Carl Icahn: Wall Street Back To Its Old Tricks

Just a few short years after the worst financial crisis since the 1930’s, there’s chatter that at least a few Wall Street bad apples are up to their old shenannigans, again.

We know that sounds a tad dramatic if now downright incendiary but we’re not hearing this kind of talk from some analyst or pundit who’s looking to make headlines. We’re hearing it from billionaire investor and Fast Money friend Carl Ichan.

If you’ve seen any of our past interviews with Icahn, you know he’s a straight shooter and not one to mix words. Speaking with CNBC at the annual Ira Sohn investment conference in New York, he again called it like he saw it. “I think we’re going back to the same crap,” he said.

And by crap, Icahn is referring to the very same complex and toxic assets such as Credit Default Swaps that almost brought the financial system to its knees. ”I will tell you, that very few people understood how toxic and how risky those derivatives were. CDS’s were extremely risky the way they were used,” he added.

“I really find it amazing that we’re almost back to where it was, where there is so much leverage going on,” he says. “”(There’s) just, way to much leverage, way to much risk taking with other peoples money.”

Of course critics will argue that the Street has taken its licks and learned its lesson. And now that the issues have come to light, the Street will police itself and crackdown.

But Icahn isn’t buying it.

And that begs the question will history repeat itself. In other words, will those same problems take the Street down, again.

According to Icahn, the short answer is ‘yes.’

”I do think though that there could be another major problem. Now will it happen next week? Next year? I don’t know. And that, certainly nobody knows. But I don’t think that the system is working properly.”

What do you think? We want to know!

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