed securities including certain of those issued by IndyMac and for which IndyMac retained interest. IndyMac also stated that had the downgraded ratings been applied to the balance sheet as of March 31, 2008, its total risk based capital would have been reduced to 9.27 percent, which is below the 10 percent well capitalized threshold. OTS, therefore, could have used this information to downgrade the thrift to the lower capital level and implemented PCA.
With no sustained objections to the material cited, I have restored my last edit before the controversy. I have added material on Mr. Reich's concern for community banking and his April 6, 2006, remarks about underwriting and nontraditional lending. I plan to make more edits in the future.-- Dlawbailey ( talk) 15:42, 9 April 2009 (UTC)
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