The Sources of Moral Agency: Essays in Moral Psychology and Freudian Theory

John Deigh - The Sources of Moral Agency: Essays in Moral Psychology and Freudian Theory
Published: 1996-07-13 | ISBN: 0521554187, 0521556228 | PDF | 274 pages | 4 MB

The essays in this collection are concerned with the psychology of moral agency. They focus on moral feelings and moral motivation, and seek to understand the operations and origins of these phenomena as rooted in the natural desires and emotions of human beings. An important feature of the essays, and one that distinguishes the book from most philosophical work in moral psychology, is the attention to the writings of Freud. An underlying theme of the volume is a critique of influential, rationalist accounts of moral agency.

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The Sources of Moral Agency: Essays in Moral Psychology and Freudian Theory

John Deigh - The Sources of Moral Agency: Essays in Moral Psychology and Freudian Theory
Published: 1996-07-13 | ISBN: 0521554187, 0521556228 | PDF | 274 pages | 4 MB

The essays in this collection are concerned with the psychology of moral agency. They focus on moral feelings and moral motivation, and seek to understand the operations and origins of these phenomena as rooted in the natural desires and emotions of human beings. An important feature of the essays, and one that distinguishes the book from most philosophical work in moral psychology, is the attention to the writings of Freud. An underlying theme of the volume is a critique of influential, rationalist accounts of moral agency.

Handbags reviews and advice for best reference

Sources: Iglesias offered 'Idol' spot

Enrique Iglesias performs at The Staples Center on August 16, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. Sources say Iglesias has been offered a spot judging "Idol"Fox has not commented on the speculationSo far only Mariah Carey has been confirmed as a judge

(EW.com) -- Fox's "American Idol" is getting closer to finalizing a judges panel for its 12th season.

Sources say Latin singer-songwriter Enrique Iglesias has now received a firm offer for a spot on the reality hit, which may expand to four judges next year despite shedding its entire previous panel.

EW.com reported last week that rapper Nicki Minaj and Aussie country artist Keith Urban were poised to join pop diva Mariah Carey on the show, and that Iglesias (or, if he passes, Adam Lambert) could fill a fourth spot. Longtime Idol judge Randy Jackson is set to move to a mentor role. Now we're hearing Iglesias has received an offer for about $4 million per year, on par with Urban's deal.

Fox and producers have only confirmed Carey at this point and have no comment on any of the other names or the number of judges.

If the current panel plan comes together it will give Idol a four-quadrant strategy, with judges representing pop, rap, country and Latin music (sorry rock-and-roll, but have you looked at the charts lately?). Idol tried expanding to four judges once before and the network was said to be unhappy with the result, so this possibility is a bit surprising. But NBC's The Voice managed to have four judges from different music backgrounds that have worked together quite well. Plus, Fox's own The X Factor has a quartet of judges, too.

Iglesias has a history of turning down reality show offers, but may very well sign on to "Idol." He was previously offered a spot hosting X Factor, and was in talks with NBC for "The Voice." With his career going "full blast," Iglesias doesn't need the Idol gig, but the show does have other career benefits. Iglesias became available to join the show last week, having just finished his latest world tour where he partnered with former Idol judge Jennifer Lopez.

"American Idol" returns to Fox in January. Stay tuned...

See full story at EW.com.

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U.S. to charge ex-Suisse traders on subprimes: sources (Reuters)

(Reuters) – U.S. authorities are preparing to charge four former Credit Suisse Group AG employees with criminal and civil fraud related to write-downs on subprime mortgage derivatives at the height of the financial crisis, sources familiar with the matter said.

Credit Suisse will not be charged in the matter, which is being investigated by federal prosecutors and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the sources said.

The four people to be charged were former Credit Suisse traders who were fired, another source said, but it was unclear when and for what reason. The suspected illegal conduct took place roughly four years ago, the source said, adding that the bank had been cooperating with officials.

The investigation stems from $2.85 billion in write-downs that Credit Suisse took on collateralized debt obligations in 2008, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Credit Suisse revealed those CDO losses in early 2008, and blamed them on a group of rogue traders - who the bank said had deliberately mispriced securities - and on a failure of internal controls.

Credit Suisse, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the SEC and Manhattan U.S. attorney Preet Bharara declined to comment on the matter.

Charges could come as early as Wednesday, people familiar with the matter said, but the timing was uncertain.

The planned charges come as the Obama administration is stepping up efforts to prosecutes Wall Street bankers and others for misconduct related to the financial crisis. Last week during his State of the Union address, President Obama announced the formation of a mortgage-fraud task force to pursue subprime-related cases.

The collapse of the subprime housing market was one of the triggers of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

(Additional reporting by Matthew Goldstein, Basil Katz and Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Gary Hill)

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HSBC launches sale of non-life insurance business: sources (Reuters)

HONG KONG (Reuters) – HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA.L)(0005.HK) has launched the sale of its non-life insurance business, sources told Reuters on Monday, a global division worth about $1 billion and now part of the bank's plan to strip away non-core units.

HSBC, Europe's biggest bank with a large presence across Asia, had sent out an information memorandum to potential buyers, with first round bids due by mid-October, a source said.

HSBC operates non-life insurance businesses in Britain, France, Hong Kong and Singapore. The Hong Kong and Singapore operations alone bring about $400 million in annual premiums, the source said.

HSBC's non-life insurance businesses earned profit before tax of about $1 billion in 2010, according to a presentation made by HSBC in June.

"We do not comment on market rumors or speculation," a Hong Kong-based HSBC spokeswoman said.

The sources declined to be identified as the sale process was not public.

HSBC's 16 percent stake in Ping An Insurance (Group) Co of China Ltd (2318.HK)(601318.SS) and 18 percent stake in Bao Vietnam, a domestic financial institution, were not part of the sale, the source said.

HSBC's investment banking arm was running the sale process, the source added.

In May, HSBC announced plans to sell non-core businesses, which included shrinking its network of 475 U.S. branches to focus on the international business of U.S. clients and the sale of several European retail banking businesses including those in Poland and Russia.

(Reporting by Denny Thomas; Additional reporting by Kelvin Soh; Editing by Michael Flaherty and Chris Lewis)

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Ally Financial delaying $6 billion IPO: sources (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Ally Financial, an auto and mortgage lender majority owned by the U.S. government, is delaying a $6 billion IPO due to bad market conditions, two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.

The roadshow for the initial public offering was expected to launch late this week or early next week, which would have brought the company public before the U.S. July 4 holiday.

The S&P 500 index (.SPX) closed up 0.74 percent at 1,289 on Thursday, but had lost more than 6 percent in the last six days while Nasdaq had nearly erased its gains for the year.

Ally Financial's IPO is expected to raise around $6 billion, including both common stock and convertible securities, one of the sources said. It will move ahead when the market improves, that source said.

The other source said that the IPO could now come in late July or early August, or after the September U.S. Labor Day holiday.

The sources declined to be named as the information is not public. Ally and the U.S. Treasury declined comment.

Bad mortgage loans forced the U.S. Treasury to pour $17.2 billion into Ally during the financial crisis. It has recovered some of that money through repayments and dividends and continues to hold a 73.8 percent stake in Ally, formerly known as GMAC.

The U.S. government is currently in the process of exiting other remaining financial crisis-era investments including GM and AIG.

It began exiting top U.S. automaker General Motors Co (GM.N) with a record $23.1 billion IPO last November. In May, it sold 15 percent of its stake in insurer American International Group Inc (AIG.N).

GM shares closed on Thursday at $29.45, or 10.8 percent below their $33 IPO price.

AIG's shares have also retreated since its $8.7 billion share sale. That sale raised less than the $10 billion to $20 billion some banking sources had suggested earlier in the year.

Apart from the Treasury, Ally's stockholders include private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, with a 9 percent stake, and GM, which owns 4 percent directly and 6 percent through a trust.

Citi, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Barclays Capital and Deutsche Bank Securities are the underwriters on the IPO.

(Reporting by Clare Baldwin and Paritosh Bansal; editing by Carol Bishopric, Bernard Orr)

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Ocwen in lead to buy Goldman's Litton: sources (Reuters)

By Lauren Tara LaCapra and Paritosh Bansal Lauren Tara Lacapra And Paritosh Bansal – Fri May 20, 12:48 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) has moved closer to offloading Litton Loan Servicing, with Ocwen Financial Corp (OCN.N) leading in an auction to acquire the troubled mortgage business, sources familiar with the situation said this week.

A deal, however, has not been reached yet, so talks could still fall apart.

While Litton is not a large component of Goldman's operations, divesting the business would close an unpleasant chapter for the Wall Street bank.

Goldman bought Litton in 2007 for about $430 million, hoping to glean more information about the housing market to aid its mortgage-bond trading business. Shortly after the deal closed, the subprime housing market fell into shambles.

High levels of delinquencies and foreclosures have cut into profits of many servicing businesses. In recent months, sloppy foreclosure practices have also attracted regulatory attention and bad publicity.

Goldman began considering a sale of Litton late last year, and in the first quarter it took a $220 million writedown related to the business.

In a regulatory filing, the bank said it expected to sell Litton within a year and was cooperating with requests for information from regulators and state attorneys general about its foreclosure practices as part of a nation-wide probe.

The Houston-based business could fetch up to $500 million in the auction, sources said last month. At the time these sources said Goldman was also offering 85 percent financing for the deal, which would be used to finance roughly $2.5 billion of "advances."

Companies like Litton, which collect mortgage payments from borrowers and foreclose on properties, make advances to mortgage owners when a loan goes bad, to cover things like principal and interest payments.

Ocwen has been buying businesses from banks in recent months. Last May, Ocwen bought a $6.9 billion servicing portfolio from Morgan Stanley's (MS.N) Saxon Mortgage Services. Ocwen also bought Barclays (BARC.L) U.S. mortgage servicing business HomEq for $1.3 billion last year.

Goldman and Ocwen declined to comment. The sources declined to be named because the sale process is not public.

Other firms that looked at buying Litton include, Carrington Holding Co, Fortress Investment Group's (FIG.N) Nationstar, and several private equity firms, sources have previously said.

Ocwen's shares were off 0.7 percent at $11.72, while Goldman's stock was down 1.1 percent at $137.87 in early afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Lauren Tara LaCapra and Paritosh Bansal; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Steve Orlofsky and Tim Dobbyn)

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U.S. foreclosure deal slowed by infighting: sources (Reuters)

CHARLOTTE, N.C./WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. regulators' efforts to settle with banks over improper mortgage foreclosures are being hampered by disagreements among the groups involved over the size and shape of an accord, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Banking regulators and a coalition of state attorneys general are trying to forge a settlement with the largest U.S. banks, which have been accused of foreclosing on borrowers without having the necessary paperwork in place.

A settlement would relieve a potentially large legal liability and reputational black eye for the banks, as they could face a myriad of lawsuits and fines without a universal agreement.

Sources familiar with the talks say the various groups disagree on the parameters of a settlement, with bank regulators pushing to outline a settlement plan as soon as mid-March.

Analysts said the discussions highlight the difficulties of reaching a universal settlement as disparate groups are involved in the negotiations.

"It is herding cats, there's no question about it, and they are not always the most agreeably tempered cats," said Karen Shaw Petrou, managing partner at Federal Financial Analytics, a firm that advises on regulatory policy.

For example, the members of the Treasury team setting up the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, along with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, have been pushing for a larger financial settlement than the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the sources said.

The Federal Reserve appears to be somewhere in the middle and has not backed the OCC's approach, as regulators continue to focus on the size of the penalty for improper foreclosures.

Spokesmen for several of the federal agencies involved in the talks were not immediately available for comment.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development spokeswoman Melanie Roussell and OCC spokesman Bob Garsson declined to comment.

Geoff Greenwood, a spokesman for Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, said on Wednesday that the attorneys general were "approaching a very sensitive time of negotiations."

Miller is spearheading the 50-state attorneys general probe into mortgage lenders' foreclosure practices.

"There are a number of federal agencies involved here, and not all agencies have the same ideas of where they should go," Greenwood said, adding that it "may not be accurate" that any universal settlement would apply the same language to all parties, including the attorneys general.

He declined to comment on what specific remedies the attorneys general coalition would seek, or the status of the group's investigation.

One proposal being pushed by negotiators looking for the biggest settlement, such as the incoming consumer agency, would have the attorneys general and federal agencies signing off on what would amount to about a $20 billion settlement, according to a source familiar with the matter.

That number was first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

There is, however, no agreement on that figure among all regulators involved who continue to debate the issue.

Another question regulators are wrestling with is whether and how much of the settlement should go toward helping struggling homeowners.

The homeowners' aid could be either principal forgiveness for qualifying borrowers or loan modifications, the source said. But how to structure the plan so banks would have to follow it is another challenge.

It is unclear how much aid any agreement would provide to consumers, particularly as some lawmakers are seeking to repeal existing aid programs.

On Thursday, U.S. House Republicans said the House Financial Services Committee would vote on a bill on March 3 that would end the Home Affordable Modification Program, the Obama administration's key foreclosure rescue program.

Last fall, the biggest U.S. mortgage lenders -- including Bank of America Corp, Wells Fargo & Co, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Ally Financial Inc's GMAC Mortgage -- temporarily halted or refiled paperwork on foreclosures nationwide.

The attorneys general probe into the matter began soon after, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice and bank regulators have opened their own inquiries.

(Additional reporting by Scot Paltrow, Corbett Daly and Rachelle Younglai in Washington and Dan Levine in San Francisco; editing by John Wallace, Gerald E. McCormick and Matthew Lewis)

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U.S. foreclosure deal slowed by infighting: sources (Reuters)

CHARLOTTE, N.C./WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. regulators' efforts to settle with banks over improper mortgage foreclosures are being hampered by disagreements among the groups involved over the size and shape of an accord, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Banking regulators and a coalition of state attorneys general are trying to forge a settlement with the largest U.S. banks, which have been accused of foreclosing on borrowers without having the necessary paperwork in place.

A settlement would relieve a potentially large legal liability and reputational black eye for the banks, as they could face a myriad of lawsuits and fines without a universal agreement.

Sources familiar with the talks say the various groups disagree on the parameters of a settlement, with bank regulators pushing to outline a settlement plan as soon as mid-March.

Analysts said the discussions highlight the difficulties of reaching a universal settlement as disparate groups are involved in the negotiations.

"It is herding cats, there's no question about it, and they are not always the most agreeably tempered cats," said Karen Shaw Petrou, managing partner at Federal Financial Analytics, a firm that advises on regulatory policy.

For example, the members of the Treasury team setting up the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, along with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, have been pushing for a larger financial settlement than the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the sources said.

The Federal Reserve appears to be somewhere in the middle and has not backed the OCC's approach, as regulators continue to focus on the size of the penalty for improper foreclosures.

Spokesmen for several of the federal agencies involved in the talks were not immediately available for comment.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development spokeswoman Melanie Roussell and OCC spokesman Bob Garsson declined to comment.

Geoff Greenwood, a spokesman for Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, said on Wednesday that the attorneys general were "approaching a very sensitive time of negotiations."

Miller is spearheading the 50-state attorneys general probe into mortgage lenders' foreclosure practices.

"There are a number of federal agencies involved here, and not all agencies have the same ideas of where they should go," Greenwood said, adding that it "may not be accurate" that any universal settlement would apply the same language to all parties, including the attorneys general.

He declined to comment on what specific remedies the attorneys general coalition would seek, or the status of the group's investigation.

One proposal being pushed by negotiators looking for the biggest settlement, such as the incoming consumer agency, would have the attorneys general and federal agencies signing off on what would amount to about a $20 billion settlement, according to a source familiar with the matter.

That number was first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

There is, however, no agreement on that figure among all regulators involved who continue to debate the issue.

Another question regulators are wrestling with is whether and how much of the settlement should go toward helping struggling homeowners.

The homeowners' aid could be either principal forgiveness for qualifying borrowers or loan modifications, the source said. But how to structure the plan so banks would have to follow it is another challenge.

It is unclear how much aid any agreement would provide to consumers, particularly as some lawmakers are seeking to repeal existing aid programs.

On Thursday, U.S. House Republicans said the House Financial Services Committee would vote on a bill on March 3 that would end the Home Affordable Modification Program, the Obama administration's key foreclosure rescue program.

Last fall, the biggest U.S. mortgage lenders -- including Bank of America Corp, Wells Fargo & Co, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Ally Financial Inc's GMAC Mortgage -- temporarily halted or refiled paperwork on foreclosures nationwide.

The attorneys general probe into the matter began soon after, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice and bank regulators have opened their own inquiries.

(Additional reporting by Scot Paltrow, Corbett Daly and Rachelle Younglai in Washington and Dan Levine in San Francisco; editing by John Wallace, Gerald E. McCormick and Matthew Lewis)

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