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Frontrunning: December 14
- The bank with the worst balance sheet remembers it is bonus time, systemic risk be screwed, pays back TARP (Bloomberg)
- Matt Taibbi takes on... Steve Liesman in a blast from the past (The Nation)
- And all is good again: Nakheel bonds double from 51 to 109.5 (Bloomberg)
- Exxon to buy XTO energy for $31 billion in stock, not a single dollar in cash (Bloomberg)
- Goldman fueled AIG gamles (WSJ)
- Tullett Prebon will help brokers move out of U.K. (Bloomberg)
- Obama versus the Banks: the pressure intensifies (Time)
- Colony Capital's "fearless" Bazin shakes up Accor, Carrefour (Bloomberg)
- Lazard's Weiss is year's busiest banker (WSJ)
- US debt defies gravity (Washington Times)
- Ginnie Mae's growth gives fuel to risky lenders (WaPo)
- Pay worries slow BofA search (WSJ)
- The dollar link: why is the dollar rising suddenly (FX Solutions)
- Cadbury lifts sales target in defense against Kraft bid (MarketWatch)
- Tax cuts might accomplish what spending hasn't (NYT)
- Mort Zuckerman chimes in: don't touch the Fed (FT)
- What's wrong with gentrification (New York Mag)
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hmm, I wonder who bought the Nakheel bonds on the cheap, Abu Dabhi?
liesman like bernacke and geithner are examples of how-a abject failure is success in america
when you have-a in your heart the ability to obey, it's a powerful tool for success
you want success? all you have to do is beg
Very interesting....that Taibbi & Ames article on
Liesman. No Change you can believe in.
Great link to Taibbi on Liesman. Thanks
A Note on the Supposed Independence of the Fed
Banking – whether commercial banking or central banking – works best when it is competitive, transparent, and responsible. The more central banking is shielded from public scrutiny and protected from the rule of civil law, the more damaging it becomes for the economy and society.
The Fed has had one great success: it is by far the largest funder of academic research in monetary and macroeconomics, employing hundreds of economists, financing conferences and seminars, providing paid consultancies, and so on. Is it any wonder that the majority of academic monetary and macroeconomists support the status quo?
The Fed is in need of serious reform and should be subject to competition and accountability. The Paul-Grayson bill is a welcome first step toward this goal. American citizens have a right to demand the same standards of transparency and responsibility from the Fed as other government agencies. A government bureaucracy that cannot function unless it is shrouded in secrecy and is not held accountable to the elected representatives of the people has no place in a free society.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig8/hulsmann4.1.1.html
It is certainly NOT employee "poaching" that has Citi paying back TARP, nor is it bonuses and executive compensation.
It is for nothing other than opacity. With the government's nose in the balance sheet comes taxpayer scrutiny.
To put it in context of the Wizard of Oz, "PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!" Munchkins show the taxpayers to the door!
Citigroup is bound to run off the rails again in the next 12-18 months. Vegas should put down some odds on that happening.
I second the great link to Taibbi's article. I didn't like LIESman before, but now I'm absolutely totally disgusted by the man who has now been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that his name is appropriate for his character.
How did you miss this: Organized Crime Saves Organized Crime or UN Says Drug Money Saved The Banks
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2009/dec/13/drug-money-banks-saved-un-cfief-claims
Here's another big thanks for the article on Liesman. I lived and worked in Eastern Europe in the 90's and I can tell you unequivocally that there were probably tens (perhaps hundreds) of thousands of people exactly like him operating in every field (finance, industry, law, consulting, venture capital, publishing, you name it) throughout the region. The authors really nail the type: guys living in suites in the Marriott, never venturing out of the capital city, dealing only with people who speak English (not even being able to say "please" or "thank you" in the local language), getting pissed when you can't get a bottle of A1 to go with your steak and turning up your nose at all local cuisine, etc. A really enterprising author could, if so inclined, totally blow the roof off of what goes on in these situations where Westerners (not just Americans, mind you) come to town to show the poor locals how it's done. A great place to start - the U.S. aid agencies, especially USAID. If the American people had any idea of how much waste, fraud and abuse was going on there...