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Sunday Readings
- Paulson's calls to Goldman tested ethics during crisis (NYT)
- Satyajit Das: Mixed Metaphors (Evro Intelligence Part 1, Part 2 h/t Paul)
- Rio Tinto spying cost China steelmakers $102 billion (Bloomberg)
- IMF puts total cost of crisis at $11.9 trillion (Telegraph)
- Economic bottom calls: willful ignorance (Market Ticker)
- For private equity, a very public disaster (NYT)
- Discover consumer spending monitor drops for second month, "Anticipated Spending Falls for First Time Since February; Majority of Consumers Planning Cutbacks on All Discretionary Purchases" (Discover Financial, h/t Philip)
- CNBC slides as viewers get crunched (Guardian)
- Long view: bears will hold sway (FT, h/t Ahmed)
- China evacuates 1 million as deadly storm approaches (Bloomberg)
- UBS tax talks stall over data transfer details (Reuters)
- The great american bank robbery (h/t Ian)
»
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Mmmn, why no mention of China's continuation of easy credit policy from AP?
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j1FZRNA_nf7XY7YePH-Od-...
Nice to see that China will be spreading the wealth AGAIN whilst the Baltic Dry drops like a stone.
There is even a mention of previous loans going directly into equities and real estate.
Regarding the Goldman article:
I am shocked!
Interesting, probably controversial, Word doc by Warren Mosler, 7 Deadly Innocent Frauds
http://www.moslereconomics.com/2009/08/03/7-deadly-innocent-frauds/
The Swiss are losing all credibility. Between this and the Tinner document fiasco, it looks like they are turning into a US lapdog. However hard they fight, they lose if they give anything up. Trying to help UBS in the short term is going to cost them, in terms of reputation, that they will never recover from...
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This happens when you put former UBS executives in charge of (economic) policies at the federal level.
http://zeropointfield.wordpress.com/2009/06/06/swiss-federations-investm...
The board members of UBS include David H. Sidwell, who is also Director at Fannie Mae:
http://zeropointfield.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/citizens-of-the-corporate...
I'd like to Hammer her.
Regarding The Market Ticker article, the only way I see repatriation of labor occurring is when the public can't afford to pay for imported goods. Taxes won't increase, Dog forbid people actually pay for their services. And credit is gone for the foreseeable future. Politics are conducted at our expence. The only green shoots I see are with the increase in "Dickweeds."
CNBC = " unrestrained embrace of Ayn Rand-style capitalism". Really? I'd think Ayn would be rolling in her grave on that comparision.
Rolling? IMO, spinning.
Not surprised they would misrepresent Rand. Curiously, Rand herself misrepresented Robin Hood (and so does the left). He didn't steal from the rich and give to the poor, he repatriated money to the poor that had been stolen by the rich.
In a feudal system, The Rich = The Government.
The modern equivalent is that Robin Hood helped people dodge taxes (and sometimes stole them back from the Prince Fucking John Internal Revenue Service).
Oops, forgot to log in, that was me above.
". Taxes won't increase, Dog forbid people actually pay for their services"
The current level of taxes is enough to pay for public services. What people are objecting to is that any increase in taxes is simply a transfer of wealth to pay off a public debt created to absorb credit loses in the private sector.
Yeah, that was a little curt. I was referring the article's suggestion,"only paths forward are to either dramatically increase taxes..." I think taxes are too high.
Stephen Feinberg here is what you did wrong: You bought into an American car company.
I am glad you lost. I think your whole industry of private equity reeks. You steal cheap assest with borrowed money at 5-8 times earnings, make cosmetic changes, and re IPO a year or two later through a hyped up Wall Street IPO to the dimwit mutual funds(the public's money) at 20 times earnings.
I am also glad all these companies have been forced to beat you to the punch and downsize and streamline themselves. Nothing left for guys to do anymore.
hi guys/gals..
if you can/want...I just heard Peter Schiff is thinking of running for Chris VIP-mortage Dodd's Senate seat. Schiff is doing a major fundraiser this weekend... I'm asking if you can please throw some $$ his way... the website is:
http://www.schiffathon.com/
if nothing else.. I want to see Schiff debate Chris VIP-mortage Dodd! and BEAT THIS man who has been in the senate for freaking 36 years!
Please donate what you can.. $25..or any amt..
thanks!
He would certainly spice up the conversations in Congress... I wonder if his fellow Senators would talk over him or cut him off like the CNBC anchors.
Not all of Schiff's views are perfectly sound, when asked recently on MSNBC if he agrees w/ 40 x's leverage ratio's he totally avoided the question. As a fund manger he made a pretty penny off of fractional reserve lending.
Love the Hammer video!
Gotta plug a movie for the not-faint of heart: The Yes Men Fix The World
Their first movie, self titled, was extremely interesting, entertaining and informative, but their new one is mind-boggling. Expand your horizons and give it a look . . . sure to provoke.
Actually, both movies track the true spirit of Fight Club quite well . . .
Market Ticker's comments are out of date--we have passed the point at which bringing jobs home or any other remedy will stimulate consumer confidence. What we have to do now is to maintain this enormous physical plant we have in this country.
It begins with housing, of course, but it can only be done with an an expansion of individually enforceable rights. If you want to know why the country is collapsing, just read the case which gave us the regime we now "enjoy"--West Coast Hotel v. Parrish. This case gave nearly absolute power to the political system, over nearly all facts. You have no power.
Want some? Then you're going to have to understand--and argue--that additional facts are also like protected speech or an exercise of religion or freedom from involuntary servitude. Use the West Virginia v. Barnette test to argue that housing, like the facts mentioned above, has been shown to be an unchanging fact of human experience--an important fact. History shows that it resists the attempts of government--or anything or anyone else--to alter it.
Once you have shown that, you do what has been done with the facts mentioned above: you remove it from the political system and give power over it to the individual.
In "scrutiny regime" terms (that's what our current entire power structure--you know, the one that governs every aspect of your life--is called, in case you didn't know) this means elevating the level of scrutiny for housing.
Right now, housing is at minimum scrutiny (Lindsey v. Normet). This mean:
no individual shall be involuntarily deprived of housing unless it is rationally related to a legitimate government purpose.
Strict scrutiny for housing means
no individually shall be involuntarily deprived of housing unless it is narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling government objective.
Here are four other facts which, history has shown, deserve strict scrutiny:
liberty (just read the Court's Texas sodomy case and then tell me at which level of scrutiny we now find liberty!)
maintenance (this is explicitly mentioned in both West Coast and Berman v. Parker--the latter case being most often cited, along with West Coast, for the proposition of absolute power in the political system over facts)
education (to see how this is being done, just look at the New Jersey education cases, in which they actually gave meaning to the education clause in the New Jersey Constitution--fancy that! and it only took them until 1973!)
medical care (again review the faulty presentation of facts--connived at by the Supreme Court in DeShaney; by the way, the Supreme Court often connives at the presentation of false facts; just see the Kelo case, especially the oral argument).
So there we are, Market Ticker. If you understood the individual rights/police state aspect of your charts--instead of believing in a police state yourself--you would understand the situation better.
Actually, what is going on is a change of Constitutional regimes. This happens about every 70 years in the U.S., so it is not unexpected. I encourage you to read the online essay on this subject by G. Edward White of the University of Virginia Law Schoool, "Historicizing Judicial Scrutiny."
We are moving from the scrutiny regime to the maintenance regime. The rule of the maintenance regime is that only those policies are Constitutional which maintain important facts.
That's so Raven!
when in doubt, mumble
As an employee of UBS, I can guarantee they are honest and trustworthy, just like myself. Whiners like you don't understand the complex business of banking. Dammit, if I have an offshore bank account and want to hide some money there tax free, that is my own business, not the US Government's! In addition, the rich paying a disproportionate amount of taxes on their wealth is not patriotic, Joe Biden! Finally, I want to say with the stock market back on track, our economy is once again fundamentally sound. With respectable financial institutions like Goldman Sachs earning high profits and paying back their TARPs early, there is no doubt that the mild (that's right, mild) recession over. As a Ph.D. of economics, I should know. -- Phil
Satire, right? or you missed the megalomaniac therapy scheduled for this week?
Assuming you are not really Phil "mental recession" Gramm, is it still a pseudonym when you register as a real person that you are not?
If you are really Phil Gramm let me take this opportunity to say ...Fuck You.
Pete
Lol...
It's naysayers like you that put us in this mild, or "mental" recession. That is right. It was the naysayers like Peter Schiff who caused the panic in the stock market last Fall. Now, let me be a bit more postive now and offer some friendly advice:
Buy stock now. The market is severely undervalued. It should be sitting at 14,000 right now. Pete, if you take my advice, you will want to say "thank you" rather than "fuck you" in a few months. Like I said, the economy is fundamentally sound.
You may retort with something like, "if it's so sound, why are millions of people unemployed with no prospects?". I say, they either A) Don't want to work and live off the gov't. or B) They are lazy whiners who don't want to make the extra effort to make themself more marketable in the job market.
Well, now I am off to dinner with Ben Stein. I thought I would buy him a drink to congratulate getting fired from the NY Times.
you do a great phil gramm....excellent (comedic) writing on your part. I am impressed.
Phil, i've been wondering....did mccain pull that horndog lindsey graham off of palin long enough for you to get some of that alaskan fur pelt?
She shaves her fur pelt, but not every day. It was kind of prickly as she can be sometimes.
Sound like a Yellowman song. "Sarah Palin, the woman with the blad headed...... "
Check out HuffPo for more details on Obama's baby euthanizing health plan!
"As an employee of UBS, I can guarantee they are honest and trustworthy, just like myself."
Thanks for your futher clarification of this oxymoronic proposition, Phil.
Here here. It's your money after all. You did ALL the work involved in getting it with NO HELP and support and employees at all. It's your's and no one else has the right to say what happens to it. I'm sick of people constantly hammering on the rich. I mean look at Oprah. She built 8 houses all by herself with a hammer and nails. Just because you're too lazy to build 8 houses all by yourself you shouldn't be mean to her. And look at Donald Trump. He put on overalls and built hotels and casinos. Just because you suck at steel working and concrete you shouldn't rip on our super men and women who go out and do everything all by themselves and become rich.
When ever I'm taking things from people I hate it when there are barriers and when people try to say something is mine and they won't share. And then once I have thier resources they fight me when I try to make huge walls and barriers between what is mine and what is theirs. It's just getting harder and harder to maintain my delusions and confusions of what I did and who helped and what I can do and what other people can do. I'm so used to controlling and taking from everyone else that I just can't keep it straight in my tiny head what it all means.
It's like with this hedge fund nonsense. Can you believe that people ACTUALLY don't want us going into thier bank account and gambling with their money. They just don't understand how sophisticated we are. Before you know it they will be demanding credit cards that have limits of all the deposits in america and want to go to vegas and do some gambling. You can only allow us super sophisticated super smart super men access to everyones resources without any barriers. Everyone can't do this. Only we are entititled to it.
All that you have is mine. All that I have is mine. Thank you for rewarding me so richly. I really feel loved. Please don't put me in jail. I don't like to be confined. I like to feel unlimited and step all over everyone elses toes and take what I want.
"Our economy is once again fundamentally sound" HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA-Famous Last words, word to the wise, don't buy green bananas.
The Chinese spy story sounds like an old good Politbureau diversion tactic. My bet would be the state steel makers are sitting on huge losses and need someone to blame...
BHP and Rio have been holding China to ransom for at least 10 years. This a chance of a little retribution. China even funded Fortescue Metals, at last a chance for some real competition for the red earth of OZ, making the owner of FMG.ax the richest man in Australia. China did this so they could develop at least some competition to BHP and RIO.
You know nothing about Iron Ore.
I am aware that Iron Ore producers are running an Oligopoly. However the real question, why is it happening NOW and not a year ago, when prices were lower and China had more bargaining power?
I've read recently that China is sitting on many quarters of supply. Seems like a great time to bargain.
Please do not comment on Iron Ore, when you know nothing. You only add to the incredulous, blogger, noise.
Iron Ore contract price, Y2008 $140.60, Y2009 $101.20 - Contract prices were not cheaper in 2008. The negotiations for 2010 have been going on since December 2008. There was a low spot price of $61.60 in November 2008 when global financial meltdown instilled, negotations have been going on (as they always do) for a year on contract prices for 2010.
The video is amazing ! Thanks for posting it !
everyone should watch and forward it to someone
Agreed.
Problem is most of my friends and family don't give 2 shits about this sort of stuff. Hope you guys know people who care a bit more, it's boderline disheartening....
during the entire intro I kept hearing that stupid joke, "what's a hammer for?"
for driving nails into the wall, but that's not important now.
Another article in the New York Times today... "Is Obama Punking Us?"
written by Frank Rich... but has a seriously Zero Hedge flavor...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/opinion/09rich.html
Nice commercial...
I enoyed reading that material. It was interesting to read the commentary, a lot of Obama cheerleaders saying he's doing hte best he can. No matter what anyone says, if nearly the entriety of your economic team are fromer GS employees, there is a serious conflict of interest and def. not a president of the 'people.' He's corporate focused just like the one's who came before him.
Hell even if this economy somewhat recovers, what are the people gona do, 'service' each other? Hard to see how the nation can prosper w/o a manufacturing base. The argument that we'll export knowledge is long dead, there are plenty of highly intelligent and capable people all over the world and many who were trained by the US.
Heheh. Check out what's happened to jobs...
svcs goods manu
The latter two have cratered, but service jobs need to drop another six million to catch up.
These charts run from 2000 through current and are from the ADP site.
I've been down for so long, it feels like up to me.
Defending Paulson, Michele Davis said:
"Suggesting that AIG was saved for the sake of one firm is as ridiculous as saying firemen put out a fire in a skyscraper to protect just one of the thousands of people in the building,"
Exactly. Just as ridiculous, but absolutely true. The "fireman" had a "loved one" in that building, and propriety went out the window. That loved one, hated by many now, was saved at the expense of thousands of other tenants, at the cost of 13 Billion dollars.
Maybe Paulson was trying to get GS out of the mess that Paulson himself created while he was CEO? Maybe Lloyd, the alleged Puppy Killer, got Paulson on the phone and told him, look you a*hole, you're the one that got us in this mess, now get us out.
Plausible , they would have gone Lehman without the bailout.
Agreed, but they Blankfien did proclaim they were really never in danger of going belly up.
Besides the known knowns of GS I would suggest a closer look at SocGen. There has been a tremendous amount of action with respect to SocGen that has not garnered the attention necessary to peel away their "interconnectedness". In some remarkable ways, SocGen represents one of the biggest super black holes existent.
The conversations probably went something like this:
Paulson: Nice win on the Lehman bet, ey Lloyd!
Blankfein: Yea, but, we won't win unless you do your part and make sure we get paid on the bet!
Paulson: NO PROB! I'll just tell the world that it will be the end if they don't do as i say, then we'll say that AIG is "SYSTEMICALLY" important and "TOOBIGTOFAIL". Top that off with a few, "ewww we dont' want to be socialist do we and let the government take over banks now, DO WE!" and that will nail it. Let the schmucks on the low end of the totem pole go down and that will just give us more juice on the high end, so that we can make our little babies even bigger! and that is more of a reason that we will NEVER fail."
Yep, but to really sell a big scam, you never a charismatic guy who is deluded into believing that he really can turn something around, and can sell the idea to others.
This is the essence of sales. Computer software, cars, consultancy, LBOs.
My analysis suggests a strong reversal correction formation starting this week onwards. ~Sumi
Is you analysis this weekends MarketWatch headline? ;-) If not, please do elaborate...
tfnn has some analysis on this too. same conclusion.
thanks as always for the readings TD.
I thought the one put out by Discover was quite interesting.
You Tube Pulls Hundreds Of Ron Paul Videos:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/you-tube-pulls-hundreds-of-ron-paul-videos.html
“I don’t know if you can imagine what it’s like to in a moment see 6400 videos gone,” writes the channel owner on the C Span Junkie website, “Figure 6400 hours (easily) poof GONE! I did this for the common good and now it all gone.”
The channel has now been replaced with a new account but it’s unlikely to survive long if the owner dares to post anything of substance.
His message was being spread and gaining even more support...therefore he needed to be censored.
Until we have guys like Black back as regulators nothing will change. We just can not compete with the vast amounts of money being used to influence decisions. The Rich article says"
One group facilitating the screamers is FreedomWorks, which is run by the former Congressman Dick Armey, now a lobbyist at the DLA Piper law firm. Medicines Company, a global pharmaceutical business, has paid DLA Piper more than $6 million in lobbying fees in the five years Armey has worked there."
No amount of letters is going to compete with that money.
In the video, Black confirmed he agreed with an audit of the fed. Bernanke opposes the audit. The guy talking out against the bailouts versus the guy in a circle jerk with Geithner and Paulson. Who do you think has the public's best interest in mind? If Bernanke says no..the right answer is probably yes.
If the administration wants to move forward from commentary like this(from Rich article):
His first questionable post-victory step was to assemble an old boys’ club of Robert Rubin protégés and Goldman-Citi alumni as the White House economic team, including a Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, who failed in his watchdog role at the New York Fed as Wall Street’s latest bubble first inflated and then burst. The questions about Geithner’s role in adjudicating the subsequent bailouts aren’t going away, and neither is the angry public sense that the fix is still in. We just learned that nine of those bailed-out banks — which in total received $175 billion of taxpayers’ money, but as yet have repaid only $50 billion — are awarding a total of $32.6 billion in bonuses for 2009.
Don't you think he needs a non-partisan, fair minded group of people like Black who don't give a damn about politics and do not want to abuse their power?
in the Hammer video, Bill Black does a good job of outlining and proving the real problems we have. i wish someone had asked him specifically how bad it's actually going to get in the US. i think he knows.
understandably, he's afraid of the real solutions. the only remedies he suggested are farcical e.g. paraphrasing "Write your congressperson" and "Stay up to date by reading" and "Attend meetings". gag me. i dont blame him, though. i'm afraid of the real solutions too. they're unspeakable.
Black mentions that Pecora had 3 predecessors who did not accomplish their task. I think Black is taking a long-term view, to prevent (delay!) a repeat, after the current crisis eventually plays out.
Wrt what Obama should do, Black is saying that there is still a wide range of possible outcomes, and that some are much much worse than others, and I think Black is implying that it will finally be Obama's own instinct for self-preservation that could result in the less-bad outcomes. The traditional remedies open to the public might help that instinct wake up.
i respect your opinion. mine is that ...
-now we know what "Change you can believe in" really means. Obama's instinct has proven to be bought and paid for. wishing, hoping and optimism on our part wont change that.
-system remedies are slow pitch softball meant to maintain the appearance of available redress. the system is now crowding the plate. if we cant start pitching hard, high, and inside then we continually settle for what you call "less-bad outcomes" not real solutions. the circuses and bread will maintain status quo.
-we're stuck with this. better try to make the best of it for yourself as an individual. the emperor has no clothes. deal with it.
What a little worm you are. Solutions are 'unspeakable', 'better try to make the best of it for yourself as an individual'.
I am an American.
This is our country.
I will not punk out.
Deal with it.
how is that working out for you?
Better than the alternative.
Man up.
macho man patriot. there's one born every minute. by now every second. the world needs you. somebody's got to be the loser.
All in your head, little man.
Just for the record, the first Anonymous comment in this local chain, Comment 31046, was mine. I did not make the later Anonymous comments in this chain.
Tyler: It's too easy to make comments as "Anonymous" I suggest that the default interface prompt for a real account and then confirm "Anonymous" intent. Anyone should be able to be "Anonymous", but the interface should not assume that's the intent.
i'd applaud if obama changed his underwear let
alone his cabinet....
he has held over bush's secretary of defense
and his economic policy....there is no change...
it's more of the same and anyone who didn't
see that going into the voting booth was a few
watts short of a light bulb....
(obamacrimes.com)
the rockefeller cabal (u of chicago) has a
tight hold on this country and they are all
about agrandizing themselves.....faux solutions
are the order of the day - if you can't dazzle
them with brilliance baffle them bullshit...
after the collapse comes the euthanasia and
other population control schemes hovering under
the umbrella of "global warming"
Deleted by originator.
Are hookers cheap now w/ the economic down turn? Hell maybe it'll be buy one get one free in the coming months/years.
The solutions may be unspeakable but we'll have to endure them anyway, we'll be forced to in the end. I always try to remind myself of how bad it will get by thinking of what David Tice said, "the magnitude of the decline will mirror the excesses of the boom." And he goes on to say that the excesses were so gigantic...well you get the picture.
Plan for the worst I always say!
agree...it may be the best way
NY Times catches Paulson red-handed:
http://truthingold.blogspot.com/2009/08/did-henry-paulson-act-to-save-go...
Use to be that ZH would push out 'bout a half-dozen stories on a Sunday. This crop of "Tylers" really sucks.
How does the rotation work? Which departments does Goldman draw from and how many weeks are they stuck working at Zero? Is it a punishment, or incentive? I'm thinking punishment for poorly performing middle managers.
Thanks in advance...
His message was being spread and gaining even more support...therefore he needed to be censored.
Until we have guys like Black back as regulators nothing will change. We just can not compete with the vast amounts of money being used to influence decisions. The Rich article says"
hat tip to http://www.iamned.com/cgemr good articles..
- reply
- flag as junk (0)
by Anonymouson Sun, 08/09/2009 - 16:15
#31074
Use to be that ZH would push out 'bout a half-dozen stories on a Sunday. This crop of "Tylers" really sucks.
How does the rotation work? Which departments does Goldman draw from and how many weeks are they stuck working at Zero? Is it a punishment, or incentive? I'm thinking punishment for poorly performing middle managers.
Thanks in advance...
Why you little whippersnapper!
Not surprised they would misrepresent Rand. Curiously, Rand herself misrepresented Robin Hood ...thanks
We just can not compete with the vast amounts of money being used to influence decisions. The Rich article says"
recommended; one of my favorite new finance sites http://www...
How does the rotation work? Which departments does Goldman draw from and how many weeks are they stuck working at Zero? Is it a punishment, or incentive? I'm thinking punishment for poorly performing middle managers.
for those looking for busted tv sets and microwaves this video may disappoint, but it provides a very thoughtful review of the systemic abuses and corruption from the very elite leadership in amerika's economy.....
i do enjoy the aforementioned videos of mayhem so it's not really a slight to the tv buster....
i also wish that zh could provide a video player with fast forward or absolute positioning....my completely shitty att supplied internet craps out on a sporadic basis and i don't have time to let this run for 45 minutes to get to the break point...
nonetheless, i enjoyed the video....the main speaker appears to be a man of very high ethics with a history to back up the claim....
Pot holes---more like craters---private sector job growth courtesy of NYT.
Waterfall effect is still in motion.
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/08/07/business/20090808_CHARTS_GRAPHIC.html
That's a fantasic lecture!
Gawd it takes forever to load the video!