Bernanke Yields To Pressure, Welcomes "Full Review" Of AIG, Copies Boilerplate Language From Prior Testimony

Ben Bernanke has yielded to increasing public pressure to finally disclose all the details surrounding the AIG bailout, and in a letter to Acting Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, Bernanke said he would welcome a full review of the AIG taxpayer bailout by the GAO and will make available "all records and personnel necessary to conduct this review," emphasizing that a review should give taxpayers "the most complete understanding of our decisions and actions." One wonders why stop at AIG? Why not open up the Fed to a GAO audit on all bank bailout activities undertaken in the period commencing with the GSE nationalization, and culminating with the Lehman bankruptcy. Surely that would provide an ever more "most complete" understanding of just who got what and how much taxpayer capital was put just so Wall Street could enjoy another record bonus season.

Observations On The Aftermath Of The Artificial Recovery From Dean Baker

Dean Baker, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, has put together a simple yet comprehensive presentation on a topic Zero Hedge has discussed in the past: how the demographic shift in the US will mirror the spender-to-saver transformation of an aging Japanese society, and as a result lead to an accentuation of the economic crisis into the double-dip phase, should all the artificial , one-time stimulus actions be phased out. For all those who think that a "new normal" with unemployment straddling double digits for years to come will be conducive to growth, think again. And after today's failed referendum on Obama's healthcare policies, America's immediate future will be focused on two simple propositions: [yes/no] on stimulus and [yes/no] on Q.E. 2. Everything else will be smoke and mirrors.

Is Silver The New Gold?

"Relative to oil, silver could surge 4x from here and it still wouldn’t match the prior high in this relationship over three decades ago. Considering the problems that plague every major currency in the world, from the U.S. dollar, to the Yen, to the Euro, to sterling, and knowing from the McKinsey report that the need to monetize the surge in public debt will be required to cushion the economic blow from what will likely be another 5-6 years of deleveraging in the private sector, and given the much more stable supply outlook for silver (all the low-cost shallow mines on the planet have already been gutted) and where it trades relative to gold, not to mention what little attention the metals grabs and how under-owned it still appears to be, exposure to silver, whether it be in bars, coins, ETFs or mining companies, is likely going to be prove to be a very attractive investment in coming years." - David Rosenberg

New York Fed Told AIG To "Stand Down" On All Counterparty Discussions

In one week, Tim Geithner will testify before Congress on his involvement in the AIG disclosuregate scandal, which, in late 2008 sought to prevent material information about AIG counterparty make-whole arrangements from seeing the light of day. Of course, in March of 2009, following political pressure, AIG and the FBRNY caved and disclosed that $27 billion in taxpayer capital had been used to yield to the bankers' every whim and to take them out at par, while their underlying AIG CDOs were priced 50% lower, if not more. Zero Hedge previously wondered when will Goldman be approached by the SEC with questions on whether or not they sold their direct AIG protection in the form of CDS to parties under a "big boy" letter, or did Goldman transact on a $2.5 billion notional position while in possession of material, non-public information. This, of course, in addition to having absolutely no impairments on their actual CDOs, thereby providing the firm with material excess returns over and above what their total capital at risk would have been. With Goldman's Stephen Friedman accompanying Geithner in the hearings, he hope that someone in authority will finally ask the right questions. And while they are at it, and have both a Goldman and a New York Fed employee in tow, maybe they can ask why NY Fed Senior Vice President on AIG Relationship Monitoring Steven Manzari told former AIG Financial Services CFO Elias Habayeb to "stand down on all discussions with counterparties on tearing up/unwinding CDS trades on the CDO portfolio."

Frontrunning: January 19

• Japan airlines files for bankruptcy (FT)
• Goldman delays bonus decision (ABC)
• Citigroup posts $7.6 billion Q4 loss (Reuters)
• Democrats face loss of Kennedy's seat, vital healthcare vote (Bloomberg, FT)
• 10 reasons Obama is failing 95 million investors (MarketWatch)
• Credit Suisse cuts bonus pool by 5% to spread costs from U.K. taxes (Bloomberg)
• Brown raises prospect of global bank levy (FT)

Deep Thoughts From Bob Janjuah - January 2010

Bob Janjuah's latest in its full, unabridged and grammatically irreverent version. A must read for all non-conformists. A juicy morcel:
"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be filled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome be bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance. - Cicero, 55 BC... Brilliant....and u know how Rome got away with it for so long - they secretly reduced the silver content in the coins (aka DEBASED) more and more - until they were worthless....and then the Empire imploded, ushering in the Dark ages..."